Want to know the top news headlines? Call a cab? Book a table at a restaurant? Find out what your friends are up to? Refill your prescription? With over a million apps in the Apple app store: “There’s an app for that.” There’s an app for almost every single daily function, and because of this we are constantly on our phones throughout the day.
The first thing most people do when they wake up and the last thing before bed is use at least one app on their phone. According to an online survey, 93.8 percent of mobile users open the email and calendar app on their phone within the first hour of being awake. There’s even an app to find out how many times a day you check your phone. Our daily lives have changed greatly thanks to the ease and speed of mobile apps, which undoubtedly saves us time and makes us more productive.
Apps Are Immediate
Apps allow us to have an immediacy of information that has never been present before. If something drastic happens anywhere in the world, there are hundreds of news apps that can tell you more about this story in seconds. We now have 24/7 access to unlimited information, no matter where we are. Having access to search engines such as Google, allows us to find out anything, anytime, anywhere, and using search engines has become second nature to most people.
Apps Are Limitless
The limitless information available in apps is a great asset to the way we live our lives and how we go about our day. Although using apps somewhat removes the need for physical interaction, it also creates so much ease in doing daily tasks. When we leave the house, our phones may be one of the only thing we need to take with us. Credit cards are in Apple Pay and give you the ability to pay in countless locations. Your phone can hold store loyalty cards, insurance cards, and more. There is no need to go to the grocery store when you can order groceries from your phone and have them waiting for you when you get home.
Apps allow you to have access to your work life 24/7, even when you’re away from the office, which also increases productivity. There is no need for paper bills, for print media, for thermometers, or even for social interaction.
Apps Are Social
One of the biggest uses of mobile apps is through various social media platforms. Social media has drastically changed the way we go about our day. Because so much of what we want to know about the people in our lives is so readily available on our phones, an aspect of in-person communication has been taken away from us. Users are even making the shift from checking news apps to getting their news through social media. By having the ability to choose who you follow and what you view on social media you can tailor the types of posts you see and whose opinion you hear. Since there are an overwhelming number of options for how to receive your news, users are becoming more interested in the experience they have than the actual news they are getting.
The rise of ephemeral content within apps has also drastically changed the way we use our phones. For younger age groups, Snapchat is the go-to app for this type of content that is posted and then “disappears” shortly after. Users in younger generations are actually reporting they prefer Snapchat over Instagram because of how personal, fast, and simple it is. This means that marketers cannot ignore the importance of ephemeral content in the strategies they are employing within apps, and they aren’t. Ads are being tailored to their users within apps and audiences are becoming more and more engaged by the short-lived ephemeral content that has been tailored to them.
Apps Are Engaging
Because of how many apps there are, there is virtually no limit to the amount of time you can spend on your phone perusing the content that is so readily available. It seems that almost every free moment that people have is spent looking at their phones engaged in some sort of app. If you can’t go longer than 10 minutes without reaching for your phone, you’re definitely not alone. A study done by Deloitte reported that Americans collectively check their phones 8 billion times per day. With apps providing immediate, limitless, social, and engaging content we know we are all guilty of this constant phone checking. This begs the important question, how much time spent on apps is too much?