Best Apps For My Phone

If you’re anything like the average person, you probably spend the majority of your day on your phone—and you may even be reading this post on your phone right now. But is it just a drain on your time and energy? Not if you’re looking at the right apps to optimize your experience!

At [company name] we study and develop apps that can help make your day-to-day activities smoother and more efficient. So here are some of our tried-and-true favorites, so you can get the most out of every minute, whether you’re waiting in line for coffee or taking the train across town.

15 Apps Everyone Should Have In the Phone - Lifehack

Best Apps For My Phone

Here it is ladies and gentlemen. The crème de la crème. These are the Android apps that stand alone at the top of the pantheon. These apps have become ubiquitous with Android and if you’re looking for good stuff it’s assumed that you’ve used some of these apps already. There are a ton of amazing Android apps out there. However, there are a few that stand out above the rest. These apps are useful to just about everyone no matter what their use case may be. Without further delay, here are the best Android apps currently available.

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Most people should be relatively familiar with most of these apps. They are the best, after all, and people tend to gravitate toward the best. You can also check out our picks for the best apps released in 2021.

The best Android apps available right now:
1Weather
Google Drive
Waze and Google Maps
Google Search / Assistant / Feed
LastPass
Microsoft Swiftkey
Nova Launcher
Podcast Addict
Poweramp
Solid Explorer
Tasker and IFTTT
Textra
TickTick
YouTube and YouTube Music
Zedge
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1Weather
Price: Free / $1.99

1Weather is arguably the best weather app out there. It features a simple, paginated design that shows you the current weather, forecast for up to 12 weeks, a radar, and other fun stats. Along with that, you’ll get a fairly decent set of lightly customizable widgets and the standard stuff like severe weather notifications and a radar so you can see the storms approaching. There is also a video element with two or three-minute weather updates for your region. The UI is logical and reasonably easy to navigate as well. The radar occasionally hangs while loading, but it’s usually not too big of a deal.

The free version has every feature with some mild, inoffensive advertising. The single $1.99 in-app purchase removes advertising. Most will also likely enjoy the range of weather fun facts as well when you open the app. We have a list of the best weather apps and widgets if you want more options.

Google Drive
Price: Free / $1.99-$299.99 per month

Google Drive screenshot 2020
Google Drive is a cloud storage solution available on Android where all new users get 15GB for free permanently upon signing up. You can, of course, buy more if needed. What makes Google Drive so special is the suite of Android apps that are attached to it. They include Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Photos, Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Keep. It just covers so many bases and it’s so cheap that it’s impossible not to recommend it to just about anybody.

Some of the features of these apps include live collaboration, deep sharing features, and compatibility with Microsoft Office documents. It’s easy to use, you get 15GB of free storage for your documents, and the cross-platform support is pretty good. You can find more cloud storage apps here and more office apps here if you want something different.

Google Maps and Waze
Price: Free

Google Maps screenshot 2021
Google Maps virtually owns the navigation apps scene and it remains of the best Android apps ever. It gets frequent, almost weekly updates that seem to only add to its incredibly generous list of existing features. Aside from the very basics, Google Maps gives you access to places of interest, traffic data, directions to things like rest stops or gas stations, and you can download maps for offline use.
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If you add to that the Waze experience, which includes tons of its own features, and you won’t need another navigation app. Ever. Google also owns and operates Waze so we list them together. Both navigation apps work on Android Auto and usually, they work better than car navigation systems. Of course, we have more GPS apps options as well here if you need them.

Google Search / Assistant / Feed
Price: Free

Google App screenshot 2020 best android apps
This is one seriously powerful app. It also works on most Android devices. You simply download the app and then enable it. From there, you can ask it whatever you want. It also supports a variety of commands. You can control smart home products, ask it just about any question, and it can even do simple math problems for you. It’s included with a variety of products such as Google Home speakers.

There is also a second Google Assistant app for those who want a quick launch icon on the home screen. The hardware stuff costs money, but Google Assistant is free. There are other decent personal assistants like Amazon Alexa, and you can check them out here.

