Google’s Play Store has nearly three million apps for you to choose from. With that many apps, surfing through the store can become overwhelming, and a few wrong choices in what to download can lead you to just stay away from it in general.
But, here at Pocket-lint, we’ve been faithfully using the Google Play Store since it first launched (remember “Android Market”?) over a decade ago. So, we’ve put our expertise to the test and assembled this complete guide, to help you find the absolute best of what Play Store has to offer. We’ve arranged everything by category, so it should be easy to find exactly what you want.
If you want to find great apps for the iPhone, instead,we have a guide on that here.
BEST APPS CATEGORIES
• AR and VR (non-games)
• Books, audiobooks, and podcasts
• Cloud storage
• Education
• Dating and relationships
• Film and TV
• Messaging
• Health and fitness
• Photo and video
• Productivity
• Security
• Social media
• Shopping
• Travel and transportation
• Smart Home
•Graphic Design
Best Android apps
AR and VR (non-games)
YouTube VR
You can watch all of your favourite YouTube videos in virtual reality without leaving the comfort of your headset in this application that creates a YouTube home screen in a 3D world.
Try it now:YouTube VR
Star Walk is a popular stargazing app. It’s an interactive guide to the night sky, following your every movement in real-time and allowing you to explore over 200,000 celestial bodies and get access to information about anything you find.
Try it now:Star Walk
Experience surface-level details throughout earth or shoot up into the atmosphere and get an astronaut’s eye view of our pale blue bot. Once you’re done with our home planet, be sure to go check out the moon.
Try it now:Earth VR
Vuforia Chalk
Vuforia Chalk combines live video, audio, and the ability for a remote person to annotate their live view. Annotations accurately stick to real-world objects, even when people move around. Imagine, for instance, using this as a field technician.
Try it now:Vuforia Chalk
Cloud storage
Dropbox lets you store files and folders to the cloud and share them, scan docs, and collaborate with others, with everything safely synced across all your devices - so you can access it anytime, anywhere. You get 2GB of space for free to start.
Try it now:Dropbox
Google Drive
Google Drive is similar to Dropbox, only you get 15GB free to start, and it directly supports Google’s entire product portfolio. You can see your Google Photos or Google Docs files, for instance, and invite others to view, edit, or leave comments.
Try it now:Google Drive
Microsoft OneDrive
Those of you who are more tied to Microsoft’s ecosystem (maybe you have a Windows 10 PC or use Office apps) should get OneDrive. It lets you access and share your documents, photos, and other files from your Android device and computer (PC or Mac).
Try it now:Microsoft OneDrive
Dating and relationships
Tinder has become shorthand for an online dating application. It has tons of users that are matched on whether two users have both swiped right on one another. Profiles have a few pictures and a short bio section.
Try it now:Tinder
OkCupid is all about rich profiles, where you can show off your personality and interests. You can answer thousands of questions about yourself, or just a few, and its algorithm will help you connect with people who share your passions.
Try it now:OKCupid
Grindr is a social networking and chat app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people. It’s not as fully featured or pretty as, say, Tinder, but it’s still the No. 1 option for the LGBTQ community.
Try it now:Grindr
Get approved quickly for short-term loans (in the US) that you can spend practically anywhere on the web, from Lowe’s to Walmart!
Try it now:Affirm
YNAB claims to help you “break the paycheck to paycheck cycle, get out of debt, and save more money”. Apparently, on average, new users save $600 in the first two months and more than $6,000 in the first year. First 30 days of use are free.
Try it now:YNAB
Want to see how you spend your money? Mint is the free money management and financial tracker app that bring together your bank accounts, credit cards, bills, and investments and see what you’re spending and where you may save money.
Try it now:Mint
Robinhood lets you buy and sell stocks and exchange-traded funds without paying a commission. You can start a portfolio and invest in your favourite companies. Like Acorns, it’s meant for novice investors who want to buy and trade.
Try it now:Robinhood
Venmo is like Square Cash, but with a social layer. You can add notes to your payments for others to see, and like or comment on friends’ stories.
Try it now:Venmo
Clash Royale
Clash Royale is a tower rush game in which you can duel players from around the world in real-time in both 1v1 and 2v2 Battles. The objective (three minutes into the game) is to destroy opposing towers as well as the “King tower”.
