Android Useful Apps

Park@82

Park@82

Honorary Master
#1
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
11,646
#1
Since I don't really regularly update the first page anymore, rather subscribe to the thread for new useful apps.

Post apps that you find useful here, let’s try to keep discussions limited to apps.

Inspired by Gary’s thread on freeware. I wanted to do an app catalogue for Android, with a list of useful apps.

I am not going to include games here, and wasn’t initially going to include look and feel apps either but Elimentals was kind enough to provide the data from his blog post, which already includes launchers and widgets so we might as well use it.

A special thanks to Elimentals for his list.

If you don't mind try post the app with App Name, link and a short description.

If you would like recommendations on an app please see the Android App requests / Looking for an app that does X - thread
 
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Park@82

Park@82

Honorary Master
#2
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
11,646
#2
Security

avast! Mobile SecurityFree Antivirus/SMS&Call Filtering/Web Shield/Firewall/Anti-Theft
Lookout AntiVirus/Back-up/phone location
AVG Free AntiVirus/Back-up/phone location
SeekDroid Locate and remote Wipe
Theft Aware Locate and remote Wipe (Needs Root)
Comodo Mobile Security Antivirus/privacy protector/call-blocker/process manager
Where's My Droid - Lost your phone? Sms from another phone and find it.


Communication

GO SMS Pro Text/SMS replacement
Whatsapp Text/SMS replacement
ChatOn Text/SMS replacement
Skype Text/Voice and Video chat
Viber VoIP and SMS replacement
IM+ All in one Instant messenger
Tapatalk Forum App Forum app with MyBB support



Data Management

3G watchdog Data Alert
My Data Manager App breakdown and alert
Onavo Data Plan management + app control light firewall
Droidwall Firewall (Needs Root)


Power management

Data on demand Disables data radio when phones sleeps
Juice Defender Polls data radio and schedule nighttime's so your phone dont waste power while you sleep.
Watchdog Task Manager unlike other useless task managers this one is based on CPU usage with alert/kill settings.
PowerTutor Display in mW how much power each application use, Find the drain


Backup

Full:
* Titanium Backup Allows for full phone back-up and simply the best (Needs Root)
MyBackup Root Simple full backup (Needs Root)

Other:
* Call Logs Backup & Restore
* SMS Backup & Restore Or
SMS Backup & Restore from INFOLIFE LLC
Backup Contacts Simple Contact back-up to dropbox or CVS file.
My Sync Center Automatically copy data from SD card to PC. Android WiFi sync+backup that can be scheduled to make copies of selected folders
My Sync Center Free Same as above but with a 25 file limit so if you only doing selective folders/files should do the job.

Applications:
App Backup & Restore
File managers like Astro and ES File Explorer does the normal APK back-up to your SD card. I would normally advise just re-installing applications from the market to be able to see updates, that said, having an old copy is sometimes useful when developers break functionality during an update.
 
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Park@82

Park@82

Honorary Master
#3
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
11,646
#3
Productivity

Scan to PDF Use your phone as a scanner.
Any.DO: To Do List | Task List Helps you remember everything you have to do. Syncs with Gmail
GTasks: To Do List | Task List Synchronize Your To Do Tasks | List with Google
Business Calendar Good calendar replacement
Note Everything A notepad for taking different notes and types with many features.
UlysseSpeedometer - Nice app to monitor speed while driving
Calculators



Office

Kingsoft Office The best free office app I could find so far
Quick Office Office document editor
Documents on the go Office document editor
OfficeSuite Pro 5 (Trial)


File Management / Explorer

ASTRO File Manager Add supported with option to remove
ES File explorer
File Expert With cloud integration (all in one)
File Station
Root Browser
Solid Explorer (Trial)
A fantastic explorer with two independent panels, works brilliantly for copying/ moving files.