LastPass
Price: Free / $12 per year

LastPass is one of those must-have Android apps. It’s a password manager that lets you save your login credentials in a safe, secure way. On top of that, it can help generate nearly impossible passwords for you to use on your accounts. It’s all controlled with a master password. It has cross-platform support (premium version only) so you can use it on computers, mobile devices, tablets, or whatever.

There are others, but LastPass seems to be one step ahead most of the time. Additionally, the premium version is reasonably inexpensive. You can also grab LastPass Authenticator to go along with it for added security. There are other options for great password managers here and some free LastPass alternatives if the new, more restricted free version isn’t doing it for you. LastPass also has an authenticator app for additional security.

Read more:

15 best FREE Android apps available right now
10 best tablet apps that all tablet owners should have
Microsoft SwiftKey
Price: Free

Microsoft SwiftKey Keyboard is one of the most powerful and customizable third-party keyboards available. It hit the market several years ago with a predictive engine unlike anything any other keyboard had and the app has grown a lot over the years. It’s a free download with free themes so you don’t have to pay a dime.

Other features include a dedicated number row, SwiftKey Flow which allows for gesture typing, multiple language support, cross-device syncing of your library, and much more. It’s about as good as it gets in the keyboard space. It’s true that Microsoft now owns SwiftKey, but so far they have managed not to mess it up. Gboard, Google’s keyboard app, is also exceptionally good and the only reason it’s not on the list is to avoid having three consecutive Google apps here. There are some other great Android keyboards here as well.

Nova Launcher
Price: Free / $4.99

Nova Launcher – best android apps
Initially, we weren’t going to put any launchers on this list. Nova Launcher seems to be extending beyond what normal launchers are. It’s been around for years, it’s been consistently updated, and thus it’s never not been a great option for a launcher replacement. It comes with a host of features, including the ability to backup and restore your home screen set-ups, icon theming for all of your Android apps, tons of customization elements for the home screen and app drawer, and more.

You can even make it look like the Pixel Launcher if you want to. If you go premium, you can tack on gesture controls, unread count badges for apps, and icon swipe actions. Those looking for something simpler may want to try Lawnchair Launcher, Hyperion Launcher, and Rootless Launcher. Of course, we have a list of the best Android launchers with even more options as well. We also have a tutorial specifically for Nova Launcher if you want to learn more.

Podcast Addict
Price: Free / $3.99

Podcast Addict screenshot 2021
Podcast Addict is an excellent podcast app for podcast fans. It features almost every podcast you can think of. In addition, it has a simple and effective UI, plenty of organizational features, plenty of playback and download features, and a single-cost premium version. You can browse podcasts by category or search for them individually.

You can also set download rules, create playlists easily, and it supports both Chromecast and SONOS along with Android Auto and Wear OS. The UI and settings aren’t the most elegant things we’ve seen. However, the app makes up for it by hitting literally every other box we could think of. Pocket Casts and CastBox are other excellent options in this space, and we have a list of even more great podcast apps here.

Poweramp
Price: Free trial / $4.99

Poweramp – best music player apps for android
Poweramp is one of the most popular and most functional local music players on Android. It has basically all of the features, including hi-res audio support, Android Auto, an equalizer, gapless smoothing, and support for virtually any audio codec you can find. The UI has a tiny bit of a learning curve, but it’s one of the better-looking music players as well with optional themes in the Google Play Store.

There are other great music apps here, but the top slot arguably Poweramp’s title to lose. Poweramp also has an equalizer app (Google Play link) if you want a better equalizer app.

Solid Explorer
Price: Free trial / $2.99

File browsing is something everyone inevitably has (or wants) to do, so you might as well do it with a capable, fantastic file browser. Solid Explorer is pretty much as good as it gets in the file explorer apps realm. It features Material Design, archiving support, support for the most popular cloud services, and even some more power-user stuff like FTP, SFPT, WebDav, and SMB/CIFS support.

