Some Love For Interoperable Apps

I like to try different apps.

What makes trying different apps incredible is a layer of interoperability — standardized protocols, data formats, etc.

When I can bring my data from one app to another, that’s cool. Cool apps are interoperable. They work with my data, rather than own it.

For example, the other day I was itching to try a new RSS reader. I’ve used Reeder (Classic) for ages. But every once in a while I like to try something different.

This is super easy because lots of clients support syncing to Feedbin. It’s worth pointing out: Feedbin has their own app. But they don’t force you to use it. You’re free to use any RSS client you want that supports their service.

So all I have to do is download a new RSS client, login to Feedbin, and boom! An experience of my data in a totally different app from a totally different developer.

Screenshot of two RSS reader clients, both with the same unread articles (one is Reeder and the other is NetNewsWire).

That’s amazing!

And you know how long it took? Seconds. No data export. No account migration.

Doing stuff with my blog is similar. If I want to try a different authoring experience, all my posts are just plain-text markdown files on disk. Any app that can operate on plain-text files is a potential new app to try.

Screenshots of iA Writer and VSCode on macOS, both with the same list of plain-text markdown files.

No shade on them, but this why I personally don’t use apps like Bear. Don’t get me wrong, I love so much about Bear. But it wants to keep your data in its own own proprietary, note-keeping safe. You can’t just open your notes in Bear in another app. Importing is required. But there’s a big difference between apps that import (i.e. copy) your existing data and ones that interoperably work with it.

Email can also be this way. I use Gmail, which supports IMAP, so I can open my mail in lots of different clients — and believe me, I've tried a lot of email clients over the years.

This is why I don’t use un-standardized email features because I know I can’t take them with me.

It’s also why I haven’t tried email providers like HEY! Because they don't support open protocols so I can’t swap clients when I want.

My email is a dataset, and I want to be able to access it with any existing or future client. I don't want to be stuck with the same application for interfacing with my data forever (and have it tied to a company).

I love this way of digital life, where you can easily explore different experiences of your data. I wish it was relevant to other areas of my digital life. I wish I could:

In a world like this, applications would compete on an experience of my data, rather than on owning it.

The world’s a big place. The entire world doesn’t need one singular photo experience to Rule Them All.

Let’s have experiences that are as unique and varied as us.