Apple AppStore now has Try-Before-You-Buy Apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch!

One of the new liberties from Apple is the ability to test and download apps before you actually buy them. This works in a very simple manner: you download the app from Appstore, use it for a specified number of days and then it gets locked automatically. If you want to use it further, you have to make the purchase of the app. And now the App Store has this feature, well in a way at least.

The Android marketplace has a 24-hour return policy, wherein you can use the full version of an app for up to 24 hours before returning it in case you don’t like it. But the App Store ‘try-before-you-buy’ is not quite the same.

Here you don’t get to download the full version of the app you want to buy. Apple has only been kind enough to ‘lite’ editions of apps for free access. Probably the best way to imagine these ‘lite’ apps would be to think of game demos or movie trailers.

Free to download lite Apps From the iTunes App Store

You may also not find all apps having a ‘lite’ version. The ones which do however, have a lite version, can be sorted into categories such as popular, featured and also by their release date.

This makes it easier for you to find the app you want to try out. So even though it does not give you full applications to evaluate and nor is there any refund policy as in the Android marketplace yet, this is surely a step in the right direction.

Apple has to realize that a lot of people hate taking a gamble in downloading an untested app which they have to pay for. Others do not even try new apps because of the risk involved. So the quicker this feature is expanded to cover all apps available on the App Store and improved the better it will be.

But you can also expect it to be a teaser into what the iOS 5 may offer you when it finally rolls out. Add this to your wish list and hope for the best!

Written by Jay Shah on August 7th, 2010

Nurturing a lifelong love affair with machines, Jay simply loves any tech that can make life easier, better, faster and more enjoyable. And with hundreds if not thousands of Gadgets, Apps, Games being launched everyday, there's more than enough out there to keep this hardcore techie occupied and obsessed!