Half Of US Smartphone Users Download Zero Apps Per Month (recode.net)

Apple's iOS users may have downloaded more than 140 billion apps since the App Store was launched in 2008, but the reality is that a huge number of people just don't try out so many apps anymore. We noted a few weeks ago how people were showing less interest towards apps, and now we have more confirmation on that front. According to comScore, some 49 percent of U.S. smartphone users download zero apps in a typical month. Recode reports: Of the 51 percent of smartphone owners who do download apps during the course of a month, "the average number downloaded per person is 3.5," comScore's report says. "However, the total number of app downloads is highly concentrated at the top, with 13 percent of smartphone owners accounting for more than half of all download activity in a given month."

Comments

You mean new apps right?

[SuperKendall]

Because quite a lot of those people supposedly not downloading apps in a month, are downloading updates...

There is a certain amount of mental energy used just to keep up with app churn.

Re: You mean new apps right?

[Anonymous Coward]

The only thing that I use my iPhone for is text messaging, waking me up (It does not even have a separate volume control for the alarm clock. It is ridiculous for a high end phone to be missing such a basic function.), and reading a few websites including this one when I am bored at work.
I downloaded a few apps such as Netflix and Crunchyroll within the first couple of months of ownership, but I realized that I hate watching or doing anything on such a small screen, not to mention having to hold the device. In fact, I hated typing this comment on my iPhone and wish I could have typed it on a keyboard instead.

Re:You mean new apps right?

[BarbaraHudson]

The half-life of a new app on a smartphone is not great. People will download a few, and usually end up deleting them all. Aside from the default install apps, the only ones you'll find on mine are a dozen apps for news, bus schedule, epub reader, bank, kijiji, messaging, and an slashdot reader. No games survived more than an hour.

Re:You mean new apps right?

[Austerity Empowers]

Because quite a lot of those people supposedly not downloading apps in a month, are downloading updates...

In other words we have the apps we like... which is kind of why this article makes me roll my eyes. The apps I have I cannot live without, but 99% of the app store is shit I won't download on a bet.

Re:You mean new apps right?

[Anonymous Coward]

No new apps. I don't trust my phone at all. It's an Android, but I wouldn't trust an iPhone either.

And no updates, because all you get from updates are more ads.

Re:You mean new apps right?

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck updates. Every time I break down and update an app I find out they've removed some feature I liked, or got new and more annoying ads. Fuck that. No updates for anything any more except banking app and explicit security apps like Signal. Right now I have 67 updates "pending approval."

Re: You mean new apps right?

[unixisc]

For an alarm clock, I use my Microsoft Lumia - it does an amazing job. The only thing I use my iPhone for is FaceTime and Vonage calls, as well as WhatsApp. Oh, and there are a few apps like Costco, which is handy when I'm shopping there, as well as some games like Monopoly & Bejeweled when I'm waiting for something in a waiting room or restaurant. I don't use it for much else, since I expect the memory to get filled by just WhatsApp

Re: You mean new apps right?

[The-Ixian]

I use an old Android 2 device for an alarm clock. Old phones make the perfect alarm clock because even if the power goes out, it can last for a day on battery.

You are right though, my Lumia does make a better alarm clock... but I like having a dedicated device for that purpose.

Re:You mean new apps right?

[Anonymous Coward]

And there are those who don't download updates because they inevitably lead to the addition of ads, IAPs/crippleware or hideous shit like "material design" that is added for no legitimate reason.

I have a set of apps that I regularly use backed up on my safe backup drive. When I get a new device or reflash a device, I just restore those and go on my way. I don't even have Google Play installed because it wants too many hooks into the system.

Re: You mean new apps right?

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

For an alarm clock, I use my Microsoft Lumia - it does an amazing job.

Just how low do you have to set the bar for an alarm clock to call it "amazing"?

I have an old, battery-powered travel alarm clock from the 80's that still works, but I've never thought of it as "amazing". It runs for months on a single AA battery, is waterproof and loud enough to hear anywhere...but I've never told anyone it was "amazing". It's a fucking alarm clock. How "amazing" does it need to be? And what could an alarm clock do that would warrant it being labeled "amazing"? Wake you up each day?

Re: You mean new apps right?

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

I use an old Android 2 device for an alarm clock. Old phones make the perfect alarm clock because even if the power goes out, it can last for a day on battery.

A whole day? Will wonders never cease...

Seriously, just go spend 5 or 6 bucks on a travel alarm clock. They'll run for months on a single AA battery.

Re: You mean new apps right?

[Malc]

I don't really see much value to most of the updates pushed at me. Why both we continuous deployment and constantly updating me every two weeks? Might as well use my web browser and then I don't have to think about it, my phone doesn't get cluttered with apps and perhaps this is more secure.

Re: You mean new apps right?

[DavidRavenMoon]

Really? Beside texting and reading websites and email (8 different mail accounts), I take and edit photos on my iPhone (and I have the full Adobe suite on my Mac), record music in Garageband, plugging my guitar into AmpliTube via my iRig interface... works great for writing songs while sitting in a park! I listen to music and Podcasts. I have watched Netflix and movies via Plex on my iPhone 6 plus. It's great for when I want to watch something but feel like laying in bed. Holding the screen in front of you is as large as a TV across the room. I never had a problem with the alarm clock using the ring volume. Why would you need it different? I have the phone on Do Not Disturb at night anyway, so the ringer volume doesn't matter. After I wake up I can change it. Oh and of course the Maps apps when I'm going somewhere around NYC.

I actually spent a whole year with only an iPhone and no computer while I was in-between places to live. It's a very capable device.

Most reports say that iOS users buy and use more apps than Android users. I currently have 184 apps on my iPhone. I used to have more. I use most of them.

Re: You mean new apps right?

[Anonymous Coward]

That guy ain't doing it right. If you activate Airplane Mode (disabled all radio transcievers), and otherwise don't use the phone except as an alarm, an old Android phone should last well over a week on a single charge, if not longer.

Re: You mean new apps right?

