iCloud private relay is highly underrated for privacy imo. You won’t hear a lot of agreement with me here, but it’s the best form of a privacy vpn. When you use a third party vpn you still have to trust the vpn company to respect your privacy whereas private relay, by definition, does not allow Apple or anyone else to scrape your data.

I’m as deep in the ecosystem as you can be. I have multiple everything: phone, iPad, Watch, TV, HomePod, many Macs (I’m an Apple developer, it’s all business-related!). Subscribe to Apple One Premier for the family. Apple Pay, Apple Card, etc., etc… I’ll be first in line for Vision Pro next year.

Basically, if there’s an Apple version of something, I will use it over the competition, regardless of any other consideration.

I’ve been a tech nerd for 40+ years, and honestly, I love it. I built my own PCs for years. I can program assembly language if need be. I’ve got a Linux box in the closet acting as my home server. It used to do a lot of the internet router stuff, but I moved that to an Airport Extreme many years ago.

I just don’t want to mess around with that stuff anymore. For the most part, “it just works” is true. Yes, there are bugs and glitches and frustrating limitations, but show me a hardware/software system that doesn’t have them.

Yes, but.

Overall, yes, leverage the Apple Ecosystem as far as you can - and you can quite far before “needing” alternatives. I have several Apple devices are various stripes and the integration between them is very good/nice. I have a PC (strictly for gaming) and I made some efforts to integrate it with my Apple devices, but as I don’t use it much except as a launch pad into Steam, it really doesn’t matter much.

• I use Apple Mail and probably always will. I have tried several options, but find Apple Mail works very well “for me”.
• I use Apple Calendar and probably always will. Works fine “for me”.
• I use Apple Notes for quick jots of generally disconnected information. I have tried many other Notes apps, and so many are just “too much” (Obsidian, for example, is an operating system masquerading as a note app :-) /s). I am happy that Bear recently upgraded to the long-awaited Version 2 and for my heavy-duty note lifting and writing, it’s now my go-to.
• I use Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. I have used Keynote to build mid-5-figure and low-6-figure productions (I charged) for large events. It never broke on me during a run, it never crashed, and I made some good dough with it.
• I have used Final Cut Pro X and Motion to edit and release a feature length film. I actually migrated from pre-FCPX (8? 9?) to Adobe Premiere in 2010, used Adobe’s terrible products diligently for almost a decadebecause I thought I had to, but finally ditched that shit for alternatives (Final Cut Pro, Motion, Blender, Logic Pro, Affinity Suite, primarily). I just last month finally cut off our Adobe CC subs for the production company, although we kept the Adobe Stock sub.
• I use 1Password for cross-platform password management, but more-often-than-not I don’t actually use it and rely on iCloud passwords, which work perfectly fine “for me”, to the point that I am wondering if when the next rev of the OS comes out if I can ditch 1Password…
• I have iCloud+/AppleOne because 1. I wanted 2TB of iCloud storage 2. I wanted Hide My Email and VPN 3. I wanted unfettered access to AppleTV (which is great, and I am in the business anyway) and Apple Arcade (which is pretty good, awkually).
• I used to use Dropbox for professional file sharing, but after some privacy snafus on their part, I flirted with pCloud for a while (until I learned that you couldn’t “ln -s aName aNotherName” in the pCloud file system). We now have Sync.com as a non-US-based, zero-knowledge encrypted professional file sharing service and I couldn’t be happier with it. It is cheaper and more secure than Dropbox.
• I travel extensively and I use Apple Maps almost to exclusion. I also use apps like inRoute and Scenic (I ride motorcycle long-distances sometimes). I have Google Maps on my devices, but never use it (I have de-Googled myself in general, though incompletely).
• I use iMessage and FaceTime extensively and have never had a problem sending or receiving messages (that I am aware of). I especially like handing off phone calls to my other devices (for example, sitting at my laptop or desktop and my phone in the other room rings and I can call or answer on my computer).
• I use Nova (and its sister app, Transmit) for website creation (using Hugo+Bootstrap) and other low-level programming/text operations. I did use VSCode previously, but I am quite satisfied with Nova and happy to support small MacOS developers with $.
• I use Safari almost to exclusion, but Firefox in a pinch and exclusively on Windows.

I have used Linux (at one time I would build my own boxes), Windows (professionally), and macOS for decades relatively interchangeably, but in my dotage I am more and more becoming a MacOS-only user.

