The Android platform is one of the most popular for smartphones and tablets. With a wide range of devices available, as well as a thriving app market, Android is a great place to be for developers who want to get their apps in front of millions of users. However, with so many options available, how do you find the best app development tools for your needs?
In this article, we’ll explore some of the best apps for Android development and provide you with an overview of each tool so that you can make an informed decision about which one is right for you.
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Android
These are the Best Android Apps: Tasker, Spark, Feedly, Weather Underground, and more!
So you just got a new Android phone. You unbox it, take the plastic film off, and turn it on for the very first time. Then you add your Google account and finish setting it up. Now it’s time to download some apps! But if you’re new to the Android ecosystem, you might not be quite settled on which apps you’re going to download. You might be overwhelmed by the vast amount of choices on Google Play, or you might just be undecided between several choices. Don’t worry though, we’re here to help.
Today, we’re going to highlight some must-have apps every Android user should have in 2021. Some are newer apps while others are older and popular. We’ve classified this list with at least three picks for each category.
Essential Apps
We’ll start with some apps that are essential for improving your Android experience, like VPN apps or password managers. These apps don’t exactly fit into any of the categories we’ll mention later on, but, at least in my opinion, they are very handy to have and are sure to make your Android experience better. I always install the first three apps on any Android device I try out, as a matter of fact.
From allowing you to manage your apps better to automating your entire Android experience, these are definitely worth a look, no matter if you’re a normal user or an enthusiast.
Solid Explorer
Solid Explorer Main Page
Solid Explorer Sidebar
Solid Explorer Secondary Menu
Solid Explorer is the definitive file explorer app. It’s one of the best browser apps out there — if not the best — and it’s because it allows you to do so much. It features built-in encryption to encrypt your important files, it features Google Drive and Dropbox integration, with support for connecting to an external server of your own, and easy file management with support for exploring other partitions of your device through root access.
There’s really a lot to love about it. You’ll need to pay a one-time license in order to use it, but other than that, it’s one of the very few paid Android apps I think is actually honestly worth it.
Solid Explorer File Manager
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Solid Explorer File Manager
Developer: NeatBytes
Price: Free+
Bitwarden
bitwarden vault overview
bitwarden password database sync
If you’re anything like me, you’re probably a mess with your passwords. They’re all over the place, you probably have several variants of one password and get confused while logging into stuff, and frequently mistake them. Not to mention, if you’re the kind of guy to use the same password on several websites, you might be in for a nasty surprise if someone manages to guess it.
After LastPass tightened their free tier, a lot of users started looking to Bitwarden as a decent, no-frills password manager alternative. While the app has a Premium tier, all of the core features of the app remain fully free, including a secure password generator, syncing across all devices, and more. You only really need to pay for the app if you’re looking for features such as the built-in two-factor authenticator and file sharing, but otherwise, you will be served more than okay with the free tier of Bitwarden. The best part of all? It’s open-source. Who doesn’t love some good old open-source software?
Bitwarden Password Manager
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Bitwarden Password Manager
Developer: Bitwarden Inc.
Price: Free
Tasker
Tasker Main Screen
Tasker Map
Tasker Calendar
Tasker is one of the most complex apps out of this whole list, and it has a bit of a steep learning curve to it, especially for beginners. But once you get the grasp of it, it’s one of the most useful apps out there.
It can automate almost every aspect of your smartphone usage and have it work the way you want it to. This will reduce a lot of manual input and repetitive behavior by setting automatic actions to the parameters and conditions you want. It’s also a Swiss tool of sorts and serves as a workaround to adding amazing functionality to your smartphone. If you can think of it, Tasker can probably pull it off.
Tasker
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Tasker
Developer: joaomgcd
Price: $3.49
Backdrops
Backdrops Explore
Backdrops Explore
Backdrops Explore
The Backdrops app is one of the best tools for customizing your smartphone and making it truly yours. It’s been my go-to choice for most of my smartphone wallpapers for several years, and it’s not really that hard to see why. You get a wide range of wallpapers to fit any kind of person, including a section with curated wallpapers as well as other community-contributed ones.
Aside from some “premium” collections, the app is fully free to use. If you want something different than your new device’s default wallpapers, Backdrops is an amazing place to start your search.
