Top Android Apps You Can't Live Without - Must-Have Picks for Your Smartphone (2024)

When it comes to gadgets, Android-based phones and tablets are among the best on the market. These amazing electronic devices enable users to expand their horizons and enjoy a wide range of features, such as communication, work and finance management, hobbies, and more. All you have to do is find and install the right apps; your smartphone can turn into a hub of productivity and entertainment.

So, what exactly should Android user have on their phones? This blog post will share some essential apps and our recommendations in different categories.

🎯 Productivity

These days, your phone can do anything —even become your own manager! Those focused on their professional journey can utilize apps that control their workflow. Most of them are extremely customizable, allowing users to manage their tasks and check their daily progress.

Taking notes works better for smaller goals, so these apps are necessary for a productive individual. In modern note apps, you only have to opt for text. Instead, you can write and save images, videos, or even audio messages.

Todoist: A powerful to-do list app with a wide range of features. Todoist offers integrations with several other productivity apps, making it a great choice for people who use many different tools.
Trello: A popular Kanban board app that lets you organize your tasks visually. Trello is a great option for collaborative projects, allowing multiple people to collaborate on a board.
Notion: A powerful all-in-one workspace that can be used for note-taking, task management, project management, and more. Notion is an excellent option for people who need a flexible and versatile productivity tool.

😃 Socializing

Recall the last time you reached your friends or family. What did you use to connect to them? Was it a call or a quick message? Either way, owning a reliable messenger will do the trick for you.

Picking a popular one should be a priority since most of your contacts probably use it. Yet, don’t forget about functionality. A simple, easy-to-use messenger is suitable for communication with your family’s older generation. Ensure you can exchange photos and videos through the app and make video calls.

Social media apps will be perfect for younger members and friends. You can find new connections there, too, not just chat with your old pals. Some platforms let you post daily snaps, share your thoughts, and create a social feed you can scroll through. But don’t neglect professional connections, either! Professional apps allow you to network and seek new opportunities.

These are a few of our recommendations in the socializing category:

Instagram: A highly visual platform where you can share photos, stories, and videos about your life with those you love. It’s a great way to stay connected and updated with friends and family and follow influencers and businesses you’re interested in.
Reddit: A huge community-based socializing platform where you can join the community of your interest, known as a subreddit, and ask or answer questions on trending topics and areas of interest—a great way to connect with passionate and like-minded people.
Nextdoor: A social networking app for your neighborhood. It helps you discover your neighborhood, connect with others, share recommendations, and stay informed about what’s happening in your locality, including events, meetups, and new places.
LinkedIn: A networking platform designed by professionals for professionals. You can connect with people in your field, promote your business, find the right opportunities, and get recommendations for the most suitable job.

💰 Extra Income

We’ve all been in a financial struggle before. Let’s face it: it’s never fun. Did you know that it’s possible to get some extra income through mobile apps on Android? That’s right, you can even share your internet for a few bucks. Bandwidth sharing is an outstanding way to earn with little to no effort, where you sign up for a service and sell your unused data.

Interestingly, the average internet user doesn’t need as much as they’re given, so they won’t be losing anything. Other passive income apps let you play games, test websites and apps, and watch ads for extra money. So one of those should always be on your phone, just in case.

These are some recommendations to help generate extra income:

Survey Apps: If you are interested in participating in surveys and questionnaires, then these apps are for you as they reward you with points and cash for completing them. The earnings are usually small, but they can add up over time. It includes apps like Swagbucks, Survey Junkie, and InboxDollars.
Cashback and Deals Apps: If you love to shop, cashbacks are a nice way to earn extra bucks on your everyday purchases. Before buying, you only need to search for deals in that specific category and shop in the participating stores. This subcategory includes apps like Rakuten, Fetch Rewards, and Ibotta.
Data-Sharing Apps: We all have an internet connection, and every month, we are left with unused internet bandwidth; what if you can exchange that for rewards and generate extra income? Apps in this category allow you to share bandwidth with companies and pay back in rewards. The apps include Honeygain and MobileXpression.
Investment Apps: If you have some savings, you can invest wisely to make some money. The caveat is to be clever when choosing your EFTs and stocks investments. Once you do this, it is a great way to generate extra income over time with minimal effort. These apps include Stash and Acorns.

💪 Health and Fitness

There are many amazing benefits to having health-related apps on your Android device. For example, some apps can track your fitness journey. Not only will they count your steps or how much you’ve been running a day, but they can also create a whole workout routine for you. Moreover, you can track your calories and log your meals if you’re on a special diet.

Need to pay extra attention to your period? Not an issue! Period tracker apps will help you log when it starts and finishes, leave notes when you experience more pain than usual, and set reminders about your cycle. These come in handy for people who plan pregnancy, too.

