
Half of U.S. Smartphone Users Aren't Downloading Apps, Data Shows - carlosgg
http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2016/09/20/smartphone-users-apps
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tomc1985
I stopped downloading apps because, first and foremost, they enabled every
stupid little company to access my notifications bar. Now every stupid little
marketing droid is sending me stupid chipper messages about whatever stupid
thing they think I should care about.

Yes I can turn them off. No I should not have to. These people should respect
other peoples' space.

And it's gotten worse! If polluting the notifications bar isn't pathetic
enough, Facebook now begs you to "help thousands of users" with a review in-
app. Windows 10 lockscreen is begging me to try Cortana. EVEN MY F@%# _!_
camera app does this now!! STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO ASSHOLES!

~~~
nilkn
Oh boy, I forgot just how much of a problem this was on Android. I've been
using an iPhone for a little over a year now and it seems to be dramatically
better in Apple's ecosystem for some reason. This post brought back nightmares
where I'd check my Android phone and have 10+ notifications that were 100%
spam.

~~~
pawadu
1\. what kind of shady apps were you installing? What you describe is against
Google ToS and results in a ban from the store.

2\. long press on the notification to see what app sent it, then press to
disable any further notifications from that app (or better yet, give it
1-start and uninstall it).

sincerely, a windows phone user

(edit: my comment is down-voted for stating how Android works??)

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ohitsdom
Alternate title: 50% of smartphone users continue to click "X" when prompted
to install a specific app when visiting a website.

Is it too much to hope that companies get the hint and fully embrace the
mobile web?

~~~
robbiemitchell
Mobile web doesn't give you interactions with the device like notifications,
geofencing, background refresh, etc.

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jknoepfler
We neither want nor need these.

~~~
robbiemitchell
Bit of a stretch to say "we" here, no? Are you speaking for the population of
mobile users?

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pilif
Well. The article you are commenting on says that 50% of all smartphone users
don't want or need these features

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SCdF
I know this is anecdata, but honestly at this point I'm a negative datapoint
for them: I am slowly deleting more and more apps off my phone as the months
go on. Mobile gaming never worked out for me (it's all terrible all the time)
and honestly, my phone is for maps and talking to friends, all of which I can
do in 2-3 apps. The rest is just a slow accumulation of junk I realise I don't
care about.

~~~
visarga
I recently deleted dozens of apps off my Android phone. After years of using
the phone as intended, a month ago I started getting full screen ads, some
with video and sound. They start whenever they want, even if I am using the
launcher or the phone is locked. So I reset the phone to factory defaults and
only took back a few apps. I don't really need them.

~~~
Yhippa
The best is when you still get blaring ad sound even though "Total silence"
mode is on.

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wvenable
"ComScore’s Andrew Lipsman says it’s more a reflection that his company has
improved its methodology since then — rather than any drastic changes in the
app economy"

[http://www.recode.net/2016/9/16/12933780/average-app-
downloa...](http://www.recode.net/2016/9/16/12933780/average-app-downloads-
per-month-comscore)

I wonder what their methodology is? Their first attempt was off by a large
margin if it went from 33% to 49%.

I don't find this statistic all that shocking; downloading one app a month on
average is actually quite a lot. Nearly 40% of users download 2 or more! I'm
not sure what a "healthy" amount of app downloads would be if this isn't it --
at some point users are limited by the storage of their devices and their
attention span.

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awqrre
Once you downloaded all the apps that you need, it is not hard to believe that
you would then download only 1 application every 3 months, or even less often
(rounded off makes it 0 apps per month).

~~~
MyNameIsFred
"Android developer" is one of the hats I wear, so I'm instinctively drawn to
the "app version" of something. I have dozens of apps I find "essential" and
use regularly. But yes, that list has remained mostly constant over the years
(at least on my phone; games on my tablet are an exception to this pattern) as
different apps and services have fulfilled my essential functions reliably.

~~~
tdkl
I've recently switched quite some apps for a shortcut to a mobile site,
because they just run a background service using some Google shit I don't use
(AndroidWearSync - Todoist&Wunderlist, GoogleNowAuth - Strava). Getting rid of
the app and using the website/finding an alternative liberates my device.

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wnevets
Most apps aren't worth downloading. Once you get pass the initial excitement
of owning your first smartphone, downloading an app that's just a wrapper for
a website isn't worth the time.