Backdrops – Wallpapers
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Backdrops – Wallpapers
Developer: Backdrops Developer
Price: Free+
Weather Underground
Weather Underground
Weather Underground Maps
Weather Underground Home
Weather Underground Heat Maps
Weather Underground is one of the best Weather apps on Android. It’s well-organized and comes with a clean interface. It has everything you would want in a weather app. You can see hyper-local weather forecasts, get sophisticated weather visualizations, and severe weather alerts.
Weather data & microclimate : Weather Underground
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Weather data & microclimate : Weather Underground
Developer: Weather Underground
Price: Free+
Web Browsers
A great web browser is a must-have app for any Android phone. After all, most of us spend quite a bit of time in a web browser. There are dozens of web browsers in the Google Play store, but not all are made equal. So here are our top picks for the best web browsers for Android in 2021.
Chrome
Chrome Web Browser for Android
Chrome Web Browser
Google Chrome Web Browser for Android
Google Chrome
Google’s Chrome is an excellent web browser for most people. It’s fast and includes most features you expect from a web browser. Moreover, it comes pre-installed on most Android devices these days. So you don’t have to look for it in the Google Play store. In terms of features, you get sync support, a password manager, a lite mode to save data, support for secure DNS, and more.
Google Chrome: Fast & Secure
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Google Chrome: Fast & Secure
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
Firefox
Mozilla Firefox for Android
Firefox Web Browser for Android
Firefox
Firefox is one of the few browsers that still uses its own browser engine — Gecko. So if you’re looking for a real Chrome alternative, Firefox is your best bet. It’s snappy and packs all the browser basics. One of its highlights is add-on support. While the browser doesn’t support all add-ons available on the desktop version, you get a limited but decent selection of recommended add-ons.
Firefox Fast & Private Browser
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Firefox Fast & Private Browser
Developer: Mozilla
Price: Free
Brave
Brave Web Browser for Android
Brave Web Browser
Brave Browser for Android
Brave Browser
Brave is a Chromium-based open-source web browser. It focuses on privacy and comes with built-in features to block ads and trackers. You also get sync support, background video playback, and the usual basics. In addition, the browser allows users to run optional ads and get rewarded in Basic Attention Tokens (BATs), which is Brave’s own cryptocurrency.
Brave Private Browser
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Brave Private Browser
Developer: Brave Software
Price: Free
Best Android Apps for Video
For video, we’ll mention some of our favorite apps for streaming movies, TV series, and content from your favorite content producers, as well as giving you the option to play back your locally downloaded content easily and painlessly.
These are our three top picks for video apps right now.
Netflix
I’m sure Netflix doesn’t need an introduction. It’s one of the biggest media companies right now and its namesake video streaming service has almost 200 million users. You’ll be able to find all kinds of movies and TV series, new and old, from fantasy, to action, all the way to terror and suspense. It’s one of the best video streaming services on the planet, and one of the biggest ones as well.
The Android app gives you access to all of the service’s features on the go, including watching your favorite shows on your phone, up to the highest quality your device can handle.
Netflix
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Netflix
Developer: Netflix, Inc.
Price: Free+
Disney+
Disney+ Main Page
Disney+ Movie View
Disney+ See Movie
It looks like it’s been around for a long time, but actually, Disney’s streaming service, Disney+, launched in late 2019. It represented a big change of direction for Disney — which hosted many of their movies and series on other platforms like Netflix — for them to take a change of direction and launch a hub for everything Disney.
It was a successful move, as Disney+ is now one of the most used streaming services in the world. Disney+ gives you access to Disney, Fox, Marvel, and Star Wars content, all from the same app. The best part is it’s also cheaper than the competition, at just $6.99 per month.
Disney+
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Disney+
Developer: Disney
Price: Free+
YouTube
YouTube Main Page
YouTube Video Playing
YouTube Video Playing
YouTube is the biggest video platform on the entire planet right now. You can check out content from your favorite YouTubers, find educational videos, watch music videos, and even upload your own content if you’re into that sort of thing, as well as accessing your creator tools.
The YouTube app supports playing back videos in the highest resolution available for your smartphone, supports HDR video, and several features such as picture-in-picture (PiP) mode.
YouTube
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YouTube
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
VLC
VLC Main Page
VLC Music View
VLC Folder View
VLC is probably the best app for watching locally downloaded videos on your smartphone. It’s a pretty big deal on a PC, and it’s available for Android as well, with the same feature set. It supports playing a wide variety of videos, an endless number of formats (no matter how ancient or non-standard they are), and closed captions (if you have a separate subtitle file).
