Is Genius for the App Store a Joke? (iPhone OS 3.1)
2:09 am, September 21st, 2009, Pete Mortensen
Of all the announcements at the “It’s Only Rock and Roll” Apple event, I was initially most excited for Genius for the App Store. As an iPhone-lover and friend of more than a few iPhone developers, I was really hoping this could add discoverability to the App Store and help some unsung heroes get attention.
No such luck. It mainly seems to recommend apps that do exactly what apps I already have on my phone do.
I have Tweetie, so it recommends other Twitter clients. I have Mint, so it recommends other money-management software. I have Kayak, so it recommends other plane ticket programs.
Other times, it fares even worse, making flat-out irrelevant recommendations: I have Public Radio Player 2.0, so it offers Lollapalooza, the guidebook for going to a music festival that took place in early August.
Even weirder, Genius only makes recommendations based on a small handful of my apps — maybe six out of the 30+ on my phone. For some reason, it thinks that Shazam and Flickr are more instructive for recommendations than every other app I own. I check it almost every day, and I still haven’t downloaded a single recommendation.
Couple this with the fact that OS 3.1 broke Internet Tethering and has noticeably reduced the speed of scrolling in Mail and iPod, and I regret ever making the upgrade (note to Apple: it’s a bad idea to release software that makes your speedier sequel to the iPhone 3G significantly slower just a few months after launch).
Anyone had a different experience? I’m seriously looking into downgrading back to 3.0.1.
Posted by Pete Mortensen in Software, iPhone 3G S | Comment on this article
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HA HA I’m still at 3.0 !!
Fat Gorilla, on September 21st, 2009 at 2:12 am
Hi Pete,
for the apps that you described, it really makes no sense.
However for the “gaming community” it makes perfect sense. If I like a special type of game, it is very likely that I will also like games that are in the same category.
Apps Genius found some very entertaining games for me, that I really like.
Reflektionen, on September 21st, 2009 at 2:30 am
I too am unhappy with the Genius feature. For me it does very much the same. Similar apps and strange game recommendations. I was hoping that some of the more ridiculous and outright awful apps out there might be brought to the background, but no such luck. I’m getting recommendations for apps that have abysmal ratings or are just plain awful.
I would welcome a feature to truly displace some of the more horrendous apps so I don’t have to scroll through pages and pages of stuff. Give me the cream of the crop, please.
As for speed, I feel your woes. Each new iteration has really brought down my 3G to its knees. And I fear because the new 3GS has a much larger RAM supply, our 3Gs will be neglected. I simultaneously love and hate Apple’s fervour for bleeding edge. Once a new piece of hardware is released, support for its predecessor (firmware updates, etc.) is all but axed…
WS, on September 21st, 2009 at 2:50 am
I’m looking to downgrade right past 3.0.1 to 2.whatever. It takes FOREVER to open my text messages now. Usually around 10 seconds. It’s crap.
Nathan, on September 21st, 2009 at 2:51 am
I agree the recommendations are not useful, but I just don’t bother looking at them. That is easier than trying to downgrade the O/S because of an easily avoided feature!
Christo, on September 21st, 2009 at 2:52 am
If you don’t like the genius feature then don’t use it. Also the tethering isn’t a supported feature yet so don’t get pissed if it breaks when upgrading.
@Nathan If your having that bad of an issue when opening your messages you might want to take it in to get checked out.
Mike, on September 21st, 2009 at 3:05 am
3.1 bricked my iPhone and I had to take a trip to the Apple store to get it working again. Other than that I get the occasional box saying nothing to undo ?
scott, on September 21st, 2009 at 3:07 am
I think the idea is it will get better with time as it gets more user data. Jobs even said this.
Randy, on September 21st, 2009 at 3:20 am
Hey folks !! Chill !! Genius takes some time to recommend you best apps out thr and this is really a time-taking feature and the suggestions are based on the apps which other people use who have a similar taste like you. So please be patient and dont criticize apple for introducing such a wonderful concept for the world !!
Cheers,
Srikanth
Srikanth, on September 21st, 2009 at 3:41 am
Genius for apps is pretty awful, providing no real insight into stuff I’d like to try. Mind you, I’m thoroughly unimpressed with most of the app-oriented updates—even the app management in iTunes is a colossal pain in the arse and very un-Apple-like when it comes to UI. And the fact we can’t delete crappy default apps from our devices is unbelievably stupid. Apple: I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT STOCKS, OK?
Craig Grannell, on September 21st, 2009 at 3:46 am
The main porblem with iPhone OS 3.1, is that is seems to have an odd affect of 3G iPhones. There have been a problem, ( which is filling up the Apple Discussion Bopards), where the phone will not unlock or freezes so it cannot be woken from its sleep state.
As the the Genius feature, i agree that when looking at Apps it doesn;t seem that good. But i am not sure that is Apple’s fault, it just fundimentally doesn’t sem like it should work. I mean just because i buy an App for checking train times doesn’t mean i want loads of Apps to check train times nor does it mean that i want to play scrabble on my phone either. Music and film have genres that people stick to, where Apps don’t really.
