Application to Retain Audio App Uninstall Thought
Someone considers deleting a live audio app because they barely use it and then keeps it for one more interesting room.
SUBJECT: Annual Review of Audio App Uninstall Thought (AAUI): FY2021
Status: Recurrent. Unresolved. Likely permanent.
Summary of Findings
Audio app uninstall thought was observed in six distinct episodes during the review period. Each episode followed a similar pattern: a stretch of low usage, a storage or notification concern that surfaced the app's continued presence, the decision to consider removing it, a review of recent rooms that had been worthwhile, and retention.
Episode Pattern
A temporary workaround for audio app uninstall thought became the default because it worked once. The first episode occurred in February. The app had been installed in January at the recommendation of someone whose recommendations had previously been reliable. By February the usage was low. The uninstall thought arrived. Before acting, the person reviewed the rooms attended in the previous month. One room was worthwhile. The app was retained on this basis.
Other people began planning around the workaround and quietly preserving it. By the fourth episode, the review step had become part of the consideration process. The review now happens automatically when the uninstall thought arrives. It produces the same result.
The Governing Rule
Evidence of one successful workaround is sufficient to govern all future cases. The one worthwhile room from February governs February, May, July, September, October, and November. The rooms that were not worthwhile do not appear in the review because the review retrieves memorable rooms, and memorable rooms are more likely to have been worthwhile.
Finding: The Contradiction
The app promises casual listening, but participation quickly becomes a small exercise in status management. A person using the ordinary method, which is to uninstall apps they are not using, now has to explain why they ignored the possibility of a future worthwhile room. The explanation requires accounting for a hypothetical good room against a measurable cost of continued storage and notifications.
The hypothetical good room wins.
Finding: Social Propagation
The friend who recommended the app has also considered uninstalling it. They have not. They mentioned this unprompted in October. Both parties found this unremarkable.
Recommendation
No revision to current practice. The uninstall thought will recur. The review will produce retention. File for next annual cycle.