There are many amazing apps for Android. But their usefulness is usually limited by the habits of the people who use them. Without further delay, here are the best apps for Android right now. This is not a diamond list.

The best weather app for Android

1Weather is perhaps the best weather app for Android. It has a simple, paginated design that shows the weather, up to 12 days forecast, and other useful information. Other than that, you get a pretty decent set of easily customizable widgets, such as a bad weather notification. Perhaps his best feature is a minimalist design that just shows the weather (and interesting facts, if you will). AT free version all functions are available. For 62 rubles, you can remove ads. Otherwise, both versions work the same way. Most will also probably like a range of interesting facts about the weather, which is in the application. Other good weather apps like Dark Sky, Weather Underground and Today Weather can also recommend.

The best access control apps for Android

Bouncer is the best Android app in 2018. It is designed to improve user security and privacy. The app allows you to manage permissions and data access by other apps. So, for example, you can only give Facebook your location when you are on the social network. Bouncer will disable access as soon as you close the Facebook app. This is a great way to manage access without going into your phone's settings. The app costs $69 and should work with most (if not all) apps. There are rumors that such a feature will be in Android Q. If this is true, then even Google has found something for itself in this application.

The best Android app for backing up and working with office documents.

Google Drive is a cloud service from Google where all new users get 15 GB when they sign up for an account. You can of course buy more if needed. It includes Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Photos, Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Keep. Think for yourself you have an app for just about everything. This is an office application, the Photos application (with its help it makes it possible to make backup unlimited photos). Some features of these applications support real-time collaboration, sharing and are compatible with Microsoft office. I note that Microsoft Office has a similar OneDrive and Office application. Which makes it a great alternative to Google Drive. However, Google...

The best navigation app for Android

Google Maps is the de facto leader in navigation apps and remains one of the best apps for Android. They receive frequent, almost weekly updates, constantly expanding their already generous list of features. In addition to standard navigation functions, there is information about attractions, traffic data, gas station labels, hotels, and even offline maps.

The best voice assistant for Android

This is one very powerful application. It supports most Android devices. You simply download the application and run it. The assistant will answer all questions and support different teams. You can control the brightness, ask about the population of Russia, and it can even solve simple math problems. There are already many devices that support this assistant, including Bose QC II Bluetooth headphones, Chromecast, Google Home speaker, etc. There's also a second Google Assistant app for those who want a launcher icon on their home screen. Google Assistant is completely free. Amazon Alexa is another great app in the series, but it doesn't play well with Android yet.

best service online music for android

I have already reviewed. Google Play Music is the best streaming service today. The application can play both local and online music. In addition, you can upload tens of thousands of songs to the service for free.

The best password manager for android.

LastPass is one of the must-have apps for Android. This password manager will keep your passwords safe. In addition, it can generate almost impossible passwords to use in accounts. The application is cross-platform, so it can be used on a computer, smartphone, tablet, and so on. There are other good password managers like 1Password, Dashlane, KeepassDroid and others. However, LastPass is a bit friendlier, especially with the additional LastPass Authenticator app.

The best launcher for Android

Initially, I did not intend to place a launcher on this list. But, Nova Launcher seems to go beyond . He has been for many years, but frequent updates do not allow him to go down the pedestal. It has many features, including backup and restore desktop settings, icon themes for most applications. A large number of desktop settings items, application drawer and more. You can even make it look like the Pixel Launcher if you wish. If you opt for the premium version, you can customize gestures, notification icons, and many other features. Those who are looking for something more simple can try Lawnchair Launcher, Hyperion Launcher and Rootless Launcher.

Pocket Casts

The best podcast app for android.

Those who love podcasts probably already know and choose Pocket Casts. This is a stable and attractive application that allows you to download and stream podcasts. It supports both audio and video podcasts. There's a light and dark theme, an account feature that lets you sync all your podcasts across devices, and a pretty decent recommendation feature. This is the best podcast app for android and you should definitely try it.

Pulse SMS

The best SMS app for Android

There are many great SMS apps out there. However, one thing stands above them all - it's Pulse SMS. The app comes with themes, GIF support, password protected chats, a spammer blacklist, dual SIM support, and more. I recommend this application to anyone who wants to control their SMS and have access to them from other devices, including a computer. It is also worth paying attention to the Textra application.

Solid Explorer - File Manager

The best file manager for android.

Browsing files is something that any user has to deal with. You can do this with the powerful file manager solid explorer. It includes Material Design, archiving support, support for the most popular cloud services, and even features like FTP, SFPT, WebDav, and SMB/CIFS. Looks great, incredibly stable and just works great. There is a 14-day free trial, the full one costs 99 rubles. This is by far the best file manager for Android.

The best keyboard for Android

SwiftKey Keyboard is one of the most powerful and customizable keyboards out there. third party manufacturers. It was released a few years ago with a predictive engine unlike any other keyboard, and the app has grown substantially over the years. It's free, but you can buy themes for it if you want. Other features worth noting are SwiftKey Flow, which allows you to type with gestures. There is support for multiple languages, synchronization between devices and much more. True, Microsoft bought SwiftKey, but until today they have not had time to spoil the application. Google's Gboard keyboard is also very good and comes in second in the rankings.

