App Overload: It's Time to Clean House

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By Lance Ulanoff2013-07-22 20:17:57 UTC

This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Mashable as a publication.

The other day I noticed I had more than 165 apps on my iPhone. Of them, I consistently use, maybe, 15. In other words, 91% of my aa\pps are in the way of other apps I want to use. Organization does help, some. On the iPhone 5 and my iPad I use app folders to make rational collections of sometimes disparate apps.

What I almost never do, however, is delete apps. I don’t know why that is since, at least on iOS, it’s quite easy to banish an app from your device.

You simply hold your finger down on any app icon until all of your apps start to nervously wiggle and black x’s appear on the upper right corner all of them (it’s like they all know they’re up for execution ).

You delete an app by then selecting the black “x.” When you do so a little warning appears, asking if you really want to delete the app and all associated data from your phone. If you decide you want your app back, you can simply download and install again (you don’t have to buy the same app twice), though your local app data will be gone for good.

You can also use this mode to drag and drop icons on top of each other to create folders. Android also combines app organization and cleanup: On the Samsung Galaxy S3, for example, you hold your finger down on the app icon and then drag it to a folder or the trashcan.

Choosing the Damned

It’s not easy choosing which apps stay and which ones go. My 10 or so go-to apps (Twitter, Facebook, Temple Run 2, Flickr, PhotoshopExpress, Podcasts, WNYC, Limbo, SkyDrive, Dropbox, IMDB, etc.), are safe, obviously. But there are so many other apps on here that I downloaded on a whim or that I was briefly entertained by and have since lost my interest. Draw Something is a good example (so is SongPop).

There was a time late last year when it seemed like everyone was using that app. I like to draw so it was kind of a perfect fit for me. Somewhere along the way, however, I along with most people I know lost interest. I want to delete it, but worry that it might make a comeback.

Of course, if I’m really going to clean out my apps, I can’t think that way. I have to be strong and make tough decisions.

One smart way of deciding which apps stay and which apps go is to apply a time stamp. When was the last time you used the app? Notifications that you ignored do not count. The best rule of thumb in my book: six months. If you haven’t used the app in half a year, you probably won’t use it again.

See also: The 25 Best Free iPad Apps

There are exceptions to this rule. For example, last year I did a couple of interviews with NPR. They sometimes like to use an app called Report-It. It can make a crystal-clear recording of your voice, synced to a recording the reporter is making on the other side of a phone call. When you’re done, you upload the audio file to their servers. I have not used it since last year, but if NPR comes calling again, I’d like to have Report-It ready. So, yes, it stays.

We Need This Tool

When I mentioned on Twitter that anything I hadn’t touched in six months “was toast,” a number of followers wondered if there were any tools that could actually track that for you.

As far as I can tell, there aren't any. But just imagine if apps that you haven’t used for, say, a month grew somewhat dimmer on screen . The app icons would still be there, but just a little less bright. With each passing week, they’d grow a little bit dimmer. By six months, they’d be almost translucent, which would actually make them stand out amongst your brighter, sharper apps.

In my world, this smart tool would also notify you with a list of apps you’ve ignored since Mitt Romney was running for president. You could choose to delete en mass or revive the ones you simply forgot about, but still love. The revived apps would regain their former brightness, until you ignore them again.

Hidden Gems

In the meantime, I have some decisions to make. Not all of them are easy. On the games front, I struggled with whether or not to delete Temple Run. I’ve been playing the far more polished Temple Run 2 for months, but worry that maybe, just maybe, I’ll want to go old school with the original game.

In the end, I sucked it up and deleted Temple Run 1. Similarly, I’ve played the original Angry Birds all the way through and have since moved on to Angry Birds Star Wars. Am I ready to delete the blockbuster original? No. Even though I haven’t played it in months, I’ll also keep Bad Piggies, mainly because I forgot I had it.

When you use folders as I do, rediscovering hidden apps is a pretty common problem. It’s like a pair of near-new, rarely-worn shoes, hidden in a box in the back of your closet. Stuff that’s out of sight can get neglected and, for me at least, gets a second chance.

Space Savers

The act of removing apps is not only cathartic, it can also help you save space, I’ve had the huge Infinity Blade (624MB. Allrecipies is, by contrast, just 58.9MB) on my phone for ages, but now I play Infinity Blade II (1.1GB). No sense in having two big apps on the phone. Goodbye IB1.

Another good rule of thumb: If you can’t remember what the app does. Get rid of it . For me this applies to Fluid FX, iMade Face, BlackSMS and Wi-Finder. Sorry guys.

That’s right, I can make the tough decisions, mercilessly eliminating unwanted and unused apps. Except that, sometimes, I change my mind. My finger hovers over that message promising deletion of the app and all its data as our time together flashes before my eyes. I blink and another app is spared for now.

How often do you go through your apps and weed out the useless, forgotten and forlorn? If you have any smart tips for making these tough decisions, share them in the comments below.

Image: Mashable

Topics: apps, Apps and Software, iPhone, opinion, Tech