{"id":99795,"date":"2023-04-13T11:36:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T15:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=99795"},"modified":"2023-04-24T13:08:15","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T17:08:15","slug":"too-many-apps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/","title":{"rendered":"There Are Too Many Apps\u2014Here’s Why We Should Only Need One"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How many apps do you have on your phone? Are there too many apps to keep up with?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the main issues with technology today is that there’s too much of it. You have to use so many products and apps to perform tasks, when it would be much easier to just have a single app for everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you agree that there are too many apps for everything, keep reading for the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Consolidating Personal Gadgetry<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In User Friendly<\/em>, Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant point out a major limitation of the smart gadgets that have become commonplace in the US: the sheer number of applications and devices people switch between as they go about their day. The authors write that this is partly because companies want to maximize the products they sell and also because of people\u2019s mental models<\/a> about how technology should work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Kuang and Fabricant assert that Americans have internalized the idea that there\u2019s a single app for everything\u2014too many apps to choose from that do the same thing. Their mental model of smartphones includes app stores where they can browse through different options and individual icons that they locate to do specific tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kuang and Fabricant suggest that to achieve one of the original goals of user experience<\/a> designers\u2014to save consumers time and energy\u2014engineers should consolidate digital products into streamlined processes<\/a>. The authors argue that to achieve this, we should be able to accomplish tasks in fewer steps and in one centralized place<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: One counterargument to the inefficiency of the app store model is that app stores make it easier for independent app developers to present their product to the public<\/a>. Instead of a large mobile company providing all the software on a smartphone, app stores enable companies of any size to publish apps, and they also enable consumers to download software of their choice\u2014often based on the value it offers or other users\u2019 ratings.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a more user-friendly digital world, the authors suggest that if you wanted to schedule a meeting with your coworkers, you could make a single request to your personal device, which would then contact others to confirm a time and agenda, reserve a meeting location, and update your calendar. Kuang and Fabricant\u2019s idea is similar to getting rid of multiple remotes for a cable TV<\/a>, satellite TV, DVD player, and sound system, and replacing them with one universal remote instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Microsoft\u2019s Copilot and AI Assistants<\/strong>

Kuang and Fabricant\u2019s vision of more streamlined technology suggests something like a more powerful version of current personal assistant devices (such as Amazon\u2019s Alexa or Apple\u2019s Siri). One potential tool that aligns with Kuang and Fabricant\u2019s idea is Microsoft\u2019s Copilot<\/a>, a technology based on an artificial intelligence large language model, which is able to process natural language and create complex and precise written responses. 

Copilot integrates Microsoft\u2019s applications<\/a>, including Word (for documents), Excel (for spreadsheets), and Outlook (for email), allowing the AI assistant to carry out requests entered into a single window. For example, you might request that Copilot create and email a meeting agenda for a business project based on information in collaborative documents.

