My Mobile Day Blog
On my phone, I have literally dozens of different apps — nearly 100, if I count every single one! However, I think it’s worth noting that those can all be broken down into a handful of distinct groups — apps I use regularly or frequently, apps I use occasionally, and apps I almost or entirely never use. Of the latter group, the majority are apps that I can’t uninstall (colloquially known as ‘bloatware’). These apps came pre-installed on my phone, and in many cases, are doubles of other apps I have installed, such as ‘messages’. In some specific cases, there are even branded apps that I’m unable to remove, such as ‘Amazon Shopping’. However, the rest of my apps are fairly curated to ones I find useful, even if only occasionally.
My top five apps are, in no particular order:
1. Reddit
I use this app frequently as my main source of news, and also as my main form of procrastination. This is likely my most used app — both in time spent, and in data usage.
2. Discord
I use this app almost constantly as one of my main forms of communication and community. I’m a member of several large servers which allow me to stay in near-constant communication with friends, and I use this platform frequently for work as well. This is both one of my favourite apps, and one of my most used.
3. K-9 Mail
This is a somewhat obscure email app that I use, because it allows me to connect several different email accounts into one neatly organized app. This is one of my favourite apps (although it is ugly!)
4. Uber Eats
I find myself browsing this app more than I’d like to admit. Ontop of the all-too-frequent orders I place through it, I often end up browsing it even if I don’t place an order, simply for meal ideas. As much as it pains me, this is another of my most-used apps.
5. Mario Kart Tour
This is one of the only ‘game’ apps I have on my phone, and I find it’s one of the best I’ve ever played. A great Mario Kart game that actually holds up to the name of the franchise, this is certainly another of my ‘favourite’ apps, though it may not be one of my most used.
One of my micro-moments I’ve already touched on — when I find myself briefly browsing through the Uber Eats app, without any intention of making a purchase, just to give myself meal ideas for what to make myself. I find this somewhat interesting, because I typically don’t even consider what I’m doing as I’m doing it — and in such a way, Uber has surreptitiously inserted themselves into my eating habits even when I’m not intend to make a purchase on their platform. Similarly, I often find myself having micromoments with Discord — an app I use frequently — when I’m on the go, looking for a moment to relax, as it allows me to catch up on what my friends have been discussing throughout the day.
I can say that I often get frustrated with some of my most used apps, particularly Reddit and Instagram, as they tend to have frequent issues in some regard or another when browsing on my phone. In Reddit’s case, for evidence of this, look no further than the photo earlier in this post! This typically puts me off the app for a brief period of time — though inevitably, I find myself going back, much to my chagrin.
From my own experiences, I would say that an important insight to be gained is the importance of reliability and ease-of-use with regards to how an app is marketed. Discord is known for being an approachable, understandable platform, and in my opinion, that pays off with how easy it is to convert new users to their app.
That’s a look into my ‘Mobile Day’ — hopefully you found it interesting! Be sure to subscribe to me on Medium to get more highlights and insights from my life and travels.
