# how/when did the word "app" become so mainstream? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546 "2010-08-17T18:01:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/1 "2010-08-17T18:01:12Z")
I understand the word “app” to be short for “application program”, which is a program which the end user is most likely to use, in contrast to a “systems program” (used by the computer itself) or a “utility program” (used by a technician). But no one ever used this word in reference to WordPerfect or Outlook or Photoshop. It seems to have come about only very recently, as a specific reference to programs which would run on a cell phone. Am I correct in this? Does anyone have a history of when it became so popular, or who it was that popularized it? If I’m mistaken, and some people did use it for pc-type programs, who brought it to the masses for cellphones? Just curious. Fight my ignorance! ---
**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/2 "2010-08-17T18:09:10Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > I understand the word “app” to be short for “application program”, which is a program which the end user is most likely to use, in contrast to a “systems program” (used by the computer itself) or a “utility program” (used by a technician). > > But no one ever used this word in reference to WordPerfect or Outlook or Photoshop. It seems to have come about only very recently, as a specific reference to programs which would run on a cell phone. > > Am I correct in this? Does anyone have a history of when it became so popular, or who it was that popularized it? If I’m mistaken, and some people did use it for pc-type programs, who brought it to the masses for cellphones? I don’t know about other countries but in the UK the term ‘app’ has been in use for at least 40 years. It’s genesis was as a way to describe some program that was not the OS or part of the associated software. (As you describe at the top of your post). At my university computer centre there were two software departments, ‘systems’ and ‘applications’. The term ands its diminutive have been in constant use since then. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/3 "2010-08-17T18:09:22Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > It seems to have come about only very recently, as a specific reference to programs which would run on a cell phone. > > Am I correct in this? I think you are correct in your assumption (so far as the mainstream appearance of the abbreviation), but I have heard “app” used in the restaurant industry for years as short for “appetizer.” I don’t think “app” as short for “application” had a lot of popular currency before smart phones started using it in promotions. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/4 "2010-08-17T18:12:38Z")
My earliest recollection of “app” in the mainstream was reference to email clients as the original “killer app”, so I’m guessing 15 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/5 "2010-08-17T18:55:25Z")
Macintosh programs have been called Applications or Apps for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/6 "2010-08-17T18:56:22Z")
The word has existed for a long time, but the OP is asking when it _became mainstream_ - and this is probably attributable to Apple’s iPhone (and more recently compounded by other smartphone players focusing on organising their application portfolios). ---
**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/7 "2010-08-17T19:05:05Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The word has existed for a long time, but the OP is asking when it _became mainstream_ - and this is probably attributable to Apple’s iPhone (and more recently compounded by other smartphone players focusing on organising their application portfolios). That seems a bit of a stretch. The term has been ‘mainstream’ since using personal computers became ‘mainstream’. ‘Apps’ has certainly been a common expression for those who use computers - e.g. “What apps are you running” since well before the iphone. And I’m pretty sure there are more personal computers than iphones. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/8 "2010-08-17T19:19:02Z")
I’ve never heard it at all except in reference to a cell phone ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/9 "2010-08-17T19:19:53Z")
While the term has been around forever, including on Macs, I agree that it’s the iPhone “There’s an app for that” that really brought it into the mainstream. Not that this is solid proof, but you can certainly see a correlation using [Google Trends](http://www.google.com/trends?q=apps%2C+iphone&ctab=0&geo=us&date=all&sort=0); searches for “apps” start to increase beginning early 2007 – right when the iPhone is released. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/10 "2010-08-17T19:27:49Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > My earliest recollection of “app” in the mainstream was reference to email clients as the original “killer app”, so I’m guessing 15 years ago. I agree with this. The whole “killer app” thing was big in the press starting in the mid-90’s when personal computers in the home went from a geek thing to a mainstream thing. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/11 "2010-08-17T19:38:53Z")
