50 Free Apps We Are Most Grateful For
This is the time of year that we all give thanks, and among other things, we at Lifehacker are grateful for all the free apps that make our lives better (and the developers who create them!). Here are 50 of our favorite apps.
Every year we ask you which free apps you are most grateful for , and every year you have tons of suggestions, both classic and new . Here we’ve taken your voices (and added a few of our own) and ranked our 50 apps using those voices as a (rough) guide. So, without further ado, here are 50 free apps for your holiday download. (Be sure to also check out the 2016 version of the discussion – there are tons of apps out there that we didn’t mention!)
50 Free Apps We Are Most Grateful For In 2016
1. Feedly
Category: News ReadersSee also: Best Extensions and Custom Scripts to Power Feedly , Best New Feedly Features Added for Google Reader , Switches , Five Best Google Reader Alternatives , and More Feedly Coverage Alternatives: The Old Reader ,, Tiny Tiny RSS
2. Google Maps and Waze
Category: Maps See Also: Best Extensions to Make Google Maps Even More Attractive , How to Turn Waze into the Ultimate Navigation App , Best Ways to Use Google’s New (ish) My Maps Tool , How to Customize Perfect Personal Google Maps , Do It So to let your GPS app show you more accurate routes , get rid of GPS dependency , Waze helps you find the closest gas station and avoid road closures , Google Maps can find places to stop along your route, show gas prices and other coverage maps
3. Dropbox
Category: Cloud Storage See Also: Cheapskate’s Guide to Getting Free Dropbox Space , How to Get 8GB + Extra Dropbox Space for Free with Google AdWords , Seven Downloads and Extensions to Make Dropbox Even More Cool , 10 Best Ways to Use Dropbox . How to Grow Your Dropbox with Wappwolf , The Complete Guide to Securing Your Cloud Storage and More.
4. Gmail
Category: Email See Also: 10 Best Gmail Labs and Features You Should Enable How to Master Gmail with These Tips, Shortcuts and Add-ons , Top 10 Tricks Built Right into Gmail , Eliminate the Latest Gmail Irritants with These Styles user and custom scripts , everything you need to know about the new, very confusing Gmail layout and other Gmail features
5. Google Chrome
Category: Web Browsers See Also: Always Up-to-Date Chrome Power User Guide , Best Packaged Apps for Chrome , Best Chrome Apps You (Probably) Don’t Use , Secret Chrome Address Bar Features, Speed Up Chrome for Android with This Settings Tweak . Lifehacker Pack for Chrome , Why Chrome Uses So Much Freaking Ram and Other Chrome Covers
6. Firefox
Category: Web Browsers See Also: Always Up-to-date Power User’s Guide to Firefox , Featured About: Configuration Settings to Improve Firefox , Lifehacker Pack for Firefox , Speed up Firefox by enabling its new HTTP Cache , Firefox adds Tracking Protection, Sound Indicators Tab and more , Fuck It, I’m Going Back to Firefox and other articles about Firefox
7. Mint.com
Category: Personal Finance See Also: How To Create (And Stick To) A Realistic Budget With Mint , How I Used Mint Coins To Finally Make It Easier To Pay My Bills , Intermediate Guide How To Get More From The Mint , Ready is the mint for your money? Four Mint Ways Can Make Your Tax Season Easier , Now You Can Check Your Credit (Free) With Mint And More. Mint Coating Alternatives: Five Best Personal Finance Tools
8. Plex
Category: Media Centers See Also: How to Stream Your Media Anywhere with Plex , Plex vs XBMC , RasPlex puts Plex on a Raspberry Pi , builds a home server with Plex , Plex Media Player replaces a Plex home theater, looks awesome and more.
9. Cody
Category: Media Centers See Also: Media Center “Build Awesome, Smooth, Versatile”: The Ultimate Guide , “ How I Built My Dream Media Center for Less than $ 500” , “ XBMC” renames and renames Kodi Entertainment Center , “ Turns the Raspberry Pi into XBMC Based Media Center , How to make XBMC easier to use (especially for non-geeks) , XBMC vs Plex , 10 Best Ways to Enable Home Theater on PC, and more.
http://lifehacker.com/5908682/how-to-make-xbmc-easier-to-use-especial-for-non+geeks
10. Prospects
Category: Email See Also: Outlook is a brand new, feature-rich webmail service from Microsoft , Outlook is coming to Android and iOS, Office for Android leaves a preview , Outlook for Android and iOS adds calendar features from Sunrise, and more.
