This week in our Explainer,we’re going to explain what’s a Mobile Phone App and how you load it.
A mobile app is a software program you can download and use on your phone or your mobile device such as an iPad.
Apps exist basically to entertain you or to help you do stuff. It may be a book to read, a game to play, a search program for hotels or travel – or any one of hundreds of thousands of nifty ideas.
You need a smart phone or a device with internet access to load an app. But not all apps work on all mobile devices. When you buy your phone or tablet, you’re committed to using the operating system and the type of apps that go with it.
There are two main operating systems – Apple for all iPhones and iPads – supported by Apple. And Android for most other phones and tables – supported by Google. So for these systems, to buy an app you need to go to these sites to load an app:
- Apple – go to the App Store
- Android – go to the Play Store
Or you can go to an online retailer which sells apps like Shopify.
How to install an Apple app
You need an Apple ID for this so if you don’t have one you can create one in App Store. Once you have this, go to App Store and select the app you want. If it’s free, just press download and it will be installed on your phone and its icon will appear on your screen.
To purchase an app, find the app in App Store, click the app’s price, and then click Buy App.
How to install an Android app
Go to Play Store and tap the Apps icon in the bottom-right of the home screen. Swipe left and right until you find the Play Store icon.
The first time you tap here, you may be prompted to sign in with your Google credentials and payment information. It will also prompt you to allow back up of apps to your Google account, and require you to accept the terms and conditions.
Once you’re in Google Play, you can search for a specific app or browse through larger categories. Results will be presented for apps, movies, and books. To the right of the Apps subheading, tap the “___ more” button to see the full listing of results.
Tapping the three dots on the right side of each entry will provide options to install right away or add the app to a wishlist for future reference. Tapping the box itself will provide more details for that app, including screenshots, video, a description, and reviews from users like you.
Tap the Install button at the top to start downloading. You will be prompted to provide certain device permissions for the installation to continue.
Ongoing downloads and installations will show as icons in the notification bar at the top of the screen. Swipe down from the top for a detailed look.
Once the download and installation are complete, you can tap the Open button in the Play Store listing, or tap the icon from the notification tray to open your app. Otherwise, the app will be accessible by tapping the Apps icon in the bottom of your home screen, assuming an icon hasn’t already been put on your home screen.
Why are some apps free?
If an app is free it’s because some of them sell advertising space within the app. Other apps offer their basic versions for free and they hope if you like it enough, you’ll upgrade to a paid version later. Some apps are offered free to interest you in the company’s other products.
Questions about your privacy
When you sign up with an app store or download an app, you may be asked for permission to let the app access information on your device. This is where you need to use your own discretion and see if you think it’s reasonable that the app accesses this information. A message may come up on your screen saying it needs to access your: phone and email contacts; call logs; internet data; and calendar data. You need to consider – is this reasonable for this app to require all this information? For example, there’s no reason for an e-book or ‘wallpaper’ app to read your text messages so you would say ‘no’ to this.
As a general rule, many people do not share their phone and email contacts with any app so be careful of allowing this to happen. If you’re providing information when you’re using the device, someone may be collecting it – whether it’s the app developer, the app store, an advertiser, or an ad network. And if they’re collecting your data, they may share it with other companies. So be careful and make sure you read what data the app wants. If you don’t agree, just say ‘no’.