However, some analysts predict that privacy concerns will continue to be a barrier to the adoption of AI assistant technologies. One survey showed that one-third of respondents cited data security risks and data tracking<\/a> as the main drawbacks of using an AI voice assistant for shopping. These potential concerns apply broadly to AI-based technologies<\/a> as they become more advanced and more prevalent. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How many apps do you have on your phone? Are there too many apps to keep up with? One of the main issues with technology today is that there’s too much of it. You have to use so many products and apps to perform tasks, when it would be much easier to just have a single app for everything. If you agree that there are too many apps for everything, keep reading for the solution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":78845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[989],"class_list":["post-99795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society","tag-user-friendly","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nThere Are Too Many Apps\u2014Here's Why We Should Only Need One - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you ever wish you had one app to do everything? We do too. That's why we've broken down why having too many apps does more harm than good.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"There Are Too Many Apps\u2014Here's Why We Should Only Need One\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you ever wish you had one app to do everything? We do too. That's why we've broken down why having too many apps does more harm than good.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-13T15:36:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-24T17:08:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/smartphone-screen-privacy-warning-on-apps.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1848\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1236\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katie Doll\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katie Doll\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Katie Doll\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c3e1b539e89423b544ede91ab2bff937\"},\"headline\":\"There Are Too Many Apps\u2014Here’s Why We Should Only Need One\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-13T15:36:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-24T17:08:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/\"},\"wordCount\":619,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/smartphone-screen-privacy-warning-on-apps.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"User Friendly\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/\",\"name\":\"There Are Too Many Apps\u2014Here's Why We Should Only Need One - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/smartphone-screen-privacy-warning-on-apps.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-13T15:36:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-24T17:08:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"Do you ever wish you had one app to do everything? We do too. That's why we've broken down why having too many apps does more harm than good.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/smartphone-screen-privacy-warning-on-apps.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/smartphone-screen-privacy-warning-on-apps.jpg\",\"width\":1848,\"height\":1236},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"There Are Too Many Apps\u2014Here’s Why We Should Only Need One\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c3e1b539e89423b544ede91ab2bff937\",\"name\":\"Katie Doll\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6239731a3fc739640b80be30f2b1727a055d3535d0ee4569e8282faa323e47fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6239731a3fc739640b80be30f2b1727a055d3535d0ee4569e8282faa323e47fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katie Doll\"},\"description\":\"Somehow, Katie was able to pull off her childhood dream of creating a career around books after graduating with a degree in English and a concentration in Creative Writing. Her preferred genre of books has changed drastically over the years, from fantasy\/dystopian young-adult to moving novels and non-fiction books on the human experience. Katie especially enjoys reading and writing about all things television, good and bad.\",\"knowsAbout\":[\"Bachelor of Arts in English With a Concentration in Creative Writing\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/katie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"There Are Too Many Apps\u2014Here's Why We Should Only Need One - Shortform Books","description":"Do you ever wish you had one app to do everything? We do too. That's why we've broken down why having too many apps does more harm than good.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"There Are Too Many Apps\u2014Here's Why We Should Only Need One","og_description":"Do you ever wish you had one app to do everything? We do too. That's why we've broken down why having too many apps does more harm than good.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2023-04-13T15:36:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-24T17:08:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1848,"height":1236,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/smartphone-screen-privacy-warning-on-apps.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Katie Doll","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katie Doll","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/"},"author":{"name":"Katie Doll","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c3e1b539e89423b544ede91ab2bff937"},"headline":"There Are Too Many Apps\u2014Here’s Why We Should Only Need One","datePublished":"2023-04-13T15:36:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-24T17:08:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/"},"wordCount":619,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/smartphone-screen-privacy-warning-on-apps.jpg","keywords":["User Friendly"],"articleSection":["Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/","name":"There Are Too Many Apps\u2014Here's Why We Should Only Need One - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/smartphone-screen-privacy-warning-on-apps.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-13T15:36:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-24T17:08:15+00:00","description":"Do you ever wish you had one app to do everything? We do too. That's why we've broken down why having too many apps does more harm than good.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/smartphone-screen-privacy-warning-on-apps.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/smartphone-screen-privacy-warning-on-apps.jpg","width":1848,"height":1236},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/too-many-apps\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"There Are Too Many Apps\u2014Here’s Why We Should Only Need One"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c3e1b539e89423b544ede91ab2bff937","name":"Katie Doll","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6239731a3fc739640b80be30f2b1727a055d3535d0ee4569e8282faa323e47fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6239731a3fc739640b80be30f2b1727a055d3535d0ee4569e8282faa323e47fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Katie Doll"},"description":"Somehow, Katie was able to pull off her childhood dream of creating a career around books after graduating with a degree in English and a concentration in Creative Writing. Her preferred genre of books has changed drastically over the years, from fantasy\/dystopian young-adult to moving novels and non-fiction books on the human experience. Katie especially enjoys reading and writing about all things television, good and bad.","knowsAbout":["Bachelor of Arts in English With a Concentration in Creative Writing"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/katie\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/smartphone-screen-privacy-warning-on-apps.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99795"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100182,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99795\/revisions\/100182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}