Android

17722 readers

18 users here now

The new home of /r/Android on Lemmy and the Fediverse!

Android news, reviews, tips, and discussions about rooting, tutorials, and apps.

💡Content Philosophy:

Content which benefits the community (news, rumours, and discussions) is generally allowed and is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, self-promotion, etc.) which will be removed if it's in violation of the rules.

Support, technical, or app related questions belong in: [email protected]

For fresh communities, lemmy apps, and instance updates: [email protected]

💬Matrix Chat

💬Telegram channels / chats

📰Our communities below

Rules

Stay on topic: All posts should be related to the Android OS or ecosystem.
No support questions, recommendation requests, rants, or bug reports: Posts must benefit the community rather than the individual. Please post to [email protected].
Describe images/videos, no memes: Please include a text description when sharing images or videos. Post memes to [email protected].
No self-promotion spam: Active community members can post their apps if they answer any questions in the comments. Please do not post links to your own website, YouTube, blog content, or communities.
No reposts or rehosted content: Share only the original source of an article, unless it's not available in English or requires logging in (like Twitter). Avoid reposting the same topic from other sources.
No editorializing titles: You can add the author or website's name if helpful, but keep article titles unchanged.
No piracy or unverified APKs: Do not share links or direct people to pirated content or unverified APKs, which may contain malicious code.
No unauthorized polls, bots, or giveaways: Do not create polls, use bots, or organize giveaways without first contacting mods for approval.
No offensive or low-effort content: Don't post offensive or unhelpful content. Keep it civil and friendly!
No affiliate links: Posting affiliate links is not allowed.

Quick Links

Our Communities

Lemmy App List

See thread

Chat and More

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Devgard

[email protected]

A potential alternative to "app installs" (lemdro.id)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Many of us have numerous apps installed on our smartphones, and a significant portion of them go unused.

For me, the reason behind this accumulation of apps is that whenever I come across an interesting one on platforms like Reddit or YouTube, I tend to install it immediately, holding onto the hope that I may use it in the future. The consequence of this habit is that my phone becomes cluttered with a graveyard of forgotten apps, occupying valuable storage space, consuming bandwidth, and draining battery life.

One potential solution that has crossed my mind is the concept of "app bookmarking" or virtual installations. Play store can add a button for this type of installation. Bookmarked apps would be distinguishable in the app drawer, with their icons present while the app itself is not actually installed. They would remain dormant until needed, at which point they would be automatically downloaded and launched.

Please note that this idea differs from instant apps in its approach. Basically you would only install the icon of the app and place it wherever you want (on home screen, in folders, etc.) but it's not there until you actually decide to open it.

What do you think?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The consequence of this habit is that my phone becomes cluttered with a graveyard of forgotten apps

Then break the habit.

The problem with forgotten apps is that they don't forget you: a lot of those apps are actively gathering data on you behind your back. Also, even if they're legit, there's always the risk that an update will pull in malware some day - either because the app was compromised, or the app maker went to the dark side.

What I do is this: I keep untrustworthy apps in my work profile (untrustworthy being any Google app, Reddit, Whatsapp and any other well-known data collecting trojans). My work profile is managed by Shelter which keeps them all frozen.

Every once in a while, I go around the apps in my main profile that I've installed "in case they might be useful some day" and if I haven't used them for some time, I stick them in my work profile to be frozen and kept out of my data should they start doing something sketchy some day.

And every once in a while, I go around the apps in my work profile and purge the apps that I haven't unfrozen for a long time.

In short, I use my work profile as a stage-out area for uncommonly used apps: they spend some time there to prove their worth until they prove worthless and I remove them entirely. But as long as they're in there, they don't consume resources and they're not a liability.