Google Fit: A free app from Google that tracks your steps, activity, sleep, and heart rate. It can also be integrated with other fitness trackers and apps.
Strava: A great app for runners, cyclists, and hikers. It tracks your workouts, lets you see your progress over time, and allows you to compete with friends.
Nike Run Club: A free app from Nike that offers guided runs, coaching tips, and training plans. It’s a great option for runners of all levels.

🎹 Music

Owning a separate music player was a hit in the 2010s, but it has been long forgotten. With the right apps installed, your smartphone can be your MP3 player. Thankfully, quite a few music-oriented apps in the Android store let you stream your favorite tracks for free. As soon as new songs come out, these platforms will already have them available for streaming.

If you prefer having a local library that works without any Internet connection, you can download your songs to your phone and enjoy them with a local music player. Good apps have features like shuffle and customization options for their users.

Spotify: The biggest name in streaming, Spotify offers a vast music library, personalized recommendations, and podcasts. It has a free tier with ads, or you can upgrade to a paid tier for ad-free listening and higher-quality audio.
Pulsar: A great free option, Pulsar is a lightweight and easy-to-use music player with a clean interface. It supports all the major audio formats and has a sleep timer and equalizer.

📸 Photography

Do you love to capture the beauty around you and then enhance the masterpiece? The photography category offers a vast selection of apps that cater to all skill levels, from casual phone photographers to enthusiasts. These apps go beyond the basic camera features as they provide many functionalities, from helping you capture stunning, high-resolution photos using manual controls to applying artistic filters and creative edits to your existing photos.

Whether you’re looking to correct lighting and color balance, add special effects, or create collages and memes, there’s an app to suit your needs. Moreover, photography and editing apps unleash your creativity so you can transform your everyday photographs into something extraordinary.

Open Camera: This free app is a great choice for photographers who want greater control over their shots. It offers manual controls for exposure, focus, white balance, and metering. The best part is that it is open-source and lightweight.
Adobe Lightroom Mobile: A mobile variant of the popular photo editing software. Lightroom offers a wide range of editing tools, including exposure, white balance, curves, and noise reduction just to name a few. If you need to use advanced features then you will need a subscription, but free version should be enough for the basic editing needs.
Snapseed: A powerful, handy, and user-friendly photo editing app designed by Google. You will find a range of photo editing tools, including selective adjustments, filters, healing brushes, and HDR editing. It’s a great app for both beginners and experienced photographers.

✈️ Traveling

Whether traveling for business, an event, or for leisure, who doesn’t want a smooth and enjoyable trip? Here, you will find apps that address all your travel needs, from planning and booking to navigating and exploring your destination. This is exactly like having a pocket-sized travel agent who helps you create itineraries, find the best deals on flights and hotels, and even translate languages on the fly.

Traveling apps are designed to reduce travel stress while saving you time and money significantly. As these apps can handle all the tasks for you, you can focus on the fun part, i.e., discovering new places and experiencing new cultures.

Airbnb: A great way to find unique and affordable places to stay all over the world as compared to traditional hotels. You can find listings from all around the world, filter results by location, amenities, and price, and talk to the host, and once you decide, you can easily finalize your booking.
Google Translate: A must have app as it can help translate text, speech, photos, and even signs in real time. Google Translate is a great way to communicate with people who speak a different language.
Uber: A ride-hailing service provider. Uber connects you with ride-hailing services in your area. You can choose from different types of vehicles, see fare estimates for your destination, and track your driver’s arrival in real time.

📞 Communication

Communication is all about staying connected and in touch with all our contacts. Whether you’re catching up with friends and family, collaborating with colleagues, or expanding your social circle, you will find an app that will suit your needs.

Communication is not just about texting. The apps we are going to share with you here will allow you to make voice and video calls, share photos and videos, create group chats for seamless communication between team members or for collaborations, location sharing, and some even have digital payment support. All while making sure your personal information and data is encrypted and kept secure.

WhatsApp Messenger: A globally recognized and well known cross-platform communication app, WhatsApp offers you a simple, secure and end-to-end encrypted way to text, send photos and videos, and make voice and video calls with other WhatsApp users. Its a great choice to stay connected with friends and family.
Telegram: Telegram offers similar features to WhatsApp, but it is more focused on larger groups and channels. It supports massive group chats, has a strong desktop app presence, and is known for its fast message delivery.
Zello PTT Walkie Talkie: Zello turns your phone into a walkie-talkie, allowing you to enjoy instant voice communication with anyone on your channel. It’s an ideal solution for situations where you need quick back-and-forth communication, like family road trips, outdoor activities, or emergencies.

📰 News and Magazine

Do you want to stay updated with all the current events and happenings around the world? Or do you want to be one of the first to know about your favorite topics? You should install some reliable and reputable news apps that deliver breaking news as well as magazine apps that notify you regarding personalized stories based on the topics of your interest.

