Apps
App Count: How Many Apps Do You Use Regularly?
Having the most Apps has been and will continue to be a counting game for the big players in the mobile App market. But anyone who thinks for even a fraction of a second realizes that having large numbers of Apps available doesn’t really mean all that much to an individual user. Sure, its a marketing tool and may play into a consumer’s purchase decision. But it is reality I think it is more about quality than quantity.
I’ve got far too many iOS Apps sitting on my hard drive that diligently get updated but don’t make it to my iPhone or iPad. Yeah, I test out a lot of Apps. But, if I find I haven’t used an App in a month, I’ll take it off of the device. It may pop on if I become aware that a new update has brought new features, but it still has to pass the “have I used you recently test” to stay on my device.
Granted, there are some Apps that I keep around because they are a single use App for a specific task that I may only need to do once in awhile, but those are exceptions. For example, I don’t travel all months of the year, but I have a collection of travel related Apps that stay on the devices for the few months that I do. I know I’ll use them when travel season starts.
But when I take an inventory of what Apps I use all the time the number is surprisingly small. Beyond native email, browser, and camera Apps, those that live on both devices include PocketInformant, Instapaper, Kindle, Reeder, Osforra, Evernote, Weather Channel, Slingplayer, Netflix, 1Password, Pastebot, the Google Mobile App, Dropbox, and QuickOffice. Additonal Apps that live only on the iPad that I use regularly are Zite, Flipboard, iAnnotatePDF, and Sign-n-Send, and Penultimate. Sure there are others on both devices, but I don’t use them that regularly so they don’t go into my must have list. Both of our local newspapers have also recently released Apps with one of the papers focusing on the iPad and the other on the iPhone. So, I imagine they will hang around as well. And yes, I have Angry Birds (in all the versions) on both devices. In fact both the iPad and the iPhone each have Angry Birds folders.
So, how about you? How many Apps do you use regularly on your smartphone or Tablet? Let us know in comments.
DNel
05/14/2011 at 12:15 am
I don’t use a lot of apps everyday so my usage will be quite different than many others. I have an android phone (no tablet yet – I have a Tablet-PC) The apps that I do use frequently include calendar (I have 2 – standard free one and Business Calendar that was free on Amazon) Gmail, Internet, Fandango, Google Maps, Navigation, Memo, and a few games (Pocket Legends, Angry Birds, Landrule, Backgammon). I do have a few apps that I keep on my phone that I don’t use often. These include Trip Journal Lite, Camera, WikiMobile, Google Translate, Google Sky, Weather Channel, Evernote, YouTube, and Android Market. Warner, what travel related apps do you have?
Anonymous
05/28/2011 at 9:20 am
I dont understand people who have downloaded over 100 apps. I’ve searched all through the app store and I can’t find that many useful apps. Too many korny and useless apps that cause clutter. I have about 40 apps total and they all have a purpose and get used regularly
Gusto
11/09/2012 at 3:19 am
Do you guys happen to know if there’s an app available that would give you statistics regarding the frequency of opening/using each app? I’m in the process of optimizing my home screen shortcuts and widgets and would like to have accurate data of app usage (number of launching/starting each app). I was googling the subject and ended up to this discussion. Thanks!