[Anonymous Coward]

What kind of garbage is that?
My digital casio from the 90s runs for years with it's battery

Re:You mean new apps right?

[epine]

In other words we have the apps we like... which is kind of why this article makes me roll my eyes.

There's this thing in economics called rational ignorance.

The upside of finding another app with positive utility is less than the downside of having to wade through hundreds of apps whose security policy comes nowhere close to my personal threshold of acceptability.

The search friction is immense, because Android doesn't allow me to hard code my own "acceptable security" profile, restricting the apps that it shows me to only those apps (at least, not the last time I tried). It would be a short list based on what I've observed in prior dumpster dives.

Want to access my personal contacts in exchange for turning my camera flash into a flashlight? Go fuck yourself.

The utility I'm losing because of my posture of rational ignorance is definitely non-zero, by deliberate Android design. Make it easy for users to impose their own personal security profile, and users will actually start doing it, even the lazy ones who might otherwise fire and forget.

Because the granularity of my control is so outrageously coarse, I have my GPS disabled, I have my data service disabled, I have location services disabled, I have Bluetooth disabled (despite owning a Pebble watch), and 90% of the time I have my Wi-Fi disabled. And I have software installed to warn me when any of my apps try to update. Even Google Play now has to ask permission. If I had a mechanical slide switch like I do on my T500 laptop, I'd also have my microphone and camera electrically disabled when not in active use (the switch on the T500 only controls a few radios).

In a world where the Mozilla phone was viable (never did I suspect this for a second), I'd have switched already.

Android has a user security experience—for a user technical enough to know the difference—of a combination payday loan / taco stand / ripoff currency exchange parked over a filthy storm drain piped through rotting, pre-coup infrastructure into a Zika-infested marshland.

Re: You mean new apps right?

[Dutch Gun]

A quick question: Can set your alarm clock to wake you up at one time on weekdays, and a different time on weekends? How about a one-time alarm when you need to get up at a different time that particular morning? If so, is it easy enough that your non-technically-minded spouse could do it?

It's trivial with my smartphone, because it's got a stupidly expensive touch-screen interface that enables an intuitive interface that a dedicated alarm clock could never afford at it's $10-30 price point. Those clocks have to make due with a few LCD lights and a couple of hardware buttons to do the job. Every time I sleep in a hotel and try to set their alarm clock (after which I give up and ask the desk for a wake-up call), I'm reminded again at how awful most dedicated, low-cost electronics interfaces are.

Re: You mean new apps right?

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

A quick question: Can set your alarm clock to wake you up at one time on weekdays, and a different time on weekends?

Yep, and it takes all of about ten seconds to do it, too. But I never bother to do that because I sleep in on the weekends and I get up when I feel like it, not when a clock tells me to.

Re: You mean new apps right?

[Anonymous Coward]

I use an actual Alarm Clock...

Re:You mean new apps right?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, you don't get it.
Clearly people are downloading less apps because of piracy!

Re: You mean new apps right?

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny, so do the same, my alarm clock is an old Android phone that stays in the bedroom in airplane mode. I like the violin "ring tone" it has for the alarm sound because it's not obnoxious to wake up to.

As for trying out new apps all the time on my everyday phone, I have no need, time or interest in trying out new stuff for the sake of it, the phone has what I need installed and that's it.

Re:You mean new apps right?

[racerx509]

In other words we have the apps we like... which is kind of why this article makes me roll my eyes.

There's this thing in economics called rational ignorance.

The upside of finding another app with positive utility is less than the downside of having to wade through hundreds of apps whose security policy comes nowhere close to my personal threshold of acceptability.

The search friction is immense, because Android doesn't allow me to hard code my own "acceptable security" profile, restricting the apps that it shows me to only those apps (at least, not the last time I tried). It would be a short list based on what I've observed in prior dumpster dives.

Want to access my personal contacts in exchange for turning my camera flash into a flashlight? Go fuck yourself.

The utility I'm losing because of my posture of rational ignorance is definitely non-zero, by deliberate Android design. Make it easy for users to impose their own personal security profile, and users will actually start doing it, even the lazy ones who might otherwise fire and forget.

Because the granularity of my control is so outrageously coarse, I have my GPS disabled, I have my data service disabled, I have location services disabled, I have Bluetooth disabled (despite owning a Pebble watch), and 90% of the time I have my Wi-Fi disabled. And I have software installed to warn me when any of my apps try to update. Even Google Play now has to ask permission. If I had a mechanical slide switch like I do on my T500 laptop, I'd also have my microphone and camera electrically disabled when not in active use (the switch on the T500 only controls a few radios).

In a world where the Mozilla phone was viable (never did I suspect this for a second), I'd have switched already.

Android has a user security experience—for a user technical enough to know the difference—of a combination payday loan / taco stand / ripoff currency exchange parked over a filthy storm drain piped through rotting, pre-coup infrastructure into a Zika-infested marshland.

Get a phone with cyanogenmod and privacy guard. You can disallow individual security permissions to an app. Some apps don't like them and crash, but most ask for them but chug along perfectly fine with those permissions disallowed. Privacy guard is a real game changer.

Re: You mean new apps right?

[Karlt1]

The only thing that I use my iPhone for is text messaging, waking me up (It does not even have a separate volume control for the alarm clock. It is ridiculous for a high end phone to be missing such a basic function.), and reading a few websites including this one when I am bored at work.

There are two volume settings for the iPhone - one controls audio for music and apps and the other controls the ringer volume - which also controls the alarm. If music isn't playing in the background, the volume button controls the ringer. The control center volume control never affects the ringer/alert.

Down with the 1%!

[Anonymous Coward]

They're takin our apps!

I use a phone as a phone.

[Anonymous Coward]

I occasionally use the phone's web browser, a speed test app, and sometimes Twitch to deliberately drain the battery on my phone.

I really don't know about stories of people with hundreds of apps on their phones. They're not like computers where you can edit photos/videos and play (good) games.

Re:I use a phone as a phone.

