FOR THE SAKE OF VANITY

by andre briggs

Apps That Got Usage From Me in 2013

Inspired by the post The Apps I Actually Used In 2013 I’ve written my own personal take.

Usually around this time of the year I reflect of the state of Hip-Hop music and the best releases. These days more of my enthusiasm is oriented around technology this is a natural progression.

I have an iPhone, but have spent good time with Android (and Windows Phone of course). I see no reason to switch to the other platforms. In no particular order here I the apps I found myself using the most :

  • Foursquare
  • VSCOcam1
  • OneBusAway
  • SportsCenter
  • Snapchat
  • Safari
  • Simplenote
  • Nike FuelBand
  • Twitterrific2
  • Reminders3
  • Messages4
  • Mail
  • Music5
  • Remote
  • Instagram6
  • Photos
  • Uber
  • Maps7
  • Vine
  • iBooks
  • iPhoto

Thoughts and Comments

  • I tried using Day One consistently but the workflow was simply too many steps. Moreover the initial load up time is poor.

  • When possible, I would route every event (flights, meet ups, etc) through Passbook. It works well but I wish vendors would utilize it more.

  • I used FaceTime a lot this past year. I rarely use Skype. Again 1st party wins here.

  • One thing I’ll mention is that iOS7’s “Today View” is pretty neat. Weather, Calendar, and Location (via Frequent Locations) are available here at a glance. I hope to see more intelligent behaviors of the Today View in the future.

  • I only used Facebook when absolutely necessary but only through Safari.

  • I’ve certainly taken the most photos this year than ever before. It’s coming to a point where I need to simply store everything in separate iCloud Photostreams. Hopefully Apple will bring more flexibility to this area.

  1. Though I still occasionally post to Instagram I find myself doing much post processing in VSCOcam and completely ignoring the Instagram filters. I process more photos through VSCOcam than I post to Instagram. ↩

  2. I was really excited when Twitterrific was able to add the “Add to Safari Reading List” support in iOS7. The official Twitter App is too messy for me.↩

  3. I mainly try to only use Reminders via Siri. It’s pretty powerful. Why sweat the some stuff?↩

  4. When I look at my closest network at least 75% of use iOS. Consequently iMessage seems brilliant. I prefer to text from my laptop these days. ↩

  5. Since the iOS7 beta’s I’ve been using iTunes Radio (with iTunes Match subscription). It’s changed the way I look at music. I listen to more genres regularly now since I don’t have to “own” it. I was never a fan of the ad supported apps like Pandora or Facebook reliant Spotify. The power of a 1st party feature really shines here. ↩

  6. Even Apple’s stock iOS 7 filters got more usage from me than Instagram. ↩

  7. I have Google Maps but I’ve only used it for areas where I didn’t know the best bus route. Once I found it I would used OneBusAway or Apple’s Maps. ↩