What's on my phone as a digital minimalist.

[@purenatural5736]

To be honest, from the day I got an iPhone 14 Plus I use phone less and less generally. It’s not about the processor or the screen size. It’s all about why and how you use the phone. I don’t have many apps and I barely use most of them. All started by deleting Instagram. My life became much much better.

[@mollyflayer13]

recently i’ve starting minimizing everything in my life. i deleted pinterest, facebook, instagram, tiktok. i still have snapchat but i use it for communication. not mindless scrolling. i feel youtube gets me the most now that those apps are gone. but if i don’t have the time to sit down and watch the video, then i don’t. with all those other apps i used them even when i didn’t necessarily have the time. that was an issue.

[@GrantYegge]

Living in an age where all these companies are paying professionals to keep us as consumers. I must say it’s really tough to build these great habits but I definitely think it’s doable. I think as a society we need to start having these conversations and holding on another accountable. It’s very easy to get lost in the sauce when you’re having a bad day and infinitely scrolling your life away. Kudos to you for the self awareness and the disciplined you have demonstrated over the years.

[@pedroqueiroga6673]

"scrolling your life away". that's deep man

[@GTheepicguy]

I also have an iPhone 13 mini and it’s the best phone I’ve ever had! I absolutely love the size and the battery life doesnt bother me as all I do is watch KZbin and listen to music anyway

[@maryk6000]

Same. So many reviewers complain about the battery life but if you're mindful about how much time you spend on your phone and what devices you're using to do what it can easily get through an entire day

[@Arctis34]

Same! I hate apple for butchering it lol

[@Dennis-kd3on]

Had one and really tried to love it, but battery life keeps killing me. Love the form factor, love the one handed usage, but I keep having battery anxiety with that phone. My use case is incompatible I guess, but I demand whole day battery life including GPS mapping. Moved up to a 13 Pro but boy do I miss the 13 mini!

[@lifewithjown]

Contemplating on which one to get iPhone 13 or 13 mini?

[@ikhan920]

I love LOVE loooooooveeeee my #iPhone13Mini !!! It’s the best #phone ever made. For reference, I’m 5’11 195lbs with average to large hands. I recently had a daughter. I had the iPhone 13 Mini 128gb which I bought in 2021. This year upgraded to another iPhone 13 Mini with 256gb. Having a baby and taking pictures really takes up storage fast. Which brings up a great trait about the phone, it’s the perfect point and shoot phone. #Apple really messed up by discontinuing it, unless of course they have other secret plans for it. I really hope they do. Because I have the privilege to be able to upgrade to any the iPhone every year or other year, but I will use the iPhone 13 Mini as long as I can or until they release the next Mini.

[@dambLa]

Thank you for the Video. Your videos saved me from a deep chronical depression 3 years ago. I've learn discipline and I've managed to get myself out of the hole - and it's getting better day by day. Thank you again for helping all of us and keep on doing your great work.

[@kylecresswell0478]

Same here. Was in 2019 and I remember procrastinating for my university midterm in the library by just binging KZbin videos instead of actually studying. Came across "How to get up at 6am every day", watched it... and then watched every single one of his videos. By the end of the day I deleted all my social media, and I haven't gone back since, and anytime I can feel my life spiraling out of control again, I come back to Matt's videos (aka right now at 4am as my depression is currently fueling) and it's a nice "realignment" to see "Ok, remember why you're doing this. Slow down, and just focus on where you need to improve, and do a lot of bicep curls".

[@rafferdx]

Finally! Someone who agrees with my "bigger screen isn't better" perspective. Really bummed they discontinued it

[@cutepuppe]

I recently got iPhone 12 Mini for the reasons Matt described. If I wanted an iPad that doesn’t fit my pocket, I’d get one. I want my phone to be practical.

[@AuthenTech]

everyone i talk to, including myself, love the MINI the best. hope they bring it back

[@armandosalayojr]

Yeah! 13 mini master race! Been a year waiting for my iPhone 7 to take its bow (because of battery performance). This 13 mini has the perfect size. Too bad, Apple didn’t continue the mini to 14.