A study was conducted on the Internet that made it possible to determine which applications people most often download on their gadgets. In our review of the 25 most popular applications. Perhaps someone will find something new and useful in this list.

1. Weather Channel

While there are thousands of weather apps out there, this one is the most recognizable and popular. Weather Channel, according to its developers, is the best radar maps, the most accurate local weather forecasts and actual news weather.

2. Voice Search

Voice search allows users to use the Google Search search engine by saying the desired phrase next to the smartphone. Added in August 2014 new feature, which allows voice search users to select up to five languages ​​that their app will understand.

3.Viber

If someone had said ten years ago that there is an application that allows you to call any place on earth absolutely free of charge, they would probably have laughed at him. Viber has made this dream of millions of people a reality.

4 Temple Run (and Temple Run 2)

This is a well-known gaming application that was originally intended only for Apple devices, and later was developed for Android. Temple Run literally captured the hearts of gamers around the world. This game (as well as its sequel) has been downloaded over a billion times since 2011.

5. Talking Tom and Friends

This app has become the best game for iPad in the section "children, education and family" in 2014. It is ideal for parents who want to keep their restless children busy.

6. Shazam

Shazam is now history, but when it was released in 1999, it was considered a technological marvel. 16 years later, Shazam has over 100 million monthly active users worldwide and is used by over 500 million mobile devices. In October 2014, Shazam announced that its technology had been used to recognize fifteen billion songs.

7Pandora Internet Radio

Pandora Radio is the world's most popular music streaming and recommendation service, with 150 million users.

8.Netflix

Those who are ready to watch movies and series on their smartphone screen will fall in love with the Netflix app.

9.Instagram

Instagram was voted the best way to share photos in 2015, and judging by the fact that this application has been downloaded millions of times, this claim is not unfounded.

10. Google Translate

Google Translate is an automated text translation service provided by Google Inc. The application supports 90 languages ​​and is used by almost 200 million people a day.

11. Fruit Ninja Free

Fruit Ninja is a video game developed by the Australian company Halfbrick Studios. It was released on April 21, 2010 for ipod touch and iPhone, and has since become Apple's second most popular video game behind Angry Birds.

12. Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger is a free, easy-to-use application that makes it much easier to communicate on the Facebook platform via text messages.

13. eBay

Instead of shopping, you can shop right on the couch, enjoy coffee and breakfast with your smartphone in hand.

14. Dropbox

There is no other application that is so perfect to help you synchronize your smartphone with other computers or devices associated with a single account. Earlier in 2015, Dropbox acquired CloudOn, a leading document creation and editing company. Dropbox users now have the ability to create documents directly from the file sharing service.

15. Amazon Kindle

In June 2010, Amazon released a reading app e-books Amazon Kindle for Android, and a little later for Apple's iOS platform.

16. Google Street View

The Google Street View app is a technology that provides panoramic views of many streets around the world. It is included in two other major applications - Google Maps and Google Earth.

17. Angry Birds Free

Angry Birds Free is the most popular iPhone game ever and it's free!

18 Skype

skype- The best way organizing video chat with people around the world. It can be used on PC, laptop, iPad or smartphone.

19.Twitter

20. whatsapp messenger

WhatsApp is arguably the best-known and most downloaded instant messaging app for smartphones with over 800 million users worldwide.

21. YouTube

Even though YouTube got into App Store only in 2012 after Apple removed YouTube from the list of applications installed on the iPhone by default. And in just a couple years of YouTube became one of the top five most popular apps of all time.

22. Google Search

All you have to do is hit the "OK" button and Google will find anything from nearby movie theaters and restaurants to the number of calories in a hamburger a person is about to eat. The app has been downloaded over a billion times.

23. Gmail

Gmail app has almost half a billion users worldwide, is one of the most popular applications and the most famous mail services in the world.

24. Facebook

Chrome browser by Google for Android platforms is one of the fastest, simplest, and simply the best web browsers in the world. No wonder why it has been the most downloaded app in the last few years.

True, in the real world, applications alone are indispensable. , will definitely appeal to those who care about comfort.

One of the reasons why smartphones have gotten huge wide screens, is the video preview. Processors today can consume almost no energy when the smartphone is in video player mode, and in terms of the number of formats that a typical Android smartphone “pulls”, it is even cooler than computers. In theory, it will handle both the ancient videos of the early 90s and the new 4K video.

In theory, because standard video players in smartphones are made on the principle of "if only something would be played somehow." If you happen to record a bunch of movies from your computer to your smartphone to watch on the go, you run the risk of finding that half of the videos either won't open or play without picture and/or sound.

