From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch
Yesterday, I turned on my phone 44 times. Over the course of the day, I used it for 3 hours and 42 minutes. How do I know these facts? The answer is simple. I’ve installed a new app on my my machine. App Usage, by Sam Lu, was released on May 24, 2016. Besides tracking how often you turn on and use your phone, App Usage has several other useful features.
– app usage history tracks the amount of time that you use individual apps.
– activity history shows the time that you opened each app.
– manage apps lists which ones you haven’t used in a long time.
– track installs and uninstalls.
– batch uninstaller.
– and many more.
As I write this article, I’ve only had the app installed for three days. Although the numbers in the first paragraph are fun to look at, I think the most useful function is the ability to add notes to each app. You can easily keep track of everything from license data, cost, login information, etc. You could even make a note for the App Usage app reminding yourself that you installed it after reading a “Tiny” recommendation.
You can set usage reminders for daily usage summaries. There are also options to set reminders for when you over use an app, when you check your phone more than 30 times a day or set a reminder time for an individual app. In the manage apps section, you can also keep track of dates that apps were installed/uninstalled. Apps can be listed by app name, last update time, first installed, usage time, access count, total size, cache size, data size or notes you’ve inputted. You can easily uninstall apps without opening system settings. A function that I haven’t tested is exporting histories to a CSV file. This would be useful for viewing on a large monitor or printing a hard copy.
I really like this program a lot and will probably keep it on my phone. Like so many other apps, the deciding factor will be battery life. So far it doesn’t seem to have a negative effect. App usage is free in the play store. It supposedly is ad supported with an in app purchase to remove them. I haven’t seen any advertisements at all. You can download App Usage from the Google Play Store. Why not give it a try? You might find it useful.
Thanks for reading.