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MyNameIsFred
That's just it: apps that are just wrappers for a website are _never_ worth
the time, yet they are so very common just to say "we have an app!" _Actual_
apps are great, though.

~~~
wnevets
Unless you don't consider games as Actual apps, I gonna have to disagree with
you. Most mobile games are also not worth downloading.

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emodendroket
> It's also bad news for app makers, because it may reflect a shift in
> consumers from app-hungry to app-apathetic.

Come on, you're not going to write "app-athetic" here?

~~~
rdiddly
Agreed - a grievous missed pun app-ortunity.

Compensatory content: This does seem to be a natural & logical trajectory for
this I'm afraid. Or at least for those who don't fetishize technology but
rather just want it to do something for them (which is most people, or I
guess, about half of people!). As a brand-new smartphone owner you might be
downloading & trying different apps all the time, experimenting, searching...
but once you've found the "app for that" for every "that" that you want to do,
you're pretty much set. You just maybe dutifully download updates. But even
there, you're hoping they don't irrevocably change something you like, and in
my case on Android I'm ready with an adb backup to roll back to the previous
version.

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increment_i
As a solo developer, it's hard for me to gauge exactly where we are on the
'app' technology trajectory. My enthusiasm for any native mobile endeavour is
pretty much shot by now. So, so much work for such little payoff.

Most folks I know will use the 'Big Four' apps for social - Facebook,
Instagram, Snapchat and to a lesser extent Twitter. Anything else gets
googled. So what opportunity is left? I have no idea - maybe a big one. I
can't tell at this point. I don't use apps. The thing is, I wonder if this
pessimism existed towards the web in its early days, which obviously turned
out to be a huge opportunity for those that didn't dismiss it when things were
rough (Browser wars, IE, Web 1.0).

~~~
gm-conspiracy
_I wonder if this pessimism existed towards the web in its early days_

No, lots of unbridled optimism, open standards, and no walled gardens.

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squid_ca
Why would I want to when all apps seem to request root access to my entire
phone as a requirement to install them?

~~~
javajosh
I was going to say that they want unlimited access to my contacts, my
location, my web history, my calls and my network traffic. But "root access"
is a more succinct way to put it. I'm glad, actually, that people are growing
stingy about installing apps, because it means they are getting smart about
protecting their digital assets.

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zodPod
That's because they're useless for 80% of the stuff I do. If I'm looking at
the weather, I don't need a weather app. You can get my location from my
browser you can show me everything there. Why do I need to download?

Pinterest? Same thing.

Tumblr? Same

Why do I need apps to do these things. Sometimes apps are handy but I will
find them if I need them. You forcing me to use them does nothing but make me
find somewhere else to visit!

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dumbfounder
My mother, father, wife, and mother-in-law all do not know their itunes
passwords so they couldn't even download an app even if they tried. They
probably tried once, got frustrated, and gave up forever. I am sure this is a
significant portion of the "problem".

~~~
mnkmnk
This also leads to the frustrating circle- Website wants me to install app,
OK. But I can't install the app. But website won't show me the content without
installing installing the app! Argh!

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imagist
If we included all the uninstalls that people do (or try to do) of of the
bloatware that comes installed with phones, I wonder if we'd hit a negative
number.

~~~
jxramos
I've been wondering how to actually uninstall default installed apps. I'd
value the disk space a lot more than the app functionality.

~~~
GFischer
There are several tutorials out there, but it's a pain.

I have an AT&T branded LG phone, and it came with lots of crapware.

Example of the stuff you have to do: [http://forum.xda-developers.com/att-
lg-g3/general/guide-how-...](http://forum.xda-developers.com/att-
lg-g3/general/guide-how-to-remove-bloatware-att-lg-g3-t2822501)

Even worse, a "stock" Lenovo K3 Note comes with an unbelievable amount of crap
(not surprising to those that followed the Superfish fiasco) - the hardware
itself is pretty good and unbeatable at the price point (maybe they subsidize
the phone with all that adware?).

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nikki-9696
If you can't be bothered to design for mobile web, I probably won't be
bothered to download your app. I guess I'm not alone in that.

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joshmn
Alternate title: You probably don't need an app for that; a mobile site works
just fine.

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jscheel
Wonder what the numbers are for people that have _never_ downloaded an app.

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hotgoldminer
We've come full circle to AOL. Everything is curated and walled off.

