Steps to install a free iPhone app

How I installed the free Reddit application on an iPod Touch in 17 easy steps:

  1. Follow App Store link from Reddit home page in Safari
  2. Touch ‘free’ to unlock install button
  3. Touch ‘install’ button
  4. Enter password (I actually had to look this up on another computer)
  5. Touch button to say that I am over 17
  6. Told that the App Store terms and conditions have updated and that I must read them
  7. Press button to read them
  8. Scroll to bottom (without reading them) and press ‘accept’ button
  9. Told that I must try to install the application again
  10. Taken to front page of App Store
  11. Press home button
  12. Touch Safari to go back to Reddit home page
  13. Follow App Store link
  14. Touch ‘free’ to unlock install button
  15. Touch ‘install’ button
  16. Touch button to say that I am over 17
  17. Application is installed

And people told me it’s supposed to be easy to use …. In contrast, the Android Market application is buggy and full of race conditions, but it’s never managed to be quite so infuriatingly bureaucratic.

2010-03-28 22:03 UTC. Comments: 4.

Comments

Skip to the comment form

  1. James Adam

    Wrote at 2010-03-29 01:11 UTC using Unknown browser on Mac OS X:

    You don’t have to perform steps 6-11 very often, so it normally ends up being the same as steps 1-5 and 17.

    However, I completely agree that when you have to do that T&Cs dance, the flow is terrible; steps 9-16 are just pointless.

  2. Ed

    Wrote at 2010-03-29 12:05 UTC using Firefox 3.6.2 on Windows XP 64 or Server 2003:

    It’s not exactly the normal user experience though, is it? Sure, it’s a bit rubbish, but the iTunes T&C only get updated once or twice a year.

    I’m glad it asks for a password for example, rather than remembering it – makes me think twice, and a few times it’s saved me!

  3. Paul Battley

    Wrote at 2010-03-29 12:14 UTC using Chrome 5.0.353.0 on Mac OS X:

    I don’t know how often the terms and conditions get updated: it’s only the second time I’ve installed an application! It was normal for me.

    I’m not sure what the purpose is of requiring a password for a free application. Assuming that Apple’s stringent vetting process works, installation is essentially harmless: install it by accident and you can just uninstall it again, with no cost or lasting harm.

    I’m also not sure why I couldn’t just set my age once. There’s no need to keep asking me if I’m old enough.

  4. Jeremy

    Wrote at 2010-04-27 20:54 UTC using Internet Explorer 8.0 on Windows XP 64 or Server 2003:

    All the apps, even the free ones, are DRM’ed and tied to an iTunes account. That’s why they make you enter your password even for free apps…it’s connecting to the account to apply the DRM and authorize the app.

Leave a comment

Please read the comment guidelines before posting. Comments are Gravatar-enabled. Your email address will not be published.

To prove that you’re human, type human in the Bot check field.

Trying to post some program output or a long code sample? Please use a paste service and link to it instead.