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Apping out the future of Gen Z

With the skyrocketing popularity of apps for the youth, we asked teenagers about the ones they want to see in 2017

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Social networking is constantly evolving, making MySpace and Facebook yesterday’s news. Now, with the increasing need to become smart with the smartphone, practically everyone has a social media presence, especially teenagers, with real-time photo and video sharing becoming the big trend.

In fact, Facebook has confessed that it has struggled to keep teens engaged and excited to interact on its platform, despite, once being the preferred choice for young people.

While teenagers love Instagram, the photo-sharing app, they are afraid that their posts will either be ignored or mocked. The pressure eases on Snapchat, the disappearing-message service, but it can also be annoying because disappearing messages make it hard to follow a continuing conversation. It’s never easy pleasing teenagers who are constantly looking for the next big app.

Research has revealed that teens spend close to nine hours daily browsing social media feeds. Apps for teens are getting a large daily usage share. Children between 8-12 years of age spend close to six hours on their mobile phone.

However, with the good comes the bad, as a number of parents worldwide are worried about their children using an app that’s been dubbed ‘Tinder for Teens’.

It’s called ‘Yellow’, a so-called ”friendship” app that’s gaining traction among teenagers -- and creepers, too!

Yellow is advertised in the iOS and Google Play app stores for kids aged 12 and up. It’s designed to help them find new friends on Snapchat and is very similar to the dating app Tinder. Yes, it comes with its own swipe left, swipe right function.

And to throw even more shade, the app says it’s for long distance flirting — still trying to wrap my head around what that means — when all it does is connect teens with people nearby.

Integrating functionality with fun 

An app like WeChat, which is popular in China, would be great in India. Though it originally served as a messaging client, a number of new functions have been added to it. It has WeChat payment services (for mobile payments), city services (can make a doctor’s appointment, pay electricity bills, book transportation, among others). Some of the other fascinating features include the WeChat enterprise (to help you keep track of expenses, leaves, etc) and heat map (to check crowd density). The app allows you to add friends just like on Facebook. Although the government has launched Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and other digital payments, they should have added a messaging feature as well. For example, there are reports that Apple could integrate payments into iMessages. If a similar feature is launched in India, it could possibly be a game changer.
— Kapil Balagopal, 17, second year B-Tech Integrated Computer Engineering student at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai

Lasting battery life

An app that can facilitate the transfer of battery life from one phone to another, even to people located at a distance, could be useful.  It would function like bank apps that help us transfer money across locations. Also, an app that can store extra battery life would work well. An app like this will save me the trouble of carrying a charger or power bank everywhere I go.
—Shriya Popat, 18, a BA student at Mithibai College of Science, Arts & Commerce, Mumbai

Making cross country travel a click away

I think an app that allows a person to register themselves as part of a particular country, thereby logging them into a specific community network with people in that particular region when they enter their country and state details, would be useful. The app would have information and maps of the location and would expand as the user travels. Even as an individual enters new places, the map would expand and add him to the community circle of that location. People in a specific community section can chat on an open shoutbox. Once a person leaves that zone, they will not be able to text in that particular chatbox anymore. In fact, the chatbox would get updated with the IP and zone of the new location with new users from that location. You can act as a guide for a specific person and if you don’t know a place in the region, you could mark it on the map and someone would be able to send you information on it. The person who sends you information can level up and unlock new features in the app as a result. Additionally, there could be a system called a family tracker where you can locate all your family members. An offline panic button that could trigger an alert could also be a part of the app. A life button could also be installed, allowing a person to update their family about their health status.
— Craig Gomes, 19, BA student at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata.

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