📕 Part 1: Apps

What kind of apps do you spend money on?

Well, none of them. I think I pay an annual or monthly subscription fee for some banking apps I use, but that's negligible. For the rest, they're all free, and rightly so. I don't see why I should have to pay for apps that are riddled with adverts.

What apps don't you use anymore?

I think I stopped using a few financial ones after I closed my account. And I don't think I'd be caught dead using one of the gaming ones. They seem like a complete waste of time.

What applications do you still use?

Oh, wow. Well, it would be easier to say what I don't use, to be honest. I use a whole load for social media and social networking, and then they're the ones that manage my calendar as well, so I don't forget things. Not only is it about my social life, though. My work's also on there. I use different apps to publish things from time to time, like on Instagram. And before I put them out there, I create them on an app called Canva as well.

What kind of apps have you downloaded on your phone?

Recently? Nothing very exciting. I had to get hold of a taxi app the other day because it was impossible to just flag one down in the city centre. But aside from that, I usually stick to the ones I've had for years. Not very interesting.

Hey! So, dear listener, apps or applications. You can say I use different apps. Apps. Applications. We're talking about applications on your iPhone or Android. Apps that you use, download, pay for or use them for free. But an app is something that you download. Right, Rory? So, you download an app and you use it. On your phone, usually. Roru: Well, most of the time, yes. But you also have apps which are pre-installed or pre-downloaded onto your phone. Like a voice recording app, for example. Which can be very useful for recording yourself when you are preparing for part 2 of the exam. I'm just suggesting that.

Yeah, true. You can say that I pay for certain apps. Or I spend my money on gaming apps, for example. Or I pay an annual subscription fee. For many apps, you have to subscribe.

You have to subscribe to our podcast. It's not an app. But you have to subscribe to apps if you want to use them on a monthly basis.

Yeah, and a good deal is to subscribe for a year. So, you pay an annual subscription fee. So, for a year. Annual means for a year. Or you pay every month. This means that I pay a monthly subscription fee. Or I pay every month. I pay every year for some banking apps, for example. There are like banking apps. You download an app for your bank. Really? You pay for your banking app?

I pay something like 10 pence a month for some things. But it's not a lot, to be honest. I think it's just a...

Wow, it's supposed to be for free. Banking. Wow, interesting. You can say that I pay for some fitness apps. Some education apps. Lifestyle apps. So, you can just not mention a name but say that I have entertainment apps. Like music applications. Spotify, for example. Or I pay for some business apps. Food and drinks applications. News applications. Game applications. Travel applications.

Delivery applications.

Yeah. Okay. So, social media applications. So, just naming them in general. I have some education applications, which I pay for.

Well, you could name some specific ones. For example, Canva is a well-known, I suppose, digital editing app. And content creation app. Thank you, Canva, for sponsoring this podcast.

Some apps are riddled with adverts.

But that just means they're full of them.

Yeah. And most apps are for free but there are adverts. Advertisements, ads, pop-up ads. So, riddled with, to be full of something. Could you use it in another sentence, Rory?

Well, on-demand television. And television in general, I think, is riddled with ads. You see them all the time now. And sometimes you go to websites, and those are riddled with pop-up ads. Our website only has one pop-up ad for classes with me. Subscribe today.

If I say that my essay is riddled with mistakes, what does it mean?

It means it's full of mistakes. And that's a good point, actually. Because when something is riddled with something, it means it's almost always in a negative way. I've never heard it used to talk about something positive.

Oh, I don't like these apps which are riddled with adverts. So, I pay for applications. And usually, if you pay for an app, you use it without any adverts, ads, advertisements. I stopped using something. So, stopped doing something. I stopped using a few financial applications. I closed my accounts. And I stopped using some gaming applications. Some game apps. Because they are a waste of time. A complete waste of time, dear listener. Yeah.

In my opinion.

Yeah, that's true. Oh, yeah, once I downloaded this game, and I became so crazy about it, Rory, I started buying, you know, diamonds for me to move forward.

Really? Is that how that works?

It's just, yeah. Yeah, you get into it, and then the game doesn't allow you to move forward, so you can't finish a level or something, without the diamonds or without some special coins. And you start buying them to play further.

Maria has fallen into the trap of cheap dopamine.

A victim of marketing.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, but the app for the game is so well-structured, just to kind of make you want to give them your money, dear listener. Dangerous stuff for me, so I don't... I've deleted everything after spending…

Very, very sensible.

