Very useful programs for Android. Adding functions to your smartphone: useful applications for Android

Greetings my dear readers! There are a great many applications in the Google Play Store and their number is growing at an unrealistic rate every day, how to navigate through them and identify the best ones? I'll try to make a list of the best Android applications. I will try to make everything as structured as possible and into categories for better navigation.

No matter what you're looking for, this selection is sure to have the app you need. Enjoy reading and let me know if in your opinion the selection is not complete enough and some applications are undeservedly not included in this TOP.

Last year you really liked the note about, it’s time to make a similar TOP about applications (and if you want to run them on your 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 its relevance... everything has been personally tested on a live device and I can guarantee the full functionality of all the programs on today’s list.

Android interface customization

About change Android interface Users usually think about it when they have been using their smartphone for quite a long time and their soul requires changes, at least in the external design of the system. So the question arises, what interesting applications for Android exist that customize the appearance.

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

Pixel Icon Pack

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

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

To apply this icon pack, you need to install it and click “Apply” in the application menu next to “Pixel Icon Pack”, do not pay attention to the English interface, everything in the menus themselves will be Russified. However, there is one small problem: 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 press the Install button)

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

Next Lock Screen

When I was the owner of 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 part ways, but I still have nostalgia for the Lock Screen Lumiya. Imagine my surprise when I found out that Microsoft itself had released an application for the Green Robot, which allows you to see this screen on my Android device.

After launching, 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 of Windows Phone, but the main features have been preserved. In general, a strange trend, Microsoft has given up on its own devices, but releases software for competitors’ third-party platforms

SwiftKey Keyboard

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

What's the trick? is a customizable interface and themes. You can choose the location of the buttons, whether to display the number pad on the screen and at what moments to do it, and choose from hundreds of different themes the design to suit your taste. There shouldn’t be any problems with the installation; quite clear prompts will pop up that will show you where to point your finger.

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

Browsers

The list of the best programs for Android will not be complete without considering the most interesting browsers in my opinion. A modern smartphone is simply useless without the Internet nowadays, and it is the browser that 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 includes Dolphin Browser or Puffin, all of them are slowly losing their popularity and can be found less and less on mobile devices.

Yandex.Browser - with protection

You can scold the Yandex company for a very long time for the policy of distributing Yandex Browser on computers, but for Android the application turned out to be simply excellent - I can recommend it to everyone and I 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 watch something, but you don’t know what exactly.

I really like that the search bar is at the bottom, it’s 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 browser Firefox

On my computer I use a browser Mozilla Firefox as the main one, so I decided to add it to our TOP. To be honest, I’m a little disappointed... on a computer, filling up 5-6 gigs of RAM with a couple of tabs is a piece of cake, but as it turned out, on Android the fox also slows down 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 the convenient, customizable browser start screen. However, if you have a fairly powerful smartphone, then you may like this browser - I do not recommend it to owners of ultra-budget devices.

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

To scratch a note about the best applications on Android and not mention Google Chrome would be simply a crime. The most popular browser for Andryusha, but historically it didn’t work out for me. I've been using Fox all my life, and then I discovered Yandex.Browser... I'll leave the link just in case, since it's highly likely that it's already installed on your smartphone.

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

An excellent browser from Android developers, but it doesn’t have a feature 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... ah, nostalgia. However, surprisingly, the browser feels great on the new platform and has quite rich functionality.

A nice home page, a powerful ad blocker, a smooth interface, a night mode - these are just a drop in the wide capabilities of a 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

A huge advantage of Google's operating system is its open file system, so there are many interesting file managers for Android in the store. Now we will try to find out which of them deserve your attention.

ES Explorer

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

What's so interesting about this guide? — First of all, support is important to me ZIP archives and RAR, since almost none of the stock ones can do this. When we start the program, we learn that ES Explorer can search all types of files on your device and it does this 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 standard file and folder structure familiar to everyone. The program now has a space analyzer that will tell you what large and unnecessary things lie in the depths of your phone and are crushing the free space on the drive. Of course in free version There is unobtrusive advertising, but this is quite acceptable given the available functionality.

I tried to analyze free place your phone and you can see the result below, and in the picture on the right I was able to access a network folder on my home computer without any problems - at home via Wi Fi you can watch movies over the network, it’s convenient.

