# Apps


> Live, self-updating content, managed under Apps rather than in Content. It takes a duration, and its settings live on the instance.

An app is a small program that shows information which keeps changing: a dashboard, a calendar, a weather panel, a news feed. Install one from the App store, or deploy one you built, and it lives under **Apps**.

It does not appear in **Content** with your images and videos. To a playlist there is still nothing special about it: it takes its turn, holds the screen for its slot, and hands over to the next item.

What an app is, where it runs, and how credentials stay safe lives in [Apps](/docs/apps/). This page is what matters when you put one in a rotation next to files and pages.

## How it arrives

An app does not come through **New content**, and it does not appear in **Content**. Install one from the **App store**, or deploy one you built with the CLI. It then appears under **Apps**, ready for a playlist.

See [Install an app](/docs/content/adding/install-an-app/).

## Duration

Give it more time than an image. An app fetching live data has to load before it can show anything, so ten seconds often spends most of the slot on a spinner. Thirty or forty seconds is more realistic for a dashboard.

Duration is set on the playlist item, not on the app. See [How long things play](/docs/content/overview/how-long-things-play/).

## If it needs a source

Many apps fetch live data while they play: a dashboard, a news feed, a calendar. What happens when that source is unreachable depends on the app. Some skip the slot and rejoin the rotation when it comes back. Others show a fallback, a last-known view, or an error on screen.

Check that app's own documentation for how it behaves. See [Where an app runs](/docs/apps/overview/where-an-app-runs/) for where the code actually executes, and [Where content lives](/docs/content/overview/where-content-lives/) for how live content differs from files stored on the device.

## Where its settings live

Installing an app creates an **instance**: the app plus your settings. The instance is what you manage under **Apps**. Open it to change a city, a dashboard, or a calendar, and every screen showing it follows on the next sync.

Settings and anything sensitive belong on the instance, not in a playlist. See [Instances](/docs/apps/using/instances/) and [Settings and secrets](/docs/apps/setting-up/settings-and-secrets/).