Do you really need that app installed?

If in our heart, we still cling to anything—anger, anxiety, or possessions—we cannot be free.

— Thich Nhat Hanh

First and foremost, I am neither an IT expert nor a security expert. Following my advice is likely to get you in trouble. But I do use mobile phones aka mobile tracking devices. I also like reading posts on social media sites like bluesky and mastodon. If you follow the right people, you actually learn some stuff.

But I also get overwhelmed easily, especially since the long COVID, so I have found myself asking whether I need to follow this person, this RSS feed, or that podcast that I never listen to. All this led me to ask, “do I need this app installed on my phone?”

If I install an app, I increase my attack surface, but I also give the app certain permissions and privileges over my device, my attention and my time. Moreover, it’s another thing messing up my apps list and home screen.

When I switch on my phone (or computer for that matter), I want to have a purpose. I like to have a select few apps for quick access. Standard Notes is always one. Aside from that, I like a clear and empty home screen. I weep inside when a client passes me their phone with a hundred plus apps spread across the several pages. Not because I am passing judgement on my client, but because I could not cope with that level of chaos. Keep It Simple Stupid is my version of minimalism.

So I ask myself, do I really need that app installed on my phone?

There are certain apps you must have on a modern phone. And certain apps that are forced upon the user by their operating system. I almost said operating system of choice, but I doubt a lot of people pick their phone based on the operating system (or potential operating system).

Every phone has a phone app, a contacts app, a messaging app, a browser and an email app.

I will always install a password manager, a note app, a podcast app, a music app, an audiobook app, a read it later app, a VPN and a selection of online banking apps.

But wherever possible I used to favour the Progressive Web Apps (PWA). In my humble opinion, PWA are good enough for most social media sites and even my feed reader.

So then I ask myself, do I really need that as a PWA? After all, everything is just a bookmark in the wind.

The result: 28 apps, 4000+ bookmarks.

Live by the bookmark, die by the bookmark.