As you possibly can think about, there are a whole lot of attention-grabbing — and infrequently off-the-wall — conversations that happen on The Verge’s Slack channels, particularly when the weekend is on its means. Considered one of them occurred just lately, when reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy occurred to ask what number of apps folks had on their telephones. The response was rapid — and really moderately telling. It seems you will discover quite a bit about an individual while you speak to them about their cellphone — and their apps.
For those who’re in any respect interested in what number of apps a few of The Verge’s staffers have on their telephones (and their excuses for that quantity) — learn on.
I at the moment have 31 apps on my iPhone 12 Mini. I’m fairly aggressive about solely conserving apps that I really use regularly. If I don’t, I’ll spend all of my free time thumbing round totally different apps on my cellphone. (It additionally means my apps don’t use an excessive amount of storage.)
I’ll usually redownload an app to check one thing for an article or if I want to make use of it for a day or two for some purpose. However as quickly as I don’t want it anymore, away it goes! – Jay Peters, information author
“I’ve made peace with the various invasive permissions these apps undoubtedly require to take a seat idle on my cellphone.”
I’ve 109 apps on my iPhone 14 Professional, which is each greater than I believed and means lower than a whole lot of my co-workers. I think chunk of those are random Apple Arcade video games that I refill on each time I’m about to go on a visit, assuring myself that I’m positively not going to neglect all of them in favor of Marvel Snap once more. I’ve made peace with the various invasive permissions these apps undoubtedly require to take a seat idle on my cellphone. Possibly extra precisely, I’ve made peace with the psychic block I’ve in my mind that tells me not to consider it. – Tristan Cooper, social media supervisor
I apparently have 128 apps on my Pixel 7A, together with system apps, and I feel that’s as little as I can cull it (though now I’m making an attempt to take off a couple of extra). I don’t love having issues on my cellphone that I’m not actively engaged with or don’t know what they’re as much as, so I’m hesitant so as to add new ones, and I’m fairly fast to take away {old} ones. Though my “Highway,” “Rail,” and “Air” folders have positively all quickly expanded with new apps once more since journey got here again to being a factor this yr. – Kate Cox, senior producer, Decoder
My favourite half is that I’ve 4 authentication apps as a result of nobody can agree on having only one app for 2FA
I’ve 138 apps on my iPhone 14 Professional, which appears to be the center floor amongst Verge employees however can also be fewer than I believed. Earlier than switching to my present cellphone, I deleted and offloaded so many apps to avoid wasting on area and one way or the other by no means bothered to reinstall them. Many of the apps which might be on my cellphone or nonetheless put in however offloaded are airline apps (I’ve 9) that I don’t actually need as a result of I put my tickets on Apple Pockets anyway. There’s additionally a bunch of random apps I wanted to obtain to get right into a live performance, bar, or a random karaoke place that I ought to most likely delete. My favourite half, although, is that I’ve 4 authentication apps as a result of nobody can agree on having only one app for 2FA. – Emilia David, reporter
I’ve 234 apps on my Pixel 6, and a part of it’s as a result of I’ll check out apps and by no means do away with them. For instance, I put a bunch of Mastodon apps on a few months in the past, and despite the fact that I solely use a kind of apps, I nonetheless have the others. I even have some video games that I believed I’d play and by no means bought round to and a few apps that I haven’t utilized in years however don’t wish to take away from the cellphone “simply in case.”