[@pickuptrash]

I always find it fascinating how other people organize and use their phones. Thanks for the insight Matt :D

[@f9fad]

i hope matt share his settings too 😂

[@imar4ok]

Don't know if you ever tried it your phone, but I found it very useful. You delete every home screen icon and use only search tool from the lock screen. Now each time you tap on the screen of the phone you clearly have in mind what app you're about to use. In many cases it even faster than taping on the app icon. For example when you need to set an alarm if you write "Alarm" in the search it immediately opens all your Alarms in the app. P.S. But for all of you who like keeping home screen icons, I wish apple would've add an option to hide text.

[@EllaCharlotteJones]

This is such a good idea! I'm going to try that on my phone now

[@leo_eel]

i like this but as someone with adhd ik this wouldn’t work for me personally cause im quick to forget app names as well as the fact that i have an app to begin with, so i just put my most essential ones on my home screen

[@ash-i2m4h]

So many ads in just one video, also the timing of this video release is so perfect as from January 1st lot of people will start a New Year’s resolution to minimise phone use. Genius!

[@leandro_80]

The quality of Matt's videos is so amazing. It's better than a lot of TV shows.

[@Michaelproctor.]

I love the honesty, Matt! Most people would take this opportunity to paint them self in a perfect light. But, you spend the time to share about the things that do take your time. Thanks for that :)

[@mindlight9517]

Can I just say how well you integrate your sponsors into your videos. Others completely just stop the video to talk about unrelated sponsors but you always manage to integrate it into your video and it just works seamlessly! It’s really appreciated as a viewer. Also, Congrats on you and Nat’s purchase of a house in Sydney!! 🎉

[@thestevennickel]

Always a pleasure watching your videos Matt. The minimalist approach and the high quality content that is to the point is inspiring to strive for. Greatly appreciate all that you do in the space.

[@Ethiopianraver]

With one the recent iOS updates, you can set up custom home/screens for different “focus” modes. This has been super helpful for me. I have a work, gym, personal one. My phone is much cleaner, I have the apps I need for the task at hand readily available but out of the way when I don’t (shouldn’t) need them.

[@thomasmaherault4156]

I've pushed this a little further with an app called Jomo that can block access to some apps based on my current focus mode (in addition to hiding them from your home screen). I am using this with my "Work" and "Sleep" focus modes and it works really well!

[@Ethiopianraver]

@@thomasmaherault4156 Thanks I'll give it a try! I know when I have downtime at work or even between sets at the gym I mindlessly end up on social media apps smh lol.

[@robbiefletcher-hill437]

The fact that you also migrated to Reddit shows I wasn’t the only one who at least saw some value in them, but wanted the app I doomscrolled in to be less comparison based and more informational! Ultimately I’ve also deleted Reddit as it’s ultimate purpose was to slowly ween me off such a satisfying app through boredom with them; Reddit is only so useful if used as a curated search engine! Xx

[@thandruphani]

Yeah exactly it should be as resource rather than timepass

[@grannyboy8695]

is reddit better than twitter?

[@wolfiy]

@@grannyboy8695 its entirely different but I like it a lot more

[@robbiefletcher-hill437]

@@grannyboy8695 meh, they both have their uses. The true difference i’ve found is on Twitter you follow people, on Reddit you follow subjects. I was looking to improve my knowledge on subjects like on reddit, not on what a particular person had to offer like on twitter. Reddit was a great aggregate for fitness knowledge. It’s best stuff was saved in a menu where all the tried and tested info was kept in a wiki. Twitter was useful mostly for immediate things like job opportunities, but for study it falls short. Reddit fell short in the end because it’s crowd sourced and ultimately seems to be full of the same demographic or too many different ones providing opposing opinions, which in a way is kind of like twitter. So I now have no followed subjects on reddit and use it solely as a search engine, and I’ve finally stepped away from algorithms all together with KZbin being the last standing.

