This is an era of smartphones. Phones are becoming smarter than the people who operate on those phones. I am not joking. You know, when we study Indian economics in grade 10, we read this line “The rich becomes richer and the poor gets poorer.”

That is not the case with smartphones. Smart and dumb people are becoming dumber, alike. Thanks to a zillion annoying apps. 

When you buy a new phone, you already get a range of pre-installed apps. Most of them are mandatory, as in, the system won’t allow you to uninstall them.

Then, there are those that you know you cannot live without and install them the moment your phone is setup with a data connectivity. 

Then, there are those that use install on recommendation from others or in a moment of weakness. Soon, you start to regret those apps, so much that installing remains the only option.

Here is a list of 5 apps that I installed and loathed them immensely.

1. Viu

First and foremost is Viu.

Reason to Install: I installed it on recommendation from my sister. she suggested that there are some nice Pakistani shows on it, that are not available on YouTube.

Reason to Uninstall:

1. I could not download.
2. The video didn’t buffer much.
3. The app, in general, was slow as every section took 10-15 seconds to load. It was like seeing an old person walk from ten feet at a begrudgingly slow speed.
4. There is no control to change the play speed. I mean, the drama I watched was slowwww. I had to watch the same subtitles and same expressions for minutes before it changed. Generally, I prefer 1.5x on YouTube cuz I enjoy everything without missing out much. It save some time and I can utilize the time to reviewing the damn thing I am watching.

I will be honest, Viu was a major factor of why I didn’t like Prime Minister and I as much as I should have.

2. Hum TV

Reason to Install: Every Hum TV channel video starts with Hum TV app ad by very popular actors. I thought, why not give it a try.

Reason to Uninstall:
It broke every time I tried to browse through the show, or teaser or just clicking on anything. I guess the app was designed to be looked at. DISAPPOINTED!

After keeping it in my phone for a month or so, and repeatedly experiencing the app crash, I gave up.

Tum se na ho payega.

3. PhonePe

Reason to Install: Rewards, apparently1

I am yet to uninstall this one but I hated it from the word go. Since my sole reason to install was rewards, I was expecting cashbacks etc, like Google Pay. There are no rewards. I mean, there are, but only store credits and each of those integrated apps Ola, Fassos and Myntra etc would ask for your details again. Because, as a consumer all I want is to share my details so it can be sold to shitty companies and they would start spamming me with calls, messages and emails.

That was sarcasm. No, thank you.

Therefore, I have decided to uninstall it.

4. Ola

Reason to Install: Need to book cabs when auto walahs are unavailable.

Ola and I have a love hate relationship. Correction, I have a as-needed basis relationship with Ola.
Why? Because, it does not work all the time. There have been times that it worked just nice – 50% of the time. That’s not a good percentage for bad experience. At other times, it was awful experience for various reasons.

Reasons to Uninstall:

1. Booking got cancelled for no reason at all. It happened three times.
2. Driver talked rudely, twice. They charge almost double and yet talk back as though they are doing us a favour.
3. Incorrect address picked up by the app

5. Paytm

Reasons to Install: Demonetization, remember that?

Paytm and I had a long relationship. I loved it for I didn’t have to carry my wallet with me. When you don’t have to count cash purchasing is so easy, headache free and sometimes in unreasonably open-ended. But, I managed to restrain myself most of the time. I used it mostly in the office cafeteria to buy food and snack items.

Then, trouble began to strain out relationship. The first problem was the KYC. The app prompted me to do KYC and I ignored it. As long as I can buy stuff why do I care, right?

But then I couldn’t use it unless I do KYC. You remember the whole Aadhar story, right? You don’t? Read it now, where I vent out my frustration about getting an identity.

Anywho, I braced myself and updated KYC. End of story, right? No, it asked me to physically submit the documents at nearest KYC center.

What the hell?

Isn’t Aadhar a centralised server that everybody can access? If not legally, it was already hacked, right?

Can’t you verify other details from Aadhar number?

Why do I need to submit physical copies? So much for digital India.

Adiós! I no longer use PayTM. Using cash to buy stuff makes me more diligent when I am buying stuff.

QOTD

What apps have annoyed you that most?

Shabana Mukhtar