The Most Regrettable Mobile Apps In The History Of App Stores

App development is a fast-paced, constantly evolving part of white label development, as companies with a strong web presence seek the help of expert designers to translate their tools to apps and websites with wider compatibility.

The world of mobile apps is exceptionally exciting, given that 3.74m non-gaming apps are available on Apple’s App Store as of 2021.

However, because there are so many apps and the focused nature of app development, there have been cases where apps either failed conceptually, struggled to serve a need or have been fundamentally flawed, with developers ranging from solo projects to some of the biggest companies in the world.

Here are some of the most regrettable unironic apps launched onto the various mobile app stores.

 

HangTime

At one point called the dumbest app ever made, HangTime was a ‘game’ by development company Mutual Mobile that challenged people to throw their iPhone into the air and whoever threw it the highest got the most points.

Whilst it was very popular, it was both fairly limited in operation and functionality and pretty dangerous. This was not only for obvious reasons such as people throwing, failing to catch and breaking very expensive phones but some of the lengths people went to register high scores.

At one point, skydivers were competing with each other, dangerously seeing how low they could safely descend before pulling their chute, risking lives in the process.

Thankfully, the viral success of HangTime helped provide the starting capital for its creators to start their own credible development business.

 

TweetPee

The internet of things, it must be pointed out, has led to some incredible developments in a range of fields including home security, audio-visual and immersive marketing. However, it did also give the world a tweeting nappy.

Published by nappy company Huggies, TweetPee sends a tweet to alert parents and the rest of the world that the nappy is wet, along with working alongside a monitoring app that keeps track of moisture, the number of nappies available and how often they are changed.

It is not outside the realms of possibility for there to be used in a nappy sensor, but for it to be connected to Twitter is a step too far, seemingly adding it as a selling point simply to have a selling point.

 

Annoy-A-Teen

From the mid-2000s to the present day there has been controversy surrounding the use of Mosquito devices, which emit loud alarms at a pitch that only younger people can hear due to the gradual degeneration of hearing over the years.

In 2009, the App Store saw a mobile version, tactfully called Annoy-A-Teen, which attempted to work in the same way using an iPhone. Not only is its interface terrible, but many users complained that it simply did not work.

 

IamAMan

A theoretically functional app ruined by a tasteless concept and tone-deaf presentation, iAmAMan allowed the user to register and monitor the menstrual cycles of women and courted controversy by allowing for multiple profiles to be registered to the same app.

Fertility and women’s health apps have been released that achieve what iAmAMan did far more effectively.