President Donald Trump isn’t a huge fan of smartphones.
He famously avoids using email, preferring instead to have his staffers read him emails and write replies by hand. On the campaign trail, he questioned whether an over-reliance on computers created security issues for government officials—and as President, he came under fire for using an older smartphone.
Regardless of whether you’re a fan of the President’s work, his take on technology is quite a departure from his predecessors. However, that might be slowly changing.
Earlier this year, Trump upgraded from a Samsung S3 to an Apple iPhone, possibly as a response to reports that the S3 was extremely out of date. Critics said that due to its age, the Samsung S3 could be easily compromised by hackers. The new iPhone is thought to be much more
And officials say that the President’s phone contains a single app, as staffers deleted every non-essential app on the device.
That app, as you might have guessed, is Twitter. Trump’s affinity for the social media platform is well documented, and he often uses his tweets to reach out to his supporters directly or to offer an alternative take on the news of the day.
The President’s tweeting has concerned some politicians, including some Republicans, but he’s continued to leverage the power of Twitter during the first few months of his administration.
How do Trump’s technology habits compare to his predecessors?
President Barack Obama also had a favorite app.
In a 2012 interview with Barbara Walters, Obama admitted that his favorite app is Scrabble.
“Oh yes, gosh, sometimes I want to yank that out of your hands,” said First Lady Michelle Obama, adding that the President was fairly adept at the word game.
“She doesn’t like losing,” Barack retorted.
George W. Bush didn’t take up an iPad until after he left office.
And his favorite iPad app is…Scrabble, according to First Lady Laura Bush.
“Scrabble is the one that George now seems to be playing constantly,” she said. “Like, I’m trying to get his attention; ‘I’m still here.'”
We wonder if Bush ever played Obama (and whether Bush tried to play the word “
There’s no word as to the favorite app of former President Bill Clinton.
However, Clinton was the first President to send an email from the White House. He later claimed that he’d only sent two emails as President, including a congratulatory note to astronaut John Glenn and a note of support to troops.
Alas, the President was misremembering, as The Atlantic cataloged a number of other Clinton emails documented in the late ’90s.
Meanwhile, Vice President Al Gore was “constantly” on his computer. Perhaps he was interested in checking out the internet that he’d helped create—no, seriously. Contrary to popular misconception Gore’s work in the Senate did allow for the funding of ARPANET, a predecessor to the modern
