These Are the Phone Apps We Waste Our Time On

We use a lot of apps in our day-to-day lives. Like, a lot. The humble phone has turned from a calls and text device to a multi-function everything device, powering mobile games, weather, music playback and news curation, to name a few things. So, what apps do we use the most?

Lots and lots, actually. We turned the microphone to inside the Pedestrian Group office (where Gizmodo Australia is based) and asked our friends what apps they use most. Many couldn’t pick just one and listed off a few. Here’s what they had to say.

The apps we use the most

I use a lot of apps, but most of my use would probably be best summarised by the Google Suite, including Docs, Calendar, Meet, Messages, Sheets, Photos and Drive. I’m a productivity nutjob. Beyond these, I use Link to Windows at home to sync phone notifications to my active PC. Also, obviously Twitter. Can’t help it, it’s always a dumpster fire but sometimes it warms you up.

– Zachariah Kelly, writer, Gizmodo Australia

TikTok and Instagram are my most used by time (mindless scrolling, dopamine hunting) but apparently, Slack gives me the most notifications and is the most used when I first unlock my phone.

– Charlotte Travers, Pedestrian Group

TikTok — hours of mindless fun. Homescapes — hours of mindless fun until you run out of lives and have to wait another 3 hours. Shuffles by Pinterest — hours of mindless fun. Been using my Notes way more as well. So easy to find info you need to refer back to. 9Now — for Love Island.

– Georgia Turner, Pedestrian Group

My banking app (I love the Up Bank app and seeing all my lil dollars floating around).

– Ally Koster, Money Diaries director, Refinery29 Australia

Instagram, despite it being f*cked for me atm, it’s almost like an automatic response now which I hate. Another I use a lot is Sleep Cycle, which is mostly because it’s active overnight to track my sleep and all the sh*t I say in my sleep (it’s a lot).

– Courtney Fry, culture and music editor, Pedestrian.TV

Duolingo — becoming bilingual is hottie behaviour. Instagram — a creative outlet, my explore page is a read. Spotify — for podcasts and hot new tunes. TikTok — for the drama and chaos before bed. Goodreads — always on the prowl for a new book for my shelf. Substack — for non-fictional reading and information.

– Lachlan Smith, Pedestrian Group

Letterboxd — I love reading about movies and it’s frequently very funny.

Linley Briggs, Pedestrian Group

Instagram for sure — I need to know what’s going on even though it mainly gives me anxiety. TikTok time from 9pm-10:30pm before bed because I hate my brain.

– Jenna Suffern, Pedestrian Group

The Apple Weather app and Spotify.

– Stephanie Nuzzo, editor, Lifehacker Australia

I have a little community of Facebook friends and we’ve been sharing increasingly niche memes with each other for six or so years so the Facebook app still takes the cake for me. Outside of raw screentime probably Spotify though, I listen to a lot of podcasts.

– Mateus Brandao, Pedestrian Group

Apple Health — period tracking and watching my little steps go up.

– Marli Blanche, Pedestrian Group

Google Maps for work, cafes, friends’ houses, my bed, because I’m incompetent as soon as I leave my house.

– Raveena Kant, Pedestrian Group