Try it now:Clash Royale
This is a Battle Royale game where you squad up and compete to be the last one standing in 100-player PvP. You’re supposed to build cover, battle your opponents, and survive the longest to earn your victory.
Try it now:How to Install Fortnite(Not Available in Play Store)
Leo’s Fortune
Leo’s Fortune is an adorable platforming game with gorgeous stages and graphics, smart puzzles, a whimsical story, and a little fluff ball you may make float or sink to reach gold coins. It’s a refreshing break from side scrollers.
Try it now:Leo’s Fortune
Minecraft: Pocket Edition
Microsoft’s hugely popular Minecraft game is available on every console and platform, including Android. With it, you can explore, mine, and craft away in a blocky 3D pixelated environment, letting your imagination run wild.
Try it now:Minecraft
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery
This is an adventure game with an odd, spooky story as well as a great soundtrack. It’s pitched as a game where you traverse a little mythic realm, battle, and evoke sorcery - all while cooperating with friends via Twitter. Seriously.
Try it now:Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
Based on the original real-time life simulator for the Nintendo Gamecube, this game released last year lets you live among your real-life friends and computer-generated animal characters as you all work to upgrade your camp.
Try it now:Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
Mini Metro
Now you can finally fix the subway. Well, technically, Mini Metro will let you try to create your own subway system. It’s a minimalist yet complex game with mind-boggling, head-scratching puzzles you got to figure out.
Try it now:Mini Metro
The Room: Old Sins
Here is another challenging puzzle game with a captivating story: the sudden disappearance of an engineer and his wife provokes the hunt for a precious artifact that leads to the discovery of an old, unsettling dollhouse.
Try it now:The Room: Old Sins
With this game, you race around the globe in 80 Days or less, traveling by airship, submarine, mechanical camel, steam-train, and more.
Try it now:80 Days
Hitman GO is a turn-based strategy game where you navigate fixed spaces on a grid to avoid enemies and take out your target.
Try it now:Hitman GO
Hearthstone
With this card battler, you’re the hero who uses cards to “sling spells, summon minions, and seize control” of the battlefield. you’re able to jump right in, build your deck, hone your skills, and fight for glory in the Arena and duel players.
Try it now:Hearthstone
Monument Valley 2
This is a sequel to 2014’s Monument Valley. It’s an indie puzzle game, where the goal is to guide Ro and her child through mazes, optical illusions, and impossible objects to complete the puzzle.
Try it now:Monument Valley 2
Pokemon Go
This game put mobile AR experiences on the map in 2016. It allows you to be a Trainer who can search for Pokemon in the real world, as well as do the catching, hatching, evolving, and more. You can even compete in epic gym battles.
Try it now:Pokemon Go
PUBG Mobile
This is a Fortnite-like Battle Royale game in which 100 players parachute onto a remote island. Players have to locate and scavenge their own weapons, vehicles, and supplies and defeat every player to be the last one standing.
Try it now:PUBG Mobile
Threes is an indie puzzle game where the player slides numbered tiles on a grid to combine addends and multiples of three. The game ends when there are no moves left on the grid, and the tiles are counted for a final score.
Try it now:Threes
Sky: Children of the Light
Fly across sprawling landscapes to help celestial beings find their way back to the heavens in this jaw-dropping social quest.
Try it now:Sky: Children of the Light
Health and fitness
Clue is our No. 1 suggestion, but Glow is an excellent alternative on Android. It has a menstrual and ovulation calculator that also helps women learn about their fertility, whether avoiding or attempting pregnancy.
Try it now:Glow
This is designed to lower stress and anxiety while helping users get more restful sleep through guided meditations, sleep stories, breathing programs, and relaxing music.
Try it now:Calm
C25K is another Couch to 5K program. Like the others, it mixes running and walking, gradually building up your strength and stamina.
Try it now:C25K
Fertility Friend
Fertility Friend is another fertility tracker. It has an advanced ovulation calculator, menstrual calendar, fertility chart, and period tracker. It aims to help you get pregnant, with personalised trying-to-conceive tips and analysis.