What’s more, it’s completely free and has no ads to hurt your media experience.
VLC for Android
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VLC for Android
Developer: Videolabs
Price: Free
Music & Audio
Next up, we’re going to feature some apps for music and audio. From subscription services that give you access to millions of songs and podcasts hosted online, to something that allows you to play back your locally downloaded music the way you’re supposed to, there are a lot of alternatives in the Google Play Store.
Here are our top 3 picks for the best Android apps for music.
Spotify
Spotify Banner
Spotify Podcast App on Android
Spotify Podcast App on Android
Spotify is likely one of the best music streaming services available out there in terms of features. I’ve tried out a handful of them, and there’s always something I miss about Spotify. The app’s recommendation algorithm is pretty spot-on and allows you to discover more music every day, either within the genre you like or an entirely different music genre. It also supports a lot of different platforms, curated playlists are updated every day, it has podcasts, and so much more.
It’s also completely free to use as long as you’re willing to cope with ads and certain limitations, and there’s also a paid version that gives you the full experience for a monthly subscription fee.
Spotify: Music and Podcasts
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Spotify: Music and Podcasts
Developer: Spotify AB
Price: Free
Apple Music
Apple Music Lyrics
Apple Music Library
Apple Music Browse
Apple Music is one of the very few services that Apple decided to launch on Android devices, and the app itself is pretty good. The Android app is pretty well polished and feature-rich, the service has a wider music selection than Spotify, and it supports features such as live lyrics for songs, downloading music locally, and more.
Unlike Spotify, Apple Music doesn’t have a free plan and requires you to sign up for an Apple ID if you don’t have one already, but it has a free 3-month trial that allows you to try it out without restrictions. In my opinion, it holds its ground pretty well compared to Spotify.
Apple Music
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Apple Music
Developer: Apple
Price: Free+
YouTube Music
YouTube Music Now Playing Screen
YouTube Music Track List
YouTube Music Video Playing Screen
Google launched YouTube Music as a replacement to the ageing Google Play Music, but it has also managed to stand its own as a music streaming service. While it first started as another version of the YouTube app geared towards music, it has been spun off as a fully-fledged music streaming app.
It can be used for free — just like Spotify — with a handful of caveats such as ads, no background streaming, et cetera, while the full experience will set you back $9.99 a month. It has improved a lot since the last time I used it, and it’s definitely worth a look for anyone looking into getting a new music streaming service.
YouTube Music
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YouTube Music
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
Poweramp
Poweramp Playing Screen
Poweramp Playing Screen
Poweramp Playing Screen
Poweramp is one of the best apps for playing your music locally on your smartphone. It’s probably not going to win any awards for UI design, but Poweramp focuses on function over form, and the function is amazing. It has a powerful audio engine with support for hi-res audio, a handful of music formats, a built-in equalizer, internal 64-bit processing, and a whole bunch of tweaks so you can make sure your music actually sounds the way you want it to sound.
You can have Poweramp for a $4.99 one-time purchase, and believe me, it’s worth it.
Poweramp Music Player (Trial)
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Poweramp Music Player (Trial)
Developer: Max MP
Price: Free
Communication
With the COVID-19 pandemic limiting our social, in-person gatherings to a minimum, the importance of a reliable, robust app for communicating with friends, family, and acquaintances has been highlighted now more than ever.
In this section, we’re going to highlight a few apps for staying in touch with other people, from texting and chatting to multiple-people video meetings, so you can stay connected while staying at home.
WhatsApp
WhatsApp Main Menu
WhatsApp Chat
WhatsApp Call
WhatsApp is easily the most widely used instant messaging app in the world, and it’s pretty much the standard means of communication between people in a lot of countries. It’s not as feature-rich as some of its competitors and has recently come under scrutiny for privacy concerns, but it wins nonetheless because of its wide user-base of billions of users.
WhatsApp is more than just messaging, though — it also features voice calls and video calls with up to eight people at the same time.
WhatsApp Messenger
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WhatsApp Messenger
Developer: WhatsApp LLC
Price: Free
Telegram
Telegram Stickers
Telegram Chat
Telegram Main Menu
Telegram is one of our favorite messaging apps ever, and it’s because the app has a wide array of features that makes it a solid alternative to WhatsApp and even fully-fledged social networks. It features support for bots, groups with thousands of people, animated stickers, and much more. You can also fully customize the app’s UI to your liking.