[known_coward_69]

maybe you have crappy phones. my wife is always editing photos on her iphone 6 and they come out pretty good

Re:I use a phone as a phone.

[110010001000]

I agree. She makes some real nice photos.

Re:I use a phone as a phone.

[amRadioHed]

Actually they're just like computers as that's what they are.

Re:I use a phone as a phone.

[Anonymous Coward]

Your mom's are better.

Re:I use a phone as a phone.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah but the pics of your sister taking on you and 3 dudes with big black cocks are even better.

Re:I use a phone as a phone.

[R3d M3rcury]

I have a couple of games, Yelp and Shazam, Speed Test, two-work related apps and a couple of my own that I wrote for fun.

While I can do lots of things on my phone, I'd rather do my photo editing on a bigger screen.

Re:I use a phone as a phone.

[DavidRavenMoon]

They're not like computers where you can edit photos/videos and play (good) games.

Sure they are. I edit photos and audio on my iPhone all the time. And I play games on my phone more than on my computer.

Re: I use a phone as a phone.

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn! She promised not to tell anybody.

people are annoyed with too many apps

[denis-The-menace]

Storage and attention span is limited.

Wouldn't it be great if you could just use ONE app to browse a web site.

I don't know what it would called but I if it did exist, Apple would removed it as a feature.

Re:people are annoyed with too many apps

[skam240]

Maybe we could call it a "Web Browser"?

Re:people are annoyed with too many apps

[The-Ixian]

No, that is too obvious and, frankly, too plain.

We need a name that doesn't make any sense... a nonsense name... I don't know... shooting from the hip here... how about Big Game Animal Hunt...

Re:people are annoyed with too many apps

[blackomegax]

Call it the HTML URL Responsive Frontend DEPLOYMENT ENDPOINT RESOURCE FIREFOX Or HURF DERF for short.

Re:people are annoyed with too many apps

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

I agree with your comment, but was curious about your sig:

Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration

You do realize that the TSA was created / sponsored by Don Young (R) and Ernest Hollings (D), passed by the 107th U.S. Congress, and signed into law by President George W. Bush, right?

Obama literally had nothing to do with the creation of the TSA. And the NSA? It dates from the Truman administration in 1952.

Was Obama also responsible for the sinking of the Titanic and the War of 1812?

Re:people are annoyed with too many apps

[Anonymous Coward]

Was Obama also responsible for the sinking of the Titanic and the War of 1812?

Yes.

Re:people are annoyed with too many apps

[CrimsonAvenger]

It should be noted that President Obama is the guy in charge of the Executive Branch now, which includes the NSA and TSA.

Doesn't really matter who created those agencies, he gets to decide what they do while he is in office. So, pretty much everything done in the last seven years by those two agencies was done with at least the tacit approval of President Obama.

Just as what was done by them for the previous eight years was done with at least the tacit approval of President Bush.

Re:people are annoyed with too many apps

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

It should be noted that President Obama is the guy in charge of the Executive Branch now, which includes the NSA and TSA.

Which were created under George W. Bush, a fact you conveniently overlook.

-

Doesn't really matter who created those agencies, he gets to decide what they do while he is in office.

Lol, yeah, keep telling yourself that. If Obama had tried to dismantle them or reign them in, the Republicans would have a nuclear-grade shitfest over it. But keep on blaming Obama for inheriting the mess your hero George Bush created.

Re:people are annoyed with too many apps

[Anonymous Coward]

if they thought they could get away with it and force everybody to use "apps" (from their 'app store', using their sanctioned ad networks, and with 10x the tracking nonsense of the typical web page) to essentially browse a particular web site, apple would have already done exactly that.

Re:people are annoyed with too many apps

[denis-The-menace]

Then why give them moar power after the fact?

Why protect them when they overstep their boundaries or screw up?

Re:people are annoyed with too many apps

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Then why give them moar power after the fact?
Why protect them when they overstep their boundaries or screw up?

Who said either of those things should be done?

I'm the guy that always opts-out and makes the TSA goon pat me down, because he works for me, not the other way around. I've never suggested they should have more power or be protected when they overstep their boundaries.

Only one word for those people...

[110010001000]

...luddites! apps! something something apps!

I'm one of them

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm still waiting to see if this whole 'cellular phone' fad catches on. Until then, I'll stick with my landline, thank you very much.

Re: I'm one of them

[Anonymous Coward]

Same here, still keep a landline - if it's important leave a message and I'll get back to you. Ironically I have an app from my telco that will let answer and make calls, listen to and more convently read messages on the land line.

Everyone that needs a phone number from me gets the landline, if there is a need for someone to have my cell number because they are worthy I might let them have it.

I no longer view them as apps

[QuietLagoon]

Instead I now view them as self-inflicted malware and eavesdropping opportunities.

.
I see no reason to intentionally install malware on my phone.

Re:I no longer view them as apps

[lgw]

Has nayone looked at Amazon's actually free apps to see if they're typical malware? Sure, there's a different compensation model for the devs, but my cynical assumption is that they also harvest everything they can. Would be pretty cool if they didn't though?

Where's the GOG of apps, anyway? The "one price upfront, guaranteed no data collection or in-app purchases"?

Re:I no longer view them as apps

[CastrTroy]

Yeah, I got a lot of flack for commenting on the article about the Pokemon Go related malware, but I think this really doesn't get enough emphasis. Stop installing so much junk on your phone. I am very selective about the apps that I install. Doesn't matter if they are on Google Play Store, the Apple App Store, Windows App Store, Steam, or whatever other place you get you software from for your phone or computer. Every thing you install is a possible vector for attack or snooping at your data. I get by pretty well with my cell phone with just email, browser, a few games, and a couple other basic utilities. After the first month, I might install one new app a month, but they mostly get removed pretty quickly after I realize that I actually don't need that many apps. How many people go installing new software one their PC 5 times a week? Why would you treat your phone any different, especially with such limited resources.

