Inside and Outside Apple — Using, Questioning and Escaping the Ecosystem
From Vision Pro to escaping iCloud Photos — the tension between Apple's design excellence and digital independence.
Willem is both an Apple user and an Apple skeptic. He owns their hardware, admires their design, and systematically dismantles their lock-in. These posts explore what happens when someone who truly understands technology decides to use Apple on his own terms.
The relationship is complicated. Willem has used Apple products for decades, and some of his most widely-read posts are about pushing Apple hardware in directions Apple never intended. At the same time, his most passionate writing is about breaking free from Apple's walled garden.
The Experiments
The Apple Watch as Phone experiment — ditching the iPhone entirely and living with just a cellular Apple Watch — is one of the most-read posts on the site. It's a genuine test of whether Apple's smallest device can replace its biggest. The Vision Pro piece extends the same spirit to Apple's spatial computing bet.
The Escapes
The counterpoint: getting out. Escaping iCloud Photos is a detailed, practical guide to liberating your photo library from Apple's cloud — one of the most-bookmarked posts on the site. And the multi-part tablet OS project, where Willem builds his own operating system on a Surface Go running Linux, is the most radical departure: what if you don't need Apple at all?
The Alternatives
Beyond Apple, Willem explores the other side: Google-free Android phones, Omarchy on iMac, budget smartphones, mechanical keyboards — the tools of someone who uses every platform and is loyal to none.
The Deeper Thread
What connects these posts isn't anti-Apple sentiment — it's a belief that technology should serve you, not the other way around. The iPad as primary computer, the Apple Watch as tool watch, the MacBook Air saved from a dead battery — every piece asks the same question: who is actually in control?
Also explore
tablet OS · Android without Google · digital minimalism · less screen time
All Apple & Freedom Posts
Every post about Apple products, alternatives, and the ongoing negotiation between design and independence.
