Ephemeral Apps & Throwaway apps: Is the App Store of the future prompt based?
We’ve spent the last 15 years treating apps like permanent fixtures. Download. Update. Forget your password. Update again. And somewhere along the way, our phones became cluttered museums of half-used utilities we might need “someday.”
What if most software is about to become as casual—and disposable—as a sticky note?
It made me think that the App Store could become an empty store one day. Ephemeral apps ( or throwaway apps, one prompters, … ) could be: tiny, single-purpose bits of software created on demand, used for a moment, and then maybe even thrown away because it has served its purpose.
So What happens to an app marketplace when anyone can create an app from a prompt in 30 seconds?
Most apps people download get used once (or never) and then just sit there.
Our behavior hints at something:
We don’t want more apps.
We want outcomes.
And we want them now.
So what could a throwaway app be then?
Single-purpose (solves one problem)
Short-lived (minutes, hours, or as long as the incumbents have use for it)
Cheap to create (often automatically)
Low commitment (often not even an install but in-browser, no account, no updates)
Contextual (built for you, right now)
Can you give me a few clear examples that proves this point?
“Make me a one-time wedding seating planner for 120 guests”
“Spin up a quick budget tracker for this trip and share it with my partner”
“I need a form for collecting RSVPs for this event only”
“Give me a little dashboard to compare three suppliers until I choose one”
“Build me a secret santa app to share with my family”
“Make me a quick comparison of all sushi restaurants in an area within 10km’
Will software be unbundled into moments then?
Not all of course. Traditional apps will coexist (think banking, mobility, government, … ) but for many businesses or appbuilders it could turn revenue models upside down where revenue follows moments.
We could get:
micro-payments for “an outcome”
usage-based billing for generated tools
…
You’ll stream many apps, not download, buy them or subscribe to them. Software becomes a verb. You’ll ask yourself ‘can I app a solution for that?’
Forms, dashboards, mini-workflows, decision aids—spinning up around us when needed, disappearing when done. The future would not be “one app for every job”,
It could be one prompt for many moment.