Welcome to Gizmodo’s first annual March Madness bracket. We want you to help us figure out which app is the greatest of all time. We’ve nominated 32 competitors, and two of them will go head-to-head each day until one app is chosen to wear the crown for eternity.
Before we get into the nominees, let’s briefly talk about the selection process. First of all, we’re limiting the bracket to mobile apps. Yes, we know app means application, but we’re not worried about every frickin’ application ever made. Some of the selections do have desktop or web applications, but they all have a mobile app.
Apple’s App Store launched in 2008, and we combed through the lists of the most popular apps of each year since then to gather a pool of candidates. But popularity isn’t the only thing that’s important. We judged the apps based on their influence, originality, utility, and endurance. That means a lot of newer apps didn’t make the cut, and in some cases there are probably apps that have refined the original concept to create a better product. Feel free to yell at us in the comments about being a bunch of idiots for leaving out your favorite app. This is the list, deal with it.
We’re also not saying every app on the list has been a net good for society. You might notice that Facebook didn’t make the cut. That’s partly because Facebook is evil, partly because its app is especially evil, and partly because we don’t really think of Facebook as a mobile-first platform. It’s from another era. That said, Uber did land a slot despite its harm to society because there was enough internal support for it and it undeniably made a mobile impact. Vote for it if you want, but I’ll be judging you. Otherwise, this list doesn’t include any servant apps.
Now that the table’s set, let’s get to our first face-off in the competition for The Greatest App of All Time.
In one corner, weighing in at 2.4 billion monthly active users, we have Instagram. The king of photo-sharing apps, Instagram has gone through a hell of an evolution since its debut in 2010 and subsequent acquisition by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. The all-powerful algorithm is more important than ever, and Reels has become an app inside the app. Video is just as prominent as photos now, Kylie Jenner took a dump on it, and seemingly every week brings fresh allegations that the app is destroying our kids. Nevertheless, Instagram persists.
In the other corner, we have The Fart App. Which fart app? All of them. I’ve long maintained that fart apps were very important for the spread of the iPhone and getting people used to going to the app store. Pure simplicity in digital form, the fart app was commonly just one button that produced a fart sound. What else do you need? It’s not clear which app was the OG fart machine, but iFart has been around since 2009 so it’s a good choice.
So, if you want Instagram to win today’s matchup, check the box on the poll below. And if you want iFart to go the distance, pull the finger on the second check box. We’ll see you tomorrow for the next round.
