Best Android Apps from MakeUseOf.com
JuiceDefender
Tweaks device settings for maximum battery life.
Llama – Location Profiles
A handy automation utility, less versatile than Tasker, but free.
Sanity
Filters calls, announces callers via audio, records calls, and can even automatically answer calls.
Shush! Ringer Restorer
An application that lets you silecen your phone for a set time, and then un-silences it.
Silent Time Pro
Silences the phone according to a weekly schedule, in case you find Tasker too complex. $1.99
Tasker
The ultimate automation utility — some people buy an Android device just to use it. $6.49
eBuddy Messenger
A chat client for multiple networks, including MSN, Facebook, and more.
chompSMS
An alternative SMS application with its own optional SMS service for cheaper rates
Go SMS Pro
A fancy replacement for the built-in SMS utility, with theme support.
imo.im
An IM client for Skype, Facebook, Google Talk, MSN, ICQ/AIM, Yahoo, Jabber, Myspace. Woah.
Postman: SMS Spam Blocker
A simple, powerful way to filter spam text messages. Helps tune out the noise.
Skype
It’s bloated, it’s quirky, but it’s Skype. Absolutely essential for long-distance calls.
SMS Popup
If you don’t use Go SMS Pro, install SMS Popup to instantly see new SMSes.
Viber : Free Calls & Messages
A VoIP client that lets you call and text other users for free, worldwide. Very popular.
Xabber
A simple chat client for XMPP (Jabber) networks like Google Talk, Facebook chat, and more.
AnkiDroid flashcards
Memorize information efficiently while on the go with Anki’s smart algorithm.
AnyMemo Free
A flash card application for memorizing information.
Kindle
A fantastic reading experience. Stays in sync with your “real” Kindle.
Kobo
If Kindle isn’t your cup of tea, try this alternative reader.
TED Air
Provides a way to watch TED talks on your device. Get smarter on the go.
Wapedia
Wikipedia’s mobile website is good. Wapedia is better. Also supports other wikis.
WolframAlpha
Amaze your friends with crazy facts and figures. How much sodium is in a banana? $1.99
Aldiko Book Reader
A customizable book reader which also lets you purchase books from within the app.
Moon+ Reader
An very customizable ebook reader with full-screen support, rich gestures, and lots more.
Beautiful Widgets
Check out the weather or the time in style with these huge, gorgeous widgets. $1.99
Colors
Lets you set a solid color as your wallpaper. Nice and simple.
Embiggen
Display short messages in huge, full-screen text that can be clearly read from meters away.
Pattern Wallpapers
A collection of beautiful, soothing pattern wallpapers. They say there are over a million of them.
WeatherBug
Check out the weather everywhere in the world in excruciating detail, synoptic maps and all.
WP Clock
A huge, in-your-face, live wallpaper with the time, date, battery and Wi-Fi network.
3D Weather Widget
A large time/weather widget, similar to HTC Sense or Beautiful Widgets, but free.
Alchemy
Drag and drop elements to create surprising combinations. Hunter + mouse = cat.
Angry Birds
Needs no introduction. All levels for free. Get Angry Birds Rio too, teach those pigs a lesson.
Bubble Break
Pop those bubbles! Supports multiple color schemes, has color-blind mode.
Chalk Ball Lite
Draw chalk lines to keep the ball from falling off the screen and bounce it onto other balls.
Flood-It
A color-based puzzle/strategy game that’s color-blind friendly, too.
Fruit Slice
An arcade game with fancy graphics and lots of juice splashing on the screen.
Game Dev Story
Grow your game company into an empire. Kept me fascinated for over a week. $2.50
Jet Car Stunts Lite
A brilliant use of Spartan graphics to create an action-packed racer.
Kongregate Arcade
Access Kongregate’s addictive casual games on your Android device.
Roll It
A brain-twisting puzzle in three dimensions.
Wordfeud Free
A minimalistic take on Scrabble. Supports random boards, too.
Words with Friends Free
Play Scrabble with your iOS-toting friends. Has its quirks, but has improved immensely.
Android Sudoku
A feature-packed free Soduku game with multiple game modes.
Stair Dismount
A physics game where you get to throw a ragdoll around with abandon. No gore, but lots of impact.
Endomondo
Social sports training. Compete against your friends, get real-time feedback.
