Nobody needs an "everything app"

Hi everyone, it's Aisha in San Francisco. Elon Musk wants me to use just one app. But first...Three things you need to know today:• WeWork w [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi everyone, it's Aisha in San Francisco. Elon Musk wants me to use just one app. But first... Three things you need to know today: • WeWork will [file for bankruptcy next week]( • Google DeepMind’s chief [hit back at Meta’s criticisms]( • Caesars said the [cost of its hack is unclear]( Can’t have everything I have 61 apps on my phone. I have an app to order burrito bowls from Chipotle, to track the movies I watch, to rent e-books from the library and to check the weather. If there’s anything I want to do, I can bet you I already have an app for that. Elon Musk, the billionaire prolific poster who bought Twitter Inc. a year ago and turned it into X, wants me to use his app for basically everything: dating, sending money, watching videos, reading the news and even applying for jobs. Musk wants the social network to be YouTube, LinkedIn, Hinge and the bank all rolled into one. He [touted the vision]( to X staff to hype them up for the future (around the same time they learned that the company is worth [less than half]( what Musk paid for it.) The problem is, nobody wants an [everything app](. It may sound more convenient, but it will likely be less good at each of the things you already have specialist apps for. We already have ‘everything apps’ like Siri and Alexa, which I use to make calls or turn on the lights in my apartment. But half the time I ask Siri or Alexa to do something, they misunderstand me or call the wrong person. Which means it’s just easier and faster to open the app I need myself. I also like choices. Most of my friends have Bumble, Hinge and Tinder on their phones, for example. Why limit yourself to one dating pool when you can have three? It’s the same reason I like to have both Uber and Lyft so I can compare prices and pick the cheaper or quicker option. I don’t mind making a few extra clicks or swipes into a new app if I know it will be more effective at accomplishing what I need. As one colleague put it, we love our crowded home screens and app folders. When I asked a family member who has 113 apps on their phone if they would ever use an everything app instead, they said no. “I would be kinda concerned about that one app having access to my whole life,” they said. “And I definitely don’t want that app to be owned by Elon.” Perhaps Musk hasn’t considered the trust factor. After months of erratic decision making and controversy, X has become full of misinformation, hate speech and spam. That’s not exactly the place I want to find a spouse or stash my 401k. Musk has pointed to WeChat, which is used by more than a billion Chinese people, as an example of the app he wants to create. WeChat users can do everything from booking flights or dentist appointments, to watching videos and ordering food. But as others have [pointed out](, the circumstances of WeChat's success were largely unique to Chinese culture, where credit cards aren’t as common and the Chinese government bans many non-Chinese apps. He’s also not the first tech executive to dream of replicating WeChat’s success outside China. Attempts in the US and Europe to make everything apps have faltered. Facebook’s shopping features and Google’s social network didn’t take off. Attempts by Amazon and Snap to launch payments and other features have also struggled. Musk can try. But I’ll stick with my 61 apps. —[Aisha Counts](mailto:acounts3@bloomberg.net) The big story Apple has the potential to revolutionize health care. It’s working on sleep apnea detection for the Apple Watch and hearing aid capabilities for AirPods. 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