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Justin Pot

Justin Pot is a freelance journalist who helps people get more out of technology.

If you've ever searched online for a specific tech problem you've read Justin's work, because he's been doing it for a long time. Since 2009, he has written tutorials and essays about technology for outlets including WIRED, The Atlantic, PCMag, Popular Science, How-to Geek, and The Wall Street Journal. For Lifehacker, he mostly writes about software, with a particular focus on open source programs and indie apps.

Justin has a bachelor's degree in Communications and International Relations. He once worked in marketing for a software company and hated it, but it did teach him a lot about why software tends to get worse over time in large companies. He lives in Oregon with his cat (and his wife). He enjoys brewing beer, exploring nature, and spending time with friends. You can follow Justin on Mastodon and Bluesky, or sign up for his newsletter, Connectivity.

MORE BY Justin
Three screenshots of Organic Maps. The left shows the layer options and other settings, the center shows a trail system in an Oregon state park, and the third shows the screen where you can download maps.
Mobile Apps
Organic Maps Is the Best Offline Maps App for Hiking
 
The menu bar icon and settings panel for Swift Shift, where you can set a keyboard shortcut that makes it extremely quick to resize or move windows using your mouse.
Apple
Swift Shift Is the Window Management Tool Apple Should Have Built
 
A screenshot of the application Boop. It's mostly a text field but a pop-up, complete with search, allows you to choose a script to convert text. The screenshot shows a script that converts uppercase text into lowercase.
Computing
‘Boop’ Is a Superpowered Copy-and-Paste App
 
Two screenshots of an iPhone with a simplified home screen. There are no icons, just the names of a few stock apps including Safari, Messages, and Photos.
Mobile Apps
This App Gives Your iPhone an Ultra-Minimalist Home Screen
 
An illustration of a man looking at his phone while surrounded but lava
Mental Health
Six Strategies to Finally Kick Your Doomscrolling Habit
 
The home screen widget for the application Habituator, which features four habits—focus, eat healthy, drink water, and no smoking. Each habit has a row of check boxes the user can tap.
Mobile Apps
Habituator for iOS Is a Beautiful Habits App With Great Widgets
 
It's a Mac menu bar, stylized to look glossy the way it did in the 90s.
Apple
This App Brings Back That Classic Mac Menu Bar Look
 
Windows login screen showing a guest account profile
Computing
Sharing a Computer Can Suck Less
 
The browser extension JumpCutter running in Chrome. There is a graph showing the volume at different points in a TED Talk, with the silent parts outlined in red. Those can be sped up.
Computing
Skip Through the Silent Parts of a Video With This Browser Extension
 
The application Clamshell is running in the menu bar. There's an option to launch the application at login and five options for what should happen when you close the display, which are outlined in the article.
Computing
Use This App to Change What Happens When You Close Your MacBook
 
Two versions of a cluttered Mac menu bar—one with the default spacing, one with the tighter spacing this applications allows. The application window is below this—it's just a slider.
Computing
This App Lets You Change the Spacing in Your Menu Bar
 
Image showing an emoji appearing by using a text shortcut
Computing
Four of the Weirdest Mac Apps That Are Actually Kinda Useful
 
Illustration of a person taking notes in front of a large grid of screens showing events from his life.
Self Improvement
How to Break Your 'Loops' and Form Better Habits
 
The Pearcleaner application is open to Day One, a journaling app I don't use. I can save 62 MB.
Apple
'Pearcleaner' for Mac Offers a Streamlined Way to Uninstall Apps
 
A macOS terminal instance running spotify-player. At the top is the currently playing information; below it is the trackless for Black to Gold, a 2015 album from Vancouver BC based synth duo Dear Rouge
Computing
You Can Use Spotify Entirely From the Command Line
 
Screenshot of custom RSS feed made from newsletters
Internet
You Can Make Your Own RSS Feed for Newsletters
 
Three iPhone screenshots of the app Strolly. The left one shows a loop over a map; the loop is red with arrows indicating where to go. The second shows the settings, which allow you to decide how long of walks you're interested in. The third shows you the ability to request new walks.
Mobile Apps
This App Will Create Unique Daily Walking Loops for You
 
screen time app on an iphone
Tech
Why You Shouldn’t Feel Guilty About Your Screen Time
 
A screenshot of the right side of a Mac menu bar. The Online Check icon is clicked, showing that the device is online.
Apple
This App Alerts You As Soon As Your Mac Loses Internet
 
A screenshot of Hush, which is a Mac window explaining how the application works.
Apple
'Hush' Blocks Cookie and Newsletter Popups on Safari