Apps, apps and more apps. How smart can your smartphone be if it doesn’t have any apps to demonstrate its full potential? This begs the question: Which apps will make our phones the smartest? Unfortunately, this question is only deceptively simple. In reality, apps are as unique to users as personalities. Some apps can be well designed and incredibly useful, yet they will appeal only to a very particular group—aeronautical engineers, for example. Other apps can be very simplistic and not terribly useful at all, but will appeal to many users (including aeronautical engineers) for no other reason than novelty.
Interestingly enough, when looking at the most downloaded apps of 2014, it seems that many of the them were actually created prior to 2014. Does this mean that it can take a while for apps to catch on? The short answer is maybe. Refining might be a better explanation. Another possible explanation is that many of the top apps are social apps and, as such, have a natural spot on our mobile devices, which (believe it or not) used to be used exclusively for communication.
Most downloaded (free) iPhone/ iPad apps of 2014 according to Yahoo Tech:
- Facebook Messenger
- Snapchat
- Youtube
- Pandora
- Google Maps
- Flipagram
- Spotify
- 2048
If we were to extend this list out to include all devices, we could replace 2048 with Gmail, Spotify with Googleplay/iTunes and Pandora with Google Maps.
According to Apple, the number one paid app on the iPhone of all time was Minecraft Pocket Edition. The highest grossing app of all time was Candy Crush Saga, but is trailed closely by the 2014 releases Farm Heroes Saga and Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. The number one downloaded app of both 2014 and all time seems to be Facebook Messenger.
So, there you have it. The best apps ranked by a system which is in itself a logical fallacy, “ad populum.” Are these the best apps of 2014? Or, dare we say, all time? They certainly are popular, but if this is the be-all and end-all determination of great apps, then these lists tell me that my phone is sorely lacking.
If I were to put together a list of apps that I use most frequently, the only things it would include from these lists are Spotify and the basic Google utilities. Other than that, I use a lot of recording apps, calculators, and (due to my recent move to a major city) ride apps like Lyft. In fact, many of the most popular apps from the list I either find incredibly annoying (Candy Crush requests, anyone?) or not very useful. Why do I need Facebook Messenger when I have three other apps that do precisely the same thing?
The point here is this: Apps are personal. There are great apps out there for almost anything you can think of. Apps aren’t just for pointless fun or for socializing; they can be great utilities as well. If on your search for the world’s greatest app you start to have trouble with your phone or tablet, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Actionlink. We can fix almost any problem you have with your device—be it electronic or physical damage.