[@topappletips]

A list of all apps 👇 1:18 Teuxdeux 1:37 Apple Notes 2:00 Apple Pay 2:10 Service NSW 2:30 Clock / Alarm (are you a normal person or a psychopath? 😱) 2:50 Chrome 4:00 Calm 4:40 Spotify 5:04 Hue 5:27 Apple Watch, FitIndex, Health 6:25 Daylio 7:14 Slack, Asana 8:10 Scannable 8:27 Arc II 9:00 Sun Tracker AR 🚫Say no to KZbin, Netflix, Reddit and other social media apps.

[@anires1195]

how does this comment have no replies? Great comment! Thank you!

[@yuchoob]

Why Chrome? Because he loves to compromise his privacy and loves watching ads? Brave blocks out all that sh*t, so it's much more "minimalistic" and doesn't track you. Apple Notes can do everything scannable can do. Apple Reminders can be every bit as minimalistic as Teuxdeux; no need for *another* app, another subscription.

[@alfredho2656]

Hi Matt, just want to share with you that I have finally started the Master KZbin course after purchasing it 1.5 years ago. Just want to share with you my excitement on really starting on my creative journey and how great is the quality of the course. Moreover, I believed that your storytelling and filmmaking have also enhanced since then! Thanks for the contents!

[@TheBlurryJane]

INSIGHT TIMER! It’s a guided meditation app that tracks your mood and has journal entries. A great way to condense 2 apps in n 1 !

[@kaylamoon730]

If anyone is looking for a great organizational/note taking app, I would recommend Notion. I used to be super into bullet journal to be productive, but eventually it took too much time to be worth the investment. Now I do everything on Notion and it's helped me so much. I have my own business so I track all my expenses, plan out new projects, and set goals in there. I'm still in college so I take all my notes and track assignments. Plus I track all of my habits, journal daily, and plan out trips on it. It's basically an open notebook that's extremely customizable and user friendly. I can't not recommend it

[@brittany6429]

This isn't necessarily a phone app, but switching from Asana to ClickUp in my business was a game changer. It's definitely worth exploring! Not only can do more with tasks than Asana, but some plans also include unlimited file storage so you can say bye-bye to your cloud storage costs. They even have a chat similar to slack so you can consolidate that too. I am a KZbinr as well who needs to coordinate tasks between myself and my team. We create a "task" in clickup for every video, and I'm able to upload photos and other promotional media directly in the task so my team can download what they need to do their part of the task. Super convenient!

[@EllaCharlotteJones]

I've experimented with a flip phone, iphone 5s and back to my smartphone and this has really helped me with checking my phone usage and ensuring what is on there is useful!

[@ByronWrightJr]

I love these type of videos because I am always trying to see what other digital minimalist have on their phone so that I am able to adjust and reevaluate myself.

[@Shade7345]

Espresso for your briefing daily news (the economist), recipe keeper for your cooking recipes

[@maryk6000]

I love my 13 mini!! Favorite phone that i've owned in years

[@prepassy]

I've been waiting for this since the last one came out

[@trilogy1623]

Matt, sorry to break it to you but from a violin player, you are not learning the violin in 30 days

[@markozacka1571]

This will only motivate him. Let's go Matt! We believe in you.

[@heyjay737]

Just because you can't MASTER something in 30 days doesn't mean you can't LEARN it in 30 days. He may suck at it but he will LEARN it.

[@yezsir715]

@@heyjay73730 days of violin learning is like only enough to learn how to not hurt yourself while holding it

[@slackreal]

@@yezsir715 when I played the trumpet I learned my first few tunes within weeks. Why y'all gotta be such downers anyways? Yaint helping.

[@OscarRosen]

@@slackreal trumpet's so much easier than violin though😂

[@AaroHuttunen]

Matt, go for Notion; you can get rid of 10 apps or so (sure, it takes some time to set up, but it is worth it 100%).