11. Pocket
Category: Reading See Also: How To Use Technology To View Your Reading List , The Best Way To Save All The Useful Articles You Come across On The Internet , How To Use Pocket Like A Pro To Keep Everything From The Internet , Pocket Now Recommends Articles Based On Those which you keep and other pocket cover alternatives: Instapaper and readability
12. Autis
Category: Security See Also: Here’s wherever you should enable two – factor authentication right now , Authy is a PIN-protected manager for your two – factor authentication , Authy provides two-factor authentication on your PC, no phone needed , the two best are -App factor authentication for Android and iPhone and other Authy coverage
13. Emergency plan
Category: Utilities See Also: Setting Up an Automated, Reliable File Backup Solution. There is no excuse for not backing up your computer. Do it now. , Speed up Crashplan backups and free up CPU power with these scripts , How to transfer Crashplan backups to a new computer , Best online backup app for Windows and Mac, and more.
14. F.lux
Category: Utilities See Also: Flux changes the brightness of your screen based on the time of day , makes your computer more comfortable to use at night , prevents eye strain on your computer , 10 best ways to improve your monitor, the screen you look at the whole day , and much more Flux coating
15. OneNote
Category: Notes See Also: How to Switch Out of Evernote and Take Your Data with You , How to Master Microsoft Office OneNote , Seven Tips and Tricks to Get More Out of OneNote , Transfer Evernote Notes to Microsoft OneNote Using the Import Tool, and More Coverage of OneNote … Alternatives : OneNote vs. Evernote , Simplenote.
16. LastPass
Category: Security See Also: A Beginner’s Guide to Setting Up LastPass , You Can Now Use LastPass on Multiple Devices for Free , LastPass Authenticator Makes Two-Factor Authentication Easier for LastPass Users , Is LastPass Secure? What happens if it gets hacked? , What to do if you lost your master password in the password manager , app history LastPass , Alternatives: The five best managers Passwords
17. Trello
Category: To-Do Lists See Also: How To Organize Your Whole Life With Trello , Get Both Focused And Birds Eye View Of Your Tasks With Trello , Use Trello As A Flexible, Visually Organized GTD System , Trello Makes Project Collaboration Simple And Kind nice how can i turn my clutter of ideas into something orderly and useful? and other Trello coverage
18. Any.DO
Category:. Lists Affairs See also: Five of the best managers of the lists of cases , coolest ‘extra’ features in Any.DO , Any.DO adds intelligent assistant, to help plan and complete your business , Any.DO 2.0 We do adds new tools for collaboration , planning his day, and many other things , Any.DO finally is a web application that brings your tasks in any browser and much more.
19. Google Keep
Category: Notes See Also:. Not just another application for taking notes: why you should use the Google for Keep , the Google for Keep adds reminders so you never forget to act according to my notes , best app to create notes for All Android , the Google for Keep adds shortcuts and recurring reminders , and other Google Keep coverage
20. Spotify
Category: Streaming Music See Also: Top Spotify Tips and Tricks You Probably Don’t Use , Why Spotify Apps Are Actually Quite Helpful , How to Automatically Turn Off Ads on Spotify , How to Prevent Spotify from Publishing Every Song You Listen to Facebook , Spotify Offers 50% off premium student subscriptions , Lifehacker Work playlists: your perfect music to reach your goal, and more. Spotify Coverage Alternatives: Five Best Music Streaming Services
21. Pandora
Category: Music Streaming See Also: How To Discover New Music In The Post-MP3 Era , Pandora Premieres Airs New Albums Weeks Before Their Release , The Top Five Internet Radio Services , Pandora Lets You stream 24 hours of ad-free music for 99 cents ” , Free Music Showdown: Which Gives You $ 0 in Top Streaming Services & More Pandora Content
Alternatives: The Five Best Music Streaming Services
22. Google Play Music
Category: Music Streaming See Also: How To Make Google Music Your Secondary Media Player (And Why You Should) , Explained All Google’s Confusing, Interconnected Music Services , Full Access to Google Music: Should This Be Your New Streaming Service? Cloud Music Comparison: What’s the best service to stream your library all over the place? Music Plus makes Google Music awesome and more on Google Play Music.