Navigation/ GPS apps

Navfree Open street map generated offline navigation - needs to be online when searching new addresses
Sygic Total offline navigation
CoPilot South Africa Total Offline navigation
Route 66 Offline navigation
Waze Community GPS navigation (Thanx to DWPTA for admission)
Compass General use Compass with tagging ability, find your car made easy
c:geo for free Geocaching


Browser

Opera Mini Web Browser with data compression
Opera Mobile
Firefox Sync with desktop + WebGL Support
Dolphin Browser® Mini
Dolphin Tab supported Browser
Miren Tab supported browser
Skyfire
 
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Park@82

Park@82

Honorary Master
#4
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Messages
11,646
#4
Market

Amazon App store (Free app of the day) How to Join from SA
GetJar Paid applications for free under Gold Star list


Keyboard Replacement

SlideIT Swipe with loads of themes
Touchpal Swipe + touch + voice input.
Swiftkey X Predictive keyboard with loads of themes; now with Flow support (like swipe). excellent keyboard with Afrikaans support (highly recommended )
Thumb Keyboard Themed keyboard with tablet support
MultiLing Keyboard Has Afrikaans support
A.I.type

Dialer replacement

Dialer One
exDialer

Remote Desktop/Management

Remote Web Desktop
AirDroid
Android Sync Manager
Splashtop Remote Remote streaming of your desktop (Free in GetJar)
PocketCloud Remote RDP / VNC Remote client for your phone
TeamViewer for Remote Control
Remote RDP Simple RDP app
Fastest RDP - AccessToGo
Splashtop Remote Desktop
2X Client RDP/Remote Desktop


Look And Feel

Launchers
Nova Launcher Highly customizable, performance driven, home screen replacement for Android 4.0+
ADW Launcher Launcher with extra themes available
GO Launcher EX Launcher with loads of custom widgets and themes.
LauncherPro Launcher with extra themes available
Regina 3D Launcher Launcher with extra widgets
SPB Shell 3D 3D Launcher with extra 3D widgets
MXHome Launcher Launcher with extra themes
Launcher 7 Windows Phone 7 Launcher Metro look
Espier Launcher Complete iPhone look and feel
SwipePad Quick Launcher for Android
Zeam Launcher Fast minimalistic launcher for Android phones
Apex Launcher
Next Launcher 3D Awesome looking 3D Launcher

Widgets
Beautiful Widgets Weather and clock widgets with extra themes in app (Free in Getjar)
Android Pro Widgets Loads of widgets from Facebook to calendar with themes.
Calculator Widget
Power Widget
WidgetLocker Lockscreen Allows you to customize your lockscreen like adding widgets
Battery Left Widget
 
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Park@82

Park@82

Honorary Master
#5
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
11,646
#5
Network Tools & Utils

QuickTeth Simply a shortcut to the phone's build in tether app
Wireless Tether (Needs root) Easy to use tether app, shows data use and has build in access control
EasyTether Pro EasyTether works via USB
WiFi Finder Locate and test Wifi Signal or
WiFi Analyzer Locate WiFi in your area
Fing - Network Tools
GTech Network Tools
OpenSignalMaps Locate your cellular towers
Samba file share Share your phone directories so you can browse and use them from a PC (Needs Root)
WiFi File Explorer Browse, download, upload, delete, copy, ZIP, stream and manage files via WiFi
AndSMB Samba/CIFS/Windows share client
ConnectBot powerful open-source Secure Shell (SSH) client
AndFTP FTP/SFTP client


Cloud storage

Cortado Workplace
Dropbox
Box
Google Drive

Video & Music players

VPlayer
MX Video Player
MoboPlayer
BSPlayer
DicePlayer
RockPlayer
Poweramp Music Player (Trial) Highly recommended
MixZing Media Player
"cube" : Great visual album select animation.
MIUI Music : Its the APK for the MIUI music App
Winamp : with support for extra functions if you use Winamp on the PC (Also great stand alone)
PlayerPro Music Player : Great player pity it only has a 7 day trail. Its a good place to start if you want a iPhone like player with this skin
n7player Music Player