Re:I no longer view them as apps

[Anonymous Coward]

The whole point of a web browser was to eliminate the need for apps. I never understood why anyone wanted to go back to them. Hopefully the resistance to apps will continue so we can get back to browsers.

Re:I no longer view them as apps

[Anonymous Coward]

fewer and few apps seem to be aimed at 'doing' a thing, instead it either want to report home as much information as possible or get the downloader to join a 'community' and get the downloader to send that information him/herself. But that's not what the downloader was searching for. They just want an app to do what the apps says it will do. Quite often it doesn't even work very well at the intended task.

Re:I no longer view them as apps

[Anonymous Coward]

Where's the GOG of apps, anyway? The "one price upfront, guaranteed no data collection or in-app purchases"?

Here. Except the price is always free. F-Droid is fantastic but I agree that it would also be great to have an app store where you can make purchases akin to GOG, where there are strong pro-consumer values. GOG does so many things right and I'm happy to support them and the excellent game developers whose works they've curated (including their own game studio). I'm sure it would be a lot of work making agreements with app publishers but it can clearly be done in the related desktop gaming industry.

So really, great idea. If someone has the connections or ambition to start something like this they should mention the start of the project on Slashdot. I'm sure you could be able to recruit help here or at least future customers.

Re:I no longer view them as apps

[fluffernutter]

Because browsers do a lot of things but they do nothing real well. Now I know a lot of apps are nothing more than a browser window hard wired to a certain website, but a well done native app will be better and smoother than a browser app every time.

Re:I no longer view them as apps

[ChunderDownunder]

And a badly coded web view will suck compared to a mobile web site. I have a few of those on my phone. Content is repackaged from a desktop web site into an app, which then renders HTML snippets - i.e. a glorified feed reader with a few bells and whistles. Slow and buggy. All because everyone has an app in Google Play these days and they want to sound kool with the kids. I'd much prefer if said online service just re-skinned their web site for small screens.

And don't get me started on facebook - their apps are slow and resource heavy. And no, I don't want to install their crummy messenger app - just re-enable the in browser feature!

I was a fan of Firefox OS. Mozilla it killed off just as it was getting usable on decent hardware (Flame/Nexus 4). The browser was seamless and, despite missing a few features, much better than Android versions of Chrome or Firefox.

Re:I no longer view them as apps

[ChunderDownunder]

I always check the permissions.

You want to do *what* now? Next.

Re: I no longer view them as apps

[Anonymous Coward]

Facebork, I use it in the browser on my phone. Because they experience is shitty compared to the app, I use it less and more when I need to rather than an excuse to melt my brain.

Re:I no longer view them as apps

[Anonymous Coward]

Where's the GOG of apps, anyway? The "one price upfront, guaranteed no data collection or in-app purchases"?

I'd love this.

Re:I no longer view them as apps

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, the first thing I do when I get a new phone, even if I'm not going to root it or replace the ROM with Cyanogenmod is to uninstall or at least disable everything that is not essential to the basic functionality of the phone, I want it stripped down to the point that the only things there are the browser and the play store, from there I install F-Droid and disable the stock browser in favor of Firefox from F-Droid running uBlock Origin. From F-Droid I install all that I need sans games or specific work related apps that can't be run from the browser. I even do Youtube in browser because unlike the Youtube app it actually keeps playing while in the background.

Re:I no longer view them as apps

[Anonymous Coward]

F-Droid for FOSS apps. Maybe Humble Bundle app for games?

Re:I no longer view them as apps

[Anonymous Coward]

And don't get me started on facebook - their apps are slow and resource heavy. And no, I don't want to install their crummy messenger app - just re-enable the in browser feature!

I was a fan of Firefox OS. Mozilla it killed off just as it was getting usable on decent hardware (Flame/Nexus 4). The browser was seamless and, despite missing a few features, much better than Android versions of Chrome or Firefox.

Use m.facebook.com or grab Face Slim from F-Droid which provides 2 different ways to access the messenger feature.

context?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are they trying to raise that figure, and for gods sake, why? Reinforcing programmers to hone their skills and sell apps? Does anyone get rich off apps anymore besides big companies? Does this suggest the app strategy is failing? Can we finally get open mobile operating systems?

Couldn't care less

[Anonymous Coward]

After a certain point, there are diminishing returns on how many apps I need. They end up being failure prone, trojan horses, or somehow cause CPU utilization to go to 100% and kill the battery.

Flipphone users

[avandesande]

How many of these 'non downloaders' are former flip-phone users that bought a smart phone due to their low price and obsequiousness?

Re:Flipphone users

[rubycodez]

er, if you only lived through smart phone era you're young. Older people will have had a flip phone. Older people are less likely to use their phone as entertainment/consumer targeting system and more likely to download app for useful practical purpose. I loaded two extra apps onto my phone: weather and bar/QC code scanner. Thus my phone can do everything I need it to do besides the built-in telephony, alarm clock, texting, email, browser

Re:Flipphone users

[Anonymous Coward]

ubiquitousness

Re:Flipphone users

[avandesande]

that's what i get for using google as spell checker :)

Re:Flipphone users

[Anonymous Coward]

ubiquity

Re:Flipphone users

[The-Ixian]

I would probably fall into that category.

I have a Microsoft Lumia phone. The only non-Microsoft app I have purchased is a podcast app. Other than that, I just have Netflix and Kindle apps. That's all I really need.

Re: Flipphone users

[Anonymous Coward]

In fact, I was rather disappointed that in contrast to my old nokia, the new android phone didn't even provide a simple notepad. I've spent quite a time looking for something that wasn't adware. Good thing there are some open source apps, albeit wery few.

Re:Flipphone users

[Anonymous Coward]

I dunno, my smartphone is pretty obsequious. Not quite as bad as Clippy, but getting there...

Re:Flipphone users

[fnj]

obsequiousness

Look. I found a new word and I'm going to use it inappropriately without any idea of what it means.

Re:Flipphone users

[Anonymous Coward]

Lot's of replies and nobody mentioned MAPS.

Using a GPS dongle and having to load new maps from a computer doesn't count.