It looks great, it’s incredibly stable, and it just works well. There is a 14-day free trial with a $2.99 price tag at the end of it. There are other file browsers with more features, but few blend together looks, ease of use, and features like Solid Explorer does. If this doesn’t work for you, here are some other outstanding file browsers.

Check out some excellent hardware as well:

The best Android phones
The best Android tablets
Tasker and IFTTT
Price: $2.99 and Free, respectively

Tasker and IFTTT are two of the most powerful Android apps. They are automation apps where you can create various triggers to perform actions when specific things happen. For instance, you can use IFTTT or Tasker to automatically turn your Philips Hue lights on at night and off in the morning. Generally speaking, Tasker is the power-user option and has a much steeper learning curve than IFTTT. IFTTT is not only easier to use, but there is a boatload of fun things you can do with it.

Tasker is free on Google Play Pass. IFTT is free for most stuff but there is a subscription if you want a few extras. There are some other great Android tools and utility apps, but none of them can step up to Tasker and IFTTT.

Textra
Price: Free / $4.49

Textra screenshot 2021
Textra is arguably the best and most stable texting app for Android. It comes with a variety of themes, most of which are editable by you. It does basically everything you need an SMS app to do without much hassle. It even has a tutorial built-in that makes it work with Android Auto better than most other texting apps. We like it for its simplicity. It’s better than most OEM SMS apps and we’d easily recommend it over most of those.

Messages by Google (Google Play) is another great option and it even has the ability to stream your texts to your computer (via web browser). We have a full list of excellent SMS apps here as well if these don’t work for you.

TickTick
Price: Free / $27.99 per year

TickTick screenshot 2022
TickTick isn’t as popular as other to-do list apps. However, it may be the best one. It covers the basics like recurring tasks, reminders, push notifications, various organizational features, and categories. The app also lets you share tasks and entire categories with other people. This makes it great for family use, small teams at work, or other such groups. It’s also great for stuff like grocery lists, honey-do lists, or any other list.

You get all of the features for free, albeit in a somewhat limited capacity, such as two reminders per task (premium makes that infinite). It’s also a great alternative to Wunderlist. Some other excellent options in the space include Todoist and Microsoft To-Do. Yes, we also have a full list of the best to-do list apps too.

YouTube and YouTube Music
Price: Free / $12.99+

YouTube Music screenshot 2021
We don’t typically recommend streaming services to people. After all, everybody has their own preferences and there are plenty of great options out there. However, we really like the combination of YouTube Music and YouTube. For one price, you get unlimited music from YouTube Music with more than enough tracks to compete with Spotify and Apple Music. However, you also get ad-free YouTube along with background video play and offline downloading.

That one-two punch is right up there with the Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ bundle for $12.99 per month as one of the best deals for video and audio streaming. Other music streaming services are usually better, but ad-free YouTube without the need for sideloading is excellent. Audiophiles may want to check out Hi-Fi options like Tidal or Deezer even if those services come at a premium or one of these music streaming apps as well.

Zedge
Price: Free / $0.99 per month / $4.99 per year

Last, but certainly not least on our list is Zedge. This is a wallpaper, ringtones, notification tones, and alarm tones app that gives you an unbelievable number of options to customize the most basic parts of your device. On top of having an exhaustive collection of things, Zedge also promotes various items during holiday seasons making it easy to theme your phone up for Christmas, Halloween, and other holidays.

best apps in the world

Carrying the momentum from 2020 was always going to be difficult for apps like Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, which noticed rapid growth in 2020 as millions of businesses, schools and people adapted their workspace to a virtual environment.

However, while countries re-opened their offices, pubs and borders, the effects of the pandemic and the return of Covid through delta and omicron has led to continued use of these applications and the changes to how we work are likely to be the new normal.