MX Player is an excellent omnivorous video player on Android

All this can be fixed by installing a truly omnivorous player. There are many of them, but MX is one of the most authoritative and sophisticated among its kind. It plays any video and music in a very economical mode even on old smartphones, it can make the volume in videos twice as high as a standard player (in films with a quiet sound track this is very handy), switch between several types of voice acting, scale the frame with a “pinch”, as in photographs, and open videos from sites in a convenient Android player.

MX Player itself is free, but it is loaded with ads. The ad-free version is already worth the money. The only trouble is that, due to the greed of patent holders, support for the AC3 format (multichannel sound in modern films) needs to be downloaded and “fastened” separately. But take my word for it - the player is very good and deserves such trouble.

ES File Explorer - clean your smartphone from debris and transfer files over Wi-Fi

A long time ago, when Android was a semi-finished product, there were no smart file managers in it. In order to flaunt before the owners of iPhones the fact “look, I have everything laid out in folders, like on a computer!”, it was necessary to download a separate application for managing files.

Those days are long gone, and now there are commonplace programs for renaming, moving or copying files in every smartphone. But there are no quality ones among them.

ES File Explorer will help you transfer files over Wi-Fi and clean your system of junk

ES File Explorer was one of the first noteworthy file managers on Android, today it has grown in breadth and can do much more than the average user needs. But an active android phone user will definitely need the following “goodies”:

• Ability to open files from local network . For example, from shared folder on your computer / laptop, or from a hard drive / flash drive that you plugged into the router.
• Working with archives. Someday they will send you a pack of photos, a Word / Excel document inside a .zip, .rar or something even worse. ES Explorer will be able to open such archives without problems.
• Drive Analysis. If the smartphone is full of files to the eyeballs, while it is not very clear why the place suddenly ended so abruptly, just press the "analysis" key in ES, after which it will show how much memory space is occupied by pictures / music / applications and games / documents, will arrange them from large to small and allow you to remove the "garbage" right in the same menu. An almost non-alternative function in terms of its convenience.
• Transfer files between smartphones at Wi-Fi speed. It is unlikely that you send photos, music and videos to nearby mobile phones as often as in the era of polyphonic ringtones, but Bluetooth has since been and has remained a dull and slow way of communication, but normal universal way transfer files over Wi-Fi did not come up with. More precisely, they came up with, but only between identical applications. If you and your friend have ES Explorer, you can send large files in two clicks at the highest possible speed between mobile phones - the file manager has a "sender" function for this case.

WPS Office - Word, Excel and all-all-all

During the existence of smartphones, Microsoft Office standards files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) were at first "unbearable" exotics, then a revelation with which everyone tried to edit texts on tiny screens. Today, there are no miracles in viewing and finely editing text in documents and presentations. Another thing is that such files (+ Adobe PDF documents) will be sent to you by e-mail from all sides, and there will be nothing to open them on a smartphone. You can, of course, keep the intrigue until you get to the desktop PC, but it is more reasonable to spend several tens of megabytes of memory on a ready-made set for opening and editing everything “office”.

WPS Office - Word, Excel and PowerPoint in your pocket

WPS Office (former Kingsoft Office if anyone is interested) - not the coolest office suite of its kind, but it is free, bug-free, fast and not deprived of features even in comparison with expensive alternatives. Recommended.

Weather/news widgets - not to turn on the TV

As in the case of file managers, smartphones are not deprived of informers about the temperature outside the window and the latest news, but the quality of standard widgets almost always leaves much to be desired. Therefore, we advise you to decorate the desktop with informational details from other developers.

The appearance and functionality of widgets is always a matter of taste, but in our opinion, Yandex offers the least catchy and at the same time functional options for weather and news. A side effect is the constant “steaming” of search, the Taxi application and other company products.

Weather and news will make the smartphone desktop always an interesting sight

At first, looking at headlines and weather instead of “wallpaper” on your desktop will be unusual, but take my word for it - very soon you will begin to enjoy the fact that you will know all the main events in the world before TV viewers and news readers on the Internet. It is also not necessary to delve only into political conflicts - car lovers or electronic devices can only receive information on their favorite topics.

Shazam - find out what song is playing

Every day you hear music, among which there are songs that seem to shock you. Because here, under this very song, you rushed under the Christmas tree as a child / were going on a first date / got a job / something else, but from the text in a foreign language it is still not clear what it is about, and you also don’t remember who He actually sings this song and what is the name of it.

With new smartphones, this is no longer a problem - you take out your “shovel” on Android from the wide legs, press the key. The smartphone listens to the song and calls the artist and the name of the song after a few seconds. That's what an app called Shazam is for.

Shazam: you will always know what music is playing nearby

Of course, Shazam, although it was one of the first, is far from the only one of its kind - Sony has similar applications, and even Google has recently begun to learn to recognize music. But Shazam has the largest "knowledge base" so it's still the most the right way recognize music with a smartphone.

It seems to you now that such a function will not be needed regularly - when you begin to suffer after you heard a fragment of your favorite song, but did not find out who sings it, you will remember our words.