…a ridiculous amount of money and time. It's crazy. So, I still use banking apps. I still use social media, social networking applications. And these are, you know, Instagram, Facebook, your local messenger, for example, WhatsApp, Telegram, or your local messenger that you use. Also, taxi apps. Yeah, your local taxi apps. And you can say that I still use a whole load of different applications. So, a bunch of them, a lot of them. And I use some applications to manage my calendar. So, for work, for my private life. And, Rory, you know, I've Googled the most popular apps in 2025. And you mentioned Canva.

Oh, God, here's a dangerous thing to be talking about.

No, no, you mentioned Canva. So, it's one of the most popular applications for editing purposes, like photos, video editing. Also, Audible. Audible is super popular for audiobooks, podcasts, and stories. Audible, please sponsor our podcast, you know. Bumble, dating apps. Dear listeners, dating apps are pretty popular. Still in 2025. Also, there's this app AllTrails. Hike and bike and run. Do you know about this app AllTrails?

I have never heard of that before in my life.

Elevate. Actually, I've used Elevate. Elevate is an app to train your brain and vocabulary memory. And there are some math puzzles, dear listeners. Brain training games. It's pretty good. Yeah, fun. So, Elevate. Also, please sponsor our podcast. It's as if, you know, like we're cheap, Rory. I'm selling us to Audible, to Canva, to Elevate. What's going on?

Well, we've not done a very good job of it. We're doing it now. We haven't secured a deal. This is why we cannot have nice things, Maria.

Oh, yeah. Like SmartGym app, for example, for home workouts. Dear listeners, maybe you do some weightlifting and you have this Smart Gym app. So, these are some of the most popular apps. You download apps on your phone. So, you can say that recently I've downloaded a taxi app or a dating app. But what happens if you delete the app from your phone? You just remove it, delete it.

Get rid of it.

Get rid of it, yeah. You can say, like, I've downloaded (Present Perfect) and recently I've deleted it. I've got rid of this app. You can also say, I had to get hold of a taxi app. So, I downloaded it or “to get hold of”. In this context, it means download. So, I usually stick to the ones I've had for years. So, Present Perfect, I have had lots of apps for a long time. Or I had them installed. So, pre-installed apps. And I usually stick to the ones I have. I don't usually download anything new. And, dear listener, I've googled some apps to try in 2025. Six best apps to try out. Interesting.

All of them sponsoring us…

So, the second one is called Awesome Habits. Rory, have you ever heard of this app, Awesome Habits?

No…

It's an app to track your habits. It's actually pretty... It's in the trend. You know, all this, you know, habit trackers. You track your habits. Also, some… Andel is an audio app that creates personalised soundscapes to match your activities. Cool stuff. The next one is Bubble Up. An app that provides a new way to save, organise, or share your digital life. Interesting. So, these are the trends, dear listener. No dating apps for some reason. So, we're about time management, calendars. Rory, how many apps do you have on your phone? If we count.

That's a very good question. I don't know how I would find that out. Ah, here we go apps…

Yeah, dear listener. You can also count…

It doesn't tell me how many I have. Many is the answer.

Because there are strange apps that you... Kind of like setting apps, I think. But could you count the main ones that you usually use?

Oh, that's easy. My calendar app, my email app, and five social media apps that I use all the time. So, that's seven, basically. The other ones I use intermittently. So, that's almost never. Or not very often.

Oh, I have about 50.

That you use frequently?

Well, yeah, pretty much. Like all the banking, food apps, shop apps, taxi, all this Google stuff, presentations, you know, Gmail.

Have you no shame…

So many apps, dear listener. IELTS apps, okay!

Okay, IELTS apps are fine!

How many apps do you have, dear listener, okay? Go to your phone and count. And now, Rory's Vocabulary Show!

Yep, it's the part of the quiz where I ask Maria questions about the different kinds of grammar and vocabulary that I've used. So, I talked about how some of the apps I use are full of adverts. But I didn't say full of adverts. What did I say?

Apps are riddled with adverts.

And then I talked about how I don't need to be spending time doing or playing with gaming apps. They're not worth it. But I didn't say that. I called them something else.

They're a complete waste of time.

Yay! And now a grammar question. Oh, yes! What did I use to emphasise the fact that I don't use apps for social life only, but for other things too?

You got really emotional, Rory. And you used inversion. And you said, not only is it about my social life, but it's also about my work. Yeah, dear listener, use it very carefully. It's an emotional structure. And you should use it only once. Okay?

But once is enough. Speaking of things I only used once, and reacting emotionally, I did something at the start of my answer to the fourth and final question with my intonation.

Yeah, you kind of ask a question like, recently? Nothing very exciting. Because the question is with present perfect. So it's about like, recently, not so long ago, this week. So like, what apps have you downloaded? Like recently? Well, nothing much.

Amazing, Maria. 100%.

Yay! Thank you very much for listening. And we'll get back to you in our next episode. Bye.

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