What’s more, the app features encryption for communicating securely and is constantly updated with new features and improvements tailored to user demands.
Telegram
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Telegram
Developer: Telegram FZ-LLC
Price: Free
Signal
Signal contact list
Signal New Group Screen
Signal Conversation Screen with Disappearing Messages
Signal is your best bet if you care about both security and privacy. Signal uses the same encryption protocol as WhatsApp, so you get the same end-to-end encryption you’d get there, with the difference that Signal is backed by a non-profit foundation instead of a “big tech” company, and they also have a less invasive privacy policy.
It’s definitely worth a look if that’s something you’re interested in, although you also have to bear in mind the fact it has considerably less users than either Telegram or WhatsApp.
Signal Private Messenger
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Signal Private Messenger
Developer: Signal Foundation
Price: Free
Google Meet
Google Meet Main Page
Google Meet Joining
Google Meet Screen Share
Google Meet is a rising player for multi-people meetings, allowing up to 100 people to connect simultaneously to a single room. It’s also very useful for small meetings as well. Google Meet is one of the apps that has enjoyed massive growth throughout the pandemic, and features a similar feature set to other apps like Zoom while being more accessible (being integrated into apps like Gmail) and not having nearly as many restrictions as Zoom does.
Google Meet
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Google Meet
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
Textra
Textra SMS
Textra SMS bubble
Textra SMS customization
Textra SMS themes
If you text a lot, Textra is an excellent messaging app to have on your phone. It’s highly customizable and comes with a lot of theming options. In terms of features, you get chat heads, scheduled messages, the ability to copy part of a message, group messaging, and blacklisting.
Textra SMS
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Textra SMS
Developer: Delicious
Price: Free+
Social
Social networking is more important than ever now to keep up with friends and family, or simply be in the loop of everything that’s going on in the world. Here are our top picks for the best Android apps for social media.
Instagram
Instagram Main Page
Instagram Filters
Instagram DMs
Instagram is one of the biggest social media services available out there, one that’s focused on sharing photos and videos of pretty much anything. On Instagram, you can share anything from selfies to informative posts, and you can also post stories that last up to 24 hours and then disappear.
It also has a built-in messaging service and has also recently gotten several features, such as IGTV for long-form videos and Reels for shorter-form ones similar to TikTok.
Instagram
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Instagram
Developer: Instagram
Price: Free+
Twitter
Twitter Trends
Twitter Profile
Twitter Tweet
Twitter, on the other hand, is focused on short-form text posts. While it was first conceived as an app where you could quickly express your thoughts in short 140 character posts, it has since gotten much bigger. The character limit went up to 280 characters and you can post threads for longer-form content, which allows you to share photos and videos.
It has built-in messaging, and it’s constantly being updated and refined with new features and improvements.
Twitter
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Twitter
Developer: Twitter, Inc.
Price: Free+
Snapchat
Snapchat‘s prime is long gone, but it still remains a social media service with a large active userbase. While it’s technically a messaging app at its core with its headlining feature being “snaps” — self-destroying messages that delete themselves when the recipient reads them — the presence of features like Stories and Discover, as well as the ability to connect and interact with friends, have made it resemble a regular social media app way more closely. The Android app used to be famously slow and laggy, but it has improved a lot in recent years.
Snapchat
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Snapchat
Developer: Snap Inc
Price: Free+
Discord
Discord Video Call
Discord Server/Channel View
Discord Chat Screen
Lastly, Discord is a rising player in the social media space. While originally geared towards the gamer market, it has gotten much bigger through 2020 and has started to host communities (called “servers” inside the app) of all kinds.
The app is extremely flexible, allowing for voice and video calls with similar functionality to Google Meet, as well as separate channels for each server (that you can arrange to your liking) and bot integration for adding cool functionality to servers.
Discord – Chat, Talk & Hangout
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Discord – Chat, Talk & Hangout
Developer: Discord Inc.
Price: Free+
Best Android Apps for Productivity
It used to be that, in order to keep up with work stuff, you would absolutely need to be near a computer. Smartphones weren’t powerful or capable enough to allow you to properly get stuff done on the go. While a smartphone can’t replace a fully-fledged computer for working and you can’t work exclusively from a smartphone, things have gotten to the point when you can keep up with your team and maybe even get some work done on the go.
Here are some of the best Android apps for productivity in 2020.
