Lifehacker Pack for Android: Our List of Essential Android Apps
The Android store has over two million apps, which is why it is home to one of the largest app stores in the world. They’re coming to even your favorite Chromebooks soon. In this year’s Lifehacker Pack, we select the required downloads for each category of apps you might ever need.
Lifehacker Pack is an annual snapshot of our favorite and essential apps for each of our favorite platforms. For our constantly updated catalog of all the best apps, be sure to bookmark our Android apps catalog .
Productivity
Any.do / Google Keep / Wunderlist
There are more flavors of to-do list managers than Skittles, but one of these three should work for just about everyone. Any.DO is not only a favorite of the Lifehacker public , but it also has a lot of nice additional features . Google Keep makes things simpler and clearer , and Wunderlist offers a lot of great features . Whatever your preference, one of these to-do apps should work for you.
Boomerang / Inbox from Gmail
Boomerang has been one of our favorite apps for enhancing your email for a while. You can schedule messages, snooze them for later, and even set up recurring messages. Google also offers a similar app that works directly with your Gmail account called Inbox. This app allows you to bundle related emails together, snooze emails, or pin them as tasks. It also displays important information in your emails, such as links to tracking information, reservations, and more. Inbox also connects to your Google account to show you Google Now reminders right in the app. Inbox is a completely different approach to email .
Calendar for today
Creating a decent-looking calendar on your phone is no easy task. Calendars should display a lot of information in a small space. This is where the Calendar today excels. The unique split view shows an overview of your month in the upper half of the phone, with the agenda for the selected day in the lower half. It also has quick actions that allow you to call numbers, open addresses, or send emails to members with just a tap.
Dropbox / Google Drive
Dropbox has set the standard when it comes to syncing files across multiple computers. Nothing beats its speed, simplicity and ubiquity. However, if you like sticking with the Google ecosystem, Google Drive offers a little more flexibility for storing your files when it comes to integrated apps. With the Google Docs editing suite that comes with Drive, you can even use both in tandem (as many of us do).
Evernote / OneNote
Used correctly, Evernote can help even the most disorganized person sort, store, and find all of their data on the Internet. You can even combine it with Pocket to reduce clutter while keeping everything in place . Unfortunately, Evernote recently raised the cost of paid subscriptions and limited users to two devices . If you can’t live with it, Microsoft OneNote is a powerful alternative that can store your notes and help you organize your digital notebooks.
Habitica
Many of us are much more comfortable with tedious tasks when we rise to the next level. Habitica ( formerly known as HabitRPG ) uses this concept and is applied in real life, not World of Warcraft . Create habits or repetitive tasks that you want to complete, and this will give you experience points for completing them. If you don’t, you will lose health points. An app is one of the best ways to productively change your life .
Internet communications
Chromium
Chrome for Android has had a rocky history, but it has grown a lot over the years. It now includes a ton of useful features. You can view tabs open on other devices, hide your activities in incognito mode, and use experimental features such as simplified reading mode . You can also use Chrome’s traffic saver mode to keep your downloads easy.
Twitter / Falcon Pro / Talon
Finding a decent alternative Twitter client is difficult due to Twitter’s quirky stance at blocking the developers who create them . However, with this artificial advantage, the Twitter app has come a long way. It supports multiple accounts, lists and more. If you want to try an alternative (and don’t mind jumping through the annoying hoops of Twitter token limits), Falcon Pro and Talon offer a ton of features for power users, allowing you to customize your experience. Since the Twitter token limit can get in the way, we’ve included both in case one of them is currently unavailable to new users.
Hangouts / Facebook Messenger
Hangouts has gotten better and better over the years. It supports group messaging, has Google Voice integration, video chat, SMS, stickers, and more. Facebook has also turned Messenger into an extremely powerful tool with almost all of these features, as well as the ability to send voice memos, search for images and GIFs, integrate with third-party apps, and even send money. Best of all, everyone you know is probably already on Facebook and using Messenger to get started.
Google voice
Another year has passed without any updates for Google Voice. This may cause concern for some. That said, until Google officially shuts down the project or merges it with something else, it will have more options for one free service than any competitor. Recording your calls, sending text messages over Wi-Fi or a tablet, making calls from your desktop, forwarding phone calls are all part of Google Voice’s robust arsenal.
Pushbullet
Pushbullet started out as an app for sending links between your devices and has now evolved into a universal bridge between your devices . The company sparked a lot of controversy last year by introducing a paid plan for things like universal copy and paste or send over 100 SMS messages a month, but that’s still pretty killer. You can use it to mirror your phone’s notifications, connect to IFTTT channels, and more .
Based on location
Google now
Google Now remains one of the most useful apps you can install on your phone. It’s almost impossible to list all the amazing features of Google Now (although we’ve tried ), but a short list includes voice commands, reminders, travel times, package tracking, and more. Just be sure to educate Google Now well .
