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Tech stack as of December 2025

A year has passed since the first time I wrote about my tech stack. What better occasion to repeat the exercise and see if there have been any changes? This year, inspired by Melanie Kat I'm going for a more readable list format. Comments, if any, in the footnotes.

First, the usual disclaimer: I've no commercial ties with anyone mentioned in this list, and I paid for everything mentioned with my own money.

Hardware

  • Computer: Macbook Air M2 (2022)1
  • Phone: iPhone 11 (2019)
  • E-reader: Kindle Paperwhite (2017)
  • Sports watch: Garmin Fenix 5s (2017)2
  • Daily watch: Omega Speedmaster 3513.50.003
  • Camera: Sony ZV-14

Software

Services

Thoughts

A few notable changes. I simplified my setup. Particularly on the hardware side, where I retired two computers. While the idea of a dedicated device for writing made sense on paper (hah), I'm gravitate towards using just a single computer. Realising that I could use that same laptop as my home server as well, made it an even better deal.

On the software side, I swapped out my feed reader and my password manager. By changing the latter, I managed to get rid of a subscription.10 Throughout the year I also experimented with many browsers. The aim aim was replacing Firefox, as I have no interest in using an "AI browser". In the end, I couldn't find a better option. Vivaldi was the most promising, but the stutter and lag during touchpad zooming was unbearable.

Ad blockers are new entries. I was using uBlock even last year, but forgot to list it. AdGuard is new, as I found that even what little casual browsing I am doing on my phone was getting unbearable without an efficient ad blocker. I've also added Tailscale to be able to connect to my music collection from my phone when I'm out of the house.

Last year, I said the following:

I am always tempted by some new gadget, app or service. But if I have one goal for the coming year, it is to make even better use of what I currently have at my disposal. The opportunities feel endless. It is only a matter of being willing to put in the time to make it work.

Will give myself a pass there. My only purchase was a second hand and fairly cheap camera. That's despite being tempted and doing much window shopping. At some point I will inevitably switch to Linux. I think. But I want to do it when I can't get more mileage from my current laptop. Likely I'll have to do something about my phone first.

My goal for the next twelve months will be the same: Buy as little new stuff as possible. Get as much use as I possibly can from what I already own.

  1. The two other computers mentioned last year have both been retired. ↩

  2. Didn't get a mention last year because I originally stopped using it as the battery was in a pretty poor state. As I was contemplating buying a new sports watch earlier this year, I remembered this one and ordered a $10 replacement battery from AliExpress. It worked wonders and this watch now does everything I need. It also pairs with my Stryd and has replaced my old Series 6 Apple Watch as my alarm clock. ↩

  3. Forgot to mention this one last year. Or, rather, it's an affectation and I was probably too embarrassed to list it. But it's probably the most impressive piece of technology I own. I mean, just look at this. ↩

  4. The idea was that a dedicated camera would help me use my phone less. In reality, I very often forget my camera at home and end up using my phone anyways. I'm also disappointed with the video stabiliser on the ZV-1. When I'm moving the camera, the resolution is chopped a lot and the footage is still quite choppy compared to when I'm filming with my ancient phone. ↩

  5. Throughout the year Reeder Classic began crashing quite often. As development seems to have stopped, and bug fixes didn't appear forthcoming, I decided to look for an alternative. The NetNewsWire user experience doesn't have the same polish, but it's rock solid and does the job. ↩

  6. I self host my music collection directly from my laptop. When I'm listening to music on the laptop, I use Navidrome's excellent and blistering fast web player. ↩

  7. Had no real problems with 1Password, which I was using last year. But I'd heard good things about KeePassXC, and when my 1P subscription was coming up for renewal, I decided to give KPXC a go. Thought it was great and cancelled 1Password. ↩

  8. All the details on why I'm using OpenBSD.amsterdam here. ↩

  9. Since last year, I've done a full 360 and ditched iCloud, setup my own Nextcloud and returned to iCloud again. Really need to a do a full write-up on that, but the key takeaway is that I make sure to store all my important data in a way that makes it super easy for me to pick it up and move around. ↩

  10. Some of the saved money is being donated to the KeePassXC team. I try to donate to projects that put out free and open source software that I use frequently. ↩

20 December 2025

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