David Sparks
Apple productivity writer · MacSparky
MacSparky, his blog about Apple gear and focus, has run since 2007. The video Field Guides he sells cover the apps he uses. Law came first, nearly 30 years of it. He co-hosts Mac Power Users with Stephen Robles, Focused with Mike Schmitz and Intentional AI with Chris Bailey. His system starts from the roles a person plays rather than from a task list, borrowing from Aristotle and Epictetus as much as from modern productivity writing. Away from the desk he works in a woodshop, grows bonsai and plays saxophone.
- Entries
- 25
- Does
- 23
- Recommends
- 1
- Discusses
- 1
Apps
13 apps in this stack
- AppDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Claude
Claude has been his main AI tool for about six months, wired into his other apps through Model Context Protocol and organized with projects and skills. He is not after something that writes for him, he says, just something to take the grunt work so more of the creative part is left.
Source: MacSparky: Sparky's Tech Stack for 2026Visit claude.ai (opens in a new tab)On record from 5 of 62 tracked people: 5 do it - AppDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Readwise
Reads in Readwise Reader. He says he continues to get a lot of value from the subscription for what it captures and organizes out of everything he reads, and he keeps Unread alongside it for RSS.
Source: MacSparky: Sparky's Tech Stack for 2026Visit readwise.io (opens in a new tab)On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 recommends it - AppDoes itFREE, no cost
Apple Notes
Months inside Apple Notes while preparing a Field Guide on the Apple productivity apps changed his mind. He calls it fast, reliable and more capable than most people realize, and says he is all in on it for general note-taking, with a linked Markdown app expected to carry the longer MacSparky thinking.
Source: MacSparky: Sparky's Tech Stack for 2026View item: Apple NotesOn record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - AppDoes it$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
DEVONthink
Every work file goes into DEVONthink databases, a choice he says has stayed the same forever. Whatever arrives lands in a system that hands him a link straight back to it. He tried Finder and other tools, and says nothing came close.
Source: MacSparky: Sparky's Tech Stack for 2026Visit devontechnologies.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - AppDoes itFREE, no cost
Shortcuts
His iPhone home screen holds Shortcuts rather than app icons, built from Choose from Menu actions and SF Symbols glyphs. Tapping the megaphone opens a list of messaging apps, so unread badges never reach him. The aim, he says, is doing actions with the device instead of launching apps.
Source: MacSparky: My Super Boring (and Super Useful) iPhone Home ScreenVisit support.apple.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - AppDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Day One
Two wildfire evacuations taught him to scan his handwritten notebook pages into Day One. The writing itself happens longhand in a Rhodia Webnotebook, a few of them a year, and the app holds the scans.
Source: MacSparky: StudioVisit dayoneapp.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Fantastical
Keeps subscriptions to both BusyCal and Fantastical, and reckons either would do, along with Apple Calendar. Proposals are what settle it. When someone asks to meet, he sends a few slots from his availability, and he says that method has never let him down.
Source: MacSparky: Sparky's Tech Stack for 2026Visit flexibits.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Hazel
People ask whether AI has retired his Hazel rules, and he says no. Twenty years into the app, he still has it doing file management on the Mac, and the reason he gives is that it sorts things on the device without burning tokens or handing anything over.
Source: MacSparky: Hazel Turns 20Visit noodlesoft.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Kagi
Ten dollars a month buys the unlimited tier at Kagi, which he uses instead of ad-funded search. He has blocked a handful of content farms that used to clog technical queries and pinned a few sites he trusts. Local results are the weak spot, so about once a week he passes a query on to Google with a bang.
Source: MacSparky: Why I Pay for SearchVisit kagi.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Keyboard Maestro
He had planned to swap his full-size Apple keyboard for one without a number pad. Those keys turned out to be too useful in Keyboard Maestro, so the big keyboard stayed, and he says the extra stretch across to the trackpad no longer bothers him.
Source: MacSparky: StudioVisit keyboardmaestro.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
MindNode
Calls MindNode his favorite mind mapping app and welcomed its MCP support as Mac-only and well done. He has started experimenting with having an AI put strategy ideas and decision trees into a map, and says he thinks there is a place for it.
Source: MacSparky: MindNode Ships MCP SupportVisit mindnode.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppDoes it$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
OmniFocus
Ran his tasks in Apple Reminders through 2025 and says he largely pulled it off, then went back anyway. OmniFocus is his primary task manager for 2026, he says, partly from long familiarity and partly because it links out well: you can grab a URL to a task, project or folder and jump between apps.
Source: MacSparky: Sparky's Tech Stack for 2026Visit omnigroup.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppDiscussesFREE, no cost
Obsidian
Spent months across Obsidian, NotePlan and Apple Notes while preparing a Field Guide, and has not picked between the first two. He credits the Obsidian plugin community with letting it do almost anything, and says NotePlan wins on being a native Mac app.
Source: MacSparky: Sparky's Tech Stack for 2026Visit obsidian.md (opens in a new tab)On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 has discussed it
Gear
8 pieces of gear in this stack
- GearDoes it$$$Expensive: Several hundred dollars and up.
MacBook Pro
Works on a 16-inch M1 Max MacBook Pro with 4TB of storage, which he says renders video and screencasts fast. It sits raised on a shelf so a spill on the desk misses it, and when the house gets noisy he unplugs it and records upstairs.
Source: MacSparky: StudioVisit apple.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 4 do it - GearDoes it$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
Standing desk
Has had the same sit-stand desk for close to ten years, a NextDesk Terra bought before the company renamed itself XDesk. He uses both positions every day, and says he would not go back to a fixed-height desk now.
