Some apps for mobile phones can undoubtedly be immensely useful, not to mention time saving.
But this is by no means universal.
Not to state any names, but we have found ourselves downloading apps advertised or recommended to us in the past which have turned out to be, frankly, atrocious.
All they have succeeded in doing is expending our own valuable time and monopolising the limited storage capacity on our phones. In other words, they have been nothing but a huge source of stress.
There have been, for example, the ones that offer 'free' services, only to then demand a payment the minute the App becomes in the least bit handy.
Then there are the ones that have run constantly in the background without us asking them to, decimating our phone batteries.
Or those that threw up 3 ads a minute, meaning we couldn't get anything done, then asked us to pay to 'opt out' of those pesky ads.
And so the list goes on.
So what do we do to minimise the risk of 'downloading a dud', so to speak.
Well, we as a fundamental rule absolutely never provide our bank details to an app asking for them up front 'purely for record' in case we decide to extend beyond any 'free' trial offered, whereupon fees will become payable 'automatically', because we feel there is nothing at all to stop an app provider contacting us at that stage to see if we wish to continue our subscription beyond the free period by signing up formally with our bank details at that point. This avoids us forgetting to cancel an undesirable app and thus ending up paying for it for months if not years without knowing it.
Secondly, we engage in critical investigation (see our earlier post entitled "Engage your Inner Sherlock to StressBust™ successfully" for further detail) in that we don't rely on singular personal recommendations but rather examine review sites on the web to see what multiple users have to say about an app's speed, performance, functionality and security.
We also consult online 'app specialist' magazine reviews, but are careful to ensure that they are truly independent. Some, for example, may partake in 'pay per click' or 'pay per download' schemes whereby they are paid a fee or commission by an app provider for each person that accesses their app product over the web via the review site. The only way, however, to establish whether this is the case is to read the small print on the review site, which of itself can be laborious if (as is often the case), that legally required disclosure is well hidden! So it's often easier to use the advertised contact us section of the review magazine's own website to ask for clarification as to how they make their money, which is after all what 99% of them exist to do in one form or another. You may find the lack of response deafening!
And ultimately, we apply a philosophy to our decision that permeates throughout our life decision making process - that "If something appears too good to be true, it probably is"! If an app promises the world, it likely won't deliver it other than at a considerable cost to the user, however and at whatever stage that cost materialises.
Happy Surfing but be careful of download duds!
LOL always, MikeyM™&LoULoU™🙃🤔😊💖🧡💛💙 xxxxx