

Ask HN: App overload? - sgoraya

A friend and I recently had an interesting conversation about ‘Apps’, specifically apps for phones and how the both of us are suffering from ‘app overload’.  At what point are there too many apps?  I am a droid user and my friend uses the iphone 4s.  I’ve got about 120 apps installed and use 7-10 on a regular basis, not including ‘base’ apps like email and gMaps.  I’ve paid for a handful and the remainder are free (amazon free app of the day, etc.).  My buddy has more than me, close to 200, many of which he paid for (which is interesting because I have noticed both anecdotally and read in articles that iphone users tend to spend more on apps vs. droid users).<p>We both organize our apps into somewhat logical folders but once you’re in the folder we are bombarded with rows upon rows of apps – many of which you forget what they actually do.  A lot of the apps have been installed, used maybe a couple of times and not used again.<p>Will we reach a saturation point for apps?  How many are too much?<p>[I know this is highly subjective but thought it was an interesting conversation and wondered what others thought about it and whether, they too, experienced app overload.]
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caw
If I can find an app I need, then I don't care if there's 10,000 or 100,000
apps in the store. The problem is finding that app I need.

Pretty much I have a few apps in major categories. One of the easier ways not
to go into app overload I think is to only download free apps. There's no card
linked to my account (only some giftcard credit), so that removes the
temptation to download this $0.99 app on an impulse. I have no problem buying
an app when the right app comes along, but I don't mind the ads.

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c1sc0
One of the strategies I use to combat App Overload is a "Clean Home Screen
Policy": I try to keep my Home Screen as sparse as possible. Only stuff I
_really_ need is allowed on the Home Screen. I currently only have 8 apps in
there. I'll also delete apps I don't frequently use because I figure if I
really need them I can just download them again.

So while I have loads of apps in my iTunes account, I actually have relatively
few installed on my devices at any one time.