Re:Flipphone users

[Mr_Whoopass]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Re:Flipphone users

[Hognoxious]

It's exponentially amusing when people do that.

Responsive web design

[Ken_g6]

Is it finally being preferred over apps?

Re:Responsive web design

[rubycodez]

Yeah what's this going back to "fat clients" with the apps? "Download our pre-order app!" says your favorite restaurant. That should just be a bookmark in browser to correct place on their web site.

Re:Responsive web design

[BarbaraHudson]

No. Regular apps and web-based apps both mostly suck.

Re:Responsive web design

[gilgongo]

Yeah what's this going back to "fat clients" with the apps? "Download our pre-order app!" says your favorite restaurant. That should just be a bookmark in browser to correct place on their web site.

Blame the Google Tax - SEM is a high-cost channel. If you can get people to bypass Adwords by using your app instead then you're getting visits on the cheap.

So? This is News?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a number of Apps on my phone. They enhance the features of the phone to do everything I want.
Can someone please tell me why I need to keep downloading Apps when I don't need to?
In the end the phone will run out of space. Does anyone expect that I would delete any on my current apps just so that I could keep on downloading more apps that I probably don't use more than once?

Bullshit.

Re:So? This is News?

[ColdWetDog]

I have a number of Apps on my phone. They enhance the features of the phone to do everything I want.
Can someone please tell me why I need to keep downloading Apps when I don't need to?
In the end the phone will run out of space. Does anyone expect that I would delete any on my current apps just so that I could keep on downloading more apps that I probably don't use more than once?

Bullshit.

Because if you don't download new apps, Apple / Google / etc can't have ever increasing volumes and margins. That's un-American. Probably un-natural.

Re:So? This is News?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who said :-

1) That I' am american
2) That the Apps I use require payment

The answers are
1) Nope, not in a million years (land of the Free, my Ass)
2) They are all free. i.e. Zero cost and no in App downloads.

Satisfied?

Duh!

[Ol Olsoc]

Some of us use our phones as phones. I have all of the applications I need installed now, weather, a few other things, and nothing since. Smartphones make for shitty computing devices, shitty game devices. They do okay as phones though.

Re:Duh!

[j2.718ff]

Some of us use our phones as phones. I have all of the applications I need installed now, weather, a few other things, and nothing since. Smartphones make for shitty computing devices, shitty game devices. They do okay as phones though.

I very rarely use my phone as a phone. However, I even more rarely download new apps. When I first bought my phone, I installed a bunch of apps that I knew I'd use regularly, and have installed very little since then.

Re:Duh!

[ColdWetDog]

I've found the iPhone as a wonderful little portable general purpose computer. I do have a number of apps that I find very useful. It's sort of useful as a phone as well. Hardly perfect but if you think back to Palm Pilots and the original Windows phones we really have some neat options and a large amount of computing power.

But I haven't loaded a new app in some time and I suspect most people are the same. You figure out what you want to do with your general purpose portable computer, rig it up and just use it.

Wading through the Apple Store is rather crappy experience. The apps I have loaded I've found from other web sites or word of mouth or just by accident.

Re: Duh!

[Anonymous Coward]

iPhone/iPad is better at being a general computing device, I have one of each.

As for apps, it use the phone mostly to read stuff during my commute in a web browser in private mode and Text mode communication with my wife during the day. Both devices have some network utils like Speedtest, a real estate app because I like to snoop on the houses for sale around where I live, banking app only because I bank with a credit union and their app is excellent. Google maps, Skype to video call with my parents once a month and a VPN client for work to get to our internally hosted wiki once in a while.

The reality is...

[sudden.zero]

...that this is due to the limited storage capacity of said devices. Now if the device manufacturers would stop making phones that don't include microSD slots, and then allow all applications to be stored on said SD cards then people might download and install more apps. As the state of devices currently sits I only install the apps that I absolutely use, and the only games I have on my device consists of a Super Nintendo emulator.

Re:The reality is...

[BarbaraHudson]

It's not due to limited storage. Most downloaded apps either get deleted or are never used after the first blush of "hey, new app!" As far as space goes, remove Facebook and you'll have room for lots of apps.

Re:The reality is...

[supremebob]

Don't forget the limitations of data plans as well. If I only had a 2 GB data cap, I sure as hell do not want to waste that bandwidth on stupid freeware applications that install 50+ MB updates every few weeks.

Re:The reality is...

[dcavanaugh]

Yes, limited storage IS a problem. On my phone, Facebook (and other assorted bloatware) is pre-installed. Although I can uninstall updates and disable the app, unless I root the phone, the space can never be truly recovered. For any new app I might want to install, at least one existing app needs to go.

And when you consider the tendency of apps to run processes in the background, it's time to think about memory, CPU, and battery life. The more apps you have, the slower your phone runs.

Re:The reality is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, it's not for me, so there. Seriously, I pretty much never download new apps. 90% of the apps I've downloaded in the past have been complete shit, so I simply don't anymore.

Re:The reality is...

[sjames]

As far as space goes, remove Facebook and you'll have room for lots of apps.

I would if I could. That and the Blockbuster app that offers to find a store near me.

This means something

[H3lldr0p]

"However, the total number of app downloads is highly concentrated at the top, with 13 percent of smartphone owners accounting for more than half of all download activity in a given month."

You know what this says to me? This says that maybe there's 3% of users who do this on their own accord. The other 10% are working for astroturfers. How else can one account for the amount of people who actually rate apps and file those perfect tidbit reviews you see in the walled gardens? The vast majority of people are too lazy or just don't care. Why should they? None of this gives them anything in return. It's too bad we don't have more transparency in the app stores to verify.

Not surprising

[dejitaru]

Once you have the apps you need, why change? Mayyybe if you're extremely bored and decide to download a new game, or (especially) if you're an early adopter and have to fulfill some random desire to try new apps.

It's like my desktop computer, as a teen I was downloading a lot of software and installing it out of sheer curiosity... now though... meh. The only new programs I download are games.