Google Maps
Calling Google Maps an essential app is a bit of an underestimate as it is one of the most popular Android apps of all time. Google Maps for Android includes a ton of great features like integrated search history, local traffic incidents, and more. Google also made it easier this year to add stops to your route and find gas prices . And all this in addition to Maps, already our favorite mapping application .
1 Weather / Dark Sky
Google Now includes basic weather forecasting, but if you need a little more in your forecasts, 1Weather is the way to go. The app comes with real-time update widgets, animated radar maps and cloud maps. An awesome app with the latest Dark Sky weather has arrived on Android this year . It costs $ 3 a year to get the most up-to-date data, but the experience is worth it if you need timely weather updates.
Android Device Manager / Lookout
When you purchase a new Android phone, we strongly recommend ( among other things ) that you install Android Device Manager. This app can locate your phone if it is lost, lock it remotely, or even erase your data if it is stolen. In terms of basic security, this is the minimum everyone should have. If you’re looking for something more, Lookout does a lot of what ADM does, it also helps protect you from phishing attacks, backs up your data, and more.
Music and photo
Play Music / Spotify
When Google launched Play Music, we were shocked at how impressive its music service is . If you want to bring your own music library, Google allows you to download songs, so unless a specific track or artist is included in their subscription, you’re out of luck. The Play Music subscription also includes YouTube Red , which lets you listen to YouTube videos in the background, download them for offline playback, and skip all ads. It’s a pretty good package, even if Google isn’t good at naming . Spotify, on the other hand, stands out for having a free, ad-supported desktop option as well as a ton of great features . Its desktop app even allows developers to extend it, so there’s a lot to explore.
Pandora
If you’re not interested in managing your own huge library, and would rather just let the algorithm determine your playlist for you, Pandora stands alone. The service is renowned for its ability to exactly match users’ tastes with minimal interaction. Just install and forget.
Shazam
When it comes to tagging music while you’re gone, it’s still not much better than Shazam. The application can recognize almost any song, even against background noise. Then, you can find the track on services like Play Music, Spotify, Rdio, and even Amazon Prime. It will also show you music videos, lyrics and track discography information, if any.
Instagram may have started out as a photo-sharing place for your lunch (I suppose), but it has grown to include a wide range of useful features such as direct photo and video messaging , as well as more useful photo editing features . You can get many of the same features through several other apps (see below), but Instagram offers the entire package in one service.
Snapseed / Google Photos
Google photography tools have always been great . First off, Snapseed is a pretty powerful photo editor with many handy tools to customize your images. The newly redesigned Google Photos can then manage your huge library, organize into albums, and even perform “visual searches” with some pretty impressive image recognition software.
Camera Zoom FX / Google Camera
Camera ZOOM FX remains one of our favorite Android cameras . It supports time-lapse shooting, customizing hardware buttons to perform camera functions, and a horizontal level indicator, besides the standard set of photo editing and sharing functions that are hard to beat. However, if you don’t want all the bells and whistles, Google Camera offers many unique and handy features like lens blur, photosphere, and HDR.
Focus
Focus is a relative newbie and has already become our favorite photo management alternative on Android . You can tag photos to organize them in collections, link your phone to one photo when sharing your phone to prevent surveillance, and hide photos in your “photo vault”. You can even lock the vault or the entire app with a PIN or fingerprint. If you’re looking for the best way to manage your huge photo collection, Focus is our new companion.
Films and videos
Netflix / Hulu
Netflix is undoubtedly the king of online content streaming . While you can make sure you’re connected to Wi-Fi before streaming your next Marvel show , a mobile app is a must for watching movies and TV away from your living room. Where Netflix doesn’t have what you want, Hulu may well be. The overlap between the libraries of the two services is so minimal that it is sometimes worth having both.
IMDb
Perhaps the smartphone revolution had no more noble goal than finally and authoritatively answering the question: “How do I know this guy?” However, IMDb is useful for more than just trivia. You can search for screenings, create lists of movies you want to watch, and be notified of new releases. If you ever watch movies, IMDb belongs to your phone.
BS Player / VLC
If you have a limited amount of data or just watch too many movies, it is sometimes useful to have some files right on your phone. BS Player is our favorite choice for Android video player . It supports a wide variety of file formats, has a pop-up player so you can watch videos while you do other things, and can even stream content over local networks. VLC has also started climbing the ladder of features, and it is almost comparable to BS Player , so if you are faithful to it on the desktop, it might be ready for you on Android.
Reading and news
Bookmarks are great for saving random web pages that you need to stick to, but to save articles for later reading, you will start to get overwhelmed very quickly. Pocket helps you save entire articles so you can read them when you have time, even when you’re offline. If you want to get more advanced, you can use Pocket to save everything you need online .
Kindle / Play Books
Thanks to the Amazon Kindle app and Google Play Books, it has never been easier to find a way to read books on your phone or tablet. Amazon’s advantage is that it has one of the most reliable libraries out there, as well as a powerful application. Play Books doesn’t slouch either (and is actually our favorite e-book for Android ). Fortunately, you can buy books from whichever store you choose and read them in one place , so you can choose a reader based on the features you need, rather than based on your book library.
