Do people still collect mobile apps?

[crp]

I remember people talking about how many dozens of apps they would install on phones but it seems that fad of dl'ing anything that seemed to be of the slightest interest seems to have faded. Or is it just that people have stopped talking about it?

[Corrine]

Until last fall, I was still using a Windows Phone but had to get a new phone when I could no longer get reception at my house.  I went with Android and it already had so much (what I consider garbage) on it that the only things I installed were the Microsoft Office programs I use regularly.  I'm not a gamer so haven't installed any games.

[goretsky]

Hello,

I use relatively few apps on my smartphone except for the web browser and email.  Sometimes, the issue is more with getting rid of the unused or unwanted ones.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[zlim]

There are several must have apps I install: local tv station weather - for the radar map, VLC, WAZE, Zoom, Hoopla, Overdrive.

 

I get an android newsletter twice a week. Sometimes apps are mentioned. I "might" install one of the apps mentioned. If I like it, it stays; otherwise I remove it immediately. I can't see cluttering up any android device with something I would rarely use. I don't use a specialized launcher nor a special keyboard.

 

About the only customization I did was to replace the lock screen and the background screen with images I got through Wallpaper Wednesdays from androidauthority. (I'm currently using one of the James Webb telescope images as my background.)

[securitybreach]

I still have a ton of android apps on every phone I switch to. Of course, I use it more like a mobile computer than the cell functions (calls and texts):

 

Quote

 

AAWireless
AccuWeather
Amazon Shopping
AndFTP
AndFTP Pro
Authenticator
Authy
Bitwarden
BLE Scanner
Boost
Calls Blacklist PRO
Capital One
ColorNote
ConnectBot
Discord
Docs
DuckDuckGo
Duo
Earth
eBay
Entergy
File Manage              r
Find My Device
Fing
Firefox
Fuel Rewards
Gaia GPS
Gallery
GoMobile
Google News
Google One
Google Opinion Rewards
Google Play Books
Google Podcasts
Google Wallet
GPay
Hangouts
HeyMelody
Hinge
Home
Hot Wok - Metairie
Hub
IP Tools
IPC360
JuiceSSH
K-9 Mail
LA Wallet
LinkedIn
List My Apps
LiveUAMap
MeWe
Mr. Number
Mullvad VPN
myAT&T
Network Analyzer
NOLA.com
Notes
Nova Google Companion
Nova Launcher Prime
Nova7
OfficeSuite
OkCupid
OpenVPN for Android
Orbot
OrfoxRIP
Owly
PayPal
pCloud
Proton Mail
Reddit
Reminder Pro
Rumble
Scanner Radio Pro
Signal
SimpleSSHD
Smart AudioBook Player
Speedtest
Spotify
Street View
T-Mobile
Tasker
Telegram
Timesheet
Tinder
Tip Calculator
Tor Browser
Translate

T-Mobile Tuesdays
Tusky

Ux Apps
Visual Voicemail
Vivaldi Browser
Walmart
WiFiman
Xplore FCU

 

 

[securitybreach]

On 8/1/2022 at 10:58 AM, zlim said:

There are several must have apps I install: local tv station weather - for the radar map, VLC, WAZE, Zoom, Hoopla, Overdrive.

 

I get an android newsletter twice a week. Sometimes apps are mentioned. I "might" install one of the apps mentioned. If I like it, it stays; otherwise I remove it immediately. I can't see cluttering up any android device with something I would rarely use. I don't use a specialized launcher nor a special keyboard.

 

About the only customization I did was to replace the lock screen and the background screen with images I got through Wallpaper Wednesdays from androidauthority. (I'm currently using one of the James Webb telescope images as my background.)

 

What is this 'Android newsletter' you speak of?

[sunrat]

I avoid apps as much as possible. My local bread shop wanted me to install an app for loyalty rewards! No thanks.

I admit to having 5 of those ones SB posted:

Discord

Firefox

Network Analyzer

Speedtest

Telegram

although Network Analyzer and Speedtest have found themselves in the secret cave of rarely used apps.

 

A pet hate is restaurants that only take orders by QR code. I've walked out of several upon hearing that requirement.

[raymac46]

I suppose I have my fair share of apps...Weather, Tom Tom navigation, Speedtest. Not many games. I need an app to control my camera and set up my Linksys mesh network. In general I find that a phone app is a bit better to read than trying it in a browser.

[abarbarian]

I try to keep my phone now I have been forced by life to have a modern phone as clutter free as possible. My luck was in when I had to buy a phone as Android 10 had been introduced so I was able to stop quite a few of the installed apps even if I could not delete them. So my battery life is pretty good and there is quite a lot you can do with Android 10 to maximise battery life.

Don't have any weather apps as i can still look out of the window to see what the weather is doing. Also I run wttr.in on the pc which gives me a three day forecast.

 

I had to do a virtual meet on the phone sometime ago. I found out you could control and use the phone from a pc so I have,

 

https://www.linuxuprising.com/2019/03/control-android-devices-from-your.html

 

https://www.linuxuprising.com/2020/06/sndcpy-forwards-audio-from-android-10.html

 

There are AUR offerings for both and I found the set up easy and good to use. As I can not use Disney+ on Arch at the moment I may look into using the above to view a couple of Disney+ offerings through the phone to the pc to the tv which is not ideal but will be better than running Disney+ through my ancient Windows 7 pc.

 

I did have DroidCam but I think I ran into some problems using it, my memory seems flaky as to why I did not use it fully.

 

I did have OsmAnd~ (not OsmAnd+) which is a Google Maps alternative but I no longer have it installed. I was using it on my old Wiki Pad but the OsmAnd~ version is no longer available at F-Droid.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OsmAnd

 

As I have just bought myself a waterproof stand alone bluetooth speaker so I can listen to music whilst enjoying my daily hot shower I have installed Syncthing-Fork on the phone and Syncthing on all my pc's. This means I can surf YouTube and collect audio via ClipGrab on any pc and have the music easily available on the phone.

 

https://f-droid.org/packages/com.github.catfriend1.syncthingandroid/

 

Arch has Syncthing and Syncthing-gtk available and they work well on Arch and my MX set ups. I found initial set up a bit confusing but once I had it tamed it works really well. I only run it on my home network and do not allow it to access the web and I also switch it of after it has synced the latest downloads. A very neat solution to my needs.

As I wanted to use the phone to cast to my speaker I needed a very simple offline music player and am using Simple Music Player,

 

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.musicplayer/

 

So far it seems to be just what I need with no frills. It may be my downfall though as dancing whilst in the shower may not be the brightest thing to do.