Home Screens: Daisy Sparks


This week’s home screen features my partner in crime, Daisy Sparks (website) (Twitter). My wife is pretty amazing. Not only is she coordinating the Orange County App Camp for Girls (want to help?), she also puts up with her befuddled, nerdy husband. So Daisy, show us your home screen.


What are some of your favorite apps?

Some of my favorite apps usually have to do with my photos. Instagram is a favorite so I can look at interesting photos that my friends or favorite brands share. I really enjoy WordSwag and Rhonna where I can edit, play and insert text to create images from photos. I’ve been playing around with Camera+ so I can enhance my photos for my blog and scrapbooking. It is easy to use and has lots of great features.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

Disney Tsum Tsum is definitely my guilty pleasure. I don’t play any video games but this one just gets me. I’ve been playing for a year and I have 78 Tsums in my collection. It’s fun to play and takes up way too much of my time. I have friends who also love it so we enable our Tsum Tsum addiction.

What app makes you most productive?

Byword is one of those apps that I use daily. I can begin to write a blog post on any of my devices and have it all show up in one place at the end of the day.

1Password is my other productive app. Does that count? I can’t function if I can’t get log onto a site or the cloud. 1Password helps me by saving time and having to remember important and multiple login credentials.

What app do you know you’re underutilizing?

OmniFocus. I have several big buckets of work that I am constantly working on. I know that OmniFocus could help me be more productive and organized but I haven’t dedicated the proper time to really learn how to use it. I heard that there is a really great screencast by some nerdy guy. I should probably watch it.

What is the app you are still missing?

A really good Disneyland app. While there are several Disneyland specific apps out there including an official Disneyland App, none can meet all my Disneyland park needs. The official app makes me leave the app to make dinner reservations. There is a separate Disney shopping app that is geared towards Walt Disney World. The non-Disney Apps are way better and up to date but they have ads. Why can’t it be a “small world after all”?

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

How many hours in a day am I awake? Even when I drive my iPhone is giving me directions, playing a podcast or music. I have teens so they prefer to text instead of calling me. I don’t use my iPad as frequently simply because I can’t put it in my pocket.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

I enjoy being able move around my icons and customizing them for my needs so I can access them quickly.

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

If I were in charge of Apple I would hold a weekend Open House once a year similar to the one that JPL hosts. They could give their hardworking teams a chance to show off what’s in progress (not what’s new) or possible and give the public a chance to see what the campus is like and expose people, especially young kids, to what they can create.


Do you have an Apple Watch?

Yes! My watch face is toe-tapping Mickey Mouse and he reminds me to make some magical moments everyday.

What’s your wallpaper and why?

I have lockscreen wallpaper and home screen. My lockscreen wallpaper is of Mickey’s Fun Wheel. With Live photo, my lockscreen wallpaper comes to life. My home screen wallpaper is of the koi pond at the Aulani. It makes viewing all my icons that more manageable.

Anything else you’d like to share?

I am really excited to bring App Camp for Girls to Southern California. It’s a great program rooted in gender equality and empowering girls. As a mother of two girls, I think we can’t have enough opportunities like this. If you’d like to help out, please let me me know.

Thanks Daisy.