App or Down?

Tonight you sleep, tomorrow morning you wake up and hear the news of the latest smart phone release. And that’s about 20 hours since you bought what you thought to be the alpha male of the smart phone pack. A bit exaggerated but not totally impossible.

But let me ask you this question. What pops up faster than a new smart phone model? A newer smart phone model? Nope. Actually, the answer is a three-letter word. A-P-P. Yes, add –s to that and it becomes apps. What came with the advent of smart phones are hundreds and thousands of mobile applications, or what we commonly term as apps.

Mobile Applications are programs created and designed for utilization or smart phone users. These are downloaded, either for free or for a certain payment and are eventually installed on the smart phones. Today, some of the most popular distributors include Amazon Appstore, Appstore (Apple), Google Play, and Samsung Apps Store.

If we look at how mobile apps have progressed over the years, we can’t help but get amazed as to how fast they pop up and how highly-specific they have become. Today, you have an app for editing pictures, another one to simulate a flight, one to create your own piece of artwork, and one to help you how to put on a makeup, and an app for who knows what else.

Amazing. Isn’t it?

But just like any other development that got the human race even clingier to their mobile phones; these apps need to be used responsibly. For they can either be great apps, or they can totally bring your mobile DOWN. So to help you with this, I’m presenting some reminders to keep in mind before finally downloading that app.

  1. Never assume.

            Not all apps are created equal. Some are safe, some are not. So never assume that just because they are in your most trusted app distributor’s list, they are indeed safe.

  1. Know your source.

            Before you click that download button make sure you know the app’s developer. To do this, check if the developer has actually provided necessary information regarding their identity. Do they have a website? Is the link working? Is the page updated? How many apps are listed under their name? Also, most application stores would allow users to evaluate developers, so better check on this aspect.

  1. Read the terms.

When you download an app, don’t just go clicking and clicking the “yes” or “I agree” button. Developers would often present with terms and conditions so make sure you read these thoroughly, don’t be over excited please. Most of the time, these conditions would include permission to access some of your phone’s critical stuff such as the stored email, gallery, memory, etc. so do make sure that you don’t submit yourself for an instant hack of your very personal information by carelessly clicking that “I agree” button.

  1. Take time to read the reviews.

            Always find time to read the app’s reviews. This is the place where you find the glitches that comes with the apps. But be careful, while a lot of these reviews are authentic, there are those which are erratically made just for the sake of “leaving a comment” and there are those which have also been commissioned by the app developers themselves to make their product look appetizing. So be a wise reader, know which reviews to trust and which not to trust. If you find online reviews difficult to sort, get info from people you know personally who may have used the app previously.

  1. Need versus want.

            Though there seems to be an app for everything now, we don’t need them all. Download only what you badly need. Remember, these apps consume space in your memory, so be wise. Also, if you are done using an app and is sure that you’ll never need it any further, uninstall.

  1. If unsure, don’t download.

            To simply put this, if you have that gut feeling that this certain app cannot be trusted- don’t download and try to find an alternative.

These are just general reminders. If you have some really important points that need to be known, feel free to leave a comment.

The author is a technology blogger. She also posts technology related blogs and articles on http://www.essayjedi.com/