Apps for Use at the Elementary Level

The term apps is usually used as a shortened designation for mobile applications, or software designed to help the user perform specific tasks. Apps can appear on smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. The word app first gained popularity with the release of the original Apple iPhone, the launch of the Apple App Store, and Apple’s subsequent trademark and widespread marketing use of the phrase, “There’s an app for that.” It should be noted that despite this initial association, apps also appear on other mobile operating system platforms such as Android and BlackBerry OS, as well as being available through additional outlets such as the Google Play Store, Amazon App Store, and BlackBerry App World. Apps are used regularly by users of all ages and are increasingly finding an eager audience in the form of elementary students across the world.

In understanding what an app is, it is important to understand what it isn’t as well. While apps share some similarities with applications developed for desktop computers, widgets, and browser extensions, the generally accepted distinction is in functionality. While there are always exceptions, apps tend to have limited functionality and purpose. By comparison, applications that appear on desktop computers serve multiple functions. A way to think about this difference is consider an app that allows a user to only graph simple data, whereas a desktop productivity application suite will graph data as well as perform word processing, presentation, and database functionality. By comparison, a widget is usually simple software that works in conjunction with apps or functions of a mobile device. A widget might tell the user new e-mail has arrived without loading the e-mail app or display how much storage space a device has remaining without the user having to navigate through system settings. While on the surface, a browser extension might seem to be like an app for a Web browser, the difference is that unlike an app, a browser extension provides the same functionality across all browsing sessions and webpages, not just when clicked on.