Re:Not surprising

[bigman2003]

But that's the problem...

Apps are VERY trendy. If you want to be hip with apps, you gotta get what is hot this week. And the churn is huge.

I welcome a return to mobile web being the preferred way to get information/do things.

I'm on a 'lesser' mobile platform (Windows). I give a damn about apps. Recently Amazon pulled support for their app on Windows Phone- that's pretty serious when even Amazon doesn't want to make an app on your platform.

But I still muddle along with their website- cuz I gotta buy stuff.

I wish they'd pour their efforts into their website, instead of their apps. Then everybody could have a good experience.

Re:Not surprising

[dejitaru]

Agreed, I really hate the fact that there's an app for EVERYTHING. I don't understand why I need 10 different apps for all my bank accounts when I can access then all through the browser. And that's what bothers me about Microsoft, Google, and Apple bringing "mobile apps" to the desktop.

Re:Not surprising

[nine-times]

Once you have the apps you need, why change?

I think the problem is that the "new economy" is supposed to be driven by the idea that, every month, a different group of 20 year-olds in California will come out with another mobile app that will revolutionize the economy, solve all of our problems, and change everyone's life. You know, like the way Foursquare changed the way we all socialize, or how Words with Friends completely changed the world? So if everyone isn't constantly buying the trendy new apps, then the world stops improving, the "new economy" collapses, and we all die horrible deaths.

Seriously, though, the way some people talk, you'd think that's how this all works. In reality, a lot of the startup culture is overhyped nonsense that nobody is calling bullshit on because too many people have an economic incentive to keep people believing the nonsense. I'd bet an awful lot of people have something like 10 apps installed on their phone (excluding built-in ones), and only 5 get regular use-- and of those, 3 of them should really just be websites, and there's no real reason why they need to be applications except it makes them slightly easier to access.

Re:Not surprising

[The-Ixian]

Weird, I still have the Kindle app installed on my Windows 10 phone. I just delivered a book to it yesterday.... so clearly it is still working...

Re:Not surprising

[sims 2]

IIRC about a year ago amazon discontinued support on iOS 5.0.1 I'm still disappointed that I can't check my orderers on my ipod touch anymore but their app still works great on my ipad running 6.1.3

Re:Not surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

I have no interest in being hip or trendy.

I have the utilities I installed when I got my fist smart phone, and a couple of games I still find interesting. I use what works for me.

Re:Not surprising

[Kernel Kurtz]

Exactly. I have a handful of apps I use quite regularly, a bunch I use occasionally, and many I have used only once or twice that I just keep around in case I need them again.

When I get a new phone I will try to move all my apps to it and I will be set again. A new app that actually fulfills a new need for me is pretty rare.

Pokemon Go need not apply.

Re:Not surprising

[RandomSurfer314]

Just out of curiosity: What's wrong with Amazon's website? I've never had any trouble ordering something from it or finding things.

Re: Not surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

Except the startups that actually do something useful, there are a few, I work for one that was since acquired to continue doing what it does, the rest are just along for the free ride or are bought up to eliminate competition.

Why would I want apps?

[Anonymous Coward]

Apps have far more privileges to your data than the web. Most ask for WAY too much access, so I am one of those users that downloads 0 apps. I'd delete a bunch more but GOOG won't let me. At least the Nexus doesn't force me to have FB and Twitter apps.

Thanks to the manufacturer and my carrier

[Anonymous Coward]

My LG E970 is pretty snappy, but it's stuck at Android 4.1.2. The last few apps that sounded interesting to me refused to install on my old OS.

49% of smart phone users found the apps they need

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm just as guilty of being an app glutton when I get a phone on a new platform but I've been with the same platform now for three phones in about 7 years. New apps I've downloaded in the last year? At most 4. But the 20 or so apps I have I would download on a new platform if I moved again and since a few of those apps wouldn't be available off my current platform I'd have to test out a couple of apps and would settle on the one that filled the old niche the best.

It's just like office suites. I don't go out and download every new fork of Open Office nor do I upgrade MS Office every time a new version comes out. Why should mobile apps be any different?

3.5 a month?

[shaitand]

How many apps could you need actually remember you have and use?

Re:3.5 a month?

[sanf780]

From the top of my head, excluding videogames: Email reader, messaging app, web browser, calendar, notes taking, video stream player (YouTube, Netflix), RSS aggregator, camera and photo viewer. Most times I use the default app from my phone. I would be very very worried if I had to use an e-mail client from an unknown third party, someone that shares usage data with third parties.

Re:3.5 a month?

[shaitand]

Most of those will come with the phone. At 3.5 a month that would cover a couple months maybe even 4 months at that rate if you really hate default apps but you'd really have everything in a month. Where are all these other apps coming from? 3.5/month is 42 apps in just the first year with a 2 year upgrade pace that is 84 apps. Insane to think you'd remember what all that is. Maybe these are 6 month phone switchers who have a decent number of apps and automatically redownload everything with each new phone and that gets counted again with each phone. That would be 24 apps downloading with/over the course of each phone which sounds somewhere in the ballpark of sane. Especially because people tend to play with new things when they get a new phone.

Glorified websites

[Anonymous Coward]

The entire "App" concept is little more than glorified flash-enabled websites. Why do you think Apple banished flash?

No surprise that people grow out of that phase slightly after middle school (or the equivalent period of time for mental and emotional growth, if they didn't get exposed to the technology until later in life)

More or less likely me

[Anonymous Coward]

If the smartphone manufacturers could make a super long lasting battery and no GPU that I don't care about, that would be my next phone!

Smart people

[Anonymous Coward]

No shit people don't download apps. It's bad enough using a smartphone. Downloading apps is like licking a genital sore. Why would you do it unless you wanted to be infected with something?

Shocking.

[hey!]

Because it ALSO means half of all Americans pay for at least 7 apps per year, if we're rounding to the nearest whole. That means that over, say five years the average American has accumulated some 35 apps.

Surprising

[neminem]

I'd expect that number to be higher.