23. Skype
Category: VoIPS See Also: Get Better Video Chatting, How to Keep Your Voice Calls and Audio Chats Crystal Clear, Disable Skype Ads , Skype Now Available in Your Browser , The Five Best Webcams , Your Computer’s Telephony for Significant Improvements Home Calls & Texts and More Alternatives to Skype Coverage : Five Best Mobile VoIP Apps
24. Google Drive
Category: Cloud Storage / Office Packages See Also: 8 Extensions That Make Google Drive More Powerful Than Dropbox , How to Stream Media Anywhere with Dropbox and Google Drive , How to Make Google Drive Work Like a Desktop Package , Access Most Commands Google Drive from one Keyboard shortcut , four skills that will turn you into a spreadsheet ninja , and more.
25. Google Calendar
Category: Calendars See Also: Coolest Things You Can Add To Google Calendar , Manage Your Money With Google Calendar , How To Use Google Calendar As A Project Management Tool , 8 Great Experimental Features To Turn On In Google Calendar Labs . Google Now Calendar adds and updates Events for you based on Gmail and other Google Calendar stuff
26. Google Assistant
Category: Personal Assistant See Also: Everything You Can Do With Google Assistant That You Couldn’t Do Before , How To Get Google Assistant On Any Phone Running Android Marshmallow Or Higher , Everything You Didn’t Know You Can Do with Google Voice Commands , The Top 10 Google Now Features , How To Train Google Now To Give You Better Deals , Google Now On Tap Is Cool But Not So Helpful Yet , And More.
27. Swiftkey
Category: Keyboards See Also: How To Improve Your Smart Keyboard , SwiftKey adds customizable keyboards that can be resized and moved , improve your typing with the SwiftKey heatmap, and more. SwiftKey Coverage Alternatives: Five Best Android Keyboards and iOS Keyboards
28. Google Photos
Category: Photo Manager See Also: How The New Google Photos Makes Your Image Library Awesome.This flowchart (and audio guide ) will help you finally get rid of your photo clutter , Lifehacker Faceoff: Google Photos vs Flickr , Google Photos can now free place on your phone and much more. Google Photos Coverage Alternatives: Five Best Image Hosting Websites.
29. Signal
Category: Messaging / Video Chat See Also: Signal, an encrypted chat app now available on the desktop , the best and worst encrypted messaging apps, and more.
30. Cloudy
Category: Podcast Apps See Also: Overcast Goes Free, Improves Streaming, Adds Chapter Support and More , Overcast is Free Powerful Podcast App with Sync Web Player , Best Podcast App for iPhone
31. VLC
Category: Media Players See Also: Best Hidden VLC Features , Control Your Digital Media with VLC , Set Videos as Wallpaper with VLC , How to Fix Movies That Are Really Quiet and Then REALLY LOUD , and much more VLC Coverage Alternatives : PotPlayer , Five Best Desktop Video Players
32. IFTTT
Category: Automation See. Also: How to improve the performance of your favorite services using IFTTT , How to publish posts to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ at the same time IFTTT , IFTTT Maker canal connects your projects in the field of electronics with almost all , 15 smart recipes that you can try new IFTTT Create an application , all the new features IFTTT for iOS and all Android , as well as what you can do with them to do , make your iOS notification more intelligent , optimal use of locations and channels IFTTT transmission and much more.
33. Vysor
Category: Remote Access See Also: Vysor Controls Your Android Phone From Chrome, No Android App Required And Other Vysor Coverage
34. TeamViewer
Category: Remote Access See Also: Use Your Home Computer From Anywhere: A Comprehensive Guide To Control Your PC Remotely , How to Get the Most Out of TeamViewer , How to Troubleshoot Your Parent Computer Remotely? and other TeamViewer features
35. Avira
Category: Antivirus See Also: Best Antivirus App for Windows , Best Antivirus App for Mac , How to Get Rid of a Virus (Even When Your Computer Won’t Boot), and much more. Avira Coverage Alternatives: Five Best Antivirus Programs.
36. Ubuntu (and other Linux distributions).
Category: Operating System See Also: Getting Started With Linux: The Complete Guide , How To Find The Perfect Linux Distro For You , The Five Best Linux Distros , Build A Killer Custom Arch Linux Installation (and Learn Everything About Linux In The Process) , Ubuntu vs Mint: Which Linux Distro is Best for Beginners? .Convert your old computer into a network backup, streaming or torrent machine with Ubuntu , Lifehacker package for Linux and other Linux stuff.
