In early December 2017, I had a iPhone 6 loaner from the Apple store while my iPhone 6 plus was undergoing some internal repairs. 

The 16GB loaner was not large enough to house the 50 GB backup from my normal phone. So I started fresh for my short time with the loaner...

Only some of my contacts and none of the apps transitioned to the loaner. 

In the week with my loaner phone I didn’t want to take the time to figure out why not all of my contacts synced to the phone (turned out to be a gmail integration) or spend any time configuring a device I was only going to have for 2-7 days. 

Throughout the week, I did however download 11 apps. These 11 I decided I couldn’t live without. The 11...

1. Trello - task management - I had this one downloaded before I got to the car after leaving the mall. I use this to keep my mind clear of the never ending stream of things to do. 
2. Twitter - social media - I enjoy sharing the musings of life and reading others. 
3. Audible - audio books - because who can workout or do household chores without a book in the background... everyone does that right? 
4. Overcast - podcasts - see Audible reason. This isn’t just me right? 
5. Elf Yourself - Image/video editing tool - because who can’t resist elfing yourself?
6. Interval Trainer - timer - because I had to get my HIIT cardio in.
7. Sleep Pillow - sound machine - because after living at the corner of Belmont and Sheffield (next to a late night bar and concert venue in Chicago), I can’t sleep without it.
8. Gmail - email communication - Because I didn’t want to mess with configuring the native mail app on the phone.
9. Outlook - email/calendar - Reasoning same as gmail. Although a combination of a requirement to authenticate the device via our BYOD policy and an issue where some texts were over 48 hours delayed caused me to never use this app.
10. Password manager - because who can remember all of the passwords for everything.
11. Udemy - online learning - because there are #NoDaysOff when you are preparing for the PMP exam. 

We were out to drinks with some friends where I had a conversation about my phone situation/these apps and it felt a bit rediculous too say I could not live without them. I will concede, I could live without my smartphone, I could live without these apps, but if I don’t have to... why?