Gentle Alarm
The best alarm clock money can buy, at least for Android. $2.85
Sleep As Android
An alarm clock that uses motion sensing to monitor the quality of your sleep.
KeepTrack Pro
Lets you track just about anything, from weight to happiness. $2
Libra – Weight Manager
Log your weight. An essential part of my morning routine. Syncs with DailyBurn and Withings.
My Tracks
Uses the GPS to plot your whereabouts on a map. Great for jogging and hiking.
Petometer
Track your walks with your dog — time, distance, pace, and route.
RunKeeper
Fantastic guided fitness training, with a powerful website. Not just for running.
JEFIT
Massively popular weight training and bodybuilding app, with a workout planner, workout logs and a companion website.
Apex Launcher
A powerful, customizable launcher for ICS (Android 4.0) devices.
Nova Launcher
Another powerful launcher for ICS; the one I personally use.
Gesture Search
Draw letters on the screen, and it finds the app you want to launch. By Google.
GO Launcher EX
Launcher of choice. Feature-packed, yet still lean.
SwipePad
Launch your favorite apps in a flash, from any app. Transformed my Android experience — a must-have.
Wave Launcher
Similar to SwipePad but with a different look. Supports fewer apps. $1.99
MX Player
A do-it-all video player with zooming, multi-core decoding, and more.
Tuner – gStrings Free
A handy app for tuning many musical instruments.
doubleTwist Player
Sync your Android device with iTunes. Requires free Windows/Mac companion app.
Jango Radio
A free, unlimited personal radio application
PlayerPro
A powerful, skinnable audio player with advanced filtering capabilities. Pricey. $4.99
Shazam
Competes with SoundHound. Tries to figure out what music is playing in the background.
Slacker Radio
Unlimited, free, customizable radio. US-only.
SoundHound
Identify any song playing in the background. A direct competitor to Shazam.
Winamp
The classic audio player for llama lovers comes to Android. Free and awesome.
PowerAMP
A powerful audio player, supports multiple formats, downloads missing album art, and much more.
TuneIn Radio
Listen to radio stations from all over the world; a great way to discover new music.
NodeBeat
Create beautiful soundscapes with this visual musical instrument; great for jamming.
PicsArt – Photo Studio
A lovely, simple, photo editor with effects and clipart.
Camera360
A very powerful camera app with built-in effects.
Instagram
Oh, just a little phothography app you may have heard of. Owned by Facebook, installed over 50 million times.
Little Photo
Add funky effects to your photographs. Insanely popular and free.
FxCamera
A free (ad-supported) camera application with several effects.
Retro Camera
Emulates several old cameras, funky graphics and all.
Snapseed
An amazing photo editor with tight Google+ integration and gorgeous effects.
Vignette
A powerful, menu-driven camera app with lots of manual control options, 84 effects and 59 optional frames.
QuickPic
A photo gallery replacement with a strong emphasis on speed and responsiveness.
Do it (Tomorrow)
A simple, effective to-do list with a nice bit of style.
TouchDown for Smartphones
For corporate types: Syncs contacts, email, and calendar with Exchange.
Out of Milk Shopping List
An easy to use shopping list app that can double as a to-do list.
Gtasks
A swanky-looking to-do list that syncs with Google Tasks.
Call Blocker
Keep pesky callers out of your phone with this simple app.
AnyDo
A slick to-do list utility.
Astrid Task
A to-do list manager that syncs with Google Tasks and Producteev.com.
Barcode Scanner
Makes sense of those square squiggles everybody’s pointing their phones at.
Call Log Calendar Free
Saves calls and SMSes on to Google Calendar, optionally with location info. Great for billing clients.
Catch Notes
A fast notes application for text, voice, images and locations. Syncs with catch.com.
Dropbox
The official app. Doesn’t support continuous sync, but allows access to your files when you need it.
DropSpace
Uploads files from SD onto Dropbox whenever they change. Backup to the cloud.
Epistle
A minimalistic notes app that instantly syncs with Dropbox.
Evernote
The do-it-all notes application. If you use Evernote on Windows/Mac, this is a must-have.
Flick Note
A full-featured notes app with real-time Simplenote sync, tags, and more.
Floating Stickies
Name says it all, really. Sticky notes for Android! Well implemented.
Google Docs
The official client from Google. Edit your Docs on the go.
