Recommended Android Apps

Many applications are available for Android which is one of the reasons Android is so good. Here is my recommended list of Android apps. Most are free, but some of the best apps do cost a little. Originally posted December 2013, updated for 2016 2017.

Keyboard

SwiftKey Keyboard (Now free).
The mind reading keyboard! Best app to get for Android.
SwiftKey

Email

Nine – Outlook for Androids (Free trial, $9.99 after)
Best Email app.

Corporate Addressbook
Lookup your colleague’s information in Exchange on your Android.

Messaging/Social

Signal
A must have app. Replaces the stock SMS application and looks exactly like the stock SMS app from Cyanogenmod (or 8sms), except it adds encryption.
TextSecure

Facebook

Google+

Hangouts

Twitter

Security

APG
APG is OpenPGP for Android. It’s open source and its goal is to provide a similar OpenPGP implementation as GnuPG.

Cerberus anti theft (free one week trial)
Cerberus is a complete anti-theft application, the best protection you can get to recover your misplaced, lost or stolen Android device.

Google Authenticator
2-step verification codes on your phone.

OpenVPN Connect
OpenVPN Connect is the official full-featured Android VPN client for the OpenVPN Access Server, Private Tunnel and OpenVPN Community.

Orbot: Proxy with Tor
Orbot is a free proxy app that empowers other apps to use the internet more securely. Orbot uses Tor to encrypt your Internet traffic and then hides it by bouncing through a series of computers around the world.

Orfox: Tor Browser for Android
Orfox is built from the same source code as Tor Browser (which is built upon Firefox), but with a few minor modifications to the privacy enhancing features to make them compatible with Firefox for Android and the Android operating system. (use with Orbot)

Media

aWARemote for Winamp
Control the Winamp running on your computer from your Android device.

BubbleUPnP UPnP/DLNA
Play your music, videos and view images on your Android devices from your network (using DLNA TVs, XBMC, WMP).

Songza
Songza plays you the right music at the right time. Great streaming music (needs internet connection).

YouTube
The official YouTube app for Android.

Shuttle+
Music player to replace the Google music player.

AntennaPod
Podcast player, with feature to automatically download podcasts you subscribe to.

News

Feedly News Reader
Feedly is an RSS news reader for android phones and tablets.

Circa News
Circa is a good way to read and follow headline news.

Weather

Notification Weather
Notification Weather is an exceptionally stylish and easy to use app for always staying up to date with the weather forecast.

Notification Weather Premium ($1.00)
The premium version gives you a few extra features.

Utilities

Barcode Scanner
Scan barcodes and QR codes using this app.

Dropbox

Amaze File Manager

OS Monitor
OS Monitor is a tool for monitoring your Android system.

Greenify *ROOT: Renew my Phone (requires root)
Greenify help you identify and put the misbehaving apps into hibernation when you are not using them, to stop them from lagging your device and leeching the battery.

ROM Manager (requires root)
Best app for root users. Lets you backup your ROM easily.

Smart WiFi Toggler
Smart WiFi Toggler is an application designed to control your phone’s WiFi using location based rules. Its aim is to conserve battery and minimize data charges by turning WiFi off when not connected to a network, and turning it on when a known hotspot is present. It constantly learns where your hotspots are located to make its decisions.

Volume Locker
This app helps prevent against accidental volume changes by confirming the change you made, by either tray notification or a pop up. If you don’t approve the change, the volume will be reset within a set amount of seconds. Great app!

Wifi Analyzer
Shows the Wi-Fi channels around you. Helps you to find a less crowded channel for your wireless router.

Sports

theScore: Sports & Scores

Ad blocking

Firefox (allows uBlock Origin addon!)
Blocks ads on websites. After installing Firefox look for the “uBlock Origin” addon.

AdFree (requires root)
Must have for root users. Blocks ads! (stopped working recently)

AdAway (requires root)
Same as AdFree. And still works!
AdAway

Books

Kobo
Read books that are on your Kobo on your Android device.

Google Apps

Chrome Browser

Gmail

Google Calendar

Maps

Roms

LineageOS
LineageOS is the successor to CyanogenMod ROM. One of the best ROMs for your Android device. Be careful, installing a custom ROM isn’t for beginners.
Cyanogenmod

Cyanogenmod only Android Apps

Profile Switcher
Unfortunately, does not work with LineageOS. App changes your notification profiles based on time of day. Great to turn off sms/messaging notification sounds while you sleep and automatically turn them back on during the day time.

 

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