Trying a New Android App Every Day for a Week: What Stuck

I spend most of my working day in a browser and a code editor, so my phone had quietly become a very boring place: messages, maps, a notes app I never open, and the same three time-wasting games. Last week I set myself a small rule — install one new Android app every evening, actually use it the next day, and be honest about whether it earned its place on my home screen.

Day one was a game, because that felt like the easiest win. It was fun for exactly two commutes. The art was charming and the puzzles were clever, but by day three the energy timers and constant nudges to buy gems had worn me out. Deleted, and honestly no regrets.

Day two was a small text editor, and this one surprised me. I draft a lot of posts, replies and half-formed ideas on my phone, usually in an app that fights me on formatting. A plain editor that saves Markdown files and stays out of the way turned those dead minutes on the train into useful drafting time. That one is still installed.

The middle of the week blurred together a bit: a habit tracker that was far too pleased with itself, a scanner app I will probably need twice a year, and a tiny unit-converter utility that does one job and does it instantly. Most of the apps I tried came from browsing jzaas in the evening, making a shortlist, and then only actually installing the one that sounded most useful for the next day.

By the weekend I had settled on a routine I liked. In the morning I would check whether yesterday's app had solved a real problem or just created a new one. If I could not remember opening it, out it went. That simple test killed a weather app with beautiful widgets and wildly optimistic forecasts, and a to-do app that wanted me to build a whole system before I could add a single task.

What stuck, in the end, was less about the apps and more about the filter. The editor stayed because it made drafting easier. The converter stayed because it is fast and honest about what it is. Everything that begged for attention, streaks or subscriptions went in the bin. I am going to keep the one-a-week version of this experiment going — slower, pickier, and with a much emptier home screen.