I feel I used to be traumatized when considered one of my favourite apps, Carrr Matey (which helped you monitor the place you had parked and all its directions have been in pirate jargon) was lastly deserted and pulled out of Android’s Play Retailer, and once I tried to maneuver it to my subsequent cellphone, it by no means labored once more. (Observe-up be aware: whereas enhancing this text, I discovered that there was really a model of Carrr Matey available from Amazon. However it’s been so lengthy — I’m afraid I could also be over this explicit crush.) – Barbara Krasnoff, opinions editor
iPhone: 167. Android: 292. Android’s Settings app seems to rely a whole lot of system apps on this, which inflates the quantity. For instance, I scrolled by the listing, and it’s counting language packs as apps. A great 20 % of the apps I’ve put in are silly good house machine apps. – Dan Seifert, deputy editor, opinions
339 apps on my iPhone 14 Professional. Do I take advantage of all of them? Completely not. Do I even know what, like, Meeting Owl is or the way it ended up on my cellphone? Nope! However ever since Apple made it simple to punt an app off your homescreen with out deleting it altogether, I’ve mainly stopped deleting apps. (That is most likely a foul concept.) I even have a particular surplus of productiveness instruments, which I preserve round simply so I can refresh my App Retailer updates tab 10 occasions a day to see if considered one of them lastly added the function I want that can change my life and make me higher at all the things. It’s completely going to occur considered one of nowadays. – David Pierce, editor-at-large
Android: 444. I’m sick. It takes me 5 thumb swipes to get by my Android drawer. – Chris Welch, reviewer
Android: 170. It is a little inflated from what number of apps I’ve put in only for work — there are most likely 10 defunct social apps in there. – Jacob Kastrenakes, deputy editor
I’ve 365 apps on my iPhone, with about 50 bizarre video games my 12-year-old daughter has kindly added
I’ve 365 apps on my iPhone, the overwhelming majority of that are good house apps (together with about 50 bizarre video games my 12-year-old daughter has kindly added to my cellphone — I don’t recall ever taking part in Fashion Battle). I lengthy for the day once I don’t must obtain a brand new app each time I take a look at a brand new good house gadget, however we’re simply not there but. Within the meantime, the iPhone’s swipe and seek for an app perform is my finest good friend. – Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, reviewer
I’ve bought 171 apps put in on my iPhone 12 Professional Max, and a fast tally of my homescreens tells me I solely use about 38 of them with regularity (together with preinstalled iOS apps like Messages). I culled a bunch a couple of months in the past, so I estimate it was barely over 200, however my app utilization rotation has most likely stayed round 40. I’ve a number of streaming, procuring, and utility apps that I don’t work together with ceaselessly, however I’ve them for each time wanted. Although, to be honest, those self same streaming apps are used practically daily on my TV.
I banish a number of apps to the App Library (it’s like App Purgatory in my eyes) to maintain my homescreen considerably organized, and I do a fast search to name them up when it’s their time to shine within the highlight. The Library was really a small function that helped persuade me I’d be okay with switching to iOS after over a decade of utilizing Android telephones. The Android app drawer remains to be higher although — rattling, I miss it typically. – Antonio G. Di Benedetto, author, commerce
“What I would like to chop down on is the variety of would-be Twitter successors like Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky, and so forth.”
iPhone: 165. Consider it or not, I commonly and ruthlessly cull the apps on my cellphone so the overwhelming majority of those are ones I take advantage of not less than on a month-to-month foundation. Most of those apps are for official companies like my banks, medical insurance, the six apps my house constructing requires us to have, and work-related apps like Slack. The exceptions are a handful of health and gadget apps due to all of the testing I do as a reviewer — and I positively don’t use all of them. Nonetheless, it additionally doesn’t make sense to delete them, particularly if it’s an organization like Fitbit or Withings. I do know I’ll finally should redownload the app each time a brand new product launches or if I’ve to put in writing about them for a narrative.
What I would like to chop down on is the variety of would-be Twitter successors like Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky, and so forth. And chat apps! I’ve so many as a result of all my disparate good friend teams insist on utilizing totally different apps like Telegram, Sign, Line, KakaoTalk, and WhatsApp. – Victoria Track, senior reviewer
I’ve 335 apps on my iPhone. I don’t use most of them! A few of them I ought to most likely delete, just like the app for the amusement park within the Netherlands I went to 1 time 4 years in the past. – Nathan Edwards, senior opinions editor
iPhone: 22. I attempt to delete something I don’t use commonly. Now I’m right down to 16 — thanks for the reminder. – Graham MacAree, senior editorial engineer