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| Courtesy of Flickr |
There seem to be apps for nearly everything these days. In 2015, there were over 1.6 million apps available for Android and over 1.5 million available for iPhone. Over 1000 apps are submitted every day to the Apple’s App Store. In all likelihood, apps are being created for Android at the same rate or faster. Welcome to The Planet of the Apps.
Apps are ostensibly
created to help users of the app in some way. However, there’s another part of
the app story that many users are blissfully unaware of. When you sign up for
an app you have to agree to the provider’s terms of service, which are in fine
print that nobody ever reads. Generally, the terms include an agreement that
the provider can collect, use, and sell data based on your use of the app. The
data gets crunched so that the provider, or whoever buys the data, can
determine what products and services it can send very targeted ads to you
about.
Social networks are very
good at collecting data and they are getting better at using it all the time. Capitalizing
on personal data is lucrative for companies which have that capability. When
you sign up for a social network, you are asked questions concerning everything
from your age and sex, to your likes, dislikes, movies and books you have seen
and read, photos, videos and more. Then you are encouraged to share even
more personal information on a daily basis. Finally, you are prompted to tell
friends and family about the network. This is the essence of social
networking.
So, what kinds of
apps are being created?
Good Apps
Many apps are doing
good in the world. For example, there are several related to healthcare and
prescriptions that seem to make sense.
Medisafe
claims it can help to “Keep yourself and loved ones safe and never forget to
take your meds again with Medisafe, the app
tested by pharmacists.” The Medisafe mission is to give people the
tools, support and information they need to take their medications the way
they're supposed to. Like CareZone, Medisafe has lots of positive reviews.
Blink Health tells
users they can “Use Blink Health to save up to 85% on your prescriptions at
virtually every U.S. pharmacy.” This app has no membership fees and no monthly premiums. You simply pay for the needed medications.
Bad Apps
Some apps don’t seem to make much sense. Here are a few examples.
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| Courtesy SMTH |
Tweetpee was a wearable app
developed by Huggies. It had a sensor which sent a tweet to the parent when the
child urinated and needed the diaper changed. The parent could also retweet the
wonderful news - #Juniortinkled! - but who in the world would do that? It seems
like a bit much and it might not have caught on. It was in the testing phase in
2013 and does not appear to be available currently.
I am Rich was created with the
sole purpose of showing people that you could afford it. Developer Armin
Heinrich made the app in 2008. It did absolutely nothing and was priced at
$999.99, the highest price allowed in the app store. I Am Rich was listed in
Apple’s App Store on August 5, 2008. In just a few hours, 8 people purchased
the app. Apple removed I Am Rich from the store shortly thereafter. They also
gave refunds to two users who claimed they had purchased it by mistake. The app
is now available on Android and it is free! That takes pointless to a whole
other level.
The Most Useless App Ever claims to show how useless
an app can be. It also invites users to try out the most useless widget ever, for
a complete experience of uselessness. There’s even a useless counter to count up
how useless the application is and for how many people.
The Most Expensive Android
Application/Widget is for people who have lots of money and
don’t know how to spend it all. Like I am Rich and the Most Useless App Aver,
this one does very little other than present itself to the user or to anyone
the user wants to impress.
Funny Apps
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| Courtesy Wikimedia Commons |
Food Battle is a parody of every
tap-and-play, cute game on Android. Your mission is to kill deadly donuts that
have taken your friends and family hostage. It has been downloaded over a
million times. Some users say that it is a pleasant change from Angry Birds or
Candy Crush.
Surgeon Simulator allows users to play
a doctor who has no intention to save patients. You can play as an ER surgeon
or a dentist. If destroying the lives of people who put their lives under your
care is appealing to you, this could be the game for you. Currently, there is
an invitation on the home page to “Perform a heart transplant on Trump and cast
your vote.”
Lord of the Apps
With all the apps now
available, it’s probably not easy to keep them all organized and up to date.
That gives me an idea for a new app that I might create. Lord of the Apps – One app to rule them all, and in the darkness
bind them.
Apps can be useful
and fun. However, before users sign up for any app, they should consider the
price of admission. Usually, that involves the collection of data about you and
your habits, and then the use of or sale of that data for marketing and
advertising. You should never forget that the ultimate purpose of most apps is
not to help the user. The ultimate purpose of most apps is to generate revenue
for the developers and distributors of the app. Keeping that in mind will help
you to decide whether or not you want an app.
---
In this article, I
have discussed Apps: The Good, The Bad, and The Funny. I’ve also discussed
the ultimate purpose of apps which is usually to generate revenue for the
developers and the distributors. Users should be aware of that before signing
up for a new app.
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article, share it with your friends, family and co-workers. Working the Web to
Win has previously produced several blogs about Apps. For more information, I
recommend reading:
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Danny Murphy is the Lead Blogger at Working the Web to Win, an award-winning Internet marketing company based in Jacksonville, Florida. He is also the author of Humor 101: How to Tell Jokes for Power, Prestige, Profit, and Personal Fulfillment which is available from Amazon on Kindle.
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Danny Murphy is the Lead Blogger at Working the Web to Win, an award-winning Internet marketing company based in Jacksonville, Florida. He is also the author of Humor 101: How to Tell Jokes for Power, Prestige, Profit, and Personal Fulfillment which is available from Amazon on Kindle.
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Usually I do not read post on blogs, but I would like to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do it! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, very nice article.
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Intresting breakdown, another one good app is Appotek. It is also a pill reminder.
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