Hello! Welcome to Installer No. 89, your information to the perfect and Verge-iest stuff on this planet. My title is Jay Peters, and I shall be taking good care of Installer whereas David is on parental depart. All of us right here at The Verge are very excited for him and his household, and he’ll be again later this 12 months.
It’s an enormous honor to be penning this. I sit up for Installer each week to see what superior issues David is obsessive about and what you all are into. (Because of everybody who despatched over their favourite non-famous apps to get me began. Maintain studying for a few of these!) I’m actually excited to maintain the occasion going. (In case you’re new right here, welcome, and in addition you possibly can learn all of the outdated editions on the Installer homepage.)
This week, as I’m at round this time yearly, I’ve been obsessive about the annual Summer season Video games Accomplished Fast speedrunning marathon. In case you’ve by no means watched, the occasion is an annual, weeklong, always-on livestream of individuals enjoying video video games at a particularly excessive stage to lift cash for charity. All through the week, I’ll tune in when I’ve a second after which discover myself watching anyone obliterate a beloved basic or a recreation that I’ve by no means heard of.
The present, which you’ll watch totally free on Twitch, sometimes ends very early within the morning on Sunday, and you’ll watch replays on the Video games Accomplished Fast YouTube channel. My two favourite runs up to now have been a Beat Saber showcase and a nail-biter Cuphead race. (You probably have any prompt runs I ought to watch, let me know — perhaps I’ll characteristic them in a future Installer!)
Anyway, let’s dive in. This week, I’ve for you some new Samsung foldable telephones, a check-in with the developer of one of many nice Reddit apps, and extra.
(As at all times, the perfect a part of Installer is your concepts and ideas. What do you need to know extra about? What superior methods are you aware that everybody else ought to? What app ought to everybody be utilizing? Inform me every thing: installer@theverge.com. And if you understand another person who may get pleasure from Installer, inform them to subscribe right here. It’s free, and also you get it a full day early!)
In case you adopted the Reddit protests in 2023, then you definitely in all probability acknowledge the title Christian Selig. He was the developer of the beloved Apollo for Reddit iOS app, however he turned a central determine of the protests as a result of Reddit’s API modifications have been going to be so cost-prohibitive that they pressured him to close Apollo down.
I’ve gotten to know Selig, and these days, he works on an app referred to as Pixel Friends, is an advisor to the brand new Digg, and lately posted an important PC construct video that has greater than 2.5 million views. (Sure, he does poke enjoyable at one other, let’s say, notorious PC construct video.) I acquired to meet up with him to find out about his homescreen and what he’s into.
Picture: Christian Selig
The telephone: iPhone 15 Professional Blue Titanium 128 GB
The wallpaper: I’m fairly certain it’s simply one thing random somebody posted on Twitter ages in the past that I saved. However I really like how easy it’s, and I really like the way it appears on the house display screen with the default iOS blur utilized.
The apps: I attempt to maintain issues easy and positioned in an easy-to-reach space. I don’t maintain social media apps on my telephone in an try to be more healthy, so it’s largely issues which can be helpful: car apps (nonetheless a bit chilly in Canada, so gotta love having the ability to preheat your car), with Overcast for podcasts, Microsoft To Do (née Wunderlist) for my to-dos, ChatGPT as a result of it’s 2025, YouTube as a result of I spend manner an excessive amount of time there, Pixel Friends as a result of it’s an app I construct so I prefer to have it good and useful, the Chess.com app for passing a while, and the alpha for Digg, which has been a ton of enjoyable to make use of.
I additionally requested Christian to share just a few issues he’s into proper now:
And about his function at Digg:
Right here’s what the Installer neighborhood is into this week. I need to know what you’re into proper now as nicely! E-mail installer@theverge.com together with your suggestions for something and every thing, and we’ll characteristic a few of our favorites right here each week. For much more nice suggestions, take a look at the replies to this submit on The Verge, this submit on Threads, and this submit on Bluesky.
This week’s part is a mixture of everybody’s favourite non-famous apps and a few extra typical suggestions.
“I need to give a shoutout to my favourite cellular recreation designer who’s based mostly right here in Germany: Arnold Rauers and his little studio Tiny Touchtales develop some lovely, addictive mild technique video games. My favorites are Card Thief, Geo Gods, and Miracle Service provider.” — Nick
“I take advantage of Panic’s Nova to make web sites and really like it. In all probability my favourite app. Mimestream can be improbable! Can’t await the iPhone model.” — Jeanne
“My favourite non-famous app is Reside Soccer TV. Exhibits you the whole worldwide soccer schedule, and the record of broadcast networks/platforms in every county airing the sport. Been on my house display screen for ages now. It merely does what it says it does. No fluff and for five {dollars} a 12 months, I pay for the advert free improve. Good app. Hope it by no means modifications.” — Dustin
“Obsidian and Anybox.” — Peter
“I’m continuously shocked every time suggestions come up for recipe apps that Crouton will not be talked about. To me, if Apple have been to have made a recipe app themselves, this may be it. Even higher, it’s low cost — solely $14.99/yr and has some extremely cool options like ‘arms free’ mode that permits you to merely blink your eyes to maneuver to the subsequent step of a recipe for these occasions when you have got rooster juice throughout your fingers.” — Justin
“All of Claire North’s books are improbable! Her stuff is tremendous unique: sci-fi-ish however extra about massive concepts like time, reminiscence, and id. She does a very good job of bringing out the nuances and real-life emotions and penalties of the roles her characters have. It’s good and emotional with out being heavy, and her characters at all times stick to me. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August or Contact are nice locations to start out.” — Dave
“I do know it’s been out for some time, however my entire household is hooked on Marvel Snap. The brand new season with The Incredible 4 is absolutely enjoyable up to now and this provides my children issues that assist them tickle their mind with logic. Additionally, all of the completely different variants for the playing cards are actually cool to see.” — WALL-E
“Been utilizing Folio as my Pocket substitute and have been fairly glad.” — Carter
“All 4 The Journey motion pictures are streaming on Criterion Channel. Very humorous, very imply comedies — and the longer BBC episodic cuts are additionally out there too, if you need the prolonged play model (which you’ll).” — Kevin
“Regardless of my backlog, I’m trying out A Solitaire Thriller, as I’ve no alternative however to play something from the Baba Is You developer.” — Tristan
“Simply made the swap to the Pixel line from iOS, and I’m actually digging making an attempt a brand new OS. Outdoors of that, I’ve been taking a slight tech break and going again to bodily portray, studying paperbacks, and being current.” — EmpireStrikesBacktotheFuture
All week, I’ve been mourning the current finish of the newest collection of Taskmaster, a British comedy present the place 5 comedians should all full absurd duties and be graded on them by the present’s mercurial host. This batch of episodes, collection 19, was my favourite set but: the forged of comedians (the primary to characteristic an American, Jason Mantzoukas) have been all hilarious, and the duties have been ridiculous.
In case you’re searching for one thing new and humorous to observe, I can’t advocate collection 19 sufficient. Better of all, you possibly can watch each collection of the present totally free on YouTube. Your time begins now.
