Software Minimalism

In my journey to become a minimalist, one of the things that I fail to apply the knowledge to is Software. But as my relationship with technology has evolved, I realized it is something that needs culling.

Earlier this year, I downgraded my phone from an iPhone 14 Pro Max to a Samsung A56 5G. That said, I cannot really call it a downgrade in a traditional sense since I just moved into a phone that actually served my needs.

During the early phases of becoming a minimalist, I was more focused on my physical space. I moved stuff to the digital world thinking “Oh it’s minimalist.” But as I grew, it seems my junk was just moving rather than actually disappearing. I thought about it and realized my obsession with software and digitizing was causing part of the problem.

I can tell you more on what made me dissatisfied with my relationship with tech but that’s for another post. For now, just know that if you open my laptop or phone, you will find very few apps.

Not counting the system apps I cannot delete, I have a total of 30 apps on my phone. Now, I use Samsung Secure Folder so I guess you could say the total is 33 from the 3 duplicates but the point is, my phone is super utilitarian. It serves me well on my day to day life without distracting me.

Knowing the average app count is 74.37 in 2016, I would say I am pretty different. I do think that number includes system apps but overall, I expect myself to be in the lower end.

Coming over to my laptop, it’s even more bizarre for outsiders. I have a Mac so I cannot actually delete any preinstalled apps but counting the ones I installed, I have 17 apps in total. Even my self hosted server where a bulk of my software lives is very minimal. Only 31 running Podman containers, 34 images, and ~10 installed utilities (Linux does not really make it easy to see which ones I installed or updated).

Even looking at storage or other factors do not lend themselves to me being a software hoarder. Even though I have 256GB storage on my Mac, I only use 76.5 GB in total. Meanwhile, my phone uses only 59GB of 256GB. For my self-hosted server, it’s a bit more full due to all my media and photos but even then, my backups are only 80 GB compressed.

In general, I have started to treat the digital world no different than how I treat the physical world. Every file and software should have a purpose. Which leads me to Rule 1.

Rule 1: No discernable purpose = Delete.

This does not mean if something is unproductive it is deleted. I keep my Stardew Valley and Pokemon Champions because it gives me joy (Pokemon Champions maybe does not all the time).

The point is that if I cannot find a reason to use something, I delete it. This launched a huge purge of apps which included apps others might find weird:

1. Calendar. I have a Hobonichi Planner. This one really was just for looking at dates which my online dashboard can do (or even just look at my planner).
2. Email. I do not receive tons of emails and if I do, none of them are so urgent that it needs my attention immediately. They can wait up to 24 hours when I get back to my desk. Besides, Rule 3 is applicable for a time I need it.
3. Social Media. I have NO social media on my phone unless you count SMS, Signal, or WhatsApp. I just don’t see the point on installing them on my phone when I can do it in an incognito browser session.
4. Voice Recorder. I find I have never actually used it.
5. Cloud Storage. I don’t find myself using them that often given I self-host most of my stuff. I just use LocalSend’s webpage when I need to.

There are lots more that I realized I don’t really need. My phone is a tool and it should reflect that.

Rule 2: If it can be done in a system app, it is done in a system app.

As I went about my app purge, I realized a lot of the apps I installed have system app counterparts. Now, are they perfect and cover a lot of usecases? No. But I find that most are generally decent. Some examples:

1. I was tempted many times to install a Pomodoro app until I reminded myself that the Clock app timer does just fine. If I wanted to track it, I’ll do it myself manually
2. I had a document scanner until I realized the Camera app actually had one. Not perfect mind you but good enough for me
3. Most of my readings are in PDF so I just use the built-in PDF reader

That said, there are counterexamples. I use WhatsApp and Signal because that’s what everyone uses over SMS. Then, I also have my own password manager and Firefox as my browser. I also have Immich installed to backup my stuff. But all of these have their own purpose that cannot be replicated by a system app.

Rule 3: Browser first. If not, reinstall an app when needed - and then delete.

I realized it is not the 2010s anymore where mobile data speeds were terrible and you HAD to have your data locally for those brief moments. But now, I found if I ever need something, I can ALWAYS download it for a few minutes - and then uninstall.

I have been in situations where I cannot just do that too. But those situations are very few and far in between. For one, a total blackout from Bagyong Odette (Typhoon Rai). And during that time, the last thing on my mind was “I need to install Instagram”. I might have wanted some games to pass the time or got some podcasts along the way but overall, I got by without them. I remember scrolling through my photos a hundred times and rediscovering some memes I guess.

Not to mention I can anticipate these situations. For example, if I am traveling abroad, I can download a translator and download the local maps app if something aside from Google Maps is better. If I need to book a ride or get food, I install Grab and then remove. If I want to buy something online, I just install Shopee for a few minutes.

Furthermore, the mobile browser does wonders. I am unsure why people start gravitating towards apps over the web browser these days especially for something you might only need for a moment. Most apps I don’t need on my phone all the time. What is on my phone isn’t for the “what if” cases because those are already covered by me doing a reinstall. Even on the typhoon scenario, my learning wasn’t “I need a thousand stuff on my phone”. It is, “If there is a typhoon, prepare for it. That may include a blackout so make sure you can keep yourself entertained.”

As I removed software, what I realized wasn’t that the digital life is bad. It’s more of that I need to make sure my phone works for me. When I open my phone, I make sure it is with intent - even if that intent is to play a game.