Outside of the workplace, TikTok remained the most popular app worldwide for the second year in a row. It managed to divert a potential sale to Oracle and Walmart, with the Biden Administration reverting a previous order to sell the app authorized by President Trump.- ADVERTISEMENT –

Its ban in India has led to a new segment of TikTok-like apps, vying to take the short-video crown in the country. Several of these apps have added over 50 million users this year alone, with TikTok reportedly missing out on a potential 250 million active users because of the ban.

Facebook still dominated total download charts, with four of the top 10 most downloaded apps published by the social network.

In a year when several app sectors saw five years growth in a few months, it is impressive that most managed to keep pace with 2020 downloads. Total downloads were down, with top apps like TikTok, Facebook and Snapchat losing over 100 million downloads in 2021.

Some newer categories, like cryptocurrency, saw much higher downloads and usage in 2021 than in the previous year. Others, such as travel, transport and dating, benefited from the opening up of tourism and hospitality.

We have collected data and statistics on the most popular apps by country and by category. Read on below to find out more.

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Most Popular Apps Key Statistics

  • TikTok was the most downloaded app globally in 2021, with 656 million downloads
  • Among Us was the most downloaded globally in 2020, with 285 million downloads
  • Four of the ten most downloaded apps of 2021 were published by Facebook

Most Popular Apps by Country

In this section, we take a look at the most popular apps in each country. We cover global, Brazil, China, India, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Most Popular Apps 2021 (Global)

TikTok retained its spot as the most downloaded app in 2021, although total downloads decreased by 194 million in 2021. Facebook had three apps in the top five.

AppDownloads 2021
TikTok656 million
Instagram545 million
Facebook416 million
WhatsApp395 million
Telegram329 million
Snapchat327 million
Zoom300 million
Facebook Messenger268 million
CapCut255 million
Spotify203 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Apps 2021 (United States)

TikTok remained the most popular app in the US as well, increasing its total downloads for the year by two million. Cash App is another 2021 success story, with more users and downloads than 2020, possibly due to the influx of new cryptocurrency buyers.

AppDownloads 2021
TikTok94 million
Instagram64 million
Snapchat56 million
Cash App56 million
Zoom52 million
Facebook Messenger51 million
Facebook47 million
WhatsApp47 million
YouTube47 million
HBO Max45 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Apps 2021 (United Kingdom)

Millions of Brits downloaded the NHS App in 2021 to access their Covid pass, which let them attend festivals, large events and go on holiday. TikTok dipped in popularity, and Microsoft Teams surpassed Zoom in total downloads.

AppDownloads 2021
NHS App22 million
WhatsApp20 million
Microsoft Teams19 million
TikTok18 million
Zoom16 million
NHS Covid-1914 million
Instagram12 million
YouTube12 million
Uber Eats10 million
Disney+10 million

Source: AppMagic

Most Popular Apps 2021 (China)

WeChat is the most popular app in China, which acts as a home screen for Chinese phone users, with thousands of mini-programs loaded inside the app. Pinduoduo has seen the most growth from 2020 to 2021.

AppMonthly Active Users 2021
WeChat1,005 million
AliPay845 million
Taobao750 million
Pinduoduo740 million
Douyin686 million
QQ638 million
iQiyi605 million
Tencent Video605 million
Baidu494 million
Sogou Pinyin468 million

Source: Statista

Most Popular Apps 2021 (India)

TikTok’s ban in India made way for several clones built by Indian developers, with MX TakaTak, Moj and Josh all competing for the short-video crown. Instagram is also competing with Reels, which it has marketed heavily in the country.

AppDownloads 2021
MX TakaTak181 million
Instagram178 million
Facebook176 million
Snapchat166 million
Meesho158 million
Moj139 million
Flipkart133 million
Ludo King129 million
Josh127 million
PhonePe120 million

Source: AppMagic

Most Popular Apps 2021 (Brazil)

Brazil had three primary apps in 2021: TikTok, Shopee and Kwai, which each had 70 million downloads. NuBank and PicPay fought for the title of #1 neobank in the country.

