App Review #13

My thoughts on apps I’ve been using for the past week+, all of which I’ve loved

Previous App Reviews — Week 12, Week 11, Week 10, Week 9, Week 8, Week 7, Week 6, Week 5, Week 4, Week 3, Week 2, Week 1

Headspace (FREE Trial + $8 month after—10/10)

Headspace is a highly recommended meditation app several people told me about over the past few months and I finally made the commitment to try it after a long heart to heart with my mom about meditation(I’m a momma’s boy). My mom took a course in positive psychology and has begun a yoga certification program and wanted me to practice being more mindful and I decided to try out Headspace. I’ve been inspired by my mom and her ambitions and goals she has set for herself and I thought practicing meditation could help me emulate her actions.

My experience thus far has been phenomenal, and I believe a lot of this is due to the welcoming nature of the apps design. As you enter the app, you are greeted by friendly colors and characters, all of which help guide you in your ten day trial. I think the 10 days of introduction is the perfect amount of time to get into the habit in using the app.

In terms of the actual meditation, it has gone way better than I expected. Although I was anxious at first by the idea of meditation, the instructor makes you feel very welcomed and comfortable as you begin each session. Each session lasts about 10 minutes which may feel like an eternity but after a couple sessions, I now feel that it is a great starting point for beginners.

A neat part of the app that I really love is the stats page. It shows you information about your mediation and how many “Headspacers” that are meditating now.

My trial is about to finish and I am 100% becoming a paying customer.

Red/Green — (FREE—9/10)

Red/Green has hit a sweet spot in a category many previous apps have failed; letting your friends know you are free/down to hang out. The app is super simple. Swipe to go green when you want to let you friends know you’re available or stay red for unavailable. Additionally, you have the option to select specific friends to notify or select all. It takes away the tension in sending specific texts by allowing you to passively say “I want to hang out.”

In terms of design, the user interface is extremely easy to understand. My only wish is that the swipe to green button was slightly larger. I tried to swipe several times and it did not go through since the area seemed small.

Unfortunately, I only have 3 friends that are currently signed up which defeats the purpose a little bit as they are all on the east coast.

The app has a ton of potential, particularly on college campuses, where it can be a great tool for making plans. I’m excited to see how the app develops.

West coast peeps, GET ON THIS!!!

Fling (FREE—6.5/10)

I saw someone tweet about Fling and downloaded it out of curiosity. The idea behind the app is brilliant. Send a message, photo or video to up to 50 random people in the world. However, I think the execution of the app can be better.

The user experience is extremely simple once you understand what the app is actually for, as the signup/signin screen give 0 information. There is a brief video tutorial and the default screen is easy to navigate, reminding me of snapchat’s photo screen. Once you take a picture or write a message, the experience of flinging the message to the world was an awesome interaction to include!

However, the notification assault of this app was a bit too much for me. As I test out these applications, I enable all notifications to embrace the experience of the app. Fling has sent me an average of 25 notifications per day telling me someone sent me a message. There has to be a better way to do this. Bombarding your users that enable notifications is a recipe for disaster. Perhaps being able to set when you want to receive notifications is a better solution (EX: each fling, end of day summary, every 5 flings…)

Overall, I think the app has a lot of potential but at the moment, I don’t seem to be getting the full use of it as the notifications gave me bad vibes. However, this is something that can definitely be improved upon to be back in my good graces.

Previous App Reviews — Week 12, Week 11, Week 10, Week 9, Week 8, Week 7, Week 6, Week 5, Week 4, Week 3, Week 2, Week 1