After all, unless you get a new phone, most like you already *have* all the apps you need, unless something truly new comes out, which doesn't happen every month. I use a handful of apps all the time, but I'm not going to go out and replace them with new ones every month, because the ones I already have, work great.

Re:Surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

When I get a new phone, google asks me if I want to reinstall the apps I had on my last phone. I click "yes" and then uninstall any that I don't want to use anymore.

I only download a new app if I encounter a new issue I need a solution for. I already have what I need.

Most are INFECTED!

[Anonymous Coward]

Dejected!

Understandable

[MBGMorden]

There's not a whole lot of point in constant downloading of new apps. I use apps a LOT, but the number of apps used just isn't that high.

Aside from the obvious built in Gmail/Calendar/Calculator/Google Music type stuff that's already built in, I've got maybe 2 dozen apps that I use regularly. Unless I have a specific need I'm not going to be looking around for new ones, and for the most part that two dozen has been mostly stable for at least 2 years now.

i know we're supposed to be good consumers and keep ravenously looking around for "NEW STUFF!?!?!", but I just don't see the point.

This might change...

[Anonymous Coward]

...with Apple bumping up storage on their newer iPhone models... I can't even download all the apps I want on my 16GB phone for crying out loud!

Re:This might change...

[WillAffleckUW]

...with Apple bumping up storage on their newer iPhone models... I can't even download all the apps I want on my 16GB phone for crying out loud!

My iPhone 5 SE has 64 GB

I use it for podcasts, not stupid apps

Well...

[m.dillon]

Sure. Of course. This isn't news. And on top of that, most mobile users settle on just a few apps and use just those 90% of the time.

-Matt

Well yeah

[HalAtWork]

You find a set of apps that provide the functionality/convenience you want and eventually there is no more need to forage for tools.

I have a feeling the ones doing all the downloading are looking for entertainment, whose appetite cannot be permanently satiated, so you go looking for a different experience when this one's flavor has diminished.

Obligatory XKCD

[Anonymous Coward]

https://xkcd.com/1367/

Note to self:

[fahrbot-bot]

Half Of US Smartphone Users Download Zero Apps Per Month

Start company named "Zero" that sells apps.

Busy removing mine

[WillAffleckUW]

Thing I hate the most about an OS upgrade is all these p3rvy apps I never wanted in the first place.

Be glad when they're gone.

Why would I download aps?

[XXongo]

The only things I need my smartphone for are calling people (it actually works as a telephone, did anybody know that?), occasionally looking something up on the web, and using the GPS and mapping function.

Oh, and I occasionally use the camera.

Once I have those loaded, why in the world would I want to download an "app"? To play with Pokemons?

Re:Why would I download aps?

[PraiseBob]

Let me guess, if you got a new computer, you just want default MS Windows, Internet explorer and Office. Why would you ever need to install any other program on a computer?

I genuinely feel sorry for you that you seem interested in technology by virtue of being on /. but seem incapable of coming up with any novel uses of the super powerful micro-computer in your pocket.

App has to be a value proposition

[HBI]

If your app doesn't do anything that I could do in the included web browser, why would I bother downloading it and using it? And if I download it and use it, it had best be frequently or i'm not going to put up with the constant, annoying updates. So I only have bare minimum apps and every time I get an update request, I ask myself if I could just delete this POS and not have to have it. That's how FB messenger died, for instance. And Twitter. And Yelp. And Instagram.

Re:App has to be a value proposition

[Anonymous Coward]

Turn on automatic updates. Then you get a notification that says the app updated with a blurb about what changed. No other action required.

It's like managing a Linux system with apt or yum. Do you manually and individually approve updates for tzdata, libpng, etc? You may want to be around for kernel changes, but otherwise let the ancillary programs update automatically.

In most cases, app updates are for bug fixes or adding features. If you get a BAD app that starts demanding money for previously included functionality or displaying obnoxious ads after an update, delete it and move on.

This is why you buy apps

[SuperKendall]

And no updates, because all you get from updates are more ads.

That's why I buy apps. Updates are not "more ads" because there are no ads. Instead I just get nice feature and stability updates over time.

Re:This is why you buy apps

[danbob999]

On average, paid apps are probably crappier than free apps. How many "I am rich", or paid fart apps do you need?

I look at the apps I like and use the most. They are all free. Gmail, Google Photo, Firefox, Maps, to name a few.

Where is this "Zero" app so I can download it?

[Anonymous Coward]

How do you download an app that isn't?

I only use about a half dozen apps

[Anonymous Coward]

I think many used to fill their phones up with apps but then one day realized they take up memory. With more people storing video, and pictures. I'm sure many
have cleaned up their apps down to what they really need. I also think since a app update is a new version does Apple count this as a download?

That's it?

[damn_registrars]

I figured it would be even higher than that. How many people need more apps in an average month? It's been quite a while since I last downloaded a new app, I'm not sure if I've even downloaded 2 apps this year.

Not a shock

[kuzb]

99.999% of apps are pure unadulterated shit that nobody needs. Most people find everything they need in the first month and only enthusiast level people can be bothered to sift through any app store to try to find stuff worth using. It's so plugged up with garbage that it really is a wasted effort.

The reality is that people will try new apps, but often they have to be recommended by someone.

Re:Not a shock

[RandomSurfer314]

I'd go farther and claim that it's essentially impossible to find good apps by shifting through the standard app stores. You need to look up reviews and hopefully unbiased "best of" lists on the net in order to find anything remotely usable that isn't spyware.

Maybe..

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe half of the people use it as a phone and occasional browser.

Zero apps per month.

[Chmarr]

Is that like... 0 calories per serving. or 0g trans-fat per serving ??

forget all those crappy apps

[FudRucker]

i am not about to let those shitty apps turn my phone in to a handheld billboard full of advertising, fuck them, this phone belongs to me and not some advertising sponsors

The smartest thing about a smartphone

[OrangeTide]

What makes a smartphone so smart? It's that it is a phone with email and webbrowser. The apps do not matter. Many Apps these days introduce security and privacy issues, and I question the usefulness of the vast majority of apps.

