Since the advent of smartphones, apps have all but taken over certain aspects of our lives. People have to post a Snapchat or Instagram story every time they eat out, Maps tells us how to get everywhere the fastest and Weather lets us know if we should pack a rain jacket for later.
This could be an article about how we are obsessed with our phones and need to focus on more face-to-face communication. Instead, think about the majority of the apps you use on a daily basis. The list is probably Messages, Phone, social media, Music, Camera and Photos and so on. The thing many of these have in common? They’re free.
One of the apps I use the most on my phone is called Dark Sky. It’s a hyper-accurate weather app that lets me know exactly when it is going to rain. I highly recommend it to people, but when I tell them it is $3.99, they immediately get turned off and no longer want to download it.
I bought this app in March 2015 and have gotten notifications from it every day about the forecast and every time it has rained or snowed since then. To me, that is well worth the $4 I paid for it. Other people seem to disagree.
People seem to have such a vendetta against paid apps, despite how useful many of them are. I’m not talking about freemium apps with in-app purchases or monthly payments like Apple Music and Spotify. Apps you have to straight-up pay for turn people off for some reason, even if they’re only $0.99.
This not only applies to apps but games as well. While scrolling through the top charts, many games were $1.99 and above, which is way cheaper than games for consoles. While they don’t provide as in-depth of an experience, they are still with you all the time and provide a lot of entertainment for a small fee.
This hatred of paying for apps is even truer for in-app purchases. I can understand this more, as downloading a free app and then paying for more features can be frustrating. But for an app or a game you use frequently or invest a lot of time into, paying a usually small price to access full versions shouldn’t seem like a waste of money or a rip-off. If anything, you access more content while supporting the creators or the app you enjoy using.
I’m still critical of paid apps and can be stingy and wonder if they’re worth the money, I’m not afraid to pay for an app if I think it will be worth the money. Most paid apps and games cost a price because they offer more than their free counterparts. And after all, app developers have to make money from what they do somehow, so highly functional and useful apps have to come at a price.
If a paid app looks useful and strikes your interest, be sure to be critical and read reviews to see if it’s really worth it, but don’t be afraid of paying for an app. The small sum could end up being minuscule when looking back at how much you really get out of it.
By Ryan Signorino, Training Editor
signorra15@bonaventure.edu
