Why you should not rely solely on cell phone applications

In today’s world, society can use cell phones for a lot more than just talking like the original cell phones did. Today’s cell phones are pretty much pocket sized computers, but with less battery power. You can talk, text, surf the internet, take pictures, take videos, and even video chat on some of the newer models of phones. There are also many applications (commonly known as apps) available for cell phones. All cell phones have some apps that come with the phone although what apps come with your phone vary on the make and model of your phone. I have noticed the standard applications that seem to come with most phones are flashlight, calendar, and calculator. Some phones come with a memo pad (some phones call it a notepad) while others do not.

Many businesses have their own apps that people can download as well. With all the different apps available for phones, it is no surprise that some people have come to rely on the apps for so many things. While there are some companies that are made to be mobile app companies (such as Instagram and Snapchat), relying completely on apps for everything is not a good idea. If a company has both an app as well as a website, it is a good idea to go to the actual website of the company sometimes to make sure you are not missing out on anything that company provides. If your phone has the capability for apps, it has the capability for internet. Whether you are using Apple’s app store, Samsung’s Galaxy Apps, Google’s Play store, Window’s phone store, or some other app store to download your apps, you are using the internet to download the app as well as when you update the app. While not all apps require usage of the internet (other than updates) after you have downloaded the app, many of them do so there is not really any excuse to solely rely on the app instead of going to the actual website on your phone. Here are some reasons why it is a bad idea to completely rely on apps.

1. Not all apps work properly. Some of them might have nice ideas, but can be problematic to open, sign in, use the features, or sign out. Some of them can even cause problems with your phone including causing your phone to freeze up where you have to restart it. Because of this, it is a good idea to check reviews of an app before downloading it. Even then, it may or may not work on your phone because there are so many different smartphones out there. I have occasionally downloaded a free app just to test it out and see how it worked and then uninstalled it later either because I did not like it, I liked a similar app better, or just decided I did not want it at the time.
2. Apps do not always have the same features as a full website. While some companies make sure you can access the same features both on their website as well as their app, not all companies do. Take PayPal for example. On their website, you can send invoices, request money, send money, view complete details of your activity (including all the details of invoices you have either sent or received), view reports, transfer money, and a lot of other features. However, the app pretty much just lets you send money, request money, see condensed versions of your activity. Even the invoices are condensed where it only shows the money you sent or received, but nothing else (it might show a note you sent when sending money, but not when sending an invoice), but does not show the invoices you were sent where the website shows invoices you were sent as well. The app does let you manage your Paypal balance and pay for things in store like you would with SamsungPay, ApplePay, and GooglePay that you cannot do with the website, but the website still has more features.
3. Apps can use up a lot of data. If you do not have an unlimited data plan, this can wind up being a bit pricey.
4. Apps take up storage space on the phone. The more apps you have on your phone; the less storage space your phone has. Just like a regular computer, the speed is affected by how much storage space is used. Therefore, a lot of apps can make your phone run slower just like a lot of programs can make your computer run slower.

I am not saying completely disregard apps and never use them at all. If there are apps you like that work properly; go ahead and use them. We even have apps we like and use ourselves. Some of them, we downloaded to learn for the business because we knew the apps were popular so we wanted to prepare ourselves for any future clients asking for help with those apps. We admit we do have some apps we use for pure entertainment on our personal phones as well. However, it is a good idea to go to the websites of the company as well to make sure you are not missing out on anything.

Michelle Russell