So, you've just cracked open the box and peeled the plastic off your
brand spanking new Android smartphone. But there's not much going on in
the way of Android apps straight away. Sure, Google has you covered with
the essentials, including Gmail, YouTube, Hangouts, Google Maps, the Play Store, Google Translate, Google Photos, Drive and Google Plus,
but what else do you need? This is where our list of the best free
Android apps comes in. We'll add to this list regularly, until it is
your one stop shop for the absolute best-in-class Android apps. And it
won't cost you a cent.
IFTTT
If This Then That (IFTTT)
is a brilliant app for automating your phone that lets you set very
simple rules for making something happen on your Android, based on a
simple premise: if this happens then do that.
Inbox by Gmail
The Inbox by Gmail
revolution has begun! Inbox lets you bundle similar emails, create
reminders, pin important emails to the top of your inbox, snooze
messages for later and get the highlights of an email previewed without
actually having to open it. Here's everything you need to know about Inbox by Gmail.
Poweramp
Poweramp
is easily the best music player on Android, so if you like music, you
have an Android phone or tablet, and you know what the Install button is
for, then you can do the math!
Google Fit
Google Fit
is about to redefine the way we see smartphone health. Closely tied
into Android Wear but functioning perfectly fine on it's own, Google Fit
will help you achieve your fitness and activity goals.
Amazon Kindle
Anyone that has ever read an ebook knows that Amazon Kindle
is the king of ebook readers. Of course, you can read all or your
Amazon ebooks but the Kindle app can be used to read any other ebooks
you have as well.
VLC
VLC
is the app for every Android. If you want to play any media file on
Android, VLC is the one app that can handle everything. VLC is
technically still in beta, but it is already just as awesome as you'd
expect it to be when it's finished.
Google Camera
Unless you're lucky enough to have a rock solid camera app on your
phone that you actually like, the next best thing is Google's fantastic Google Camera. It's free and it's definitely worth trying out. It even has post-focusing capabilities.
SwiftKey
If you haven't heard of SwiftKey
then you must have been living under a rock for the last couple of
years. Or been using an iPhone. Either way, SwiftKey is the class leader
for swipe-typing apps, and it doesn't get any better than this.
Nova Launcher
Nova Launcher
is the king of Android customization and is easily the best known
custom launcher. Jam packed with options, Nova lets you rebuild your
home screen, app drawer and gesture controls just how you like them.
Pocket
is an incredibly useful tool you'll wonder how you ever lived without.
Simply save any online content to Pocket and you can read it later,
offline and stripped of ads and everything else but what you actually
want to read.
Spotify
Spotify goes up against the likes of Google Play Music, last.fm,
Pandora, SoundCloud and even YouTube in the battle to bring music to
your ears. An eternal playlist at your fingertips for free? Sounds good
to me.
Love it or hate it, Facebook
is one of the most installed apps in the world. Resource hungry, slow
and buggy, there's still no living without the official Facebook app. As
far as features go, none of the third-party options even come close to
the official app.
Another essential app for every Android phone, if you're not using WhatsApp,
then how exactly are you communicating? WhatsApp is ubiquitous, like
Facebook, and is easily the msot popular instant messaging app in the
world.
Facebook Messenger
Of course, where Facebook goes, Facebook Messenger
is soon to follow. If you want to chat on Facebook, you now have to do
it via Facebook's Messenger app, as the chat function no longer exists
in the official Facebook app.
Wikipedia Beta
What's better than Wikipedia? Wikipedia Beta,
that's what. Live life on the informational cutting edge with all the
latest features the Wikipedia team has to offer. The biggest difference
right now is the awesome new native design on Wikipedia Beta.
ES FIle Explorer
ES FIle Explorer
is the undisputed king of file managers. If you spend any time
downloading files, managing music or images, then a good file explorer
is an essential Android app, and they don't come any better than ES File
Explorer.
Dropbox
Dropbox lets
you expand your internal storage into a cloud based backup of
everything that's important to you. Music, photos, files and more can be
saved, accessed on all your devices and restored if you ever lose your
phone.
Speaking of photos, it doesn't get any better than Instagram
if you love life through imagery rather than text. Follow your friends
and celebrities to see the whole through someone else's eyes. Be warned
though, it's addictive.
Pushbullet
Pushbullet is
a fantastic app that means you'll never miss another notifiaction
again. Pushbullet can display your notifications direct on your computer
screen or share links, photos, files and more between multiple
Android devices.
QuickPic
Let's face it: most stock Android gallery apps are pretty sucky. That's where QuickPic
comes in. QuickPic is a nice clean gallery app that foregrounds your
images, has plenty of sorting options and is also connected to the
cloud.
Google Keep
Google Keep
is like the Android version of Post-Its on steroids. Any time you have
something quick to record you can note it in Keep and, well, keep it
for later. You can set reminders, save images, audio notes and more.
Feedly
If you like to keep up to date with the endless stream of news in the
world of Android and beyond then you need an RSS reader, and Feedly is the original RSS champ, in case you didn't already know. All your favorite websites in one place.
Helium
Helium
is a must-have app for anyone that has ever lost data or never done a
backup before. It works great with root, but even without, you can
simply connect your Android to your computer and use Helium to backup
everything. Use it.
Microsoft Office Mobile
Microsoft Office Mobile
finally made it Android for free and we couldn't be happier. If you
ever use a mobile device for reading or editing Word documents, Excel
spreadsheets or PowerPoint presentations, then you know you need this
app.
Falcon Widget (for Twitter)
While there's not really anything wrong with the official Twitter app, I still like Falcon Widget better.
But I'm a fan of full-screen widgets, sooo... Still, if you like your
Twitter feed front and center you can certainly do worse than Falcon
Widget.
What did we miss? What Android app can't you live without?
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