What’s on your phone?

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  • Graphic by Victoria Williamson

  • Ranked as the top free smartphone applications. (Graphic by Victoria Williamson)

  • Ranked as the top paid smartphone applications. (Graphic by Victoria Williamson)

  • Ranked as the top paid smartphone applications. (Graphic by Victoria Williamson)

  • Ranked as the top free smartphone applications. (Graphic by Victoria Williamson)

  • Graphic by Victoria Williamson

  • Graphic by Victoria Williamson

  • Graphic by Victoria Williamson

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If you have a smartphone, you will also have a plethora of applications that you use for information and entertainment on a day to day basis, or so one assumes.

Five random students were asked their top five most used applications on their rectangular devices. Three of them have Snapchat as No. 1 most used app. Most college students use social apps to document and share their lives almost every day. The most used applications were the social ones like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook.

It might be uncommon, but there are students who rarely use their phones. When Nathan Zimmerer, a student at DePaul was asked about the top five most used applications on his phone, he said, “I don’t use my phone a lot. I just use Snapchat. I don’t listen to music on my phone either. I use Spotify, just not on my phone.” The most popular music application among the five students happened to be Spotify.

Micaela Mckenzie, said, “I used to use Snapchat a lot until Instagram updated their app and included the stories feature. Initially, very few people would watch my insta story but now, it’s a lot more than Snapchat for sure.”

Due to Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram incorporating the ‘stories feature’ of Snapchat, many people have reduced posting on Snapchat due to larger audiences in other platforms. The ‘stories feature’ of Snapchat gives users a platform to upload pictures and videos that lasts only for 24 hours. According to Independent UK, Snapchat had lost $443 million, in the second quarter which compares with a loss of $116 million, or 14 cents per share, a year earlier.

This list relates to the most popular applications among the five students interviewed. From the five students interviewed, four had iPhones which would explain the relation.

When they were asked about games, most said that they didn’t play any on their phones. Mai Nguyen, a freshman said, “Nah, I don’t play games. I shop on my phone instead.” Two of them said that they occasionally played games such as, “Super Mario Run” and “Oh No! Ninjas!”

Almost all of the most used applications that the students used, were free and did not require any in-app purchases. Many of them pointed out that they used Gmail and other email applications, however, they mainly used it on their laptops.

The top five paid apps for Android phones were: 1) Flamingo for Twitter, 2) Ultimate Guitar Tabs & Chords, 3) Hot Schedules, 4) Nova Launcher Prime, 5) Torque Pro (OBD 2 & Car). And the top five paid applications on the Apple Store were: 1) HYPERSPECTIV, 2) Pocket Build, 3) Minecraft, 4) Heads Up! 5) PAKO 2. Based on these results, most android users paid for applications that helped them one way or the other. On the other hand, most ios users paid for gaming applications.