The other day I was trying to find a market research app on my mobile and was getting frustrated, as usual, losing myself in the labyrinth of apps. I tried sorting by pages, it didn’t work. I tried sorting alphabetically; the trick did not work either. Running out of time, frantically, I tried searching by color scheme, and bingo, I found it! My turquoise blue colored app! But this is not a fool-proof method, I realized soon, when I needed a finance app, a few hours later.
Smartphones and tablets are outselling computers by over three times and the wheel is only rolling further – many users have their first experience with the web on a smartphone instead of a computer. We need mobile apps development tools to manage our work, personal life, health, and entertainment. But very few of us know how to manage them.
Think you know all about mobile app management? Think again. You might be missing out on these seven app management tips.
- Organize your apps by Purpose:
Probably the best way to organize your mobile apps is to arrange them systematically by their purpose. First, you need to find out what apps you use?
Do you watch live TV or YouTube videos on mobile apps? Are you always tuned to radio stations? Do you read news or books on the e-reader? How much do you spend on playing games? Do you order food or groceries? Do you often book tickets for concerts or movies? And yes, does your kid play games on mobile apps too? You need to organize your stuff.
I suggest you create different folders with names like “finance”, “games”, “academics/research”, “beauty”, “kids”, etc. Next, move the icons under the appropriate folders. This will save a lot of time for you, I am sure.
- Edit the App Drawer:
Both Android and Apple devices have an app drawer, located at the bottom of the home screen with four or five app icons already in place. Smartphone users can edit the apps in the drawer. You can swap out the prearranged apps at the bottom of phone home screen and replace them with ones you use more often. You may, of course, add an extra app or two in the app drawer for convenience.
- Coloring does the Trick:
Color-coding your app folders is of great help, especially when you are unable to recollect the contents of the folders. Since we are visually stimulated by the color of an object, it is easy to remember. You must have noticed that app icons are designed in such a way that they convey a distinct character and thus, we can easily identify them.
Simply drag the icons of the apps starting with any one color, say blue. All the apps that have a blue icon should be placed together. Next, you can start with another color, say, for example, yellow, and drag all the yellow icons right next to each other. In this way, you can place all apps according to their color scheme.
- Arrange Apps according to hand Position:
Strange, though it may sound, you can arrange apps, by your hand position. Hold your phone and observe the position of your hand. Most of us position our hand differently while using the phone. If you operate with one hand, mostly using your thumb to tap on apps, you would barely reach the perimeter of your phone. You can then place the apps you use frequently around the phone’s edges.
If you tend to hold the phone with one hand and use the index finger of the other to use a touchscreen, you can decide how the apps should be placed on the screen.
- To Install or not to Install:
Do you really need that face animation app? Is the funny horoscope calculator worth your time? Is the new shopping app of any use for you? Ask yourself before you click the install button, yet again. Installing unnecessary apps, not only means more clutter on your home screen but also eats ups your phone battery life and of course, wastes your time.
- Migration for Better Usability:
You might require 10 apps, on an average for your daily activities. You may place them on your home screen so that the icons appear on the first screen, while the lesser used apps are migrated to the second, third or fourth screen. Banking apps or movie apps, for example, are more frequently used, can be placed on the home screen or first screen. Beauty hacks app or a cab booking cab, that you might need once or twice a month, may be migrated to the later pages.
You may, of course, migrate some of the lesser used apps to the home screen, if you need them, once a week, for convenience.
- The Good Riddance:
Uninstall a downloaded app, if it does not appear useful or if it has not been used for a long time is not likely to be used. However, you must remember that merely deleting an app does not uninstall it.
To uninstall an app, tap on it in the All category to see details. Next, tap on Uninstall button to remove the app. Also, you must keep in mind that uninstalled mobile apps testing tools continue to remain in the All tab as they were downloaded at some point in time. This is cool. You can reinstall them anytime and will not have to download them again.
Following these basic steps will keep your phone well organized and clutter-free. It will also improve the smooth running of the phone.
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