Currency converter - a tragedy with the dollar and the ruble in the lead roles

What are you laughing at? Have you already forgotten how you tore your hair on your head and rushed to stores for equipment in order to have time to buy it before the price tags are rewritten?

Of course, I would like to believe that the worst is behind us, and in the coming years we will not find sharp fluctuations of the ruble against the US dollar, but it will not be superfluous to keep an eye on how the national currency is doing so that later we will not learn the shocking truth last, from the evening news reports. And in general, a convenient tool for converting between currencies of different countries will come in handy on vacation and on business trips.

How is our long-suffering ruble doing there?

There are a lot of applications that can convert currencies, we will recommend one of the most obvious among them - Easy Currency Converter. Simple in appearance, with the ability to select "favorite" currencies and a chart with the dynamics of the exchange rate. That is, in addition to the current figures, you can always see how the ruble bounced / fell against the dollar over the next days, months or even years. Gourmets, by the way, can even glance at the so-called Russian Zen - the "holy trinity" of the dollar, euro and the price of a barrel of oil.

Messengers - VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, WhatsApp, Viber, Skype and others

A very naive item in our selection, but if you have just recently bought a smartphone, you should know that “smart phones” differ from simple ones by focusing on constant communication not only for calls and SMS in GSM networks, but also via the Internet. The ability to correspond in "ICQ" was in ancient times, but in new smartphones under Android control you have the opportunity to share huge amounts of information, video recordings, make video calls abroad for free!

A smartphone is an opportunity to communicate without regard to tariffs and distances

Because cellular operators have long transferred everyone to tariffs with a monthly fee, to which the serious shred of the Internet is “nailed”. This is enough to stop sending SMS and switch to communicating with friends and relatives online.

It is not necessary to install all instant messengers at once (although it is desirable) - select those in which you will keep in touch with someone. This will be enough.

Video on the network - "telly", online cinemas or short jokes

Of course, with a limited amount of traffic in the new cellular tariffs (Russian operators have removed the unlimited distance in order to “milk” subscribers more efficiently), it does not allow to accelerate much, but the Internet package is enough for a certain amount of video entertainment. And with periodic Wi-Fi at home or at work, you can get out even more efficiently.

If you didn't know, u big three» (MTS, Beeline, MegaFon) mobile operators eat applications for watching TV via 3G/4G without spending traffic from the tariff. In MTS, for such a pleasure, they want a little money in excess of the tariff, in Beeline there is a small amount free channels+ paid, MegaFon varies the number of free tariffs depending on the amount of the subscription fee for your tariff. In any case, if you would like to watch TV away from the "box", pay attention to such services of cellular operators.

TV, movies or short videos - Android has it all

And if, on the contrary, you don’t want the TV to reach you from your mobile phone, install an online cinema for yourself to watch feature films or music videos. The most popular applications of this kind remain ivi.ru and megogo, among unofficial (which are not on Google Play) and completely free clients, one can note video mix , HD VideoBox and LazyIPTV.

Modern smartphones and tablets serve a variety of purposes, performing a lot of work every day. useful features. A device on the Android OS out of the box already has a number of applications in its arsenal, but in addition to the pre-installed software, each user seeks to replenish the functionality with other necessary tools. What can you equip your smartphone or tablet with in order to turn it into a truly multifunctional assistant for solving everyday tasks? In the official store Play market software is a myriad, new programs are added every day, and it becomes more and more difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Here are the best useful applications from different categories that may come in handy in the course. Some of them have long been familiar, while others will have to get acquainted, but each of them has a decent set of options and is worth attention.

In fact, no one, even the most authoritative publication, will be able to objectively compile a rating, pleasing everyone at once. Each user has their own priorities and interests, and what has become a vital tool for one, for another it will simply take up space in the device’s memory. At the same time, there is software that can solve a number of the most common tasks. We bring to your attention 10 useful applications able to help out in a variety of situations.

To efficiently work with data on your device, you need a powerful and fast file explorer that performs and allows you to organize files and folders. File Manager + is one of the best applications in this category. It has the following benefits:

• Simple user interface for comfortable operation.
• Support for all common file formats.
• Manage files and folders on the built-in memory of the device, SD card or connected USB devices(launch, delete, move, copy, unpack, search, navigate and other actions).
• Access to local and remote cloud services.
• Work with installed programs.
• Clear cache, uninstall apps.
• Possibility of access from a PC and management from FTP.

AT new version Applications 2.0.0 image viewer tool allows you to enlarge large size pictures. File Manager + is free, but it is not crammed with ads, as developers like to do in free versions of programs. The application competes with the famous ES Explorer and the good old Total Commander but it's a matter of taste and habit.