MK Explorer

If for some reason you don’t have a stock file manager, and you don’t need any other functionality other than viewing folders and copy/paste, the MK Explorer application would be an excellent solution. The program is incredibly simple and takes up virtually no 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 a file manager, MK Explorer will come in handy for you more than ever

Social networks and instant messengers

If a couple of years ago the primary purpose of smartphones was calls, then in 2017 everything changed dramatically. Currently, calls have faded into the background, and have come to the forefront social media and instant messengers - well, most people don’t buy smartphones to make calls, the main thing is that VKontakte works stably and you can call or send a message using Whats App.

In contact with

The undisputed leader on Russian market Definitely VKontakte, probably almost every smartphone has a client of this social network installed. There are a huge number of unofficial applications, but we will look at the most popular ones. So what's interesting about it?

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

Viber

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

Excellent application design, intuitive interface... animated stickers and other goodies captivate many users and there is no point in using competing solutions... but with the main task (these are calls and messages via the Internet) The application does it with ease and without any problems.

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

Whats app

The pioneer among Internet messengers was, of course, Whats App. Somehow historically it didn’t work out for me with it, maybe it’s just that the majority 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 copes with its tasks 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 the same as 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 available even in the most budget Android device... and for navigation there are many interesting programs for the OS from Google.

Yandex.Maps - place search and navigator

As for me, the standard for the Russian Federation is the Yandex.Maps application. Why this choice? - My city is not in the same 2 Gis, but 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 finding your way around an unfamiliar city

2GIS: directory and navigator

If you choose an application for orientation in large cities, then 2GIS will probably be the best choice. It really helped me navigate Samara, everything works quickly and supports offline mode. 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 quickly and has a huge database of organizations with easy navigation - everything is to the point and nothing superfluous.

However, as I already said, there are no small towns on the list and my native Buzuluk is not here - this obviously cannot be counted as an advantage of the 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 joy there are developments by third-party programmers who make a worthy alternative to standard applications.

What can we say about music, in the age of high-speed Internet and accessible distribution of audio albums, you don’t have to download albums to your phone - everything works great online with human sorting, names and covers (I remember we used to bother with tags and look for album covers - now it’s all available online and doesn’t take up any space on the device)

Photo and video

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

VLC media player

Surely many people are familiar with this player on a regular computer, I want to assure you that everything is fine with the Android version, no one has damaged this player and we can safely recommend it for installation.

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

VLC already dominates 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 currently, compared to its competitors, its settings are too confusing and there are difficulties with installing codecs... all this is achieved by the presence of advertising 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 of an acquired taste. I'm not saying that the player is bad, it's incredibly good, but I give 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 Album Gallery

If for some reason you don’t like the standard Gallery application, then try the alternative 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 of interesting applications for Android to diversify your collection and bring you closer to music.

Yandex.Radio - online music

If earlier online radio seemed to be something incomprehensible and why is it 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 selected for us - songs can be skipped, this gives an advantage over regular radio stations... we always have a choice - to listen to a given composition or not

There is also Yandex.Music, but I don’t include it in the top because it’s paid... but this is one of the applications for which I bought a subscription, from now on there is no point in looking for songs on the Internet - 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 of free use of their Google Play Music service, my inner Jew woke up and I purchased a subscription. Even though it was free for me, after using Yandex.Music I was never able to switch to the Google service... however, it’s here for a reason, if you haven’t used any of these programs yet, perhaps you’ll like Google Music more.

I really didn’t like the lack of rewinding tracks in the application, although this option is present in the browser version... and the interface as a whole is not very clear, but it’s more 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 additions to the collection of tracks (I hope the situation will get better with updates).

Results and food for thought

Friends, it was very difficult for me to write a note about the best applications for Android - I installed it all on my phone, tested it, took screenshots and tried to find the pros and cons of each program. I understand that you can also add weather applications, online shopping and many other wonderful applications here.

I’m afraid that it’s simply impossible to describe everything you want, but I tried to present you with information 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!

Programs for Android are different. There are useful and not so useful, free and commercial, entertaining and intended for solving applied problems, created for the corporate market or with an eye on the mass consumer market, developed with soul or slapped together as if “on the knee” in a couple of minutes, popular and not yet successful gain fame among the user audience of the Google Play online market, in currently numbering, no joke, almost 3.2 million applications! And there are also programs, without which in the everyday hustle and bustle you are left without hands and which you have to use almost every day. Today’s review is devoted to precisely these products, which are relevant for most owners of Android devices, divided into categories for ease of perception - Internet, office, information security, system, sports, transport and navigation, entertainment, finance and all sorts of things.