Mostly cross-platform suggestions:

Apples to chuck:

• Apple Music ymmv, I have lots of mp3 with iTunes match that’s why I use it, but if you don’t, Spotify is clearly the better algorithmic music suggestion service
• Podcasts are probably better in Overcast etc.
• FaceTime / Messages is fine for apples to apples, but you’ll need other messaging apps obvs
• Carrot Weather is better than Apple Weather, shame about Dark Sky
• Calculator is bested by PCalc
• Arguments can definitely be made against Logic and Final Cut
• Apple News is pain
• On that note, even with the highest tier of iCloud, it’s probably not worth it to do Apple One until your are actually spending over that much on things you actually want. Apple TV for example is easy to binge through every few months.
• Kindle is cheaper than iBooks
• Fantastical is a great calendar replacement
• Obsidian is great if you’re a Notes power-user

Apples to keep:

• iCloud and keychain are probably the best if you’re all-Apple, but back up elsewhere or consider other cloud storage solutions and 1Password. Definitely sign up for lowest tier iCloud as it unlocks a lot of functionality.
• I prefer iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) to ms office
• See Apple Music above if you have your own mp3s or old iTunes purchases
• iCloud Photo Library is getting better and is very convenient
• Find My is great if you have AirTags, use it all the time on my keys

That’s all I can think of rn! Personally I go for rational functionality over philosophy as I think that’s a trap! They’re just computers, don’t not use stuff based on principle if it works the best, but also don’t get sucked in by the hype, they make it as easy as possible to eat all your money! 

I was all in on the ecosystem when I was a few years younger, than I started to care about privacy, and although Apple might be good compared to it’s direct competitors, I don’t trust mega corps with all my data, nor do I support that tendency.

Also, I think it is good to not be too deep in their applications as a lot is proprietary and when you’d decide to move, they can’t be exported and used between services.

I still use their devices (phone + laptop), as I find it hard to change them, even if I think Android looks better these days (I don’t want to switch to Google services for example and with LineageOS I can’t use key applications), yet I use a minimal amount if their services (Apple Music (TV is included in a student offer), iTunes to buy movies. But stay away from iCloud in favour for open source alternatives and flexibility.

I try to find cross platform options for any software. I moved from Android to iOS a few years ago and always think I may move back so it’s nice to keep options open. That being said though, the apple ecosystem works so well with everything within it I sometimes double pay for services just to also have the convenience that comes with the ecosystem.

I am now at the point where I have a MacBook iPhone iPad and watch with the 50gb iCloud account. I’d still try to keep some aspects flexible since Apple really tries to lock you into their ecosystem as you probably know. Therefore I use Nextcloud for calendar and todos (Apple supports WebDAV quite well) and obsidian for notes, synced via Nextcloud. For photos I haven’t found a suitable alternative to iCloud sync since Apple prevents reliable background sync in other apps. In terms of benefits I would say an iPhone and MacBook give you the most synergy and everyday task coverage. I’m not really using the iPad often and don’t get much real world benefit out of the watch besides timers, current weather and the date. Mail providers all sync well via Apple mail, so I see no real reason to go for Apple here. For passwords, the Apple system is more convenient but you also need an Apple device around (or Apple software on windows). For this I went with KeepassXC since it’s open source and runs on everything. The KeePassium app works well on iOS and integrates with the password dialogue. I sync my password database via Nextcloud.

So my personal opinion is: Apple is nice and useful but I try to keep some freedom from their sometimes erratic policies. With my current setup I feel like I can switch away from Apple quite fast. I hope this helps a bit for perspective.

Definitely don’t go all in at once if you’re not even sure you need the things.

I have an iPhone, watch, MacBook, and AppleTV4k. My wife has a phone, watch, and iPad.

I picked them up one by one as I thought they would be beneficial. I switched from a pixel to an iPhone first. After a few months of having the phone I decided to get a cheap se watch to see if I would even use it. It was great so I upgraded to a series 8 when they came out. I have a big windows pc but didn’t have anything portable and using my phone for some things was becoming annoying, so I grabbed an m1 MacBook Air on sale for I think $700 after the M2 was released and it’s been very nice.

We picked up the AppleTV4k because our Vizio tv suuuuucks with the built in OS and quit working a lot. So we needed a standalone smart system. I have had chromecasts forever but figured that since we already pay for Apple One that getting the Apple TV would integrate better. And it has.

My wife prefers tablets to laptops so the iPad works great for her. If you do a ton of work on your laptop though, you can airplay to an iPad as a second screen which is handy.

As for the software, like I mentioned we already have Apple One so I use iCloud for pretty much everything. I use keychain for all my passwords. I use the native health app. Only one I don’t use is mail. I still use gmail for that.

I don’t have home pods or anything. We had a couple of google homes and they have ended up just sitting in a box because we don’t use them. I may end up getting a couple of them to use as a cheaper stereo system for the TV but we’re having our new house pre-wired for in ceiling surround sound so I doubt it. Might grab one for music in the kitchen or something but that’s pretty low on the list of things I want lol.

I love the integration of the apple ecosystem like the airdrop, copy/paste on any device, apple tv keyboard on my iphone, etc. It is very convenient. I’ve also encountered lesser problems with using apple products and they last longer! Our family still have an ipad 2, iphone 7 & 8, even the ipod, and all of them still work fine for games, youtube and safari.

I’m not “all-in” in the software side tho. I use apple software but I still have gmail, 1password, and microsoft office. I had more software but since most started to become subscription only, I had to retain only the important ones.

