What exactly is an App for a phone?

Is it significantly more than a nice GUI that takes you to a reactive website? Is it any more useful than a bookmark?

App is an abbreviation of application.

Apps are pieces of software. They can be as simple or complex as developers want to make them. Some apps may only offer simple functionality such as what you may find on a web site and some can be extremely complex, providing similar feature sets as desktop computer software.

But they (almost) all require web connectivity.

So why is an "App(lication)" better or different from a cloud hosted website / software accessible via a URL in the bookmarks?

not true
they require no more web connectivity then any other application on any other platform.
is a game installed on an xbox not an application because it requires web connectivity for certain functions?


an application is a stand-alone piece of software - just like any application installed on a pc or laptop.

Reasonable definitions of apps, I think, very understandable.

Could I join in, and ask for explanations of 'widget' and 'lab'.

The former seem to connected to apps, and to have numbers associated with it ( 1 X 1, 1 X 2, etc.) which I assume refer to display size.

The latter I just came across tonight, while reading about Google Music Manager.

A widget is an app with its input and/or output within the "homescreen" icon.
ie. just like you have an icon (image button) to start an app, a widget is an icon with control buttons or changeable image - a weather widget changes the icon image to clouds or rain or sun depending on the source data.

Web connectivity is nothing to do with it being an app. There are plenty of apps, especially games which run standalone with no internet connection required.

I think what you're getting confused with is web sites, especially the popular ones like facebook, twitter and so on which usually supply companion apps for mobile devices.

These apps can communicate directly with facebook or twitter or whoever using the core communication protocol of the internet which is tcp/ip. They don't need html and a web browser.

The advantage is that you can then give the user a user interface and experience which is then optimised for that device and not a one size fits all approach of a typical html web application

a) Does that mean that a widget will always appear on the home screen?

b) On the home screen I can scroll left or right, which either 1) goes to more home screens, or 2) stops displaying the icons, plus date and time, which I have on my home screen.

c) Is a widget always using the internet in order to change its display?

At the moment I'm leaving mobile data permanently on to see what level of usage I can expect. After two weeks, total mobile usage is 94MB, of which 74MB was used by Yahoo Weather. Is this sort of usage necessary, or should I disable mobile data on this app?

EDIT : Sorry, I've just realised that not only am I off-topic, but I'm even in the wrong forum. Sorry about that, but I assume the principles are the same.

only if you choose to place it there


only if said app requires the internet to populate the data it is showing


it's only necessary if you want to see the weather reports.
depending on what your monthly bandwidth allowance is then you shouldn't need to disable anything.

I didn't realise I had a choice. At the moment I have only one widget, the date and time one. I think it went straight to the home screen.

Unless icons for contacts on the home screen are classed as widgets.



If I want to see the weather report I have to open the app anyway. So it's only an extra few seconds to alter the app settings so that it uses mobile data. Then change it back afterwards .

The way I think of a widget is an app that is always running in the background and potentially update a on-screen windows. Weather is an example, other ones are things like flashlight, clocks, newsfeeds, SMS managers, maps and of course e-mail.

Thanks, c4rv. I understand what you mean, and settings/data usage tells me how much mobile data each one's used.

Clock - does this mean the clock is 100% accurate, unlike the one in PCs?

Map - updating location?

Flashlight - ??

Thanks on that "app" clarification.

I see many apps for websites that just seem like entry to the websites and then I can't see the point.

Clock - on screen clock that most people have on their phone

Map - A lot of maps apps are running in the background all the time on your phone, google maps is a prime example

Flashlight - I have a simple app on my phone for turning it into a flashlight. This is running in the background for quick startup though it does not need to if you can be prepared to wait a few seconds for flashlight to work.

Thanks c4rv, I think I've taken up enough of your time for now.

I've just finished reading a book on Android, and now I think I'll re-read it from the beginning. It's the "Rough Guide" which is very good for an overview, but it doesn't go into enough detail.