Since we are talking about information security, it would not be out of place to mention such a useful tool in modern realities as a VPN client TunnelBear. With its help, it will not be difficult to quickly set up a secure data transmission channel for web surfing, ensure anonymity on the global network, make work through public Wi-Fi points safer and bypass restrictions set by providers.

⇡ System

A gentleman's set of programs for Android would be incomplete without mentioning a file manager that provides a convenient interface for working with data stored in the memory of a mobile device. There are such applications on Google Play as a wagon and a small cart, but the best of the best among them in all respects is Total Commander- yes, yes, the same one that many IT old-timers remember from the PC version.

In terms of functionality, the Android version of Total Commander is in no way inferior to the original version of the file manager. The program supports work in two-panel mode and has a multilingual user interface, can find mutual language with ZIP and RAR archives, equipped with customizable menus and a control key panel. In addition, the mobile Total Commander includes built-in tools for sorting and searching files, a media player and text editor, tools for transferring files via Bluetooth, support for FTP, SMB and WebDAV protocols, as well as other functions that put the application a step above similar products.

Another system application that deserves a place in the memory of any Android gadget is the on-screen keyboard developed by Google. Gboard, supporting more than 400 languages ​​and dialects around the world—more than any other program of its type. In addition to handwriting, Gboard supports voice and continuous text input (to type a word, you need to drag your finger over the letters), and thanks to machine learning, the keyboard can predict phrases entered by the user and automatically correct typos. In addition to features that make typing easier on a small screen, the application includes built-in Google search, a translator and many visual objects - emoji, stickers and animated GIF files, allowing users to more fully express their feelings and emotions when communicating in a virtual environment. Well, so that your stay in the latter is not overshadowed by huge bills for network traffic, it would be logical to keep the program ready Datally, which helps you understand where exactly your precious megabytes are being spent. Datally shows which applications are most demanding of traffic, at what time its consumption increases, recommends ways to save based on user activity, and suggests upcoming Wi-Fi networks, which you can connect to.

⇡ Entertainment

For those who are accustomed to reading in their free time, we advise you to take a closer look at Moon+ Reader- the best, in our opinion, application for working with e-books. Features of the program are support for TXT, HTML, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, FB2, UMD, CHM, CBR, CBZ, RAR, ZIP, OPDS formats, integration with online libraries and dictionaries, the ability to synchronize books on different devices and the presence of a bunch of different settings and modes that allow you to flexibly configure the program and enjoy reading books.

It’s one thing to read books thoughtfully, and quite another thing to watch movies on a mobile device or listen to music. In both cases, the popular cross-platform media player will come in handy VLC, capable of playing almost any video and audio format. The player's strength is its support for Chromecast wireless broadcasting. Thanks to this, users can most in a simple way Cast media content stored on your mobile device or even online storage to your big screen or other Chromecast-compatible devices.

⇡ Transport and navigation

The leader in this category, without a doubt, is "Yandex.Navigator"- An excellent assistant for car owners and travelers. The navigation application provides road routes across Russia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Ukraine, taking into account the traffic situation. The program promptly rebuilds the route based on constantly updated information about traffic jams, accompanies the movement with voice prompts, warns about road events (accidents, repair work, etc.), speeding when driving along the highway and CCTV cameras, and also displays Additional information about buildings and other objects on the map. In addition to this, Yandex.Navigator supports voice control, allows you to find nearby parking lots in the city and pay traffic fines. To save traffic, there is a function to save selected maps in the device’s memory.

For those who prefer public transport to personal transport, the app will serve them well "Yandex.Transport", which allows you to monitor the movement of city buses, trams, trolleybuses, minibuses in real time and find out exact time their arrival. The program contains maps, stops and public transport of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan and other large Russian metropolises. Yandex.Transport also operates in Kyiv, Astana, cities of Finland (Helsinki and Tampere), Hungary (Budapest), Australia (Sydney and Brisbane), New Zealand (Auckland) and Belarus (Baranovichi, Slutsk, Lida, Bobruisk, Pinsk, Grodno, Vitebsk, Mogilev and Brest). An important fact is that the application can display not only public transport, but also carsharing cars that can be rented for short-term in Moscow.

