Make sure your Android phone is fully charged with the best apps.
You will need essential apps for your Android smartphone to sync files, watch movies and track your sleep patterns. We have compiled the most useful and popular apps available on Google Play Store.
Essentials Apps for Android Smartphones
You may see some overlap with our list of essential iPhone apps. Some apps are simply that good.
1. Dropbox
Dropbox is still the best app to sync files seamlessly between your mobile devices. Dropbox works on all platforms, including Android, Windows, macOS, and iOS. This means that you will never be without an important file. Dropbox can automatically back up photos and videos to cloud storage, allow you to keep important PDFs with your computer, and even sync notes back to your laptop.
The downside is that the Dropbox free plan offers only 2GB of storage. Premium plans are available for $10 per month and provide 1TB of storage.
2. Plex
Plex allows you to stream music, movies, and TV shows from your Android device to Plex. First, you need to install Plex on your Windows or macOS PC. Then you can beam any content from your hard drive to your smartphone.
There are some caveats. Plex Pass is $5 per month. You can stream files to other computers free of charge, but to send them to an Android phone (while you avoid file size limits) Plex Pass will be required. Plex cannot work with protected videos purchased through Amazon, Google, Apple, or Apple. To avoid buffering delays, Plex will need a fast connection.
3. Cinema HD
Occasionally, life can be unfair, and then we need to spend our time watching movies. If you don’t have the money to pay for the high subscription fees, it can be difficult to have a good streaming app on your phone. The Cinema app, which features a huge library of movies and TV shows, allows you to watch movies and TV shows for free.
4. Pocket
It seems like you never have enough time for all the online articles. Pocket allows you to save articles from any browser on your phone, tablet, or computer. These articles can then be read at your convenience on the Android app. The items can be synced so that they are available offline. Pocket removes all advertising from web pages and makes them easy to read.
Additional features such as advanced search or auto-tagging require a $5 per month premium subscription. You can also remove ads from your Pocket app.
5. Snapseed
Snapseed is our favorite Android app for photo editing. Snapseed gives you access to almost every image-tweaking tool, allowing you to adjust colors and remove objects. It allows you to tweak the effects at a fine level or add filters quickly. Snapseed’s tools and features are simple to use, despite the many options. After you are done, you can share the results and export them.
Snapseed was originally an independent app. It is now part of Google’s Android platform. It’s free, just like many other apps from the tech giant.
6. VLC Player
Android devices can play music and movies right out of the box. However, it is worth adding VLC Player to your default apps. It’s an all-in-one media player that you can trust for any media playback task.
VLC Player supports almost every file type. It offers many other features beyond simple playback. You can stream content from your local Wi-Fi network and play web streams.
7. Showbox Video Editor
Showbox’s video editor lets you edit videos from anywhere using a web browser. You can easily add transitions, effects, text, and sound effects with the Showbox video editor. Powerful tools are easily accessible in this app. It runs smoothly and has an easy user interface.
8. SwiftKey
SwiftKey is a keyboard that comes with your Android smartphone. While you might be satisfied with it, if you want to go beyond the basics of typing, SwiftKey is the right tool for you. SwiftKey recognizes the words, slang, and nicknames that you use and provides intelligent autocorrect and text prediction. SwiftKey also supports tapping instead of swiping. In this way, it is easier for you to type faster.
SwiftKey can adapt to your typing style and supports multiple languages. It also offers a variety of color themes that will jazz up the keyboard’s appearance.
9. Google Podcasts
Google’s recent venture into podcasting apps strikes a good balance between simplicity and functionality. It not only lets you play your favorite shows but also syncs your listening across all devices. Supported devices include Google Home speakers. It is easy to search for new podcasts and discover them by using the clean interface. Subscribe to a show and new episodes will download automatically.
10. CamScanner
CamScanner is the best app that allows visit us you to digitize paper documents using your phone’s camera. There are many apps out there, but none as powerful and intuitive as CamScanner. CamScanner can crop, enhance and align images in seconds. It even works with phones that don’t have the best cameras. You can combine documents, add annotations, and share the result as PDF or JPG.
You can also sign up for the premium account for $5 per month on top of the basic version. CamScanner turns images into digital text, which you can then search on your phone or through the app’s website interface.
11. IFTTT
IFTTT (or If This Then That) ties together multiple apps. When a trigger occurs in one service (“if that”), then an act results in another (“then this”). There are many ways to integrate programs including social media, web applications, hardware devices, and online services.
It works well with Android devices. You can change the wallpaper of your phone every day, backup your SMS messages to email, and post to multiple social media networks. This is only a small sample of the possibilities IFTTT offers.
12. Nova Launcher
An Android allows you to customize the appearance of each pixel. This is something you cannot do with iPhones. Launcher apps, such as the Nova Launcher, let you completely reskin Android’s design, changing everything from the home screen layout and individual icons.
Nova Launcher allows you to add icons to your home screen, alter their sizes, modify text and label settings, create gesture controls, reskin your phone and choose a new theme. The Prime upgrade adds even more visual customizations to your phone.