Apart from the news apps, whether you’re a tech enthusiast or fashionista, there’s a magazine app for you. These apps provide blogs, stunning visuals, and exclusive content, allowing you to explore your passions conveniently. Some apps come with offline reading functionality, too, so that you can catch up on articles even without an internet connection.

Here are some of our recommendations that will cater to all your interests while keeping you up-to-date on everything from current affairs to your favorite hobbies:

Pocket: A great free app that allows you to save articles, videos, and any web content to read later. Pocket offers a clean and user-friendly interface and a variety of features, including offline reading, text-to-speech, and tagging.
Google News: A news aggregator that collects news stories from a variety of sources. You can personalize your news feed by following specific topics, sources, and locations. Google News also gives you offline reading support and breaking news alerts.
Microsoft Start: An absolutely free news aggregator, Microsoft Start allows you to tailor your news feed so you can keep yourself updated with news from various sources. It also offers a unique “Stories” feature that curates news and videos into easy-to-digest packages.

🌦️ Weather

Want to keep yourself informed about current and future atmospheric conditions? Android weather apps go far beyond telling you if it will rain. They can provide you with detailed forecasts, including hourly breakdowns, precipitation chances, wind speeds, and UV indexes. Some apps offer weather maps, radar images, and severe weather alerts.

Whether you’re planning an outdoor activity, checking rain and snow predictions before leaving for a road trip, or just curious about the coming week’s temperature, weather apps have got your back. With added features like allergy forecasts and air quality index, these apps can contribute to your overall well-being.

AccuWeather: A weather app well known for its hyperlocal forecasts and detailed climate information. AccuWeather provides you with hourly and daily breakdowns, including rain probability, air quality, wind speed, UV index, and even a MinuteCast feature for minute-by-minute precipitation updates.
The Weather Channel: A classic weather app offering you a familiar interface and a blend of weather updates with weather-related news. You’ll find forecasts, radar maps, severe weather alerts, and news stories about ongoing weather events around you.

🗺️ Maps and Navigation

Navigational and map apps are designed to get you where you need to be, right on time, whether you’re driving, cycling, using public transport, or even hiking. These apps go far beyond simply providing a map—they offer real-time traffic updates, suggest alternative routes to avoid congestion, and can guide you with turn-by-turn navigation using voice instructions.

These apps use GPS, which is free and embedded in every Android device, to provide real-time directions, helping you navigate unfamiliar roads and avoid traffic jams. The voice guidance feature lets you keep your eyes on the road while following clear instructions. Some apps provide features like live traffic updates and lane guidance to help you navigate complex intersections.

Waze: It is well-known for its community-driven approach and provides you with a real-time traffic update based on user reports of accidents, hazards, and police sightings. It offers a fun and interactive interface.
Komoot: Komoot is a perfect choice for outdoor enthusiasts. It focuses on outdoor navigation for hiking, biking, and cycling. It offers route planning tools, voice navigation, and offline maps specifically designed for outdoor activities.
Sygic: This app provides offline maps with 3D landmarks and turn-by-turn voice guidance in multiple languages. It also offers features like speed limit warnings and real-time traffic information.

🌐 Web Browsing

In this age, gadgets are nothing without the internet. Regardless of where you live and what you do, an internet browser should be your top priority on the mobile phone or tablet. With a good web browser installed, a smartphone user can find answers to their questions, search for cooking recipes, download music and books, and so on.

You may want to look for these app features, including web page synchronization, the ability to save bookmarks, access to browsing history, good tab management, high encryption, ad block, incognito windows, and dark mode.

Here are some of our recommendations in the web browsing category:

Mozilla Firefox: A privacy and security-focused web browser. Firefox by Mozilla is lightning fast and offers strong tracking protection, a wide range of visual and functional customization options, dark mode, support for add-ons, and a native password manager.
Microsoft Edge: Edge is surprisingly fast, offers a clean interface, and has become smarter by integrating AI, Copilot, and DALL-E 3. The browser works well with other Microsoft products and offers features like reading mode, ad blocker, and synced collections to keep your content organized.
DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser: A browser that prioritizes your safety and privacy by not tracking you online, blocking trackers by default, and showing fewer ads. Great for users who value anonymity.
Tor Browser: This browser offers maximum privacy, anonymity, and freedom by evading censorship. However, it uses a decentralized network and has slower browsing speeds. If you ever need it, this is the only way to access the dark web on Android.

Concluding Thoughts

And there you have it—multiple must-have apps you should install on your Android phone! These will help you manage your professional goals, connect to others, control your health, enjoy some beats, and achieve more in your digital life. With these apps in the store, Android once again proves to be one of the best mobile operating systems.