Finally, a good addition to the mentioned products is an electronic directory with city maps 2 GIS. It not only contains the most complete and regularly updated information about city organizations (location, opening hours, telephone, website, social networks, reviews), but can also work as a navigator, suitable for both a car and public transport and walking . The application's capabilities allow you to build routes taking into account all types of public transport: buses, minibuses, trolleybuses, trams and metro, view detailed maps of shopping centers with floor plans, save your favorite places for instant access to them, share your location on the map and use 2GIS as tourist guide to the city. The program contains maps of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Barnaul, Samara, Krasnoyarsk, Ufa, Kazan, Tyumen, Irkutsk, Perm, Omsk, Kiev, Astana, Bishkek, Dubai, Prague, Santiago and more than 300 more cities in 9 countries.

⇡ Finance

On the financial side, the payment service deserves clear attention Google Pay, allowing you to pay for services and purchases using a smartphone, phablet or tablet with a built-in NFC module. After installing the application, you need to add data to it bank card, and in a store that accepts contactless payments, bring your unlocked mobile device to the payment terminal. Google emphasizes that making purchases in this way is even safer than using the card itself, since Google Pay does not store its details on the phone and does not transmit its details to the seller. Instead, a special digital identifier (token) is used, which is created for each card when it is registered in the system. At the same time, you can use any privileges of the linked bank card - accumulation of miles, bonus programs and special offers.

⇡ Sport

For sports and control physical activity a fitness tracker is a good option Runtastic, using a GPS/GLONASS receiver, accelerometer and other sensors available in modern mobile devices, measuring time, speed, distance, altitude, calories burned and many other parameters of any type of training. The program collects detailed statistics on all sports activities, is fully compatible with the Android Wear platform, supports voice training and data synchronization with similar applications Garmin Connect, Google Fit and MyFitnessPal. According to the developers, Runtastic allows you to quickly achieve your goals in sports, helps to radically improve your overall well-being and physical fitness. Those who doubt can verify in practice the veracity of these words.

⇡ All sorts of things

SmartTools. A real “Swiss army knife” for Android, allowing you to use your smartphone as a sound meter, range finder, vibration meter, metal detector, light measuring device, thermometer, radar for measuring the speed of moving objects, level, magnifying glass, metronome, tuning fork, cardiograph and many other necessary household tools, of which there are already 38 pieces in the program’s arsenal! Each of them uses readings from the corresponding sensors of the mobile device, so full operation of the application is possible only if there are light sensors, proximity sensors, accelerometer/gyroscope, magnetometer (digital compass), barometer and other sensors.

"Mobile Rescuer". A program developed by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, which is useful to have on hand in case of emergencies (pah-pah-pah). A special feature of the application is the interface, equipped with a large red “Send SOS” button. With just one click on it, a person can call the rescue service from anywhere in the country and notify loved ones, relatives and friends via SMS that he or she is in an emergency situation or something has happened. Emergency. “Mobile Rescuer” automatically determines the user’s location, region of the Russian Federation, telecom operator and selects a suitable number from the database to call emergency services. Additionally, the program includes illustrated guides that clearly demonstrate methods of first aid, rules of behavior in various emergency situations and other useful information.

Well, today’s publication ends with an application Google News, allowing you to keep your finger on the pulse of events happening in the world and keep abreast of the most important news. A special feature of the program is an intelligent recommendation system that generates news reports based on the user’s interests and preferences. At the same time, authoritative publications are used as sources of information, which always check the accuracy of the information they have before publication. The Google News database also includes our website, 3DNews Daily Digital Digest, which provides the most objective information about everything that happens in the IT market. Subscribe!

One of the reasons why smartphones have got huge widescreen screens is for watching videos. Processors today are able to consume almost no energy when the smartphone is operating in video player mode, and in terms of the number of formats that a typical Android smartphone can handle, it is even cooler than computers. In theory, it can handle both ancient videos from the early 90s and new 4K videos.

In theory, because standard video players in smartphones are made according to the principle “as long as something is played somehow.” If you manage to record a bunch of movies from your computer to your smartphone to watch them on the road, you run the risk of finding that half of the videos either cannot be opened or are played back 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, can make the volume in video recordings twice as high as a standard player (in films with a quiet soundtrack, this is very useful), switch between several types of voice acting, and zoom in with a pinch ", as in photographs, and open videos from sites in a convenient Android player.

