Tim Cook says he uses every Apple product every day — how does that work?

While talking about his daily routine, Tim Cook told this to Ben Cohen WSJ. magazine Interview that he uses “every product” “every day”. In the story he mentions using an iPhone, an Apple Watch, AirPods and then for work two different MacBooks, an iMac, a Vision Pro and an iPad Pro.

But what would it look like? really use everything Apple makes every day? Imagine being able to use every variant of hardware Apple makes in one day, with or without Beats. Then there are the accessories. Tim Cook certainly uses the polishing cloth every day, Apple's most compatible product, and probably also this VESA mount for the Pro Display XDR.

You would also have to use all services, and I don't just mean Apple Music, Arcade and Apple TV Plus. iTunes Match, AppleCare Plus, and Satellite News all count. You also have to use all the software, and there is so much of it. Sure, you have standard iPhone apps like Messages and Photos, but what about Clips or Automator?

This is a big mystery, but as someone who made a conscious decision to avoid many technical problems by focusing entirely on the Apple ecosystem a few years ago, I may be able to solve some of it.

WSJ. magazine writes that Cook uses his iPhone first.

He's sitting on his bedside table in sleep mode when the CEO of Apple, the most valuable company in the history of the world, reaches for his device and begins searching through his inbox.

6 a.m.: In no world do I check my inbox first. But I wake up to my iPhone 15 Pro's alarm, at least for now. I tap Snooze a few times on my Apple Watch before selecting Stop to trigger an Apple Shortcuts automation and turn on the lights from Apple Home while Apple Music plays music on two HomePod Minis in the kitchen. I drink coffee, let the dogs out, then scroll through social media and check the nightly notifications on my iPhone. With the iOS 18.1 beta on my phone, these are often summarized by Apple Intelligence, which is sometimes helpful.

Cook tells Cohen he's counting on it and that the feature “changed” his life. They haven't changed mine, but sometimes they laugh at me warmly.

Current meter reading: Three devices, three apps, one service. And I'm not even awake yet. That's awful.

7 a.m.: The work begins. I press the fingerprint sensor on my Magic Keyboard to unlock my Mac Studio. I use an old iPhone 13 Pro Max as a webcam, mounted on a Belkin magnetic mount, and an AirPods Max headset that sometimes connects with Apple's Lightning to 3.5mm audio jack cable. I use the Notes app on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil. I use an old iMac G4 as a third monitor, just like that. Most of the time I use a Logitech MX Master 3, but for fun I sometimes switch to a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad. Also, my Apple Watch charges sometime in the morning.

Cook reports that he uses a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and an iMac in the office. I don't do that entirely, but maybe it's not that far-fetched. You can use a laptop as a second display via AirPlay, and if you don't want to move one of your MacBooks, another one – perhaps the lightweight Air – would be handy.

As far as software goes, I use Safari, QuickTime, iMovie, Mail and Messages on my Mac, with the occasional hop into Logic Pro or Garage Band. Other Apple apps I could use in a day include Apple News (with Apple News Plus), Camera, FaceTime, Photos, Calculator, Calendar, Stickies, TextEdit, the App Store, Settings, Terminal, and Activity Monitor.

Unfortunately, numbers and keynotes are not on the menu.

Current meter reading: eight devices, three services, 22 apps and six accessories.

12:00 p.m.: Lunchtime. I sit on my MacBook Air to do personal things—take care of bills or whatever, which might include checking my Apple Card savings account. Maybe I turn on my Vision Pro to play Synth Riders, which helps loosen up my shoulders and neck. I rarely use Fitness Plus, which I have through my Apple One subscription, to work out.

I bet Tim Cook did all of his HIIT workouts with Bakari. I prefer more gentle core training with Kyle because he's a sweet guy.

Time to recharge.
Photo: Wes Davis / The Verge

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.: Back at work. At this point my iPhone 15 Pro probably needs to be charged, so it goes onto my MagSafe puck.

Current meter reading: 10 devices, seven services, 24 apps and eight accessories.

5:00 p.m.: When I'm done working, I switch to family mode. That often means cooking from recipes on my iPad Pro, listening to music or Apple Podcasts on my AirPods Pro, setting timers on my Apple Watch or HomePod Minis, and possibly troubleshooting something on my partner's iMac. Family movie night takes place via Apple TV Plus on an Apple TV 4K, which routes audio to a pair of full-size HomePods.

9:00 p.m.: After my child is in bed, I relax with video games or some TV, sometimes with Vision Pro and Apple TV Plus. To do this, I collapse onto a couch, as shown by Tim:

“I always found it very restrictive to have to sit in a certain place in the living room,” he says. He prefers to lie flat on the couch, project Ted Lasso And The Morning Show on the ceiling and stare into the Vision Pro. “It's much more pleasant to look at something than to sit like a statue in front of a TV,” he emphasizes.

Unlike Tim, I don't lie flat like a techno Dracula with a heavy VR headset pressed against my face. Instead, I lean against the arm of my couch, probably wondering why my back hurts. Plus, I end up in a crumpled heap on the couch when I turn on my Apple TV after the Vision Pro runs out of battery.

10:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.: I go to bed and put in a third pair of AirPods – my original 1st generation set – to play a game on a Nintendo Switch.

Final count: 15 devices, nine services, 26 apps, eight accessories.

As I described all of this, I felt like I had been staring into the abyss, only to find him staring back at me. But it still leaves out countless other Apple apps, non-Pro iPads, the iMac and the Mac Pro. How would anyone, even the CEO of Apple, fit in? this In?

Perhaps instead of an e-reader and a standard iPad, you could use the iPad Mini as a wall-mounted smart home controller with a nearby Apple Pencil with USB-C for quick note-taking. An iPad Air could be an all-around iPad, while the iPad Pro serves dedicated non-Mac productivity purposes (with a Magic Keyboard, of course). There is a Mac Mini for deploying Plex.

But the Mac Pro? I have a hard time imagining it being useful to anyone who isn't using it for high-end professional work here. On the other hand, I need a cheese grater every now and then.

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