[@seanconway2817]

Instead of using scannable, you can just hold down the notes app and choose the scan documents option. Works the same.

[@Daprophe7]

I’m enjoying this new update from KZbin. Makes every video attractive, especially Matt’s ✊🏽

[@TheBillyo13]

This video just proves how much value a phone can bring to everyday life. People complain about the price of phones but name anything as useful as a phone that you will use for hours everyday for years.

[@WeiHuan]

Forest is a great app! It's one of the few apps that I've actually bought the premium version of. The app lets you set a timer, and for that timer's duration, you can't use your phone. Each time you complete your timer, it'll grow a tree in your virtual forest, but if you use your phone while a timer is in progress, it'll burn both your current growing tree and all other previous trees you've grown. I've found after using the app for about a month, it became really easy for me to leave my phone alone, the urge to pull it out and distract myself doesn't come up nearly as often as it used to.

[@arreza253]

I just got my new phone from the holidays and as a bday gift, this comes so timely !

[@jippalippa]

One of the few aspetcs I'm a minimalist at. The reason why I do it though it's privacy. The fewer the apps, the less the tracking or occasions for privacy invasion. I try to use the stock apple apps on my iPhone, and only download somethinf if no stock alternative is available.

[@alexhnd552]

check iodé phones out ;) one of the best custom Android-based systems to protect privacy. Their built-in adblocker is just amazing

[@corymayo]

Hawaiian shirt Matt is my favorite character ✌️

[@bucnner]

Love using Daylio. It's been great for tracking my emotions and general life circumstances at a glance. It also works well as a hub for tracking my habits too! ☺️

[@MusicArtRealm]

I downloaded the app yesterday. Great app

[@DontStopReadin]

I love Dailyo. I've used it for over a year and it helped me get out of a depressive episode to being happier than I've been in years. I'm glad you mentioned it and can't wait to see your video on it.

[@AK47_.]

Is it free, or subscription?

[@yohaizilber]

Notion is my go-to for everything! an essential tool for capturing and organizing ideas, streamlining my productivity workflow.

[@wolfiy]

Logseq is pretty good too

[@maricela0090]

Lofi beattsssss 🙌🏼 best work focus playlist.

[@jlhairston]

Hilariously I bought the mini for the same reasons as you! I've been watching you for years, you have definitely had an influence on my life!

[@gres3r1k]

I’ve added the screen time widget to all of my home pages and I think it helps keep myself accountable

[@MrWetworks]

Love that your adopting all parts of Australia in your move - hope you're enjoying the game of Cricket!

[@jessefilmic]

So good matt. Did not know you're in NSW!! Would like to buy you a beer. You've changed my thinking and helped my life. Much love brother!

[@kevinp1292]

Your videos are a piece of art Matt. Never stop

[@nathanriddle1663]

Great video! One app that could also find its way into your selection may be some form of a pomodoro timer app. If you're trying to find ways to focus more and keep yourself from getting distracted, that's definitely a great app to have.

[@erinscallon9612]

I don’t think this is a replacement for your setup, but for my system To-doist is great for keeping me on track. I have templates for regular work activities, life events, and then add ad-hoc tasks for the random things life throws at me. It’s been a game changer for me.

[@akshaygajjar7322]

Please make this videos often i really do love what you keep on your device as well as your minimal setup

[@hnnhml]

I'm a big fan of digital minimalism, so thank you very much for this matt 🙏

[@judyvsworld]

the sun tracker app is so cool! will keep that in mind when looking for a place to live

[@charliemack4220]

Citymapper is amazing for getting around cities and working out journeys on public transport

[@tks8964]

The scannable app is not necessary. Apple notes has an option that allows you to scan documents

[@Draconicrose]

Glad to see there are other fans of smaller phones out there! Personally I just do not vibe with anything over 6.2 inches at the absolute maximum! The Nexus 5X was pretty much my perfect phone and was only replaced due to the battery dying.

