Tech Writer Bails on Five Popular Apps This Year

A new year is always a good excuse for a little housecleaning, and my digital toolbox certainly needs some attention. After months of testing, tracking prices and a couple of frustrating bugs, I’ve decided it’s finally time for me to replace five essential apps with alternatives that provide better value for my money and are more in line with how I operate and care about my privacy. These aren’t chaotic switcheroos; they’re the products of multiple sources of friction, moving prices and smarter options maturing more quickly than incumbents.

Subscriptions are creeping up for everyone. Apps are growing too; researchers at the app-store data firm Sensor Tower say they have seen steady growth in subscription app revenue, and surveys of users from companies like Deloitte indicate households beginning to trim or reshuffle digital services as they try to manage costs. Against that backdrop, here’s what I’m changing and why.

A To Do App Switcheroo From Todoist to TickTick

I’ve used Todoist for years, but a price hike earlier this year made me think twice. Monthly, it was a big increase: $5 to $7 — 40% higher — and if figures are to be believed, annual went up by 25%. Legacy plans can dodge the new rates, but they also wall off future features, which is a nudge to upgrade.

TickTick won me over by paying homage to Todoist’s best aspects while offering other practical productivity tools I actually use, including a built-in Pomodoro timer, habit tracking and a well-executed calendar view. Task import is painless, Android widgets are solid, and the natural language parsing is as good. The key thing is the cost-to-capability ratio is better, and I’m not punished for wanting a new feature.

From YNAB to Wallet: A Practical Budgeting Overhaul

YNAB inspired better money habits for me, but the value equation shifted. At $15 a month or $109 annually, it’s a significant cost — and for me the larger issue is bank connectivity. The data aggregation services YNAB depends on still don’t consistently cover all of my EU banks, which makes automated syncing unreliable and manual entry a chore.

I’m slowly moving to Wallet by BudgetBakers, which has open banking connection for my institutions and at the moment a lifetime license under $20. Open banking rules, which are being pushed by regulators in Europe, are built to shore up security and API access but the coverage is not consistent across providers. Wallet has stable connections in my area, and though I’ll lose the “age of money” metrics from YNAB, plus automatic imports, basic rules and category analytics save me hours every month.

Bitwarden to Proton Pass Password Manager Switch

Bitwarden is a great open-source alternative, but I’m running into reliability hiccups on Android. Autofill doesn’t always happen, save prompt pop-ups don’t occur sometimes and then I’m stuck creating an entry manually. I realize not all managers have challenges here — my corporate account with another provider was rock solid in years past — but I need a personal solution that works smoothly on every device and is free.

Proton Pass checks those boxes. The free tier gets you unlimited devices, entries and 10 email aliases for masking sign-ups which is fair. Proton’s security stance is solid — default end-to-end encryption and a past history of privacy-protecting design across its suite. Speaking of which, with the industry’s recent high-profile breaches and ongoing phishing risks, a reliable vault with smooth autofill isn’t a luxury — it’s table stakes.

Music Streaming Transfer YouTube Music to Deezer

On sheer paper value, YouTube Music is unbeatable — because it has access to the highest volume of music ever assembled and sits under the umbrella of a larger bundle that claims over 100 million paying subscribers, at least according to company disclosures. In practice, I’m tired of the dross and the algorithmic detours. I need something that just gets out of the way and gives sharp recommendations.

Deezer’s Flow just works, mixing in favorites with new tracks that actually suit my taste. The interface is less of a fever dream, the lyrics are synced gorgeously and now HiFi options encourage my wired listening sessions. Deezer’s piece of the global market is smaller than that of giants like Spotify or Apple Music, but in practice that can be a strength: Fewer distractions, swifter discovery and a listening experience that nudges it to seem as if it was curated rather than engineered to provoke engagement.

Personal Media Migration: Google Photos to Proton Drive

I’m not giving up on Google Photos entirely — it’s still my primary library — but its Locked Folder is too rudimentary for sensitive material. There is no album structure, no search function and minimal management tools, which creates an awkward workaround for permanent storage of private photos that you might not want everyone casually rifling through — like your medical records or ID snapshots or fitness progress.

Proton Drive solves that with end-to-end encryption so even the provider can’t peek. The free tier gets me 5GB for a private vault and, if I outgrow that, a single subscription means more storage alongside upgrades to Proton Pass as well as access to Proton’s VPN and mail tools. It’s a compelling consolidation: fewer suppliers, better privacy promises and more obvious definitions of what constitutes public albums versus genuinely private files.

The Playbook For Swapping Your Apps More Intelligently

Some guiding principles made these transitions relatively painless.

• Look beyond the monthly price and calculate total cost of ownership.
• Test real workflows for at least a week before fully committing; many services also offer imports and refunds.
• Stress reliability and privacy — features don’t help if syncing fails or your data isn’t secure.

Switching costs have never been lower, in the age of better export tools and growing competition. When an app ceases to earn its keep, time to say goodbye.