5 must-have apps that every Pakistani needs

From finding medicines & jobs to connecting with public officials, these apps facilitate people through their phones.

The recent remarkable technological advancements in the telecommunications sector have added significantly to the number of smartphone users in Pakistan. Android is an open source system with ease of customisation and a simplistic user interface (UI), enabling local application developers to link the excess of information and utilities in a single application, at your fingertips.

The applications offered make it easier to carry out our normal day-to-day activities. Some of these stand-alone applications are discussed below:

1. Pharmapedia Pakistan



Pharmapedia Pakistan is an impressive productive application that provides free offline access to information on common drugs and medicine brands in Pakistan.

Featuring a user-friendly interface with a sleek layout, it can serve as an offline medical dictionary. The user simply has to enter the name of a brand or drug and obtain the required data in just the blink of an eye. This easy-to-use system can be helpful for medical professionals, students as well as for the general public.

The application provides information on drugs overview, dosages, indications, side effects, contraindications, and also gives details of the brands available for every common drug or formula.

Furthermore, it lists down the forms of available drugs (such as tablets, syrups, injections, infusions, drops and suspensions available for every brand) and the respective prices of each of these forms. Conveniently, the application also gives the option to bookmark any particular drug or brand, so that later on, the user does not have to go through all the effort of finding it again.

This application is considered by many to be a must-have, because the current market analysis shows that the retail prices of many of these drugs are not mentioned in most local medical stores. It gives a beforehand account of the prices of the medicines required to be purchased from the stores. In this way, the application also serves as a medicine budgeting tool.

Secondly, many medical stores in Pakistan are not run by registered pharmacists. In many cases, because of under-availability or unavailability of the desired medicine brand, an alternative brand is provided, without having accurate knowledge of the formula being used in the alternative brand. This irresponsible behavior can often cause serious medical issues for the patient involved.

The application can enable the user to check the types of drugs available in the alternative brand and the drugs that make up that particular brand. It can also suggest potential alternative brands (perhaps comprising of similar drugs), along with their respective side effects.

The application can be downloaded free of cost here.

2. Motor Registration Checker



This application enables its user to check the vehicle details, ownership details and the transfer history of any vehicle registered in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) provinces of Pakistan.

The users are required to firstly select the province in which the vehicle is registered. After entering the vehicle registration number, the application provides complete details of ownership and ownership transfer history including name, father’s name, and owner’s city.

It also provides details of chassis number, engine number, make, registration date, vehicle price, colour, token tax details and vehicle’s year of manufacture.

This proves to be a handy multi-tool to check motor registration details on a single platform without separately opening specific websites of the respective provinces’ excise departments, because doing so can be a tedious task.

The application can enable users to quickly retrieve complete information regarding the vehicle they are about to purchase.

Furthermore, the interface is mobile-friendly and can enable the user to save screenshots of the information received. This information can later be retrieved offline as required.

The vehicle details are gathered from the Motor Transport Management Information System (MTMIS) of the Punjab Government, and K-P, Islamabad and Sindh Excise Department websites.

It can be downloaded here.

3. What Mobile Pakistan



What Mobile Pakistan, enables its users to check the latest mobile phones currently available in Pakistan. The application also provides information on upcoming devices, prices, specifications, reviews, and user opinions.

Different devices can be compared and their specifications can be checked. The user also has the option of applying different filters to make the choice easier. Furthermore, the application gives notifications when there are new handset additions or changes in prices.

The application is certainly time-saving and can offer its users hassle free access to the required information. It provides virtual assistance for carrying a detailed analysis of the device accurately and you don’t have to visit different shops to get an idea of the price.

It can be downloaded here.

4. Govt Jobs Pakistan 2019



Isn’t it messy and complicated when we need to go through each and every page of the newspaper in order to search for relevant jobs? However, this will not be the case anymore owing to a productive application. This application enables its user to discover all the latest jobs and career advertisements in one place.

It has an easy to navigate, user-friendly interface with the option to filter out government jobs with respect to the newspaper in which the advertisement is published, the date when it was published, the department offering the job, the city where the service is required and, the nature of the job.

The application also has an advanced search feature that can enable the user to select the desired job title and filter out only the desired job ads with the provision to download, save, and share the ad instantly.

It is updated daily, and previous months advertisements can also be accessed from this application.

The application can be downloaded free of cost here.

5. Pakistan Citizen Portal



Recently, #PakistanWinsGlobally was trending on Twitter. This hashtag represents the encouragement the Pakistani government received  for the new digital initiative they introduced for their citizens.

https://twitter.com/PakistanPMDU/status/1095363747391119362

https://twitter.com/IrhaMalik_/status/1095375596388007936

This is impressive because the Pakistan Citizen Portal (PCP) application has secured second place in the top three ‘best mobile government applications’ out of over 4,600 entries at the World Government Summit held in Dubai this year.

The application acts as a channel, linking the queries and complaints of the citizens with their respective government officials. The integrated system connects both the provincial and federal organisations. It requires a valid National Identification Card (CNIC) number or passport number to create an account initially and after verifying personal information, the user’s login ID is created.

It consists of different sections for respective departments so that the complaint can be filed to the relevant section directly. The main dashboard shows the number of complaints filed, complaints in progress and complaints resolved. The citizen can also give feedback on the resolved complaints and feedback will be linked to the performance and promotion of the respective officer.

The application is a practical example of bridging the gap between people and public services. The details on the application are shown in both Urdu and English languages, making it much more user-friendly. It also gives the option of hiding the complaint filer’s personal information so that the complaint can be resolved without any hindrances.

Moreover, after filing the complaint, it shows up in the progress tab and the filer is constantly updated about the status of the complaint. Additionally, information regarding the official and department that the complaint is assigned to is also shown.

This application is developed by the Performance Management Unit of the K-P government and can be downloaded for free here.

These smartphone applications, being accessible to everyone, have brought in plethora of systematic changes and have undoubtedly revolutionised the ways in which we use technology. As per the statistics issued by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the number of mobile phone users in Pakistan have crossed 150 Million by November 2018 (PTA), of which android holds a market share of 92.38%.

These figures are certainly quite motivating for developers and the e-commerce industry and will encourage greater digitisation and newer and smarter ways to interact.

All photos: Google Playstore