Source: MacSparky: StudioView item: Standing deskOn record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 recommends it - GearDoes it$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
iPad
Nearly sold his 2018 iPad Pro back to Apple, then kept it as a second screen under the monitor. OmniFocus, Fantastical and MindNode are what stay open on it. A smaller 11-inch iPad Pro is the one that travels.
Source: MacSparky: StudioVisit apple.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it - GearDoes it$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
Elgato Stream Deck
Went deep on the Stream Deck and bought the version with the most buttons, hung off a USB hub behind the monitor. He gave over an episode of Automators to what he does with it.
Source: MacSparky: StudioVisit elgato.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - GearDoes it$$$Expensive: Several hundred dollars and up.
Pro Display XDR
Traded an old iMac Pro for the Pro Display XDR and admits it is far more screen than the work needs. Most of the rig hangs off the back of it: a 4K webcam, an external SSD gaff-taped to the stand, and a hub carrying Ethernet and the Stream Deck.
Source: MacSparky: StudioView item: Pro Display XDROn record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - GearDoes it$$$Expensive: Several hundred dollars and up.
AirPods Max
Owns a pair of AirPods Max, which he calls overpriced while rating the sound and the noise cancellation. Since his studio sits in the middle of the house, putting them on tells the rest of the family he is working. They hang under the desk on an ElevationLab Anchor.
Source: MacSparky: StudioVisit apple.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - GearDoes it$$$Expensive: Several hundred dollars and up.
Capisco chair
Bought a Capisco after his old chair started listing to one side, having never owned a fancy one before. He mostly sits forward in it, cranked high, and took the smaller size so it also works at his writing desk. The stock casters were marking the wood floors, so he swapped them.
Source: MacSparky: StudioView item: Capisco chairOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - GearDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Field Notes notebook
Carries a Field Notes book in his pocket with a page for each day, and says the digital tools boil down to the few items he writes there. He moved over from Ugmonk cards because a notebook holds future days too. Daily pages run front to back, stray notes back to front; when they meet, the book is done.
Source: MacSparky: Sparky's Tech Stack for 2026View item: Field Notes notebookOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
Books
1 book in this stack
- BookRecommends$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
The Productivity Field Guide
His own course and 42,000-word book, built around naming the roles you play and who you want to be in each one. He read through modern productivity writing and went back to Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, and says the quarterly reviews, the scheduling and the single daily priority all follow from the roles work.
Source: MacSparky: The Productivity Field GuideVisit macsparky.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 recommends it
Protocols
2 entriesStructured routines and practices with a defined method.
Blocks the working week out on his calendar, a habit he named hyper-scheduling before realizing everyone else calls it block scheduling. Each one runs an hour or more, with two exceptions he keeps short on purpose: starting up and meditating. By Friday, he notes, the plan looks a lot less tidy than it did on Monday.
Source: MacSparky: Hyper-Scheduling Without Making Yourself CrazyTeaches a seven-step shutdown ritual in his Productivity Field Guide, and says none of the system is theoretical: it is what he runs every day. What he wants from that step is being able to disconnect from work completely rather than carry it into the evening.
Source: MacSparky: The Productivity Field Guide
Habits
1 entryRecurring behaviors recorded in public statements.
Meditation gets its own block on the calendar, one of only two he lets run shorter than an hour. He schedules it next to starting up because these are the things he wants to be sure he makes time for.
Source: MacSparky: Hyper-Scheduling Without Making Yourself Crazy
In their own words
Checked word for word against the linked source
“I just don’t believe artificial intelligence should be telling me what to do every day. OmniFocus is my primary task manager for 2026. The team is hard at work on improvements. I’m excited about the recent automation additions and their use of Apple Intelligence as local AI. Not to pick your tasks for you, but to manage your task list better.”
MacSparky: Sparky's Tech Stack for 2026 (opens in a new tab) · 31 Jan 2026 On OmniFocus
“I’ve been using Model Context Protocol to link into some of my other applications. For the kind of work I want to perform with artificial intelligence, Claude does a nice job. … I’m not looking for it to write for me so much as help me with the grunt work so I have more time to do the creative work myself.”
MacSparky: Sparky's Tech Stack for 2026 (opens in a new tab) · 31 Jan 2026 On Claude
“A note handed to you is something to review. A note you wrote yourself is something you already know. I realized that writing the list is how I find out what’s on it. … For a long time I’ve had an analog version of the Daybook. It’s a Field Notes notebook I carry around with me. The technology is wood and graphite and paper.”
MacSparky: Why I Killed My Daybook (opens in a new tab) · 8 Aug 2026 “When the blocks get too small, you spend your time arranging your time instead of doing something. … Regardless, and in spite of my silly name for it, rarely do I schedule a chunk of time less than an hour when I schedule my time.”
MacSparky: Hyper-Scheduling Without Making Yourself Crazy (opens in a new tab) · 11 Feb 2019 “I like to think of myself as a craftsman. I make things, both with my words and with my hands. Being a craftsman is a core part of my identity. When I’m entrusted with a piece of material (whether it’s an idea or a slab of walnut), my goal is to leave it better than I found it.”
MacSparky: Materiam Superabat Opus (opens in a new tab) · 29 Aug 2026
Episodes from the feed
Show archive, Mac Power Users (opens in a new tab)Last fetched . A title without a link is an episode the feed publishes no page of its own for.
- 865: Harvard Professor Teddy Svoronos on AI in the Classroom (opens in a new tab) · 1h 13m
- 864: Marked Safe from Buying M5 Ultra (opens in a new tab) · 1h 16m
- 863: 20 Years of Things with Werner Jainek (opens in a new tab) · 1h 20m
- 862: Mac Launcher Showdown (opens in a new tab) · 1h 15m
- 861: Stephen Builds a New Task App (opens in a new tab) · 1h 12m
Stack notes are paraphrased. Anything in quotation marks is a short excerpt copied from the transcript it links to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.