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

ES Explorer - cleaning your smartphone from junk and transferring files over Wi-Fi

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

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

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

ES 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 a 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 stack of photographs, a Word/Excel document inside .zip, .rar or something even worse. ES Explorer will be able to open such archives without problems.
• Drive analysis. If your smartphone is filled to capacity with files, and it’s not very clear why the space suddenly ran out so suddenly, just press the “analyze” key in ES, after which it will show how much space in memory is occupied by pictures/music/applications and games/documents, will arrange them from large to small and allow you to remove “garbage” right in the same menu. There is almost no alternative in terms of convenience.
• Transfer files between smartphones at Wi-Fi speed. It's unlikely that you send photos, music and videos to nearby mobile phones as often as in the era of polyphonic ringtones, but Bluetooth has always been a dull and slow method of communication, and the normal universal way to transfer files over Wi-Fi is not came up with it. More precisely, they came up with it, but only between identical applications. If you and your friend have ES Explorer, you can send large files in two clicks at the highest speed possible between mobile phones - the file manager has a “sender” function for this case.

WPS Office - Word, Excel and everything, everything, everything

During the existence of smartphones, Microsoft Office standard files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) were at first an “overwhelming” exotic, then a revelation with which everyone tried to edit texts on tiny screens. Today, there are no miracles in viewing and minor editing of text in documents and presentations. Another thing is that such files (+ Adobe PDF documents) will be sent to your e-mail from all sides, and there will be nothing to open them on your smartphone. You can, of course, keep the intrigue until you get to your desktop PC, but it is wiser 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 (formerly Kingsoft Office, if anyone is interested) is not the coolest office suite of its kind, but it is free, bug-free, fast and not lacking in features even compared to expensive alternatives. We recommend.

Weather/news widgets - so as not to turn on the TV

As in the case of file managers, smartphones are not deprived of information 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 your desktop with information details from other developers.

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

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

At first, it will be unusual to look at headlines and weather forecasts on your desktop instead of “wallpapers,” 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 - lovers of cars or electronic devices can receive information only on their favorite topics.

Shazam - find out what song is playing

Every day you hear music, among which there are songs that seem to give you an electric shock. Because when you were a child, you were running under the Christmas tree to this very song/getting ready for a first date/getting a job/something else, but from the text in foreign it is still not clear what it’s about, and you also don’t remember who actually performs this song and what is it called.

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

Shazam: You'll always know what music is playing nearby

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

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

Currency converter - a tragedy starring the dollar and ruble

Why are you laughing? Have you already forgotten how you tore your hair out and rushed to the stores to buy equipment in order to buy it before the price tags were rewritten?

Of course, I would like to believe that the worst is behind us, and in the coming years we will not experience sharp fluctuations in the ruble against the US dollar, but it is not a bad idea to look at how the national currency is doing, so that later you do not find out the shocking truth as the last one, from the evening news reports. And in general, a convenient tool for converting between currencies different states will come in handy on vacation and business trips.

How is our long-suffering ruble doing?

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

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

A very naive point in our selection, but if you have just recently bought a smartphone, 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 chat in ICQ existed in ancient times, but in new smartphones running Android you have the opportunity to share huge amounts of information, video recordings, and make video calls abroad completely free of charge!

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

Because mobile operators have long switched everyone to tariffs with a monthly fee, to which the serious rubbish of the Internet is “nailed.” This will be 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 advisable) - choose those in which you will have someone to keep in touch with. It would be enough.

Online videos - TV, online cinemas or short jokes

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

If you didn’t know, the “Big Three” (MTS, Beeline, MegaFon) mobile operators have applications for watching television via 3G/4G without consuming traffic from the tariff. In MTS, for such pleasure they want a little money above the tariff, in Beeline there is a small number of free channels + paid ones, MegaFon varies the number of free tariffs depending on the amount of the monthly fee for your tariff. In any case, if you would like to watch television away from the “box”, pay attention to such services of cellular operators.

TV, cinema 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 the unofficial (which are not on Google Play) and completely free clients we can note VideoMix , HD VideoBox And LazyIPTV.

Android's greatest strength is its app ecosystem. There are an unrealistically large number of them and users pump them out in the billions.

Usually, good apps cost a few dollars. However, there are also options for which you don't need to pay.

We offer you our list of the best free apps on Android!