I used to have the “Apple for hardware , google for software” mentality. I’d use google mail, calendar, maps, drive, chrome…on my apple products.

But recently I’ve noticed myself slowly migrate to Apple. I have Apple One family (not premier ) which is worth it IMO.

Apple Maps feels less invasive than Google maps and they’ve upped their game recently.

Safari has become my default browser with Ecosia as the default search engine. Love that Safari shares tabs across devices.

I still have Google mail and calendar installed though. I prefer the UI.

The copy paste ability across devices is something I use daily too.

Definitely a reason to go all in apple hardware. The inter-operability between iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch, Apple TV and AirPods are unmatched. As for services I think they are great except for the default office productivity suite. Numbers is way less powerful than excel or sheets. And the others are much better for sharing and collaboration for people not in the ecosystem. I prefer google drive or office 365 for that reason. There is a few things about iCloud Drive, like the inability to stream media off of it that leads me to prefer the other services as far as cloud storage goes

There are a lot of advantages to committing to the Apple ecosystem. While every company must be given a high level of scrutiny for their actions, it is pretty easy to make this commitment, so long as you can afford to do so monetarily.

The hardware all talks to each other really well (generally) and their software works best on their hardware (generally). But if you need flexibility in your workflow, Apple is not going to provide that for you. They have gotten a lot better over the years, but ultimately if your way of working differs from their style, you’re sol.

One specific thing that’s starting to work very well is cross-device interactions. The Airdrop feature was probably the first example of this years ago: you go to share a picture and you see a list of nearby devices. You pick one and that device gets a pop up asking if they want to receive it. It didn’t always work great back in the day but now it’s very reliable and works between phones, laptop, whatever. AirPods are also great at switching which device they’re connected to seamlessly. You might be listening to a podcast from your phone but if you open up a video on your iPad and hit play, the AirPods will switch to the iPad so you can hear that video. There’s a visual cue that this occurred, and it’s very easy to get to the controls if you want to change devices manually. The Apple Watch works great in this regard. When you’re wearing it, your phone knows and will send notifications there instead of buzzing your phone, etc. When you’re playing a podcast on your phone, the watch knows and will display play controls when you look at it. Stuff like this is starting to work really easily and intuitively, though it has been a slow build over years to get here.

I don’t know how great this all works across Windows computers and Android phones. Maybe it’s good there too. But this kind of easy handoff between computing surfaces has been a concept that computer makers have been promising for a long time but has only recently begun to deliver.

You can see how it would be easier to make all this switching and sharing easier if there’s only one manufacturer involved, and they control all the hardware and software. Yes you can create open standards for this sort of thing, but those are not always very good or quick to come about. And manufacturers may or may not support them well, or promptly as they evolve.

For me: iPhone, MacBook, and AppleTV4K are fantastic devices. Apple Music is great. If you want a smart watch and tablet, then the Apple Watch and iPad are also the obvious choices for those categories.

Anything else I could take it or leave it. HomeKit, HomePod, and Siri are atrocious in terms of reliability, which sucks because the Google and Amazon alternatives are a privacy nightmare.

For professional use, iCloud storage is a non starter. For stuff like client/collaborator file handoff and versioning and basically anything outside of basic <place to put things>, I prefer a service like Dropbox.

Their password manager is also not up to snuff yet for me but they seem to be improving it. It’s just nowhere as full featured as an app like 1Password and it only works on Apple stuff which can be a real problem in some cases.

For notes I prefer a robust option like Notion. The free plan is going to be enough for most people and it’s just such a good app with so many features under the hood.

I prefer Fantastical for adding content to the Calender over iCal. It’s a lot better for granular details and its smart parsing is 2nd to none. You can simply type Meeting at <place> every Friday at 3pm and it will turn that into a recurring 3pm Friday meeting with location info (if available online) for that location.

I actually think Apple Mail is fine for my uses but a lot of people find it to be lacking compared to other apps. It definitely has its rough spots.

Wallet is fine. If you’re using an Apple device there’s not really an alternative that I am aware of for easily storing cards for contactless payments or stuff like boarding passes and event tickets.

I use Apple Music mainly because it’s integrated and easy and I have a student discount still working on it. It’s not amazing but it’s not that bad.

Apple Maps is still not up to par with Google Maps for now.

If you live outside of the US or some other country where either SMS or “blue bubble” iMessage is standard, iMessage will not be sufficient for messaging and you’ll prob need something like Whatsapp.

For hardware I’m all in on their stuff and don’t find it lacking but I’m not a gamer. If I were I would likely want a PC for that purpose. For my work (design/illustration) their stuff is great. I use both an MBP and iPad Pro for what I do and love using them. They’d not be a great option for people doing heavy 3D modeling/rendering and I don’t think it’d be the best bang for your buck for motion graphics either. For video editing and audio work they’re quite capable.

Edit to add:

Facetime is great for friends/family but I have never once encountered it being used for professional settings.

Their podcast app is outclassed but a number of 3rd party apps. Right now my daily driver is Overcast