There are so many things one can do in order to be able to properly monitor and control exactly where their data bundles go. Policing the built-in smartphone data manager and taking out a calculator is one of them. Using Safaricom’s data manager feature to prevent a device from using up one’s airtime to go online when data bundles run out is another way to keep things in check. Or using apps like My Data Manager or Internet Speed Meter to keep tabs on things. Or using Opera Max. Or reigning in on specific data guzzlers like Facebook’s main app by using lightweight Facebook apps. What if you wanted to just use lightweight apps for every popular app/service you frequent? That’s where Hermit comes in.
Hermit may not be familiar to most people because it is pretty new when compared to a lot of the solutions we have already explored in this series. It has only been around for 2 years (since April 2015) but it has developed a core fan base around the world thanks to the savings in both space and battery usage that it guarantees users. In our case, it is what we are turning to for data savings.
Not only does just doing away with downloading every single popular app/service like Gmail, Medium and others from the Play Store consume lots of data but their constant background activity means that data is always being consumed anyway and in the case of some apps like Facebook, it is not just small amounts of data, it’s lots of data.
Hermit works in an interesting way.
It creates little “lite apps” that integrate with the Android operating system just like native apps would without the excess baggage of constantly running in the background, using up extra RAM, eating up space and draining the battery. Basically, eating your cake and still having it.
The “lite apps” are basically nice wrappers of sites that turn them into “apps” with a lot of the functionality of the full-blown native apps including being able to add them to the device’s home screen and app drawer just like one would any other app.
While Hermit has its own small library of “lite apps” that one can add that includes popular apps, services and services like Pocket, Todoist, Google Translate, Trip Advisor, APK Mirror, Google News, Slack and PayPal, among others, users can add their own preferred sites by simply typing in the URL of the desired site in the address bar on top.
It is here where there is a catch. In order for one to be able to create an unlimited number of “lite apps” or basically let Hermit “lite apps” replace all the native apps on their device, one has to part with $5. Else they are limited to just 2 “lite apps” with all the advantages that Hermit promises.
The asking price for the premium version of the app with extra features may be a big ask or a small one depending on where you sit/stand but one thing’s for sure, you get to kill several birds with one app stone. Save on the extra data that “normal” apps consume. Save on valuable internal storage space. Save on memory (RAM). Save on battery. Stay away from annoying ads. Stay secure (the “lite apps” are sandboxed and run independent of one another just as is the case with standard apps installed on any Android device hence guaranteeing protection from malware) and still have your privacy intact – apps only get access to things like the camera, location, photo gallery and files on a needs basis and not all the time.
Hermit Lite Apps Browser is available on the Google Play Store.
