I Know There is an App for That, But Who Needs It

            In our age of cell phones all but completely replacing home computers, developers have needed to adapt to the shift in technology in order to improve the experience of using their product or platform on a mobile device. Smaller screens are the obvious barrier, but, of course, there are software and user interface limitations as well. For instance, trying to run a game on a mobile device’s internet browser would be a nightmare. Thus came the widespread popularity of applications, or “apps,” if you will. These downloadables have greatly increased the capabilities of the mobile device. Now, it seems there is an app for just about everything. But like everything, it’s overdone and, often times, just makes things more complicated.

            Let’s talk about superfluous apps. You have your apps that do the exact same thing your phone can already do on its own. There are alarm apps, calculator apps, messaging apps, all functions every cellphone has had since the turn of the millennium. The only difference is they take up additional space and often come littered with advertisements.

Then you have apps that compensate for the limitations of mobile internet browsers. However, internet browsers still carry a lot of use. Many websites work just as smoothly if not even better on a phone’s internet browser than that of a home computer. Online shopping is very easily accomplished via a mobile friendly webpage. No app necessary. Of course, that doesn’t stop them from making an app anyway. Download our new app so that you can do exactly the same things you do on our website with absolutely no added features or functionality. Also, the download will take up memory space on your phone. No one asked for these apps, and no one needs them. Still they try their darndest to get you to download them with promotional offers.

            Still, these incessant promos at least don’t inconvenience you, should you decide to forgo their sacred app. For that, there is Facebook. Now, I could rant forever about my qualms with Facebook. How they won the social media war of the nineties, I haven’t a clue. Sure, Myspace was buggy, but it was a creative outlet at least. But I digress. Facebook has essentially three functions. You can post things for others to see, you can look at the things that other people posted for you to see, and you can chat. Back to my point about superfluous apps. All of those functions can very easily be accomplished on a mobile browser. Even if you are addicted to Facebook, and demand instant access at a moment’s notice, this too can be accomplished without their app. Simply bookmark the page, save the bookmark to your phone’s home screen, and save your log in information to keep you logged in.

But, in order to get people to download their app, Facebook purposely removed one of the only three functionalities from their mobile webpage. It is impossible to view or create messages on their mobile platform. Rather you must download their app. And not the regular app, mind you, no, they created an entirely separate app just for messaging, again, a capability that phones have had well before Facebook even existed.

I’ve been picking on Facebook specifically, because it is one of the most heinous examples, but these unnecessary apps are everywhere. Restaurants, drug stores, grocery stores, even tire stores have their own app. Seriously, how often do you eat at the Olive Garden that you need an app for it.

-AMS