[@Christinamychas]

Ok that sun tracker app is so smart!!

[@mohamedmurtaza1891]

Thanks Matt D’Avella for sharing what’s on your phone, learnt on how to organize apps.

[@nemekSI]

*2K plus in notes woahh haha! I personally like using google products like docs, sheets , drive to track my things. It is simple and best of all free!*

[@journalologyandcoofficial]

Matt, I love your floral shirt.

[@dantepepper]

So important to limit dopamine and instant gratification for success in the digital age

[@kendrewreviews]

How do you organize and reference screenshots/pictures in your phone and other Inspirations for something you want to remember, something you want to design, or maybe something you want to take a picture of later? I have over 2,000 screenshots of Inspirations in my phone from social media, youtube, and the internet. It's overwhelming using pictures as a second brain and referencing them later in the future.

[@luwjournals]

Why don’t you use an external harsh drive 😀

[@rht.3170]

Yes and please help with the PDFs and other documents for me as a student...

[@LovinLIFE9419]

@Samuel Rose this is an absolutely genius idea! So simple yet so effective 😂

[@mattdavella]

Great question! Haven't totally mastered that yet but will look into it.

[@roelio]

I create an album for those screenshots, makes it a lot easier to quickly access and view again.

[@penultimaparada]

TickTick is the app that I love the most. I combined tasks, notes and calendar in one single app and that was a life changer!!! If you never tried, you should at least once.

[@josiahpetermann]

So helpful! I've cut back big time on number off apps, and am utilizing focus modes like crazy to basically not need my phone! Also, I've been intrigued by the iPhone Mini. You sold me on it. Thanks!

[@LucaUnfiltered]

Structured! is an absolute incredible app for time management and task placement

[@HaydenEvans]

Two apps that I’ve been using almost daily for over a year now are Rise Sleep and MacroFactor for tracking macronutrients. They seamlessly integrate with Apple Health so they won’t disrupt anything you’re doing with how you track your health metrics but they provide valuable insights and UI that kinda of act as data enhancement overlays to make more use of the raw data you’re tracking. Rise uses your sleep tracking data to estimate when you will experience dips and peaks in energy and MacroFactor (in addition to food logging) can analyze your food intake vs your weight to continuously calculate macro targets based on actual data.

[@olivewreath5142]

you can delete scannable and use the scanner that is featured in apple notes for more minimalistic features :)! great video, thank you

[@goudendynamiethd2117]

Streaming is 1000 times better than social media. It might be distracting, but so was television in the 80's.

[@LTVelvet13]

Who said YT was just for fun? Loved the info about adding your DL to the Service NSW app. As a fellow Sydney-sider, this tip was gold. Thanks Matt.

[@ChannelTwentyTwo]

Didn't know you were in Australia mate! Nice video

[@AshleyJade12]

I can't wait until Florida hops on the train of digital licenses. So awesome

[@yaniverse2549]

It's so nice to hear a content creator not being present in social media. I thought that would be impossible though

[@ClimbingCaed]

I’m so glad to know I’m not the only one who uses apple notes like crazy

[@xMattezyt]

il video che aspettavo! 😍

[@nirgosalia]

Even I own the iPhone 13 mini. I like it soo much and it's a perfect phone for calling and messaging & other stuffs.....

[@ashleyhernandez6677]

Libby allows you to access library books (kindle or audio) for free. I love having books on my phone at all time.

[@paula.swt07]

Structured and one sec help me a lot, to organise my day and to stop me from opening apps too often👍🏼

[@johnnysylvia]

Since I don’t work off of my phone I removed all apps except for the calling and text message apps from my home screen. For me it’s way more calming to look at.

[@johnhan8177]

Im amazed i found another mini user!

[@raifarajallah]

Whatever you want man ! Keep it to you 😄

[@AfricanMilkTree]

You should check out the second brain!!!!!!!!! somewhat similar to what you have now but its a way of using your phone to store ideas so your real brain can have them.