The first iPhone release (iOS 1.0) didn't have apps, they were just web pages (javascript+HTML) bundled up as apps. We all demanded an SDK to make real apps, and iOS 2.0 did that. But in a way I think Apple was right that usually web-based is sufficient, be it hosted locally on the device or "in the cloud".

Re:The smartest thing about a smartphone

[Anonymous Coward]

It doesn't matter 99.98% of apps are website-replacing spyware, you can just ignore their existence. What matters is the 0.02% of apps you find useful.
For me 3 apps in particular are very handy.
I use 2 apps that repeatedly notify me if I miss a call, and if battery is low. And an app that turns off/on sound+radios at night/day.
Thanks to these, I can forget my phone exists, never have to look at it, and put my attention on more important things than FOMO-induced phantom vibrations or something.
If the thing needs attention, it makes a sound. If I miss the sound, I hear it later eventually.
I wasn't able to do that with my dumbphone.

Re:The smartest thing about a smartphone

[Anonymous Coward]

Definitely the customization is nice. Although theoretically a dumb phone could be designed with an extensive set of well thought out design elements, but we know that is never the case.

How is this surprising?

[anarcobra]

I downloaded the "apps" (god I hate that term) I needed when I first got the phone.
Why would I need to constantly install new ones?
I don't constantly install new programs on my PC either.
How many messaging apps does a person need?
I'm more surprised that half of smart phone users apparently find a new app to install at least once a month.

Oversaturation

[Anonymous Coward]

Its just over saturation of garbage-ware. Atari anyone?

Mobile apps are stupid

[GPS Pilot]

People are sick of ultra-specialized apps. (Not-so-far-fetched exaggeration: swiping through pages of apps until you find the one that displays the tensile strength of Reebok shoelaces.)

Every company's IT cost goes up when the public comes to expect an app, that simply presents the same information that's already available on the company's web site.

There's already an app that can replace 98% of the apps out there: a mobile web browser. If the user experience for mobile web browsers could be improved, there would be no need for the deluge of apps.

DLC and enables for fee

[fyngyrz]

Android phone user here. I own a lot of paid-for-up-front apps (couple hundred at least, just under Android.) Happy to pay for good stuff. But I stopped buying apps that:

A) are ad-saturated, and/or...
B) turn into (not really) free PITA apps that nickle and dime me to death for DLC/enables

Everyone keeps telling me that's the popular way to go. I keep telling them it's not popular with me. :)

However, yes, I do have pretty much everything I really need, plus a bunch of useful / fun things. I'm good. So the devs that want to go with "free" + annoy-the-shit-out-of-the-customer, well, more power to them. I'll just watch.

I dumped Apple's iPhone because when developers stop paying, Apple tosses the apps from the app store. And the censorship. And the no-sideloading issue. Plus the whole slow-as-mud to respond to developer updates / fixes. And the no memory card thing... and the no radio thing... and Apple's habit of breaking old apps by incompatibly changing each new revision of iOS... yeah, it really was buh-bye by that point.

I still have my iPad, but I haven't bought a new app for it in over a year. Instead, I just watch the old apps break, one by one, as Apple upgrades (cough) iOS. It's still a good platform to play chess on, anyway. So far.

...and now there's no audio jack on the new iPhone... lol. What's next? I'm sure they'll find something else to screw up. They're consistent, if nothing else.

Why would they

[Anonymous Coward]

... people just don't try out so many apps anymore ...

Why would they? I never promised to treat the app store like some Time-Life book-club. This sounds like someone whining the world owes them.

Every d**n Android app wants permissions...

[dpbsmith]

...to do a dozen things I don't understand why it needs to do. It's great that I can at least see what it's doing, but if I only downloaded apps whose permissions I really agreed to, I wouldn't download any.

The majority of them want my location, which I consider to be very sensitive information, for no obvious reason. Now as a matter of fact I have "location services" turned off--and quite a lot of them will lock up or crash if location services are turned off. So I end up deleting them.

The general quality of Android applications is just too low. I want an application to do X, I see ten competing applications to do X, I can't tell which is best--apart from astroturfing, user star ratings reward feature bloat rather than usability... and it's just too hard to download five of them and do personal SQA on them.

Of course

[Anonymous Coward]

Who download & delete & download & delete &... apps all the time? People often install most of the apps when they first get the phone.

Also mobile software is shit

[Sycraft-fu]

It is amazing how poor quality most mobile stuff is. There are a few shining counterexamples but most mobile stuff is rather bad. I love me some videogames, and buy quite a few on my PC, but I rarely buy them on mobile because there are so few good ones.

Car owners buy on average zero cars per month

[sanf780]

They got what they wanted, so no point in replacing it unless it stops and cannot be repaired anymore.

Not really

[Alypius]

I don't do upgrades largely for two reasons: the "upgrade" costs too much in terms of finite phone space or the app has decided it needs to know every single thing that is on my phone.

I don't do service "upgrades" just because Verizon decides it's time for the newest Android flavor to come down the pike. I learned that lesson with the S3; it invariably comes with a performance hit.

I rarely do app "upgrades" because they always seem to want to know all about my contacts, photos, locations, sleeping patterns, gun ownership, etc. Although I do slhttps://developers.slashdot.org/story/16/09/16/1919203/half-of-us-smartphone-users-download-zero-apps-per-month#eep well knowing that some millennial snowflake at Google freaks out hearing the hammer of my 1911 lock back just before I go to sleep.

Storage

[Hognoxious]

They haven't room to download apps due to all the pre-installed crap.

I don't download

[CanadianMacFan]

I have a bunch of apps on my iPhone and iPad but I don't download many new apps anymore. I've got the toolset that I like. I keep an eye out for new apps but I just don't find anything new coming out that offers any new features that's better than what I have. There are new email clients and calendars but they don't offer much new. If someone brought out some innovative feature then people would replace their applications. At least I would.