Although mobile users know about an app for every purpose, the intricacies of having them were lost on most. One for a cab, one for an electricity bill, one for a prepaid recharge, one for a weekend laundry, one for a meal are a few that made us go cashless wherever necessary, post demonetisation. While a few apps serve all these purposes at once, they occupy a lion’s share of the limited memory space. Many apps use often up the internal memory. Neither can we without them nor ignore their massive appetite for storage space. The middle ground here is to have developers make individual apps with lighter interfaces besides an option of a single lightweight app that integrates these services.
With regular notifications of memory shortage, these minor glitches bother new app users (who took to apps after November) and the ones with basic smartphones, says techie-cum-author Jatin Kuberkar . “For someone who was used to this before, tiding through these glitches is manageable. Not all technical languages can ensure an integrated lightweight solution, but it’s time we relook apps and their usage.” .
While the focus during an app-building cycle is to make it a lighter option for a user, making it a one-stop solution can hurt. After all, someone interested in booking a movie ticket may not fulfil any other need through the app. That’s why it pays to focus on individual priorities, says Ravi Kumar a Hyderabad-based techie. “Sites that enable digital transactions leave users with no option but to install apps. That’s more a brand-building exercise than a user’s need. It is possible to create interfaces that link a user to the website directly that don’t take a toll on a user’s memory,” adds Ravi.
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On the positive front, several apps have got more browser-friendly than ever before. “Flipkart and Myntra who decided to go ‘app only’ have similar interfaces on their websites and apps, which makes them easier to use now,” says Asmita, an interaction designer in Hyderabad. Yet, the future is integrated, if we are to go by Microsoft and Google who’ve already slated experimental projects for alternatives to a single integrated app.
Yet, it raises issues of security. Bringing all user information under a single umbrella at a time when app-hacks are commonplace is tough, feels Ravi. Simplifying technology with a singular approach without compromising on issues like memory, security and branding is when we can truly embrace ‘going digital’.