Camera/ Camera related apps

Camera ZOOM FX Good camera replacement
Pano Panoramic photography
Paper Camera
CamScanner - Scan to PDF with your built-in camera
Effect Booth - Take funny pics of yourself and others


Photo & Image editing

Adobe Photoshop Also see paid version
Drawing Pad Great image editor crayon+ for kids (Tablet & Phone)
SketchBook Phone / Tablet : Great for image creation as well as editing and layer support (Paid versions also available)
Snapseed Now the award-winning Snapseed photo editing app is available on the Android Platform!
PicSay The fun award winning photo editor. Color-correct your pictures and add word balloons, titles, graphics, and effects like distortion. All in a fun, intuitive, and easy-to-use interface.
 
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Park@82

Park@82

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#6
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Messages
11,646
#6
Readers

Adobe Reader Free and fast PDF reader
ezPDF Reader Good payed PDF reader
Aldiko Book Reader E-book reader
Cool Reader E-book reader
Kindle Buy and read books from Amazon
Zinio Buy and read magazines.
Bible (YouVersion) Read or listen to the Bible

News reader

PressReader Some local newspapers on it
Pulse : Great rss reader with pictures previews and integrated sharing
Taptu - DJ Your News : Like pulse
Feedly : Like above but better looking on tablets New ICS look.
News360 for Phone, TV, Tablet
Google Reader
Google Currents Supports Scheduled downloading and offline reading of publications including pictures. Market link here but no support for SA yet.
Read It Later Free : Not really a news reader but can be used for it, also syncs across the PC version.
South Africa News Browse SA news sites
gReader RSS feeds, syncs seamlessly with Google Reader online but has more functionality than the Google Reader app
NewsRob Alternative to gReader
Flipboard Leaked (Unofficial)

Local apps

SuperSport
DStv Guide
News24
Yellow Pages SA
Kruger Spotter Track animals in the Kruger National park
FNB Banking App
Gautrain Schedules
MyPhoneBillSA - For Vodacom only. Add your accounts and check free minutes, data etc.
ExpenZa ExpenZa takes the hassle out of budgeting by automatically keeping track of your transactions.
DSTV Remote Only works with devices that has a IR Blaster like the Galaxy S4. Control any DSTV Satellite decoder with this simple remote.

Other Google

Google Goggles Search by taking a picture
Google Sky Map
Google Translate
Google Body Google Body is an exclusive tablet-only app that offers a detailed 3D model of the human body to explore. (No longer in market, search for the apk)


Other Internet Database

SoundHound - Nice app that recognizes music, search for and displays name
Shazam same as SoundHound
IMDb Movies & TV TV and movie info
Bloomberg for Smartphone It has pretty much every stock on the planet, including SA unit trusts.


Other

Barcode Scanner Scan barcodes on products then look up prices and reviews. Also scan Data Matrix and QR Codes
Llama - Location Profiles Automated tasks, can work with locations (cell tower IDs) and rules you set for those locations. Also allows you to setup volume profiles e.g. set phone to silent from 11pm etc.
Tasker automated tasks similar to Llama
Steam Steam app for Android
Tiny Flashlight + LED Your own Tiny Flashlight
Fake Me Out Of Here! - Fed up with the meeting? Let your phone make a fake call to yourself and leave!
ConvertPad - Powerfull unit converter
TuneIn Radio Listen to radio stations via the internet.
ShareMyApps Create a list of your apps with notes about them and send it to your friends
Advertising detectors / Blockers

Personal info /fitness /tools

Drivers Journal. A handy app where you can log vehicle trips, petrol/diesel fill-ups, services, tolls and parking. You can also add notes.
PhoneUsage - exactly what it says... quite cool reports
Birthdays
Out of Milk Shopping List
Calorie Counter - MyFitnessPal
SportyPal
Endomondo Sports Tracker


Wifi media remote control

Official XBMC Remote Media center remote control
Samsung Remote
WDlxTV MediaPlayers Remote
There are hundreds of these types of apps, they are all device specific. Try searching the market for your device + remote.
 