Habit Streak Pro
A fantastic way to keep track of daily habits using Seinfeld’s chain method. There’s a free version, too, but Pro is worth $3.
Ovo Timer
A super-slick and elegant timer app, with simple, one-handed operation and speech recognition.
ShopSavvy Barcode Scanner
Scan barcodes on store products and compare prices on the go.
Simple Notepad
A beautifully simple, powerful notepad app. Supports Dropbox sync, and is a joy to use otherwise.
Springpad
Gives Evernote a run for its money. Has a Web-based client too.
Taskos
A powerful to-do list manager with Google Tasks sync, customized categories, repeating tasks, and more.
Waze
A crowd-sourced GPS app, aware of traffic conditions. For drivers only (not pedestrians).
App Protector Pro
Selectively block access to certain applications. Can toggle locking as needed. $1.99
KeePassDroid
If you use KeePass on the PC, this is a must-have. Manage your passwords with absolute security.
Lookout Mobile Security
Scan for malware and manage your device remotely.
No Lock
The simplest way to toggle your device’s lock-screen. Widget included.
Pocket
An elegant password manager with easy categorization.
Press
A Google Reader client inspired by Reeder for iOS. Beautiful and classy. $2
SeekDroid
Find your device if it’s ever stolen. $0.99
Falcon Pro
A gorgeous Twitter client with sliding side panels and a slick interface. $1
GetGlue
A social recommendation engine for books, movies, and more. Available on the Web too.
HootSuite
A single app for Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. The mobile companion for HootSuite.com
Seesmic
Supports multiple Twitter accounts, as well as Facebook and Buzz. Features fast shortcuts.
TweetDeck
Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Buzz in one intense social feed.
UberSocial for Twitter
A powerful, customizable Twitter client. Used to be known as Twitdroid.
Plume
A Twitter client with a multi-column mode for tablets and extra-shiny graphics.
WhatsApp Messenger
A messenger application, like SMS but without SMSes.
Twicca
A beautiful, minimalistic Twitter client. Multiple accounts are “experimental”.
Nimbuzz
A text messaging and VoIP app which supports
importing friends from multiple networks, and has a desktop companion
for Mac and Windows.
AirDroid
Lets you manage your phone without touching it, from the comfort of a browser.
Fancy Widgets
Gorgeous clock and weather widgets for your home screen.
Google Drive
Access your Google Drive files right from your smartphone.
Lux Auto Brightness – Free
Automatic brightness settings as they should have been in the first place. Powerful and customizable.
Minimalistic Text
Lets you create stylish text widgets showing time and system data.
Hide It Pro
Protects your privacy by letting you hide photos and videos.
Amazon Appstore
An alternative Market. Offers a free daily app.
Full review
AppBrain App Market
An alternative Market with a smart recommendation engine.
DroidStats
An app with widgets for monitoring call, text, and data limits.
Elixir 2
A powerful way to toggle phone settings and get system information. Has a widget and status bar module, too.
ES File Explorer
A powerful file manager. Supports cloud storage, FTP, and of course, managing your device’s local files.
File Expert
A powerful file manager with a built-in FTP/HTTP server, SMB client and more.
NFC Task Launcher
Lets you use NFC tags and stickers to control your phone, put it on silent mode when you put it on the bed stand, and more.
ROM Manager
Download ROMs and flash your device seamlessly. Requires root access.
Root Explorer
An excellent file exporer for rooted devices. $4
SlideIT Soft Keyboard
A fantastic sliding keyboard, supports Colemak, Hebrew, and many other layouts.
Stats Free
Monitors and saves SMS, call and data usage so you don’t exceed your plan.
SwiftKey 3
A powerful keyboard with predictive text abilities. It knows what you’re going to type next. $1
Swype
A sexy sliding keyboard. Currently still in beta.
Titanium Backup
The must-have backup utility. Saved me numerous times. Rooted devices only.
Widgetsoid2.x
A powerful widget engine for creating beautiful, useful toggle widgets.
DiskUsage
For visualizing what is taking up all of that precious space on your SD card.
WiFi Analyzer
Use your phone to see in-depth info on all WiFi networks in range, and configure your own network for best connectivity.
Pocket
Mark things to read and watch later on the PC, then read and watch them with this app while on the go.
YouTube Remote
Control YouTube on any computer or Internet TV with this free app from Google.
mVideoPlayer
A powerful video player with subtitle support and built-in IMDB search.