Yandex with Alice - browser and virtual assistant in one application

Which browser to use, again, is a matter of personal convenience. A domestic product has entered the top of the most useful applications for Android. In addition to the fact that Yandex has long been familiar to users and has proven itself on the good side, relatively recently it has acquired a highlight - a voice assistant called Alice. A virtual girl is constantly evolving, she will help in solving current problems, find everything you need, tell you the weather, build a route, determine what is in the photo, turn on the music, play or chat with you. Among other things, a browser equipped with a virtual assistant offers users the following benefits:

• Faster loading of pages, images, videos and other content in Turbo 2.0 mode.
• Blocking annoying ads on the pages, thanks to the connection of an external blocker.
• With the Antishock technology, it is possible to disable shocking and obscene banners and advertisements.
• Synchronization, provided by the presence of a Yandex account, makes available all bookmarks created in a browser on a PC.
• Protect technology provides warning about dangerous sites, preventing the leakage of personal information in Wi-Fi networks public access and checking downloaded content for viruses.
• Add-on support to provide the browser with the tools you need (extensions are available in the Chromium store).

Well, the icing on the cake was Last update integrated assistant - the developers taught Alice to recognize QR codes. She also now reads fairy tales, so she can also serve as a part-time virtual nanny.

Sharing files with Share it

Top useful programs could not do without such an important tool as Share it. Efficient file transfer between devices (tablets, smartphones, PCs) at close range is possible thanks to such applications, which have replaced the already obsolete method of transfer via Bluetooth. The Share it functionality includes:

The Share it app is blazing fast, transferring data 200 times faster than Bluetooth.

MAPS.ME - Offline maps

Many users of Android devices, most often travelers, constantly need maps to navigate in unfamiliar areas. But even if you are far from being a pilgrim and not wandering around the world, you never know when an assistant can come in handy, able to give direction and reach your destination with a short route. The big advantage of the tool, included in the top useful applications for Android, is the autonomy of maps, that is, the ability to work in the absence of the Internet. MAPS.ME is fast turn-by-turn navigation maps with directions around the world and is available completely free of charge. Among the advantages of the software:

• Navigation for pedestrians, cyclists or motorists.
• Saving mobile traffic, the ability to use maps in areas where there is no Internet.
• Regular updates by millions of Open Street Map users.
• Ability to create bookmarks.
• Search for cafes, restaurants or other objects.
• Booking hotel rooms on Booking.com.
• A small amount of space occupied in the memory of the Android device.
• The updated version has metro maps in 156 cities around the world.
• Building a route in offline mode.

Reliable MAPS.ME maps do not take up much space on the device and are ready to help the user out at the right time.

Music without borders with the Deezer app

The ability to listen to music for free and without restrictions - this is exactly what one of the most useful applications for Android offers. Music library includes 40 million tracks different styles and directions. With the free Deezer option, you will have the following options:

• Create your own music collection, playlists in unlimited quantities.
• View lyrics of songs.
• Channels with "motley" music.
• Mixes based on a track, artist, album or playlist.
• Flow is a personal soundtrack containing your favorite songs as well as new compositions.

The Premium subscription expands the app's features:

• The option to switch audio recordings appears.
• Ability to download tracks for offline listening.
• No ads.
• High quality music sound.
• Android Auto feature that allows you to listen to tracks from the car dashboard.

The Premium subscription will be free for users for 30 days.

Watching videos with MX Player

What modern Android smartphone or tablet can do without? MX Player is one of the most popular video viewing tools with support for all audio formats, acceleration and subtitles. With it, users of Android devices have access to:

• Multicore decoding.
• View offline.
• Subtitle management.
• The function of resuming viewing from the place where you left off.
• Finger gesture zoom, Zoom and Pan.
• Support for multiple languages.

Each user also has his own favorite video player, as an option, you can use the good old (and constantly updated) VLC for Android, its functionality is impressive, and the interface, despite the wide range of options, is simple and convenient.

Reading with Cool Reader

An e-book reader application that supports many text formats. The functionality of Cool Reader offers users a huge number of features, including:

• Action settings for buttons and parts of the touch display.
• Dictionary support.
• Integrated file browser.
• Automatic paging, speed setting.
• Setting the backlight brightness.
• Day and night profiles.
• Page flip animation.
• The choice of background - texture or plain.
• Bookmarks, book search, table of contents.
• Export bookmarks to a text file.
• Voice reading.
• The ability to read from a ZIP archive.
• Support for online catalogs (Flibusta, etc.).
• Access to the LitRes bookstore and other interesting options.

For voice reading, the TTS voice engine is used by default. In order for the application to play text in Russian, you need to install SVOX and a Russian voice for it, after which you need to activate it in the default voice settings.

Snapseed photo editor

One of the best useful apps for android devices. The professional full-featured photo editor, which is a product of Google, opens JPG, DNG formats and offers users many options:

• 29 tools and filters.
• Selective adjustment brush.
• Custom filters.
• Ability to save styles and apply them to other photos.
• Face correction.
• The ability to change the location of objects.
• Variety of design elements.

A large number of tools, settings and effects allow you to process a photo in whole or in part, remove unwanted objects, etc. The application is not inferior to Photoshop in terms of functionality, while processing is faster and easier, and thanks to an intuitive interface, it will not be difficult for the user to master Snapseed.