Google Docs/Sheets/Slides
Google Slides
Google Slides Slide
Google SLides Comments
These are actually three different apps, but it’d be cheating to list them as three separate apps since they complement each other. But these apps allow you to get stuff done on the go pretty easily and painlessly.
Google Docs allows you to draft up and edit documents, and even get them done in a pinch, Google Sheets allows you to read and modify spreadsheets right from your smartphone, and Google Slides lets you get presentations done from your device or revise them easily.
Google Docs
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Google Docs
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
Google Sheets
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Google Sheets
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
Google Slides
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Google Slides
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
Trello
Trello Banner
Trello Banner
Trello Banner
Trello is a very simple way to organize and get work done within a team by creating task boards with different columns, move tasks between columns and boards, adding information and files to a specific task, and assign tasks to specific people.
This tool can be used for all kinds of purposes, both personal projects and within businesses, and can greatly improve productivity within a team.
Trello: Manage Team Projects
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Trello: Manage Team Projects
Developer: Trello, Inc.
Price: Free
Asana
Asana Goals
Asana Tasks
Asana Notifications
Asana works pretty similarly to Trello in how it gives users the ability to create tasks and organize them in boards with cards, but a lot of people prefer Asana over Trello for a lot of reasons, especially in a work/project managing context on a larger scale.
Asana has a little bit of a steeper learning curve compared to Trello, but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy to get around it, especially if you learn how to use it to its full potential.
Asana: Work in one place
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Asana: Work in one place
Developer: Asana, Inc.
Price: Free
Slack
Slack Main Menu
Slack Conversation
Slack Conversation
Slack is an excellent tool for work as it allows you to easily communicate within a team, but you can technically create a Slack server for almost any purpose. Slack has pretty similar functionality to Discord in that you can create a server and organize it into individual channels with various purposes (and add specific people to those channels).
However, Slack is much more local. All DMs and internal groups are limited to the limits of the workplace you’re in, and with paid plans, it allows for way more functionality for bigger teams.
Slack
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Slack
Developer: Slack Technologies Inc.
Price: Free
Business Calendar 2
Business Calendar 2
Business Calendar 2 features
Business Calendar 2 design
Business Calendar 2 widget
A good calendar app can be beneficial in organizing your day. So you need Business Calendar 2, a powerful calendar app that acts as your complete personal organizer, giving you features of a calendar, schedule planner, and task organizer.
Business Calendar 2 Planner
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Business Calendar 2 Planner
Developer: Appgenix Software
Price: Free+
Spark
Spark
Spark inbox
Spark design
Spark is a fantastic email app that packs a lot of features. It can intelligently prioritize your emails, be smart about notifications, and even allow you to collaborate with your team on emails. Other great features of the app include intelligent search, quick replies, email scheduling, snooze emails, and more.
Spark – Email App
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Spark – Email App
Developer: Readdle Inc.
Price: Free
Dating
Finding your soulmate these days isn’t any easier than it was before, but now we have several tools these days to make it even easier to connect with other people and see if any of them fit the bill. Whether you just want a quick fling, getting to know new friends, or maybe a possible soulmate, we’ve rounded up three of the best Android apps for dating and knowing people.
Tinder
Tinder Matches
Tinder Profile
Tinder Banner
Tinder is the go-to app for quick dating from your smartphone. Tinder allows you to create a profile and upload photos of yourself, and shows you random people in your area with their pictures and biography, where you can then swipe right if you like them or swipe left if you don’t.
If someone you liked swipes right on you, then you’re matched with that person and you’re allowed to chat with them within the app. It takes away a lot of the anxiousness from dating by matching you up automatically with people you like.
Tinder – Dating & Make Friends
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Tinder – Dating & Make Friends
Developer: Tinder
Price: Free+
Bumble
Bumble Meeting
Bumble Texts
Bumble Time
Bumble works pretty similarly to Tinder in how they match people, but they have a few key differences and added functionality. For one, Tinder focuses on mostly dating only while Bumble allows for dating, friendships, and even business connections.
Furthermore, Bumble encourages people to connect by giving them 24 hours to message each other after a match, whereas Tinder doesn’t have a limit and also has a video chatting feature built right into the app for more personal conversations.