Try it now:Fertility Friend
Synctuition
Synctution is a great meditation programme that offers you series of sessions to work through, each offering a 20 to 30 minute escape from the real world. It’s super relaxing and easy to get into the habit of using.
Try it now:Synctuition
Headspace is another guided meditation app. The basics course is entirely free and will teach you the fundamental techniques of meditation and mindfulness. After that, with a subscription, you can access the full Headspace meditation library.
Try it now:Headspace
Lose It! is a weight loss program. You simply download the app, set your goal, and track the foods to lose weight.
Try it now:Lose it!
Calorie Counter - MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal, which is integrated with Under Armour’s apps and devices, helps you track food, create goals, log exercise, and get support.
Try it now:Calorie Counter - MyFitnessPal
Pocket Yoga
Pocket Yoga will guide you through an entire Yoga session. It offers different ones with varying difficulty and helps you to learn all the poses.
Try it now:Pocket Yoga
Sleep Cycle
Sleep Cycle is an intelligent alarm clock that tracks your sleep patterns and decides to when to wake you up in light sleep - the natural way.
Try it now:Sleep Cycle
Tabata Timer
This app provides a timer for high-intensity interval training sessions, so if you’re a person who likes to trains using HIIT style workouts, this app is a must-have.
Try it now:Tabata Timer
ThinkDirty
Quickly scan or look up any product in your house and find out whether it’s full of toxic chemicals and carcinogens. (Warning: You will be shocked.) This app basically helps you to shop cleanly.
Try it now:ThinkDirty
Daily Yoga
Daily Yoga offers over 500 asanas, 200 guided classes of yoga, pilates, and meditation, 50 workout plans, and even coaches workshops.
Try it now:Daily Yoga
Apple Music
This is Apple’s music subscription service, but for Android devices. With it, you can stream practically any tune you’ve ever wanted to hear.
Try it now:Apple Music
Google Play Music
This is Android’s music subscription service built into its devices. With it, you can stream practically any tune you’ve ever wanted to hear.
Try it now:Google Play Music
Pandora is a classic music app that’s basically a digital radio. It lets you create stations from your favorite songs, artists, or genres.
Try it now:Pandora
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is a music and audio streaming platform, with over 180 million tracks. It lets you upload audio and find new music, all in one place.
Try it now:SoundCloud
Spotify is like Android Music, only it’s not tied to Android devices, and there is a freemium tier that lets you listen to stations and playlists with ads.
Try it now:Spotify
This is a password manager. It remembers all your passwords for you, lets you generate passwords, and easily signs you into sites and apps.
Try it now:1Password
Travelling to a foreign country? Or just want to browse in peace at home? With this app, you can enjoy safe and private internet access and secure your Wi-Fi connections against various cyber threats. There’s a free trial to start.
Try it now:NordVPN
Orbot: Proxy with Tor
This app uses Tor to encrypt your internet traffic. Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against network surveillance.
Try it now:Orbot: Proxy with Tor
We all know what Amazon is - and with this app, you can easily shop it from your mobile device. It even lets you access Alexa and scan products.
Try it now:Amazon
The ASOS app claims to be home to more than 850 brands and over 85,000 products (mostly clothing). It offers free delivery and return options.
Try it now:ASOS
Interested in buying or browsing handmade, vintage, and one-of-a-kind goods? Then you need to use Etsy.
Try it now:Etsy
Houzz is your one-stop-shop for improving and designing your home. Browse inspirational photos, view and buy products, hire and collaborate with professionals, get advice, read articles, and more with this handy home decor app.
Try it now:Houzz
Overstock is like Amazon, but it’s Overstock. Shop sales, try out furniture in AR, check-out with Android Pay, and more.
Try it now:Overstock
ShopStyle enables you to buy clothing, shoes, sneakers, and entire outfits - from practically every designer you’ve ever heard about.
Try it now:ShopStyle
If home goods is your thing, Wayfair claims to house the world’s largest selection of home goods - with prices ranging from cheap to wow. It also has a new 3D View in Room feature that lets you see virtual items in your space.
Try it now:Wayfair
Love eBay? Then you’ll love the eBay app. It lets you use your camera to search for items, scan barcodes, and manage your account.
Try it now:eBay
