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# My 2013 iPhone Home Screen
- URL: https://birchtree.me/blog/my-2013-iphone-home-screen/
- Published: 2021-07-25T17:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2021-07-25T17:00:00.000Z
- Author: Matt Birchler
- Tags: meta, #Import 2023-06-01 22:41, #Import 2025-03-29 19:29

This is one of the oldest screenshots in my photo collection, and I wanted to do a deep dive into what’s there and what it tells

## The Device and OS

This screenshot was from September 19, 2013, so this would have been an iPhone 5\. The iPhone 5S was being released the next day, but I would not get it because (a) I was under a 2 year contract that didn’t allow a new phone yet and (b) I was way too poor to buy a new phone every year even if I wanted.

This is also running iOS 7, which was released the day before this screenshot was taken. Betas were different back then, and I didn’t have a developer account (did I mention the poor bit?), so I wasn’t really running the beta those days.

## What’s Survived?

4 of the 22 apps on this home screen are still there today.

1. **Safari** continues to be my browser of choice.
2. **Reeder** is still the best RSS reader on any platform, in my opinion.
3. **Things** continues to crush it.
4. **Messages** not only is still on my home screen, but it is in the exact same position.

## What’s Gone?

- **Camera+** used to be more useful than it is today. I usually shoot with the official camera app, but Halide is my go-to third party shooter these days.
- Apple’s own **Weather** app got much better in iOS 15, but I’m currently using Carrot Weather.
- I still use the **Clock** app, but it’s not on my home screen. The Apple watch is actually what killed it, as timers and alarms almost always happen on my wrist these days.
- **Calendars 5** was a good calendar back in the day, and I’m sure it’s still solid now, but I’m a Fantastical boy now.
- **Path** was a really fun social network, but of course it has disappeared.
- **Squarespace** was good for Birchtree in the early days, but I’ve moved to Ghost since then and am super happy with it.
- **Mint** was a third party web analytics tool I used for years, but it’s long since been discontinued and it became more trouble than it was worth, so I moved all in on Google Analytics.
- **Google Analytics** is something I check once a month these days, not a few times per day like in 2013.
- **Begin** is an app I have absolutely no memory of, it does not come up in search results on the App Store, and I can’t find it in my purchase history, so if you have any idea what this app may be, I’d love to know! My guess is some sort of habit tracker…
- **Byword** was a great app back in the day, and it got me on a kick of having beautiful writing apps, but it’s no longer aligned with my needs. Ulysses has taken its place.
- **Drafts** is still on my iPhone and I use it regularly, but it’s not something I need on my home screen.
- **Pocket Casts** is a great podcast app, it’s just not my preference these days (Castro is #1, then Overcast, then Pocket Casts).
- **Rdio** was the music streaming service for people who didn’t care for Spotify’s design. Ironically, despite Rdio going away years ago, I still use a Spotify competitor because I don’t like their UI in 2021 either.
- **Target** was on my home screen because I worked at the company and it was nice to be able to access things like the weekly ad and check online prices quickly. It’s still on my iPhone, but I basically use it for paying with Target Circle and making the occasional online order.
- **Riposte** was the best App.net client and I won’t hear any arguments to the contrary.
- **Twitterrific** is quite good these days, but I’m usually using the official app, or using Tweetbot if I’m looking for that reverse-cron timeline during a live event.
- **Facebook** was in my dock…does anything tell you more about how the times have changed than this icon?