I also agree that it’s because of the iPhone. Sure, the word “app” has been around for awhile, and I’d heard the phrase “killer app” before, but as for the mainstream, I think it actually was because of Apple’s “There’s an app for that” saturation advertising that the word became more widespread. It was even parodied by Verizon’s “There’s a **map** for that” ads. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/12 "2010-08-17T19:48:08Z")
Here’s [a more interesting (but more complicated) trend](http://www.google.com/trends?q=apps%2C+iphone%2C+killer+app%2C+application%2C+program&ctab=0&geo=us&geor=all&date=all&sort=0) with “apps, iphone, killer app, application, program” – of those terms, only “apps” rises with the iPhone’s popularity ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/13 "2010-08-17T20:28:20Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > > > My earliest recollection of “app” in the mainstream was reference to email clients as the original “killer app”, so I’m guessing 15 years ago. > > I agree with this. The whole “killer app” thing was big in the press starting in the mid-90’s when personal computers in the home went from a geek thing to a mainstream thing. Probably earlier. [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) gives a date of 1985-1990 for killer app, which sounds right to me. Spreadsheets were the first killer app for PCs and that would have been around 1980-5 when they started spreading. I got my first PC in 1984 and my office did in 1985, which we immediately used for budgeting with Lotus 1-2-3. Can’t get more mainstream than my technologically challenged office. All the computer magazines talked about things like killer apps and what the next big one would be. The change from killer apps to plain apps coincides with the iPhone, as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/14 "2010-08-17T22:51:58Z")
I use “application” and “app” regularly for most programs due to my exposure to Macintoshes since the 1990’s. Command line programs are still “programs,” though, because in my mind an “application” has a GUI. I can’t remember what they were called in GEOS or on the Atari ST or the Amiga, though. On Windows, I call them “apps” or “applications,” too, but I’m not really sure what the common vernacular is because I’d been using Macs since before Windows existed. I could boot into 7 and see what Windows calls them. Probably just “executable file” or something. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/15 "2010-08-17T23:11:14Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I use “application” and “app” regularly for most programs due to my exposure to Macintoshes since the 1990’s. Command line programs are still “programs,” though, because in my mind an “application” has a GUI. I can’t remember what they were called in GEOS or on the Atari ST or the Amiga, though. On Windows, I call them “apps” or “applications,” too, but I’m not really sure what the common vernacular is because I’d been using Macs since before Windows existed. I could boot into 7 and see what Windows calls them. Probably just “executable file” or something. Windows just calls them programs, for the most part. “Start -\> All Programs”, “Program Files”, “Programs and Features”. ---
**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/16 "2010-08-17T23:32:36Z")
For the naughty ones out there warez sites always called them " appz ", so another vote for about 15 years ago . ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/17 "2010-08-17T23:43:31Z")
> [@flano1](#): > > For the naughty ones out there warez sites always called them " appz ", so another vote for about 15 years ago . Yep. …or so I’ve heard, from other people.. who are not me, at all. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/18 "2010-08-18T00:17:24Z")
While maybe not a household word, it certainly was in pretty widespread use before Apple’s use of it in an advertising campaign. Here’s the 1978 [OSI Model](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model) definition that I imagine introduced the word and its obvious abbreviation to me. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/19 "2010-08-18T00:21:43Z")
> [@flano1](#): > > For the naughty ones out there warez sites always called them " appz ", so another vote for about 15 years ago . Bingo – that’s how we always referred to them. Sites always had the “Games” area and the “Apps” area. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546/20 "2010-08-18T01:37:45Z")
I thank you all for your answers. This is the one that resonates with me most completely: > [@cochrane](#): > > I also agree that it’s because of the iPhone. Sure, the word “app” has been around for awhile, and I’d heard the phrase “killer app” before, but as for the mainstream, I think it actually was because of Apple’s “There’s an app for that” saturation advertising that the word became more widespread. It was even parodied by Verizon’s “There’s a **map** for that” ads. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-when-did-the-word-app-become-so-mainstream/550546.md?page=2)