Cloud storage with Dropbox

When working with large amounts of information, the question of where to store them inevitably arises. And where to store tons of videos, music and other content, if not in the cloud. In the ranking of the most useful applications for Android devices, there must be cloud storage. With Dropbox you have options:

• Sharing folders and files, which is very convenient when working on a common project.

Greetings my dear readers! The Google Play Store has a great variety of applications and their number is growing at an unrealistic pace every day, how to navigate through them and identify the best ones? I'll try to make a list best android applications. I will try to make everything as structured as possible and categorized for better navigation.

Whatever you're looking for, this collection is sure to have it. desired application. Enjoy reading and let us know if, in your opinion, the selection is not complete enough and some applications are unfairly not included in this TOP.

Last year, you really liked the article about, it's time to make a similar TOP and about applications (and if you want to run them on a computer, then you know what to do). I won’t use emulators - we’ll run everything on a smartphone and test it, so don’t worry about being up to date ... everything has been personally tested on a live device and I can guarantee the full performance of all the programs on today’s list.

Android interface customization

Users usually think about changing the Android interface when they have been using their smartphone for a long time and the soul requires changes, at least in the external design of the system. So the question arises, what are the interesting applications for Android that perform customization of appearance.

I repeat that I selected the list of programs to my taste and the opinion is purely subjective ... but I tried to listen to the opinions of my friends and did not use completely unknown programs - they are all very popular on Google Play and highly appreciated by users

Pixel Icon Pack

It's no secret that the flagship of the corporation of good - Google Pixel received a unique interface, so it was a matter of time to wait for icons and design from this device. Meet Pixel Icon Pack. In my opinion one of the nicest icon packs (there are many more collections, but only free ones from Pixel)

The screenshots below show appearance after activating the icons and design - as for me it looks great, the smartphone interface has changed completely.

To apply this icon pack, you need to install it and in the application menu next to "Pixel Icon Pack" click "Apply", do not pay attention to the English interface, everything in the menus themselves will be Russified. However, there is one small but, to install this set of graphics, you need a third-party launcher ... the list of supported ones is quite large, I used Apex Launcher for testing (just click on the name and click the Install button)

I really liked this set of resources and I can recommend it to everyone who is tired of the boring and boring appearance of the interface of their smartphone

Next Lock Screen

When I was the owner of the Nokia Lumia 920, I really liked the lock screen on Windows phone (especially the Bing pictures that changed every day). Unfortunately, this device no longer covered my needs and we had to leave, but I still have nostalgia for Lumiya's Lock Screen. What was my surprise when I learned that Microsoft itself released an application for the Green Robot, which allows you to see this screen on my Android device.

After launch, you need to set permissions for the application, in general, everything is intuitive - a good alternative to the standard lock screen.

Of course, this is not an exact copy from Windows Phone, but the main features have been preserved. In general, a strange trend, Microsoft scored on their devices, but they release software for a third-party platform of competitors

SwiftKey Keyboard

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of input methods in your smartphone, because we are faced with typing every day. If you are not satisfied with the standard Android keyboard, then there is a choice - SwiftKey Keyboard and you will never return to the stock keyboard.

What's the point? is a customizable interface and themes. You can choose the location of the buttons yourself, whether to display the digital block on the screen and at what moments to do it, well, choose from hundreds of different themes the design to your liking. There should be no problems with the installation, quite understandable prompts pop up that will show where you need to poke your finger.

Apparently I have become so old that I have no desire to use third-party keyboards and I prefer to stay on stock from Android

Browsers

List the best programs for android will not be complete if you do not consider the most interesting browsers in my opinion. A modern smartphone is simply useless without the Internet at the present time, namely the browser shows us the contents of the World Wide Web.

Looking ahead, I would like to warn you that it is simply impossible to describe absolutely all web browsers - this is Dolphin Browser or Puffin, they are all slowly losing their popularity and are less and less common on mobile devices.

Yandex.Browser - with protection

You can scold Yandex for a very long time for the policy of distributing Yandex Browser to computers, but for Android the application came out just fine - I can recommend it to everyone and use it myself. All thanks to the fast and stable operation of the browser, and the feed will help you find interesting information when you want to look at something, but you don’t know exactly what.

I really like that the search line is at the bottom, very convenient as the owner of a 5.5 inch device ... on the same Google Chrome or Firefox, they are at the top and you have to take the phone in two hands or try to reach this element with your finger.

Fast Firefox browser

On my computer I use Mozilla browser Firefox as the main one, so I decided to add it to our TOP. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed ... on the computer to score a couple of tabs of 5-6 gigs random access memory he doesn’t give a damn, but as it turned out, the fox also slows down on android in comparison with the same Yandex Browser. Otherwise, everything is fine, maybe updates will fix the performance problem.

In Firefox, I liked the organization of work with tabs and convenient customizable start screen browser. However, if you have a sufficiently productive smartphone, then this browser you may like it - I do not recommend it to owners of ultrabudgets.