1Weather is one of the most feature-rich weather apps - today's weather, forecasts, radar, interesting weather facts, graphs and even sun and moon tracking.

The design is also incredible and there is widget support.

AppLock is a free Android application with many options. If you pay, you can get premium features and get rid of ads. If you don't pay, you can get them by watching ads.

Or you can refuse premium features and use the application for free and without advertising. The choice is yours.

The application itself is very simple - it allows passwords. This is especially useful if you have roommates, children, or simply don't want to worry about privacy.

Blue Mail is one of the best mail collection apps. Simple design, support for multiple email providers, organization by colors, themes, work with Android Wear and widgets.

Plus a lot of smart features, such as blocking notifications at a certain time (by account).

It completes most tasks successfully, with very few shortcomings. Rating on Google Play – 4.7 out of 5. Definitely worth a try.

Credit Karma

Credit Karma is a great finance app and checks your credit score once a year for free. In addition, the application informs about major changes and offers other services, such as credit cards, which, if good rating, you can apply.

However, you may not need to use additional functions. One of the most undeservedly little-known applications on Android.

Feedly is one of the best news apps that is definitely worth checking out.

This is an RSS reader, which means you can subscribe to tons of different sites and receive news from them. There is support for podcasts, YouTube channels and other sites.

That is, thanks to applications such as Feedly, you can view everything last news in one application.

It's completely free and easy to set up. Without a doubt one of the best applications on Android.

Gboard

Gboard is the official keyboard from Google without any unnecessary bells and whistles. Among other things, there are gesture controls, voice typing, emoji search, GIF support, etc.

The most unique feature is the built-in Google search, which allows you to search the Internet without leaving your keyboard or application.

Gboard can also sync with other devices, so your saved words are always with you.

Effective, simple and 100% free application. It's worth a try if your native keyboard doesn't suit you for some reason.

Google Drive Suite

Google Drive suite is a group of applications integrated into Google Drive, including Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets, Google Photos and Google Keep with Google Drive itself.

Most of these apps are designed for documents, spreadsheets, and slideshows, but they can also be used for taking notes, backing up photos, and storing files.

The best thing is that they are completely free, as long as you don't need more than 15GB of Google Drive space. Most users don't need this.

Google Opinion Rewards is one of the best free Android apps in the Google Play Store.

To use it, you need to download, install and run it once. Google Opinion Rewards will then periodically ask you questions.

For each answer you will receive credits that can be spent on purchasing applications and games on Google Play.

A great opportunity to expand your collection of applications without spending a penny of real money.

Groupon

Groupon is one of the best and most popular coupon apps on Android.

It's very easy to understand - find coupons for goods and services and use them to get discounts.

You won't be able to find a coupon for any item. However, any savings are very good. You can view the history of used coupons and much more.

The design is also good. Groupon is one of those free apps that is definitely worth trying.

Imgur and Giphy

Imgur and Giphy are image databases that are a great place for pictures and GIFs.

Most of the pictures you see on Facebook or Twitter are from here. Imgur is also the main image host for Reddit.

Both applications are completely free. Thanks to them, you can easily kill a few minutes or find a great GIF image for a post on social media. networks. Place your bet without hesitation.

Google Maps and Waze

Google Maps and Waze are navigation apps. They will provide information along the route, allow you to search for business establishments (and view reviews of them) and a lot of other information.

KeepPassDroid

KeePassDroid is a password manager based on KeePass, an open source project.

It can store all your important information, including website data, serial numbers of expensive items, etc.

The app doesn't look good, but it gets the job done. Moreover, all information can be exported to files for transfer to new devices.

Simple, reliable and completely free application. If this one doesn’t suit you for some reason, then there are other applications based on KeePass.

Quik

Quik is a video editor from GoPro. One of the best video editing apps, and it's absolutely free.

It breaks the video into segments, which you can then easily manage - trim, add effects and perform other manipulations.

Of course, it cannot compare with desktop programs such as Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro, but for the average mobile user its functions are sufficient.

Wunderlist

Wunderlist is one of the best apps for making to-do lists. It's easy to use and allows you to organize tasks into separate categories for easy access and organization.

Thanks to its simple design, it can be used to create shopping lists, etc. Tasks and categories can be shared with other users - they will receive notifications about updates or additions.

The free version includes more than what you need from a regular list app. Most paid features are used for corporate purposes.

