A very short report in Forbes from September of last year tells us that most people basically use no more than three apps during their "app-using" time. Not surprisingly, 80% of the time devoted to using applications on a smartphone (which I guess means the time that the phone isn't being used as a phone - though just what that means anymore is fully open to question) finds people using Facebook and YouTube. Though this statistic doesn't surprise me it still seems a bit strange. When people are driving they're using Waze or Google Maps, so those apps should be getting some heavy use. And perhaps a phone's camera isn't considered an app, since judging by the number of photographs uploaded daily to various sites people are certainly taking lots of photos. A Nielsen survey from about a year and a half ago gets into somewhat finer detail. It also reports that people use a relatively small number of apps, but notes that app use continues to rise. We may be using the same apps, but we're using them more frequently, or constantly.

Some apps aren't supposed to get constant use, but are still of the sort that people want on their phones - a parking app, for instance, or one for banking. Though I rarely use it, having a QR code reader available is a good idea. Sometimes it comes in handy. And I've already noted that even if it's still a bit problematic the Transit Authority app is definitely one that I don't want to do without.

I don't use Facebook, and only very rarely click into YouTube, but I do have a couple of favorite apps, along with numerous others that I downloaded and installed thinking that I'd use them, but don't. Some of these are items I've heard about and wanted to check out but have ended up (so far) not using, while others are app versions of web sites that I frequent from my desktop or laptop. On the whole I've discovered, not to my surprise, that I prefer the browser versions, though sometimes there are advantages to having an app in my pocket.

Without a doubt there are apps that make having a smartphone truly worthwhile. I've already noted that I have a few star map apps (I still haven't decided which I like best), and having an epub reader means that I can read a book pretty much whenever I wish. And then there's Shazam which I have to be careful with, but performs a function I've always wanted.