It struck me pretty hard when I realized I just never look at the app store anymore. Part of it is probably just the fact that phones have sort of reached their "end-game" - there is not much innovation to work with left. But also, I feel like smartphones used to be filled with a lot more whimsy and [[Less Doomscrolling More Silly Lil Tech Toys|a lot less despair]]. Like remember when you used to be able to turn your phone into a fake drink and watch the liquid slosh around in it? That app didn't serve any purpose, other than that it was cool and funny. It feels like that design philosophy has been eradicated from the app design space. There are definitely lots of cool and useful apps out there - I loved using Wanderlog for my last two trips, and I've found some creative and unique apps on Github thanks to the open-ended nature of Android - but I stumble on apps of that level of quality once every few months nowadays. Most apps feel like they've been completely [[Enshittification|enshittified]], or have some subscription that I'm never going to pay for, etc. etc. Most of the apps I have on my home screen are probably the same as what everyone else has - a browser, maps, four different communication apps for four disparate groups of people, an RSS feed, a Read-it-Later app, and a to-do list app. And *oh my God*, speaking of to-do list apps. This, here, is the one space in app design that seems to be booming. There is a to-do list app coming out every other minute. It's actually unreal. Why are there so many to-do list apps?? I'll need to investigate this further. Anyways. Apps used to represent a new frontier of tech for me when I was younger, which is why I am feeling sort of nostalgic for the early days of the app store. I doubt it'll ever come back, but something I've been idly thinking about.