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Park@82

Park@82

Honorary Master
#7
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
11,646
#7
Device Tweaking utills/Device Info/ General Device tools

SetCPU - [Needs Root] Set the speed of the CPU under different conditions
App 2 SD Prompts you to move app to SD after installation
DiskUsage Shows you what is using your disk space
Advanced Task Killer Generally not recommended using a task manager but sometimes do come in handy
RingDroid - Create your own ringtones and notifications from music or sounds you like


Downloaders / Download tools

Download All Files - Download content not supported by the phone
aDownloader Torrent client
tTorrent Torrent client


Sport info apps

CricBuzz
CricInfo
ScoreMobile

Social network clients

Twitter Official Twitter client.
TweetCaster Free Twitter client.
Falcon Pro Paid Twitter client.
TweetDeck (Twitter, Facebook Client)
Facebook Official Facebook client.
 
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M

mercurial

MyBB Legend
#11
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
Messages
37,882
#11
GoSMS to replace stock messaging app. I have tons of apps installed. Is there any way I can print out the names of the apps I have with a program? I'd like to list them here.
 
E

Elimentals

Honorary Master
#13
Joined
Dec 11, 2010
Messages
10,819
#13
Well seeing that I could not cover more subjects on the blog (Size limits) I guess this is a good place to add others I had (Sorry Park@82 forgot to include them at 1st)

News reader

Pulse : Great rss reader with pictures previews and integrated sharing
Taptu - DJ Your News : Like pulse
Feedly : Like above but better looking on tablets New ICS look.
News360 for Phone, TV, Tablet
Google Reader
Google Currents Supports Scheduled downloading and offline reading of publications including pictures. Market link here but no support for SA yet.

Read It Later Free : Not really a news reader but can be used for it, also syncs across the PC version.

Music Players

"cube" : Great visual album select animation.
MIUI Music : Its the APK for the MIUI music App
Winamp : with support for extra functions if you use Winamp on the PC (Also great stand alone)
Poweramp Music Player : With themes and more this is the go to app for most people
PlayerPro Music Player : Great player pity it only has a 7 day trail. Its a good place to start if you want a iPhone like player with this skin.
 
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D

Demon7

Senior Member
#16
Joined
Oct 6, 2009
Messages
950
#16
One of my favourite apps.Llama
It automatically turns my wireless on and off... works with locations and rules you set for those locations.
 
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E

Elimentals

Honorary Master
#17
Joined
Dec 11, 2010
Messages
10,819
#17
Back-up

Full:
* Titanium Backup Allows for full phone back-up and simply the best (Needs Root)
MyBackup Root Simple full backup (Needs Root)

Other:
* Call Logs Backup & Restore
* SMS Backup & Restore Or
SMS Backup & Restore from INFOLIFE LLC
Backup Contacts Simple Contact back-up to dropbox or CVS file.

Applications:
App Backup & Restore
File managers like Astro and ES File Explorer does the normal APK back-up to your SD card. I would normally advise just re-installing applications from the market to be able to see updates, that said, having an old copy is sometimes useful when developers break functionality during an update.

Duplicate mention but for complete backup post purpose I'll also add it here. To automatically copy the data from your SD card to your PC use something like the following:

My Sync Center Android WiFi sync+backup that can be scheduled to make copies of selected folders
My Sync Center Free Same as above but with a 25 file limit so if you only doing selective folders/files should do the job.

MIUI users can just use the build in Back-up application and copy SD Card:/MIUI/backup/AllBackup folder to their PC's.

Its is also good to mention that Contacts and other settings(Not Call and SMS Logs) do get synced with your Google Account so this is just an extra precaution or for those that dont use Google Sync at all.
 
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Park@82

Park@82

Honorary Master
#18
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
11,646
#18
Thanks don't know how Backups slipped out of my post. I did have it in the draft...

*updated OP
/moved My Sync Center to backups as per post above.

@Elimentals I am copying, pasting and modifying some of what you said in the post above. Hope you don't mind.

I want to have it all on the list in the first page for quick reference.
 
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