Some people spend their free time watching movies, playing games, or reading books.
I spend mine on an endless, slightly obsessive search for the perfect app.

It doesn’t matter what it is—file manager, calendar, task manager, note-taking app—if I use it daily, I want it to be just right.

But here’s the problem: it never is.

The App Store Illusion

It always starts the same way.

I convince myself that somewhere, hidden among a sea of mediocre software, the perfect app exists.

So I start searching.
Reading reviews.
Watching YouTube comparisons at 2x speed.
Checking Reddit threads full of people just like me—people who have fallen down the same rabbit hole.

I get lost in endless lists like:

  • “Top 10 Productivity Apps You Need.”
  • “Best File Managers for Windows and iPhone.”

Eventually, I find something promising.

I download it, open it, start setting it up… and then the realization hits:

Something is off.

  • The interface is almost perfect, but there’s one weird design choice that drives me insane.
  • The features are great, but why is there a subscription for this?
  • It’s perfect on iPhone, but the Windows version looks like it was built in 2009 and abandoned.
  • It’s perfect on Windows, but the iPhone version syncs once every full moon.

And just like that, the cycle continues.

Why Do I Do This to Myself?

I know what you’re thinking:

“Why not just pick one and move on?”

Because that’s what normal people do. But my brain doesn’t work that way.

I need flow in my tools. If I open an app and something feels even slightly frustrating, it’s like an itch I can’t scratch.
I’ll notice it every time I use it. And once I notice it? I can’t un-notice it.

I have a zero-tolerance policy for inefficiency:

✔ If an app takes more than two clicks to do something that should take one, it’s dead to me.
✔ If it’s ugly or the design is inconsistent, I won’t use it, no matter how powerful it is.
✔ If it’s perfect but has a monthly subscription, I will uninstall it on principle.

I want my apps to feel invisible, like they don’t exist. They should just work without reminding me they’re there.

The worst part?

The apps I abandoned months ago?
Sometimes, I go back, thinking,

“Maybe they fixed it. Maybe it wasn’t so bad.”

It was.

The Windows vs. iPhone Struggle

If you’re an Apple user, you know that Apple apps just work together.
But try finding an app that works flawlessly on both Windows and iPhone?

Good luck.

I live in two worlds:

✔ Windows for work. It’s where I code, debug, and spend most of my day.
✔ iPhone for personal life. It’s where I organize tasks, take notes, and communicate.

You’d think by now, in 2024, we’d have seamless cross-platform apps that work beautifully everywhere.

But no.

  • iPhone apps are beautiful, but their Windows counterparts feel like afterthoughts.
  • Windows apps are powerful, but most of them were designed by people who hate UI.
  • The “cross-platform” apps? Usually the worst of both worlds.

I thought switching to Android would solve this.

It didn’t.

It just gave me different problems.

I’ve even considered switching everything to Apple, but the thought of using macOS for development makes me break out in hives.
I like my hardware customizable and my software open, thank you very much.

So I keep searching, hoping that one day, the perfect ecosystem will exist.

The Inevitable Conclusion

At this point, I’ve accepted my fate.

I will never settle.

I will always tweak, test, uninstall, reinstall, and repeat.

  • I will keep switching between One Commander and Total Commander because each is 90% perfect but missing one crucial feature.
  • I will keep trying every new calendar app that promises to revolutionize scheduling, only to go back to Google Calendar.
  • I will keep hoping that one day, Fantastical will magically become cross-platform.

Maybe there is no perfect app.

Maybe the problem isn’t the apps—it’s me.

But until someone creates a:
✔ Seamless
✔ Beautiful
✔ Feature-packed
✔ Cross-platform
✔ One-time-payment
✔ Ad-free
✔ Non-subscription
✔ Perfectly intuitive app for every function I need…

I’ll be here.
Searching. Comparing. Complaining.

And then downloading another one.