37. BitTorrent Sync.
Category: Cloud Storage See Also: Should I Use BitTorrent Sync Over Dropbox? How (and why) to opt out of Dropbox and sync files using BitTorrent Sync , create your own Dropbox clone using Raspberry Pi and BitTorrent Sync , BitTorrent Sync 2.0 brings a Pro version with selective sync, much more , BitTorrent Sync Mobile can now create, edit and File Sharing and Other BitTorrent Sync Coverage
38. Notice board.
Category: News Readers See Also: Flipboard is a digital “magazine” based on what your friends are reading, Flipboard adds custom magazines, a web bookmarklet for adding stories and more , Flipboard is officially out for Android, offers news reading in magazine style Everyone , Lifehacker Faceoff: The Best Digital Digests for iPad and iPhone
39. uTorrent
Category: BitTorrent client See also: How to completely anonymize your BitTorrent traffic using a proxy , How to disable ads in uTorrent , How to track BitTorrent downloads from any computer or mobile device , How to use torrent safely when Demonoid is not working? How to Add Automatic Virus Scanning, Video Conversion and Remote Download to uTorrent for Free , Top Five BitTorrent Clients, and more. Alternative to uTorrent coverage : transfer , qBitTorrent
40. CCleaner
Category: Utilities See Also: What should I clean with CCleaner? Removing built-in Windows 10 apps with CCleaner , maintenance you need to do on your Windows PC , launching CCleaner on a schedule to keep your PC from overloading , CCleaner Enhancer makes CCleaner even better, now cleans up 270 new apps, and more. CCleaner coverage
41. Hand brake
Category: Video Conversion See Also: How to Rip DVD to Your Computer , Hassle-Free Guide to Ripping Your Blu-Ray Collection , Calculate Ideal HandBrake Video Encoding Settings for Your Device, and more.
42. VirtualBox
Category: Virtualization See Also: Advanced User’s Guide to Improving Virtual Machines in VirtualBox , A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox , How to Safely Test Software Without Damaging Your System , Should I Run a Second Operating System on a Virtual Machine or two Boots? How to run Mac OS X from inside Windows using VirtualBox and more.
43. GIMP
Category: Image Editing See Also: 10 Best Photoshop Tricks You Can Use Without Buying Photoshop , How To Make GIMP Work More Than Photoshop , Build Your Own Adobe Creative Suite With Free And Cheap Software , Is GIMP Better Than Photoshop? The simplest free tools for basic photo editing (this isn’t Photoshop) and more. GIMP Coating Alternatives: Five Best Photoshop Alternatives
44. LibreOffice
Category: Office Suite See Also: LibreOffice Updates, No longer looks like bullshit , Libre Office Viewer reads almost any type of Office files, Office suite battle: Microsoft Office vs LibreOffice comparison , LibreOffice 4.0 adds improved interaction and text comments, and Ton More , four skills to turn you into a spreadsheet ninja , and more LibreOffice resources
45. Twitter
Category: Social Media See Also: 10 Essential Ways to Use Twitter (That Are Not Self-Owning) , How to Fix Twitter’s Biggest Troubles , How to Disable Retweets from Anyone on Twitter , Navigating the New Twitter Like a Pro with Hotkeys , How to Restricting 140 characters on Twitter made me a better writer.How to save money everywhere with social media , don’t leave the social media you hate. Bend them to your will and other Twitter articles
46. AutoHotkey
Category: Utilities See Also: Turn Any Action Into A Keyboard Shortcut , The Best AutoHotkey Tricks You Should Use To Save Time , Why I Started Using a Gaming Mouse and Keyboard to Get the Real Job , Switch Between Two Audio Devices in a Blink of an Eye with AutoHotKey Show us your best AutoHotkey script and more.
47. Pushbullet
Categories: Utilities See Also: How To Use Pushbullet To Bridges The Gap Between All Your Devices , Pushbullet Adds A Full SMS Client For Desktop Text Messaging , A Huge Pushbullet Update Adds Instant Messages, Chat Headers And More , Pushbullet Can Now Fetch Files Remotely from your other devices , Pushbullet now lets you send text messages from your computer and more.
48. Rocket
Category: Utilities See Also: Why you should use an app launcher (and how to make it work for more than just launching apps) , How to create a shortcut to any “modern” Windows app , The best app launcher for Windows, and more.
49. Office Lens
Category: Utilities See Also: Microsoft Office Lens Scans Notes and Documents to Office Format, Notes Stripper : Evernote vs OneNote (2016 Version) , Free Document Scanning Apps Are Useless And Useless, Don’t Download It And Much More.
50. Dark Sky
Category: Weather See Also: Dark Sky tracks the weather down to the minute and alerts you when it rains , Dark Sky adds advanced notifications, multi-source weather information and more , Dark Sky, an app for the latest weather information. Finally on Android , Dark Sky, the actual weather app, now works in your browser and other Dark Sky content