Just a good and interesting web browser, definitely worth a look... who knows, maybe it will become the main one for you

Google Chrome: fast browser

Scratching a note about the best apps for Android and not mentioning Google Chrome would be a crime. The most popular browser for Andryusha, but historically it didn’t work out for me. I sat on the Fox all my life, and then I discovered Yandex.Browser ... I’ll leave the link just in case, and with a high probability it is already installed on your smartphone.

Overall nothing special, just mobile version one of best browsers for a personal computer on the Chromium engine.

An excellent browser from Android developers, but there is no chip in it or something ... something is missing to use it

UC Browser - UC Browser

Probably one of the best browsers, which is more relevant than ever since the leadership of Nokia and Symbiam ... oh, nostalgia. However, surprisingly, the browser on the new platform just feels great and has a fairly rich functionality.

Pleasant Homepage, powerful ad blocker, smooth interface, night mode - this is just a drop in the wide possibilities of the web browser, I can definitely recommend installing it on a smartphone.

UC Browser is not only a browser, it is also a huge number of services available from the program menu

File managers

Huge advantage operating system by Google - open file system, so there are many interesting file managers for Android in the store, now we will try to find out which ones deserve your attention.

ES Explorer

I think many will agree with me if I say that ES File Explorer is one of the best applications for android. True, the functionality has long gone beyond the scope of a simple file manager - in a few years it has grown very much, but this did not greatly affect performance ... everything works, as always, quickly and without any problems.

What is so interesting about this conductor? - First of all, support for ZIP and RAR archives is important to me, since almost none of the stock ones can do this. When the program starts, we will find out that ES Explorer can search all types of files on your device and it does it in real time - let's go directly to the application itself.

The picture below shows that you can use both the new menu and the familiar standard structure of files and folders. A place analyzer has appeared in the program, which will tell you what is large and superfluous lies in the depths of your phone and crushes itself free space on the drive. Of course, there are unobtrusive ads in the free version, but it is quite possible to put up with this given the available functionality.

I tried to analyze the free space of my phone and you can see the result below, and in the picture on the right, I was able to enter without any problems network folder on home computer- at home via Wi Fi you can watch movies over the network, conveniently.

MK Explorer

If for some reason you didn’t have a stock file manager, and you don’t need other functionality than browsing folders and copy / paste, the MK Explorer application would be an excellent solution. The program is insanely simple and practically does not take up space in the device's memory.

As in ES Explorer, there is the ability to browse both by category and a standard file manager with direct access to the file system.

If you don’t require much from the file manager, MK Explorer will be more than ever useful for you.

Social networks and messengers

If a couple of years ago the primary purpose of smartphones was calls, then in 2017 everything has changed dramatically. Currently, calls have faded into the background, and social networks and instant messengers have come to the fore - well, most smartphones do not buy to make calls, the main thing is that VKontakte works stably and you can call or send a message via Whats App.

In contact with

The undisputed leader in the Russian market is certainly Vkontakte, probably almost every smartphone has a client of this social network. There are a huge number of unofficial applications, but we will consider the most popular. So what's so interesting about it?

I think many will agree with me that the viability of such clients is a functionality that is fully implemented and can repeat everything that is on the computer version. In general, if you do not dig very deep, then all daily activities can be done from your smartphone without touching the computer.

Viber

Another interesting application for your Android smartphone is the Viber messenger. I did not use it for a long time until I persuaded my mother to switch from push-button telephone on an android device. As it turned out, she had many acquaintances abroad, and after Skype on a computer, they all almost migrated to Viber and were satisfied.

Excellent application design, intuitive interface… animated stickers and other goodies bribe many users and it makes no sense to use competing solutions… well, with the main task (these are calls and messages via the Internet) the application makes it easy and without any problems.

Almost all instant messengers are similar to each other - my advice: use the application that is more common in your circle

whats app

The pioneer among Internet messengers was, of course, Whats App. Somehow it didn’t work out historically for me, maybe it’s just that the bulk of my friends are on VK and there was simply no need to install Whats App ... however, it’s stupid to deny that this application is very interesting and does its job perfectly.

Verdict? — An excellent internet messenger not overloaded with useless functionality, nothing superfluous… what else do you need?

Telegram

Thanks to Roskomnadzor, the Telegram messenger has become very popular in Russia - the brainchild of Pavel Durov ... messages in which no one can read thanks to modern encryption methods directly on the device itself, and not on the program's servers.

Otherwise, everything is like everyone else, however, there are various groups and channels, which is a little more functional compared to analogues ... however, there is no Russian language, but this is a small problem - it's not worth the trouble to figure it out.

Unlike Viber and VKontakte, Telega has a huge collection of free stickers - for many, this can be a big plus in choosing their main application.

Maps and navigation

If not so long ago only top-end devices for a lot of money were equipped with GPS sensors, now satellite navigation is probably even in the most budget-friendly Android device ... and for navigation there are many interesting programs for OS from Google Corporation.