Bumble – Dating. Friends. Bizz
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Bumble – Dating. Friends. Bizz
Developer: Bumble Holding Limited
Price: Free+
OkCupid
OkCupid Banner
OkCupid Find Local Singles
OkCupid Match
OkCupid is one of the oldest dating services on the Internet, launching back in 2004. It has changed a lot over the years as well, but in its current form, it works quite a bit differently than Tinder and others’ “match-based” approach.
Rather than swiping left or right on people, OkCupid instead has users answer a series of questions, then matches people based on things they have in common, which should allow for more intimate and less superficial matches.
OkCupid: Online Dating App
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OkCupid: Online Dating App
Developer: okcupid.com
Price: Free+
Grindr
Grindr Banner
Grindr Location + Profile View
Grindr Browse
While the other two options do allow LGBT people to get to know each other, Grindr is specially built from the ground up for LGBT people — particularly gay, bi, and curious men, although it’s also open for women as well as trans and non-binary people.
The app allows you to chat and meet up with people, see people nearby from your location, filter your search to find exactly what you want, star your favorites, and send your location to make it easier to meet.
Grindr – Gay chat
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Grindr – Gay chat
Developer: Grindr LLC
Price: Free+
Best Android Apps for Reading
Dedicated e-readers are, for the most part, not a necessary commodity anymore for people that like to keep their books electronically. While dedicated e-readers still have their own set of advantages, you can just grab any smartphone or tablet and have a very similar experience to e-readers. So of course, you’d probably like an app that allows you to access all of your content easily and painlessly, and discover new books online.
Here are our top picks for the best Android apps for reading in 2021.
Kindle
Kindle Book
Kindle View
Kindle Prime Reading
Kindle was formerly just a lineup of e-readers from Amazon, but there’s a Kindle app for Android devices that gives you the same functionality without having an e-reader. The Kindle app gives you access to Amazon’s extensive library of books, comics, newspapers, and magazines and allows you to easily read what you want at the moment.
Some of them also have Audible narration if you’re more into hearing than reading, and you can explore several genres, new releases, and some of the best-selling books available out there.
Amazon Kindle
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Amazon Kindle
Developer: Amazon Mobile LLC
Price: Free
Nook
Nook Books
Nook Books
Nook Book
Barnes and Noble’s e-book service, Nook, also has an amazing Android app for reading all of your favorite books on the go. Nook gives you access to their library of over four million e-books, magazines, and comics, and over 75,000 free titles so you can check out an author, series, or genre without risk. You can also browse expert recommendations to discover what to read next based on what you like.
The reading experience can also be tailored however you want, with font styles, line spacing, background color, and more, and you can also add notes, highlights, and bookmarks while you read.
best apps for android auto
Android Auto is one of the best things to happen to a car’s center stack. It offers quick access to messages, phone calls, and smaller things like the weather. Additionally, you can listen to all kinds of audio content, navigate basically anywhere, and ask Google for a bunch of different things. It’s available for any Android device and it’s quite easy to use. You simply plug the phone into your car via USB and you’re ready to set it up and go.
Want to learn more? Here’s a guide on battery-powered motorcycles from Green Authority
There are a variety of apps to customize the experience and you really can do almost anything you want with it except watch videos. Obviously, Google Assistant needs mentioned here since it works with the microphones in your car to deliver content while you drive but you need it to use Android Auto anyway. Thus, we didn’t list it below. We can help you customize your experience with the best Android Auto apps for Android!
Audible or OverDrive
iHeartRadio
MediaMonkey or Poweramp
Facebook Messenger or Telegram
Pandora
Podcast Addict or Doggcatcher
Pulse SMS
Spotify
Waze or Google Maps
Every Android Auto app on Google Play
Read more:
10 best GPS apps and navigation apps for Android
10 best music player apps for Android Auto
Audible and Overdrive
Price: Free / Varies
Audibe and OverDrive are two of the most popular audiobook services out there. Both of them have Android Auto support as well. They work basically the same way. You can purchase audiobooks and listen to them in your car. It works great for commutes or road trips and it’s a fun alternative to music for those who want something a little less intense. Audible also has a subscription service for those who would rather go that route than purchase individual books. OverDrive is a good alternative to Audible if you don’t want that.
iHeartRadio
Price: Free / $9.99 per month
iHeartRadio is one of the best Internet radio apps and it has excellent Android Auto support. You can find a bunch of regular music stations along with actual radio stations. You can always use your car radio for regular radio stations, but iHeartRadio helps keep everything within Android Auto for people who want to do it that way. The service is entirely free with ads or there’s an optional subscription for those who want more stuff. We’re especially big fans of iHeartRadio during the holiday season because its Christmas station is excellent. It’s still great during the other 11 months of the year too.