[Total votes: 3 Average: 4.7/5]

What programs should be present on every smartphone? Read the article about the most useful applications for Android and why you should download them.

No smartphone or tablet comes with a completely bare operating system. No, you can immediately use at least a couple of dozen applications. However, pre-installed options are often limited in their functionality. And some tasks cannot be handled at all by any of the preinstalled programs. For example, with your smartphone running by default, you most likely won't be able to open a PDF document. In a word, let's find out which useful programs are worth downloading for Android. At the same time, do not forget that this is a strictly shortened list - on our website you will find much more detailed collections of Android applications dedicated to specific topics.

Navigation and maps for Android

How many of us still use paper maps? It seems that none of the readers of “Smart Beaver” are definitely involved in such a matter. All of us have a smartphone in our pocket that is equipped with a GPS chip. And by default, Google Maps is installed on it. But is it the best navigation app? I think no. Although the product of an American company is close to this status. We recommend installing 2GIS. Especially if you live in a large Russian city. With this program you will receive the most detailed map. Here you can visually determine the height of the houses, see almost all the paths, and learn about all the organizations present in each building.

With 2GIS it is not difficult to find a cafe, restaurant, sports ground, cinema and other establishments. The construction of the route can also surprise you - the program will take you to the very door! In total, the application is capable of working with maps of approximately 300 cities in 9 countries. Of course, the whole of Russia is not yet covered by the project - sparsely populated areas are left behind. This is the only serious drawback of the application.

Alternative: you can also look towards the Yandex.Maps program. It contains a huge number of navigation maps settlements, including very small ones. Some of the maps can be downloaded to your device so you can view them without connecting to the network. But if you are interested in this particular function, then it is better to pay attention to OSMAnd+. This application uses the OpenStreetMap service, developed by users themselves. But for the most comfortable work with the program, you will have to pay a small amount - after that, absolutely all restrictions will be removed from you.

News

The most useful applications for Android in 2017 should also be able to provide a person with information. You can now read the news on various websites. Google Now provides them. Some branded shells also show them. But sometimes even this is not enough. In this case, we recommend that you download RIA Novosti. This application is from the same name information resource. Here all the news is sorted into categories. But most importantly, the program has a “Photo Gallery” section. It is a must-visit for anyone who wants to see the agenda but doesn't want to read the text. RIA Novosti also creates excellent infographics that will appeal to absolutely everyone.

Alternative: There are hundreds of news aggregators on Google Play. For example, Flipboard commands respect. This is a kind of digital magazine with appropriate layout and animation, compiled, among other things, by the users themselves. An equally interesting option is Meduza. It contains not only text notes, but also tests with mini-games.

Video players for Android

Smartphones and tablets are often used to watch movies. In this case, you need a video player. By default, the device is usually installed with a low-functional application that is not even capable of displaying subtitles. Therefore, we recommend downloading VLC to your device. This is an excellent player with a lot of features. It understands subtitles of different formats, and allows you to customize their display. Among the supported video formats, there is almost everything here, right up to DVD ISO! Now this is a real hit, which has been downloaded by more than 100 million people.

Alternative: many video players have approximately similar functionality. For example, MX Player performs well. And some will prefer the paid nPlayer, which officially supports DTS Headphone X and DTS HD. It also allows you to work with streaming services and cloud storage.

Internet browsers

By default, many smartphones are equipped with a relatively good Internet browser. But many people lack its capabilities. In this case, it is better to download Google Chrome to your device. And you definitely need to get them if you have a similar browser on your computer! This is one of the best products Google- it has full synchronization (even passwords are transferred from the computer), and Internet pages are opened as quickly as possible. The application also has a traffic saving mode, when pages are first compressed on the developer's server. In a word, you can talk about this program for a long time - you better familiarize yourself with it.

Alternative: Free, useful Android apps include many browsers. Some of them differ from Google development by supporting plugins that expand the capabilities of the application. For example, the Firefox browser can boast of such a function. And some people like UC Browser, which makes it much easier to search for videos and adequately blocks ads.

Messengers

Messaging applications were used even in the days of push-button mobile phones. Well, now such programs have reached a completely new level. One of the most popular applications of this kind is WhatsApp. Surely many of your friends have it - that’s the only reason you need to install it. It also makes it much easier to transfer media files to another person. You should also like the application interface, designed in a very nice manner.