Yandex.Maps - search for places and navigator

As for me, the standard for the Russian Federation is the Yandex.Maps application. Why such a choice? - My city is not in the same 2 Gis, and Yandex is full of organizations, and the presence of a people's map makes it simply mandatory to install.

I recommend that you familiarize yourself with all Yandex products - there are a lot of interesting and useful things there ... for example, Yandex.Transport will tell you bus routes, which will be very useful for navigating in an unfamiliar city

2GIS: reference book and navigator

If you choose an application for orientation in large cities, then 2GIS will probably be the best choice. He helped me a lot to navigate in Samara, everything works smartly and support for offline mode is implemented. On the map, you can see not only the streets and house numbers, but there is also the opportunity to look into shopping centers and see the location of the pavilions inside.

The application works quite fast and has a huge database of organizations with easy navigation - everything is on business and nothing more.

However, as I already said, there are no small towns on the list and my native Buzuluk is not here - this obviously cannot be written down as an advantage of an android application

Multimedia applications

A modern smartphone without multimedia capabilities is practically useless. Quite often, the stock video player and gallery do not have the necessary functionality, but to our delight, there are developments by third-party programmers that make a worthy alternative to standard applications.

What can we say about music, in the age of high-speed Internet and affordable distribution, audio albums can not be downloaded to your phone - everything works great online with human sorting, names and covers (I remember before I bothered with tags, looking for album covers - now it's all available online and does not take up space on the device at all)

Photo and video

A standard video player is only good when there is nothing else ... but there are a lot of interesting alternative programs in the android world, and when it comes to multimedia, then here in general put out the light Let's try to figure out what is worthy of your attention.

VLC media player

Surely many people are familiar with this player on regular computer, I want to assure you - everything is fine with the android version, no one spoiled this player and it can be safely recommended for installation.

If you often watch videos on your device, then VLC should be your default media player. In its arsenal, support for a huge number of file types and incredibly convenient management on touch screen, and many applications from the big brother cannot boast of this.

VLC already dominates on personal computers, and this mobile app firmly positions it as the best in the mobile sector

MX Player

Probably a couple of years ago, I would have called it the best video player, but nowadays, compared to competitors, it has too complicated settings and there are difficulties with installing codecs ... it achieves all this with the presence of ads in the free version. I understand that developers want to eat, but there are alternatives on the market without it.

Compared to VLC, I didn’t really like the controls, but it’s more like an amateur. I'm not saying that the player is bad, it's incredibly good, but I convey my sympathy to the competing software.

Pay attention to the Software and Hardware decoders - play around with the settings, this way you can improve the smoothness of playback and significantly save battery power

Piktures - Photo Gallery

If for some reason you do not like the standard Gallery application, then try the alternative in the face of Piktures (no, I didn't misspell the word).

An intuitive and clear application for android that will make organizing your gallery more convenient and viewing photos easier.

For many, the function of sorting by calendar or setting a PIN code to enter the gallery will be useful, this is much more functional than the stock application

Music

Many people cannot imagine themselves without music, so I decided to introduce you to a couple interesting applications for android to diversify your collection and bring you closer to music.

Yandex.Radio - music online

If earlier online radio seemed to be something incomprehensible and why it is needed when there is a regular one ... now Yandex.Radio is one of the best music applications for Android. We choose a genre or mood and enjoy the music chosen for us - songs can be skipped, this gives an advantage over conventional radio stations ... we always have a choice - listen to this song or not

There is also Yandex.Music, but I don’t include it in the top due to the fact that it is paid ... but this is one of the applications for which I bought a subscription, from now on it makes no sense to look for songs on the Internet at all - everything is available online and in excellent quality .

You can use Yandex.Radio on your computer without any problems - these are all standard Yandex services and everything is available directly from the browser on their website

Google Play Music

When Google gave away 3 months free use their Google Play Music service, then the inner Jew woke up in me and I purchased a subscription. Even though it came out for free, but after using Yandex.Music, I still couldn’t switch to the Google service ... however, it’s not just here, if you haven’t used any of these programs yet, you might like Google Music more.

I really didn’t like the lack of rewinding tracks in the application, although this feature is present in the browser version… and the interface as a whole is not very clear, but it’s more of a matter of habit…

As I understand it, Google launched this service for Russia not so long ago, so in the future we are waiting for improvements and replenishment of the collection of tracks (Hopefully it gets better with updates).

Results and information for reflection

Friends, it was with great difficulty for me to write a note about best apps on android - I installed all this on my phone, tested it, took screenshots and tried to find the pros and cons of each of the programs. I understand that you can still add applications with the weather, shopping in online stores and many other wonderful applications here.

I'm afraid that it's simply unrealistic to describe everything you want, but I tried to present the information to you as detailed and structured as possible ... however, if I missed a really worthwhile application - write in the comments, we will definitely add them to our popular top of interesting programs for android. All the best!