iHeartRadio screenshot 2020 2
MediaMonkey or Poweramp
Price: Free / Up to $2.49
MediaMonkey is a local music player. There are a bunch of great local music players for Android Auto. We even have a list linked up below the opening paragraph for it. However, we quite like MediaMonkey. The app itself is simple and customizable and there isn’t a bunch of extra nonsense to get in the way. The Android Auto experience is similarly simple and effective. It’s easy to get to playlists you made or access music from your library. Pulsar and Poweramp are also excellent options, but MediaMonkey also has a desktop app so you can keep your local library all under one roof.
MediaMonkey is one of the best music player apps
Facebook Messenger or Telegram
Price: Free
Facebook Messenger and Telegram are two very different apps. The first is (along with WhatsApp) the world’s most popular messenger service and there is a good chance your friends and family have it or use it regularly. Telegram, by contrast, is a privacy messenger app with encryption and other privacy features. Both of them work with Android Auto and are arguably the two best apps that do. We recommend Facebook Messenger for those who just want to keep in touch and Telegram to those who want some extra privacy.
Facebook Messenger screenshot 2020
Pandora
Price: Free / $4.99-$9.99 per month
Pandora was in cars before Android Auto existed and it’s still one of the best Android Auto apps for music. It has a large supply of music stations and you can create your own with music that you like. Pandora also has a music-on-demand service for $9.99 per month that competes with services like Google Play Music and Spotify. It’s an excellent all-in-one solution for Internet radio and music you actually like. The $4.99 per month subscription adds some features for the radio side of things if you don’t want the on-demand stuff.
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Podcast Addict or Doggcatcher
Price: Free / $3.99 for Podcast Addict, $2.99 for Doggcatcher
Podcast Addict and Doggcatcher are two excellent podcast apps and both have Android Auto support. Podcast Addict has a functional UI and it works very much like Pocket Casts did before its redesign. Doggcatcher is a bit more flashy but works more or less the same way. Both podcast players have single-price premium versions, access to tons of podcasts, and support for both video and audio podcasts. Podcast Addict also supports YouTube and Twitch subscriptions, audiobooks, RSS feeds, and SoundCloud, making it the more powerful option overall. You can’t go wrong either way.
Podcast Addict is one of the best android apps
Pulse SMS
Price: Free / $0.99 per month / $5.99 per year / $10.99 once
Pulse SMS is, honestly, our favorite SMS app on Android. It works on computers, tablets, mobile devices, and Android Auto. Thus, you can get your texts almost everywhere. The app itself is configurable and you can respond to messages in Android Auto. Textra is a fan favorite and it’s also a great SMS app with Android Auto support. However, Pulse SMS has more features and is available across more platforms. If you want an all-in-one great (if somewhat expensive) SMS experience, Pulse SMS is where it’s at. Textra is a good simple option if you just want that.
Spotify
Price: Free / $9.99 per month
Spotify is the most popular music streaming service in the world and it works great with Android Auto. It works well with voice commands and you can access your playlists at the drop of a hat. Most people already know what Spotify can do and why it’s great. Google Play Music is another great option and works flawlessly with voice commands and such. However, its future is uncertain thanks to YouTube Music. Some other decent music streaming options include Deezer and Amazon Music.
Spotify screenshot 2021
Waze and Google Maps
Price: Free
Waze and Google Maps are about the only two navigation apps that work with Android Auto. Both are also by Google. Google Maps is the obvious choice because it has a ton of features and it’s the default option. However, you can go with Waze as well if you want something a little different. Both apps respond to voice inputs on Android Auto and both help you navigate to your destination. There isn’t much else to say really.
Waze screenshot 2020 2
All these other Android Auto apps
Price: Free / Varies
Google has a whole Google Play Store page for Android Auto apps. You can find all kinds of hidden gems on this page, including individual radio station apps, various messaging apps like Skype, news sites, podcast apps, and all kinds of other content. All of these apps should have Android Auto support and those looking for the diamond in the rough apps should find them on this page. Hit the button and prepare to browse through stuff Google says has Android Auto support. Unfortunately, we couldn’t try all of these before writing the article because there are dozens of them. However, the ones we tried did work and all of the Android Auto apps on this list are also on the linked page.
Conclusion
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