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New Year resolutions: apps we’re dumping in 2013

James Thornton

James Thornton

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What are you going to give up in 2013? Smoking? Candy? Working too hard? How about you give up the software and apps that are making your life a misery or which just aren’t cool anymore?

The international editorial team at Softonic met to decide which are the apps that will not follow us into the New Year. For one reason or another we’re making a conscious effort to try to make a clean break from these apps in 2013, whether it’s because we’re ethically opposed to a developer’s practices, we’ve found a better solution, or we’re just sick of looking at overly-edited pictures of feet!

Read out our list, and then tell us the programs that you will can in 2013!

Laura (Italy):

I’ll uninstall Skype for being guilty of murdering the old Windows Live Messenger. Not that I use it anymore (it’s soooo 2006!) but you can’t just kill an iconic program like that, can you? Besides, who needs Skype anyway? I prefer Tango, it works on every platform I use, and it doesn’t wipe out any innocent, old-fashioned chat program.

I’ll also get rid of Instagram, I got tired of all these color distorted ‘artisic’ pictures of cats, dogs, sunsets, feet, etc. Also, with the new “privacy” policy, that will start on January 16th, Instagram can share information about its users with Facebook as well as outside advertisers. There are plenty of other photo social apps for looking at pictures of cats.

Iván (Spain):

I’m going to say goodbye to Whatsapp in 2013. With the arrival of LINE and many other alternatives, there is no reason to stick with Whatsapp, an application which seems to be frozen in time.

I can’t remember the last time the developer added a new feature, and that is unacceptable in the fast-paced smartphone world. It might be hard to switch to LINE, because not all my contacts use it yet, but the list of users keep growing daily. Farewell Whatsapp, it was good while it lasted!

Jonathan (USA/UK):

I’d love to see the back of Microsoft Word in 2013. I can accept Excel as a necessary evil, but there is just no reason for Word to exist anymore. Back in the 90s when I still wanted to print nice looking paper documents, Word’s powers were welcome, but in the digital age, it’s just a waste of space.

Google Docs can do pretty much anything you need these days, and you never lose work either. Writing for the web requires unformatted text, so a basic text editor is much better, and much lighter than Microsoft’s irrelevant behemoth of a ‘word processor’.

If you see one of your co-workers toiling away in Word, take them for a coffee and gently suggest they use Google Docs, or a minimal app like WriteMonkey for a lighter, more relaxed writing environment.

Arthur (Netherlands):

Well, that didn’t last long. I just moved Apple Maps to my folder where I keep all superfluous Apple apps you can’t delete. There it enjoys good company of Passbook, iTunes, Game Center and so on.

The reason for this goodbye is obvious: the return of Google Maps. Google Maps is the uncontested king in the land of map services and navigation, especially since the gorgeous new version of the iPhone-app released in December. So thank you Apple Maps, for the three months of loyal service. Enjoy your early retirement.

Rafael (Brazil):

If you’ve still got the London 2012 app install, get rid of it: Rio 2016 is coming! There’s just one reason to keep the London 2012 app on your smartphone: addiction to checking the medal count every once in a while.

But the 2012 Summer Olympics has gone, the results will not change and Rio 2016 will be upon us in three and a half years. Instead of wasting time with the past, take time to prepare for the future and maybe you can be there, as an athlete, representing your country. Make this your New Year’s resolution and go for it!

Malgorzata (Poland):

I will definitely get rid of all the endless running games on my smartphone. I’ve spent my whole year running – be it as a secret agent in Agent Dash, an explorer fleeing from crazed monkeys in Temple Run, or a guy called Running Fred, who has to escape from Death himself.

So I think I have had enough of running for now and could do with a break from these types of game. I am hopeful that 2013 will bring us some more refreshing ideas in the world of mobile phone games!

Wolfgang (Germany):

Bye bye – iTunes. I just don’t need you anymore. You tried to convince me with your latest new version 11 – you got a new design, improved iCloud integration, a new MiniPlayer, blah, blah, blah. It’s just not enough to convince me.

My new favorite music software is Spotify. Besides having a catalog with millions of songs available by streaming, I can also manage the music on my hard drive. And in 2012 Spotify got even better. Now I can log in on the web version of the app and use my playlists even without installing the software. Great. As I use Android devices as phone and tablet I don’t even need iTunes for syncing.

So, the first thing I’ll do when the clock strikes midnight on 1 January 2013 will be to uninstall iTunes.

Alan (France):

Dear Windows 8, I installed you a few weeks after you were released and I was expecting a lot from you. My old laptop running on Vista was ready to welcome you and your much-hyped charms. My PC was supposed to run like never before with you. You couldn’t be worse than your older brother, Vista, that so many people hated throughout its existence. As it turns out, you are not much better.

Things got bad quickly when you started to freeze my PC for no reason, when you prevented me from having Skype call conversations, from surfing on the Internet properly, and from essentially doing anything on my PC without a problem.

And what about this new start screen? It might work well on touchscreens but it’s just pointless on my old laptop. And about those new Windows 8 applications: my laptop is not a phone! Try to do something better next time. I tried everything to make it work between you and my old laptop, but after a month, I am already thinking about getting rid of you. At least, on my old laptop…

What apps will you be kicking off your device for the new year? Are there any bad tech habits you want to quit in 2013? Happy New Year!

James Thornton

James Thornton

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