Google’s Best App of the Year Will Help You Use Your Phone Less.
As it does every year, Google has selected its favorite apps, games, and books for 2025 from the Play Store catalog. This annual selection is always useful as a pointer to some high-quality games for your Android devices that you may have missed.
Topping the list is Focus Friend , a YouTuber by Hank Green. The app is designed to help you focus on work and avoid distractions through a series of cute animations and cartoonish environments. The less you look at your phone, the more enjoyable you’ll be using the app.
We’ve written about this app before , and I tried it myself in an attempt to focus on writing this article and minimize distractions. I also looked at other Google apps you might want to add to your phone or tablet.
Focus Friend really helps you focus
I’d already heard of Focus Friend, but Google’s selection as the best app of the year in the Play Store inspired me to install it and give it a try. It’s received some rave reviews, but it’s really no different from many other Focus mobile apps.
This option further enhances the cartoonish cuteness by creating your own bean character, who will keep you busy knitting while you’re not checking other apps on your phone. You can exchange knitted socks for various furniture and decorations for the bean’s home, which initially looks rather sparse.
It’s a well-designed app, simple and easy to use, and I’ve found it’s really helped me pick up my phone less often. There’s a pro version (yours for $2 a month) that unlocks access to more knitting and room decor items.
I love that you don’t even need to register for an account to use the app (a constant necessity if you spend your days writing about tech and apps), and there’s a decent amount of customization—there are sound effects and music you can turn on and off, the ability to actually block other apps, and a screen lock mode.
Your results may vary depending on how much you enjoy this imaginary bean and what items you can find to decorate it. Essentially, it’s just a stopwatch with a bunch of pretty embellishments, and you can achieve the same effect by starting a timer on your phone without worrying about offending the imaginary bean.
Google made a smart choice with this app, but it’s worth noting that there are many similar apps out there. I prefer Forest (for Android or iOS ), which grows a small forest instead of knitted socks, but my favorite app of this type is Focus Traveler (available only on iOS , unfortunately only for Android users), which turns your concentration training into a cross-country hike.
More apps, games, and e-books
There are many more apps on Google’s list besides Focus Friend, and I confess I haven’t used many of them. The best app for working across multiple devices is Luminar —a full-featured photo editing tool with a wealth of features (and, as expected, artificial intelligence). The interface adapts perfectly to various devices, including foldable tablets and Chromebooks.
Other apps that made the list include Instagram Edits app (best for entertainment), audiobook reviewer Wiser (best for everyday use), language tutor Pingo AI (best hidden gem), learning game for kids ABCmouse 2 (best for families), alarm clock SleepisolBio (best for watches), note-taking app Goodnotes (best for large screens), audio app SoundCloud (best for cars), and meditation app Calm (best for XR headsets ).
As for games, the clear winner was Pokémon TCG Pocket —a digital version of the Pokémon trading card game that lets you collect cards on your Android device and battle other players around the world. The game will likely appeal to few outside of Pokémon fans, but it’s certainly well-designed.
Other games Google picked include racing game Disney Speedstorm (Best Multiplayer), streetball game Dunk City Dynasty (Best Multiplayer), card game Candy Crush Solitaire (Best Click-to-Play), adventure puzzle game Chants of Sennaar (Best Indie), interactive detective story Disco Elysium (Best Story), open-world RPG Wuthering Waves (Best Continuing Game), dark fishing adventure Dredge (Best on Play Pass), and Norse mythology MMORPG Odin: Valhalla Rising (Best Google Play Games on PC).
The selection of e-books and audiobooks is also vast: 17 titles of fiction and non-fiction, as well as children’s books, from the fantasy “The Raven Scholar” by Antonia Hodgson to the historical novel “Herod the Great” by Zora Neale Hurson. The full list can be found here .
As for iOS, at the time of writing, Apple has announced the shortlist of nominees for the 2025 App Store Awards, but the final winners are not yet known.