Nick, on September 21st, 2009 at 4:12 am
i find the most frustrating thing is that when i delete a “recommendation” it only removes it for that session… next time i check the genius section, there is always a bunch of apps i’ve already said i didn’t want… i don’t want them anymore the second, third or forth time around than i did the first time!
amanda, on September 21st, 2009 at 4:32 am
3.1 made me jailbreak my phone!
UNFOLD, on September 21st, 2009 at 4:41 am
I’m confused a to why this is such a big deal? Obviously Genius is going to make app recommendations based off of the ones you have by their category. It’s pretty self explanatory why it’s giving other twitter client suggestions off of your ‘Tweetie’ app and other finance apps based off your ‘Mint’ app. That’s how Genius works with music, at least to my understanding. Apple isnt going to get it right every time / all the time — seriously. Don’t get me wrong, I see the point in why this post/complaint is being made, but I just don’t think its THAT significant of a problem yet. Notice I said yet. I just think this blogging platform could be used to initiate and discuss more important ideas and innovations among iPhone users for Apple to see rather than complaints about how Genius works. How about some more in-depth discussion on how the iPhone needs Flash implemented by next summer or iChat capabilities on the phone. I’m not saying features like this haven’t already been discussed on this site before because it probably has. But lets start focusing more on voicing our demands and what we want from Apple in the future rather than complaining about Genius app store recommendations. Just my two cents anyways / no disrespect–anyone can take it how they want.
T.P, on September 21st, 2009 at 4:56 am
3.1 is utterly shit. Genuis mixes are slow as hell; Genius for apps is not worth speaking about it and additionally, 3.1 freezes my iPhone and drains the battery ;-(
Marco, on September 21st, 2009 at 5:11 am
As someone else has already mentioned, tethering is not yet available or supported, so that is a non-issue, you can’t complain because you’ve hacked your device to make it do something it isn’t supposed to do yet.
I have had no problems with 3.1, email scrolls just fine and everything else works fine too.
I like the AppGenius function. Sure it shows apps that perform the same functions that my current apps do, but maybe one of the suggestions does things in a different or better way than the app I have does, which might make me want to pick up that app. Or I like the interface better. Or the suggested app has more functionality. I have no need for it to suggest Pandora based on the fact I have Tweetie installed. That make no sense at all, but seems like what you want it to do.
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lorigodoy, on September 21st, 2009 at 6:09 am
lol What a Bitch
Peter, on September 21st, 2009 at 6:52 am
Liked your article but FYI, it’s not possible to downgrade to 3.0 or 3.0.1 any longer. Apple stopped sighning the files for 3.0 and 3.0.1 if I’m not mistaken. You guys seem to know a lot about what go’s on but I’m pretty sure Apple has sliced that cord on release of 3.1. This is why, and comments like yours, I haven’t bothered with 3.1.
Steven, on September 21st, 2009 at 8:03 am
Genius works the same as it does for music so yeah you are going to see some duplication. Particularly until they get more information from users to have apps that tweeters also got that aren’t just tweet clients. same thing happened with music.
this is a version 1 feature after all. now when it is version 5 and still sucks, then bring on the b&m.
Charli, on September 21st, 2009 at 9:07 am
I personally have been enjoying the App Genius feature of 3.1. I don’t spend a lot of time looking through the app store in general, so it has proven to be a fairly good resource for finding new apps. No, not all of the suggestions are relevant or anything I would want to download, but that is what the “remove” function is for. I haven’t run into any duplicates like Amanda and have found several apps that I have downloaded in order to try out. Not all of them have worked out for the best but at least it found what I might have been looking for without having to search for it, specifically an IM app.
I don’t really like AIM and have tried three other apps suggested by Genius and still haven’t found one that I really like. But I hope it keeps suggesting new ones that I can try out until I find the one that fits my needs best.
And like others have said, App Genius is very new and should be building up its database and will only get better. Don’t discredit it yet.
murphysm, on September 21st, 2009 at 10:23 am
I’m sure the algorithms for figuring out the recommendations are still very much in their infancy. What I’ve seen thus far doesn’t merit the label genius, but I’m willing to be patient. The music recommendations are wonderful.
Michael, on September 21st, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I don’t think anyone has mentioned, but if you rate your apps it affects the genius ratings. High-rated apps show up in genius which are related to low-rated apps on your phone. In addition, if you don’t like a genius recommendation, flick it off to the right and you’ll get a delete option. These actions also effect your genius recommendations. I am a loyal devotee of OmniFocus, so I was totally sick of seeing other task management programs come up in genius. I rated Omnifocus with 5 stars (well deserved, I might add) and then deleted all of the genius recommendations for other high-rated task management apps. Voila! No more task management programs in my recommendations.
We have to put some information into the genius algorithm or else it’s just garbage-in-garbage-out.
Addi, on September 23rd, 2009 at 12:36 pm