[@BryanLankston]

I have the 12 mini and I love it. I wish they still had the small size, I’m going to hold on to mine until it’s torn from my hands. 😂

[@habibullovalijonov1854]

Finally brother your video is come out to the modern world

[@agustinmoctezuma9432]

The ad transition tho 😮

[@cestdantegarcia]

About alarms, I'm on Natalie's side hahaha. That way you just scroll up/down and find the alarm you need instead of setting up new ones 😃. As always, great video Matt!

[@JOA169]

Stocard - stores all the rewards cards digitally eg. Flybuys, Everyday Rewards and any other you may have. Freed up so much space in my purse!

[@litolito1893]

Awesome video 💪🏻 I love “loft beats” thanks for sharing!

[@miguelmaal]

Looking forward to watching that DAILY MOOD video!!

[@illblues1072]

Structured It is an app that set your tasks chronological helping you know what task you’ll do next It’s for ppl with so many tasks to get done

[@vl5215]

Hahaha I'm exactly like your wife! I think it's more efficient to have all of the alarms preset, so all I need to do is toggle the alarm on!

[@Methylglyoxal]

Not even that, I just set up a new alarm every day for every sleep/nap I take. So I don't have to bother looking for and editing a pre existing one. There's virtually no upside to cleaning up the menu for me.

[@TheJimmybob6]

I clean up the alarms so I actually set the alarm for the time I want to get up. If I have a load of presets and I wanna wake up at say 6:50, I will tempt myself to click 7:00 cause it’s right there. Probably stupid but one of the little things that helps me is having no presets

[@salamista]

As someone who uses Siri to set alarms, I have no clue what this screen looks like on my phone. I let my personal digital assistant deal with that mess 💁🏼‍♀️

[@TheTwoMSs]

Get on Notion Matt, 100x better than Asana and holds all of your projects, docs, task lists etc 😎

[@nineteenninetyeight]

I just use the notes app for scanning documents, actually really like it!

[@BigLJR]

my alarm app is also all over the place. That gave me a good laugh

[@jefribezos7468]

Matt your biceps getting dope man...👁👁🦾🦾

[@MCRotrix]

Suntracker app would be really funny to use in my location where it's so cold and so dark and the sun exists somewhere in theory.

[@sulimaanpriest4854]

Notion is another powerful tool to check out for note taking, organization, etc., and is highly customizable

[@ophelieocean]

The into the wild soundtrack is *chef kiss*

[@jordansarkisian]

Bruh the amount of apps on your phone is giving me an anxiety attack lol def not what I expected. Do what works for you but it almost felt like you're replacing the addiction of social media with another addiction of tracking every and all things constantly. (like some do with health now) I have maybe 25 apps on my phone these days, most are for only super useful utility/knowledge based stuff (Notes/Language/Maps/etc) and if I only need to use something rarely I just redownload to use for a few minutes and then delete again. Also totally agree, keep the social media off the phone. I've found the addicting part of apps is the endless info scroll feature, if you get rid of stuff that has that "just one more pull to see what's next" slot machine feature it fixes everything. (cuz the desktop versions just don't feel the same)

[@CrabappleKing]

As a video professional, we use Slack and Asana too! They are great.

[@ummtulip]

I have the same alarm app as your wife 💀 the cause of so many alarms are either alarms every 5 minutes, or the exact time I need to wake up after using a sleep calculator

[@_rks]

I removed the KZbin app after spending hours watching random videos on my phone. Now I spend hours on Youube on my TV. There is no escape.

[@Reingemurkst]

For all off you who want to limit there use off certain apps i would recommend the app Appblock. It allows you to block an app for a certain time or in a specified area e.g at home.

[@left0verture]

Looking forward to an in-depth with Daylio. I keep coming back to it, but haven’t yet figured out an efficient way to use it.

[@NYKIRA]

Your wife's phone is making me laugh so much, I used to be like that yet it doesn't work for me, it was handy at first and then I just skipped every alarm 😂❤