Alternative: gradually more and more people prefer to download Telegram to their smartphone. The most intelligent encryption is implemented here - an unauthorized person will definitely not be able to gain access to your correspondence. And in terms of other functionality, this application does not disappoint at all. Viber is also very popular now, but most often this program is used for making video calls.

File managers

A very controversial type of application. No one argues that useful programs for Android should include utilities of this kind. But in fact, the vast majority of smartphones come with a pre-installed “explorer”, the capabilities of which are more than enough for many people. But if you are one of the select users who are trying to maximize the functionality of their device, then pay attention to ES Explorer. It is distributed free of charge, providing access to almost all files contained on the device or memory card. Moreover, the application can be connected to cloud storage - a variety of services are supported. There is also FTP support, which should appeal to site owners. Other features of the utility include support for working with archives in ZIP and RAR formats.

Alternative: You can also download and install X-Plore. This file manager first appeared on operating system Symbian. Its main difference lies in the special display of the file system - it is displayed in the form of a tree.

Translators

Quite often we turn to text written in a foreign language. For example, this can happen when visiting a foreign site. In this case, we need a translation of a note or an entire article. And certainly useful travel apps for Android should have this function. Google Translate is the best solution for this task. As they say, the search giant ate the dog on automated text translation. For some time now, his creation has been able to translate even signs and road signs - you just need to launch the application and point the camera at them (or open a previously taken photo). And you don’t have to be connected to the Internet - 52 languages ​​are translated offline. Interestingly, the application even recognizes handwritten input.

Alternative: Oddly enough, Google's product simply has no competitors. Almost all applications of this kind are very far behind in their development. But you can try Yandex.Translator - its developers are mainly busy improving the translation function into Russian, without scattering their efforts on other languages.

Weather forecasts

Nowadays, many people use their smartphone to check the weather forecast. We recommend installing Gismeteo Lite for these purposes. This is a program from a well-known weather service. It has installed hundreds, and maybe thousands of meteorological stations throughout Russia. In this regard, the forecasts of this service quite often come true. At the same time, in the application you can see the weather forecast not only for the next couple of days, but also for the whole week. You will also receive a set of widgets that display the current weather.

Alternative: if you decide to download useful applications on Android by visiting Google Play, you will find dozens of all kinds of weather widgets. The best program of this kind is eWeather HD. Why didn't we mention it first? It’s all very simple: they charge about 200 rubles for its use. But if you don't skimp, you'll get the most comprehensive weather forecast from two weather agencies. There is a barometer, forecast geomagnetic storms, information about earthquakes, surface temperatures of oceans and seas, tide indications, moon phases and much more.

Music players

Almost every smartphone owner uses his device to listen to music. And it is extremely rare that a pre-installed player is used for these purposes. Usually, a creation of third-party developers is installed instead. For example, PowerAMP might be a good choice. Yes, after 14 days of using the application you will have to pay. But you will get a music player with very wide functionality. There is a competent sorting of tracks, cutting off areas with silence, a well-thought-out equalizer and many other useful features. You can upload covers manually or rely on automation - it will download them from the Internet. The program also has excellent widgets.

Alternative: If you need a free audio player, we recommend downloading AIMP. Many people use this application on both their computer and smartphone. There is support for playlists and many audio formats. In general, the program is only slightly inferior to its paid counterparts.

Useful Android apps for dessert

It's difficult to classify Shazam into any separate category. This is the most unusual application. It allows you to understand what is coming from nearby speakers right now - you just need to turn your smartphone towards the sound source. Some songs are identified literally in a matter of seconds! Others take a little longer to identify. There are practically no mistakes. The only disappointing thing is that the program will not let you download an MP3 - it will only give you a link to a track available for purchase on Google Music.

And also: a smartphone can even help in finding cheaper food products. To do this, you just need to install Edadil or some other similar application (they are in Lately is getting bigger). In fact, the program is an aggregator of discounts in large supermarkets. Convenient sorting is implemented here; the products you like can be added to “Favorites”. By the way, the application contains not only food, but also cosmetics, children's products and many other everyday items. After all, supermarkets have been selling not only food for quite a long time.

Summarizing

In this article, we tried to look at many useful applications for smartphones and tablets. But believe me, in reality there are many more. We did not touch on the topic of e-readers, alarm clocks, calculators, calendars, fitness applications and other global topics. However, stay tuned for new articles! Tell us in the comments: which apps do you find most useful?