~~~
danellis
Except that's not even remotely true. You can stay in the garden of you want,
otherwise you have the rest of... everything.

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dwaltrip
The mobile gaming trend is terrible. Even some of the nicer game apps (like
"two dots") are becoming blatant Skinner box slot machines. The sole purpose
of the mechanics and design is to draw you in, keep you coming back, and
subtly suggest endless creative ways of "paying to win". It's disgusting.

I know they are between and a rock and a hard place in terms of actually
making any money, but I honestly would rather have zero mobile games than the
current adversarial and manipulative ones.

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SG-
What's the breakdown by platform? Also I wasn't impressed that it took 3
clicks to eventually try and reach Comscore's data only to find out you need
to signup for it.

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Animats
Right. I don't even have Google's store installed on my phone. Just F-Droid,
for free software, ZANavi, for GPS, and Firefox. I use only about 50-100MB of
data per month.

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M_Grey
A huge number of apps exist, it seems, either to get hooks into you in some
way, or just to exist because someone up the chain said, "We need an app."

To be honest, nothing reminds me so much of the atmosphere around the 80's
videogame crash as much as apps today. It's easier, and frankly more rewarding
not to play that game at all, than to try and sift through the mess.

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RandomInteger4
My experience with apps is that they're active when you're not using them,
they slow everything down, and they drain battery; not to mention how many of
them want to violate your personal information just short of knowing the size
of your last dump.

Essentially most apps are malware with a bright coat of "legitimate" colored
paint.

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twblalock
Like most people I know, I download a bunch of apps when I set up a new phone,
and I don't download apps frequently after that.

I simply haven't found many newly released apps compelling. I think the most
recent app I downloaded was Uber Eats back in June or July.

I suspect that most users are like this. Not everyone is trying all the latest
games.

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jxramos
Hint Hint, this might just be intentional. I've been using Youtube.com over
the YouTube app because the crazy app crashes all the time and I get
frustrated with it popping up as my default app for playing back youtube
videos. I need to get around to changing that setting, might just be today.

~~~
visarga
I use youtube.com in Firefox, and it plays sound in background and with the
phone locked.

~~~
jxramos
Cool tip, I'm going to have to try that out for the browser and see if Chrome
let's me fly or sink. I can't remember if it was the app or the browser that
sunk on this usability.

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mixmastamyk
I don't use many apps either, in fact I have uninstalled several because the
updates are a bit of a burden. I know why they exist and am grateful, but if I
haven't opened say "go to meeting" in nine months, I don't need it updated
every month etc.

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AdrianB1
I already downloaded all the apps I ever needed - about 10 on the phone
(Android) and a similar number on the iPad. I see no reason to install more -
I have no need and no interest. So a bright developer created an app - what
about it? It does not mean I need it.

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tluyben2
I have a bunch of apps I use all the time and when buying a new phone I just
install those; I never look for anything new. There might be better apps for
some of the things I'm doing but I cannot find them and i'm not going to try
all apps out... Most people I know have the same behavior. Why look for other
apps if you can already do all you need? That said; I use my phone far more
than my laptop for work and I do miss apps which other people do not seem to
miss which, I guess, I should make some time. I do search for those every few
months and if something would pop up I would download it.

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betteringred
150 million US Smartphone Users Are Downloading Apps, Data Shows

At some point (already?) there will be so many smartphone users that even if
only 50% of smartphone users download apps then smartphone apps will be bigger
than almost anything else.

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intrasight
This is the important point for a developer that wants to get traction

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devgutt
I was working in an App which builds Apps to local businesses. When it was
ready, I realized that local businesses don't need an App at all. It was a f*
moment. So I pivoted the App to build websites too, which makes much more
sense to local businesses. I wish I had have this realization earlier.

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andrewfromx
we live in an attention based economy. You have to buy people's attention for
your app.

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helthanatos
I don't like apps for websites that work well in the browser. Games do not
work in mobile browsers, so those I may download (but I don't really play
games). Apps such as Facebook and Snapchat waste battery and attempt to
datamine. I try to keep my phone down to as little apps as possible because I
hate rogue battery use and data mining, but many apps choose to ignore those
wishes. If google play services wasn't required for some apps that I would
try, I wouldn't have them installed.

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VLM
What did they miss? In those specific months? I can't think of any apps I
installed in that timeframe.

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Dramatize
With a 16gb iPhone, there isn't enough space to download new apps.