Feedly
Feedly has become a popular RSS reader for users who want to follow many websites at the same time. Not only is it one of the best news reader apps out there, but it has its own customer ecosystem, so if you don’t like the default interface, you can use Feedly as a backend to sync all of your feeds.
Health, food and fitness
RunKeeper
Runkeeper has been one of our favorite fitness apps for years . It tracks your runs, offers guided workouts with workout schedules and plans specifically designed for the type of health you want to achieve, and can even use your smartwatch if you have one. If you are running or just want to get out of the house, you should stay.
Phytocracy
Runkeeper is great for runners, but if you’re looking for a more robust health and fitness app, Fitocracy makes your entire workout playable . It also encourages community participation to keep you accountable. It also has a robust web app to help you get involved when you’re at your desk. If you’re ready to go beyond basic fitness tracking, Phytocracy is one of the best decisions you can make for yourself.
MyFitnessPal / Lose It!
If you’re tracking your workouts, it makes sense to keep track of what you eat as well. MyFitnessPal and lose it! both allow you to scan the foods you eat, track calories, nutrients, and set goals for reaching your target weight. Both apps are similar in many ways, so you can choose as you see fit.
Yelp
Yelp is one of those apps that is so good at what it does that its name becomes synonymous with the task itself. When it comes to restaurant openings and reviews, Yelp is the de facto standard. A huge library of user reviews has made it easier not only to find your next meal, but also to find out in advance if a restaurant is worth your time and money.
Customization
Nova / Apex
Google’s default launcher is pretty good, but there is still a bit more room for improvement. Nova and Apex are great custom launchers with many additional features on top of existing ones. In both cases, you can hide unneeded apps, select custom animations, and apply custom icon / skin packs. Which one is better depends a lot on personal preference, so pick one or try both and see which one you like best.
DashClock Widget
Widgets have always been one of the strongest unique features of Android, and nowhere is this more evident than Dashclock. This widget can display information at once, such as the number of unread emails, missed calls or calendar appointments. What’s really surprising, though, is that you can get extensions to add even more information like battery life, shortcuts to contacts, or RSS feeds. With the right extensions, Dashclock may be the only widget you’ll ever need.
SwiftKey / Google Keyboard
SwiftKey was already our favorite Android keyboard even before it was free . With smart word prediction, Swype-style gesture typing, and cloud syncing of custom dictionaries, it’s hard to find a better way to type on your phone. Google’s own keyboard has also grown with the addition of one-handed typing mode, gestures for navigating through text, and more. If it’s not standard on your phone, it’s worth downloading.
Utilities
Tasker / IF
Tasker is a wonder app for Android. You can use it to send voice commands to the thermostat , turn on the lights when you get home , or for any action with your voice . If this is too difficult for you (and we can’t blame you), IF, an ambiguous app from IFTTT makes it easy to automate between your Android device and various web services. Both serve different purposes on Android, but together they are even better .
Solid explorer
ES File Explorer was our previous pick as the best file manager for Android, but after it started adding shady adware we downgraded it. Fortunately, Solid Explorer is a great alternative . It can manage your files locally, access cloud storage, cast media to Chromecast, and more. After a 14-day free trial, it costs $ 1.99, but that’s a small price to pay to avoid adware.
AirDroid
Fiddling with your tiny phone when you are working with a full computer is very difficult, especially if you need to access files on your phone. AirDroid does more than you ever need to without even touching your phone. The app remotely accesses everything on your phone via a web browser, even allowing you to read and reply to text messages from your computer.
Single remote control
In keeping with the theme of eliminating minor inconveniences with insanely reliable apps, the Unified Remote is the yin for the yang of AirDroid. You can use this app to control your computer remotely via Wi-Fi from your phone or tablet. Despite the fact that it includes a virtual trackpad and keyboard, the Unified Remote really stands out with customizable remote controls for common apps like Netflix, VLC, Plex, and more. You can even create custom widgets to control just about everything on your HTPC from one home screen.
Root Applications
Landscaping
Strictly speaking, Greenify is no longer a rooted application, but it is still better when you are rooted. It monitors your apps and disables those you aren’t using to conserve battery power (so Facebook won’t be able to drain your battery in the background if you haven’t touched it for hours). If you’re not rooted, you can still select the list of apps you want to hibernate and add a hibernate for all toggle to your home screen, but without root access it’s not as reliable.
Titanium backup
Contrary to what makes you believe the Android welcome screen, Google doesn’t have a proper backup and restore system out of the box. Titanium Backup is the classic tool for solving this problem. Even though this is an older application, it still works. Rooted users can use Titanium Backup to create a fully automated application backup system .
Xposed
Few can argue that Xposed is one of the most powerful and useful apps that root users can have. Technically, Xposed is a framework that allows users to create their own customized Android versions using only modules. While this is not a complete replacement for custom ROMs, it is enough for many users .