AppDownloads 2021
TikTok79 million
Shopee76 million
Kwai74 million
NuBank38 million
WhatsApp35 million
PicPay35 million
Shein34 million
Instagram34 million
Facebook33 million
Resso33 million

Source: AppMagic

Most Popular App by Category

In this section, we take a look at the ten most popular apps of the year by app category. All values are global unless stated otherwise and do not include downloads from third-party Chinese Android app stores.

Most Popular Games 2021

Subway Surfers reclaimed the title of most downloaded game in 2021, it has been a top five downloaded game every year since 2014. Roblox had more downloads than last year, while Among Us was downloaded about half as many times as in 2020.

AppDownloads 2021
Subway Surfers191 million
Roblox182 million
Bridge Race169 million
Garena Free Fire – New Age154 million
Among Us152 million
Hair Challenge138 million
Join Clash136 million
8Ball Pool130 million
Ludo King125 million
Candy Crush Saga119 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Social Apps 2021

While the launch of Instagram Reels hasn’t slowed down TikTok, it made Instagram more popular, as one of the few social apps to see more downloads in 2021 than 2020.

AppDownloads 2021
TikTok656 million
Instagram545 million
Facebook416 million
WhatsApp395 million
Snapchat327 million
Twitter171 million
MX TakaTak128 million
Discord121 million
WeChat109 million
Josh111 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Communication Apps 2021

WhatsApp was the most downloaded communications app for the second year in a row. Telegram, considered the alternative WhatsApp for people fearful of tracking, gained a lot of new users after WhatsApp’s privacy change.

AppDownloads 2021
WhatsApp480 million
Telegram429 million
Snapchat383 million
Messenger363 million
Zoom353 million
Google Meet225 million
WhatsApp Business223 million
Microsoft Teams170 million
Discord134 million
WeChat104 million

Source: AppMagic

Most Popular Entertainment Apps 2021

Netflix has also retained its position as most downloaded entertainment app, although it had 60 million less downloads than in 2020. Disney+ surpassed Amazon Prime Video in downloads, and HBO Max entered the top 10.

AppDownloads 2021
Netflix173 million
YouTube166 million
Google Play Games131 million
Disney+126 million
Amazon Prime Video120 million
YouTube Kids91 million
HBO Max73 million
Twitch69 million
Hotstar56 million
Pluto TV54 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Music & Audio Apps 2021

Spotify has new competition, in the form of TikTok-owned Resso, which is making waves in Latin America and India. It has already surpassed the downloads of YouTube Music, Amazon Music and SoundCloud.

AppDownloads 2021
Spotify203 million
Resso85 million
YouTube Music79 million
StarMaker76 million
Shazam75 million
SoundCloud52 million
Amazon Music44 million
Wynk Music38 million
Music Player38 million
JioSaavn35 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Shopping Apps 2021

Southeast Asian shopping apps dominated 2021, with Shein even breaking into US and European markets. These apps quickly produce items based on trends and sell at heavily discounted prices through flash sales and coupons, similar to Wish.

AppDownloads 2021
Shopee203 million
Shein190 million
Meesho153 million
Amazon148 million
Flipkart93 million
AliExpress84 million
Wish72 million
Pinduoduo67 million
Lazada67 million
Alibaba62 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Food & Drink Apps 2021

McDonalds surpassed Uber Eats to be the most downloaded food & drink app of 2021. The fast-food chain added more functionality to its app, in partnership with Uber and Just Eat Takeaway, to run delivery through it.

AppDownloads 2021
McDonalds116 million
Uber Eats72 million
DoorDash43 million
Starbucks30 million
foodpanda28 million
Zomato27 million
Meituan Takeaway26 million
Domino’s24 million
Grab23 million
Too Good To Go21 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Travel Apps 2021

Google Maps was the most downloaded travel app in 2021, which is perhaps a slight indication that we’re not fully out of lockdown, but are eagerly planning it out. Bolt and Grab both saw increases in downloads this year.

