iPhone - FutureTG.com

the kind of program, or the software company that made it). Tap in the
Search box to make the keyboard appear. As you type, the list shrinks so
that it’s always showing you only the matches. You might type tetris, or
piano, or Disney, or whatever.
• Updates. Unlike its buddies, this button isn’t intended to help you
navigate the catalog. Instead, it lets you know when one of the programs
you’ve already installed is available in a newer version. Details in a
moment.
Once you’re looking at the scrolling list of programs—no matter which button
was your starting point—the next steps are the same. Each listing shows
you the program’s name, its icon, and its price. About a third of the App Store’s
programs are free; the rest are usually under $10, although a few, intended for
professionals (pilots, for example) can cost a lot more.
Best of all, this listing shows each program’s star rating, which may be the
most important statistic of all. You can think of it as a letter grade, given to this
program by everyone who’s tried it out so far and expressed as an average.
(In small type, you can even see how many people’s opinions are included in
this score.)
Why is it so important? Because, ahem, not all of the App Store’s goodies are
equally good. Remember, these programs come from a huge variety of people—teenagers
in Hungary, professional software companies in Silicon Valley,
college kids goofing around on weekends—and just because they made it
into the Store doesn’t mean they’re worth the money (or even the time to
download).
Sometimes, a program has a low score because it’s just not designed well, or
it doesn’t do what it’s advertised to do. And sometimes, of course, it’s a little
buggy.
The App Details Screen
When you tap a program’s name, you wind up at a special screen that contains
even more detail. There’s a description, a full-screen photo, details about the
author, date posted, version number, and so on. You can also tap the Reviews
link to dig beyond the averaged star rating into the actual written reviews
from people who’ve already tried the thing.
The App Store 219