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Installing and uninstalling an app

What you will be able to do In 6 minutes, you will know how to pick the right app in the store, install it, answer its permission requests, and uninstall it.

  • Duration : 6 minutes
  • Level : Beginner
  • Free, No account needed
Close-up of a thumb approaching the edge of a phone, not yet touching the screen.

An app is a small program you add to your phone: a messaging tool, a game, a transport map. They are all installed from the same place, the app store, already on your device. The trouble is that several apps can carry almost the same name: one is the real one, another imitates it to trick you. Once installed, an app sometimes asks to use part of your phone, like the camera or your location: this is called a permission, and you decide whether to grant it. We will search for, check, install, then uninstall an app together, on a screen we have drawn. Nothing here is real: no app actually gets installed.

Simulated screen

I practice

This screen was drawn by us. Nothing is sent, nothing is installed, and no real brand is shown.

The situationYour grandson told you about an app for video calls, and you want to install it yourself, without asking him.

The interactive exercise needs JavaScript. The written step by step, just below, says exactly the same thing.

The written step by step

The same steps, in words, to read or print. This sheet works even without the exercise.

  1. The right app

    Your turn Tap the app you are really going to install.

    We look at the publisher and the number of reviews for each result: Family Studio, with 2,400,000 reviews, clearly beats an unknown publisher with just twelve reviews.

  2. Installing for real

    Your turn This is the right app. Tap what installs it on your phone.

    We tap the "Install" button: the download starts on its own, and the button then turns into "Open".

  3. A permission that makes sense

    Your turn For a video call, the app needs the camera and the microphone. Tap the most reasonable answer.

    We tap "Allow while using the app": the camera and microphone will only be accessible while the video call is open.

  4. A permission that makes none

    Your turn Tap what you do with this request.

    In the app's settings, we tap the "Contacts" permission and switch it to "Deny": the app keeps working, without that extra access.

  5. Uninstalling properly

    Your turn Tap what removes the app from your phone.

    We tap "Uninstall": the app and the data it had created disappear, and the space it took up is freed right away.

The sheet to keep

  • In the app store, several results can carry almost the same name: the publisher and the number of reviews tell the real one from the fake.
  • Installing takes one tap, with the "Install" button; the app then offers to open it.
  • A requested permission should match what the app does: the camera for a video call, yes; contacts for a flashlight, no.
  • "While using the app" is almost always enough; be wary of an "always" that has no reason to be.
  • Permissions can be reviewed at any time, in the app's settings.
  • Uninstalling frees the space it took up; the app stays available in the store if you need it again.

The reflexes in this skill

  1. I go through the official door

    The address typed in by hand, the app installed from the official store, the phone number printed on the back of your card. Never the link someone hands you, even when it looks right.

  2. I stop before I click

    Urgency is the sign of a trap. A message that counts down the hours is trying to stop you from thinking. Putting your phone down for two minutes costs nothing, and it is almost always enough.

The 8 reflexes

Two questions to check

Nothing is graded, and nothing is saved anywhere except in your own browser.

  1. Two results in the store carry almost the same name for the video call app you are looking for. How do you spot the right one?

    1. I pick the one that appears first in the list
    2. I look at the publisher and the number of reviews, not just the name
    3. I pick the one whose icon I like best
    See the answer

    I look at the publisher and the number of reviews, not just the name

    A name can be copied almost exactly. The publisher and a large number of reviews built up over time are much harder to fake.

  2. A "Flashlight" app asks for access to your contacts. What do you do?

    1. I allow it, an app knows its own needs better than I do
    2. I remove this specific permission, in the settings: a flashlight has no business with my contacts
    3. I uninstall the app right away, without looking any further
    See the answer

    I remove this specific permission, in the settings: a flashlight has no business with my contacts

    A permission should match what the app really does. Removing it in the settings is a simple, reversible step, and it is enough here without uninstalling everything.

I've done it

Check this box once you can do this skill on your own.

Your progress stays in your own browser.

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