AppDownloads 2021
Google Maps106 million
Uber94 million
Booking.com63 million
Google Earth57 million
Airbnb44 million
DiDi27 million
Bolt25 million
Lyft23 million
Where is my Train23 million
Grab23 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Education Apps 2021

Education apps have been downloaded fewer times in 2021 than 2020, as many schools transition back to face-to-face learning. Google Classroom is still the most popular app, but had 53 million less downloads in 2021.

AppDownloads 2021
Google Classroom75 million
Toca Life World68 million
Duolingo65 million
Brainly64 million
Photomath46 million
PictureThis37 million
Kahoot! Play & Create25 million
Cake23 million
BYJU’s22 million
Qanda21 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Dating Apps 2021

Tinder is still the most popular dating app globally, with almost double the downloads of Badoo. CuteU, a real-time video matching app, saw the most growth in downloads in 2021.

AppDownloads 2021
Tinder67 million
Badoo35 million
Bumble22 million
Tantan20 million
CuteU18 million
Grindr12 million
Plenty of Fish11 million
Lamour11 million
Hinge10 million
Happn9 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Health & Fitness Apps 2021

Once again, Leap Fitness has multiple fitness apps in the top ten, with Home Workout, Six Pack in 30 Days and Lose Weight for Women all gaining more than 20 million downloads. Flo, a period tracking app for women, reached number one for the first time.

AppDownloads 2021
Flo35 million
MiFit35 million
Home Workout – No Equipment33 million
Six Pack in 30 Days28 million
Lose Weight for Women27 million
Calm24 million
Muscle Booster22 million
e-Nabiz22 million
Strava22 million
MyFitnessPal22 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Money Transfer Apps 2021

PayPal remained the most popular money transfer app, with 106 million downloads. India’s mobile payment market is a three horse race, with Google Play slightly ahead of PhonePe in downloads and both far ahead of Paytm, considered by some to be the PayPal of India.

AppDownloads 2021
PayPal106 million
Google Pay82 million
PhonePe79 million
AliPay68 million
Cash App57 million
Paytm37 million
Venmo31 million
Zelle17 million
Western Union12 million
Remitly5 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Cryptocurrency Apps 2021

Binance remains the most popular cryptocurrency exchange by downloads, usage and volume. Crypto.com surpassed Coinbase in total downloads, although Coinbase still has more users.

AppDownloads 2021
Binance64 million
Crypto.com41 million
Coinbase40 million
Trust16 million
eToro8 million
Coinbase Wallet7 million
CoinMarketCap7 million
CoinSwitch7 million
Voyager6 million
BtcTurk4 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Apps of Previous Years

We have collected statistics of the most downloaded apps and games of previous years as well.

Most Popular Apps (2020)

AppDownloads 2020
TikTok850 million
WhatsApp600 million
Facebook540 million
Instagram503 million
Zoom477 million
Messenger404 million
Snapchat281 million
Telegram256 million
Google Meet254 million
Netflix223 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Games (2020)

AppDownloads 2020
Among Us!264 million
Subway Surfers227 million
Garena Free Fire218 million
PUBG Mobile175 million
Gardenscapes171 million
Roblox158 million
Hunter Assassin155 million
Tiles Hop151 million
Join Clash149 million
Brain Test138 million

Source: Apptopia

Most Popular Apps (2019)

AppDownloads 2019
WhatsApp769 million
TikTok727 million
Messenger723 million
Facebook682 million
Instagram438 million
Likee 327 million
SHAREit321 million
Snapchat275 million
Spotify226 million
Netflix225 million

Source: AppMagic

Most Popular Games (2019)

AppDownloads 2019
Garena Free Fire277 million
PUBG Mobile268 million
Subway Surfers227 million
Fun Race 3D210 million
Color Bump 3D205 million
My Talking Tom 2162 million
Run Race 3D158 million
Sand Balls – Puzzle Game154 million
Homescapes153 million
Stack Ball152 million

Conclusion

Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

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