Just bought your first Android device? Or are you already familiar with the system, but still looking for a few golden apps? Then quickly read which 25 indispensable Android apps we have selected for you. We'll just skip the well-known apps such as Twitter, Facebook and Google Maps, of course you already know them. What you will find are apps that allow you to email securely, edit photos professionally and monitor your Wi-Fi network. Almost all apps are free to download, some premium versions require a paid subscription.
1 Cam Scanner
No scanner at home? No problem, just use your Android device. With this app you take a photo of a document or physical photo. CamScanner recognizes the corners of the document and creates a two-dimensional image. The app also automatically reduces the file size so that you can immediately email the scan as a PDF file. Of course you can also choose to keep the original quality and save the file as an image. The free version places a small watermark in your file, the paid version (from 1.99 euros) does not have this.
2 Google Drive
Google gives you 15 gigabytes of free storage space, which you can use perfectly to store your documents in the cloud. Open text documents, spreadsheets and presentations and optionally download the appropriate app to edit these files. You can easily share files or save them offline for when you don't have an internet connection. If you need more space than 15 gigabytes, go for a Google One subscription (from 1.99 euros per month). With the Google One app you also immediately have an overview of how much of your storage data you have already used.
3 Moneon
If you always have a month left at the end of your salary, then it's time for a budget app. Moneon is one of the best, you create budgets so that you always have an overview of how much money you can spend on that cappuccino, for example. Entering transactions is very easy and you can add tags and categories to a transaction. At the end of the month it is possible to view a detailed report of your income and expenses. With a paid subscription you also manage budgets together with your partner.
4 Bring!
Never write messages analogously on a list again. With Bring! you do all this on your Android device. Indicate which messages should be delivered and you will immediately see them as a tile in the app. Once you have picked up an item in the supermarket, tap it and it will disappear from your list again. Handy is that you can easily share lists with your partner, so you are both exactly aware of which groceries still need to be done.
5 Relaxio
The Relaxio app is useful if you want to work quietly while talking colleagues or crying children are in your room. Put on your earplugs and choose one of the soothing sounds. You make your own combination of sounds. How about 30% campfire, 50% wind noises and 20% rustling leaves for example? You can also save your favorite combinations as a template for the next time you don't want to be disturbed. The app can also help you fall asleep.
6 Nova Launcher
Do you want more configuration options than your system offers? Then install Nova Launcher, one of the most complete launchers for Android. Decide for yourself which apps should be in which folders, what these folders should look like and what they should be called. Dock widgets, create multiple docks on one device, or choose wallpapers for all kinds of design elements, you can change almost anything with Nova Launcher. You will also find thousands of app icons to give your Android device(s) a uniform look.
7 Tapete
For visual changes to your Android system, Tapet is the place to be. The app generates backgrounds that you can then adjust to your own wishes. You change the backgrounds by swiping left, right, up or down. When you're happy with your artwork, save it to your photo gallery with a resolution of 2280 by 2280 pixels. You can also buy premium patterns from the app for 3.29 euros. With this purchase you can also set wallpapers as live wallpaper for your lock screen.
8 Cx File Explorer
The default file manager in your Android smartphone works well, but isn't quite as powerhouse as Cx File Explorer. You can see all your local files plus documents from cloud services such as Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive at a glance. In addition, Cx File Explorer shows in a very clear way how much storage you have left and which type of files are taking up the most space on your device. Extremely large files are marked separately so that you can easily delete them. Moreover, Cx File Explorer does not require much from your device and takes up almost no space.
9 ProtonMail – Encrypted Email
Google obviously wants you to use your Gmail address for email communications, but the company is known to read your emails for advertising purposes. If you really want secure mail on your Android device, install the ProtonMail app. You get a free account with 500 megabytes of space or a paid email address for 4 euros per month. Apps are available for Android, iOS and on your PC you can read and send your mails via your browser. All emails are stored encrypted on the ProtonMail servers in Switzerland, so no one has access to your messages.
10 Vending Machine
With this app, you can automate all kinds of processes and tasks on your Android phone. For example, you can set your WiFi to be turned on automatically as soon as you get home. As soon as you leave the house, Wi-Fi is turned off so as not to overload the battery unnecessarily. You create all automated processes via a clear flowchart and in the app you will find a lot of building blocks that you can use for your processes. Automate is a must-have app if you really want to be able to control everything in your Android system.
16 VLC for Android
If your Android system can't play a certain video file, then it's time for VLC for Android. The mobile version of the popular program VLC eats everything. Not only can you open video files with the app, VLC also opens compressed and uncompressed audio files such as flac, ogg and m4a with ease. With VLC you also have a media library at your disposal and the app offers support for multichannel audio and subtitles. The app also has filters and an equalizer on board.
17 Adobe Photoshop Express
Adobe has a ton of photo editing apps on the Google Play Store, but this one is by far the best known. Create collages from photos or rotate, flip and flip your images. For selfies, the app has functions on board to retouch spots and remove red eyes. Of course you will also find filters in the app: Adobe has selected about eighty for you. Photoshop Express is packed with features and it makes sure that you probably don't need another photo app on your Android device anymore.
18 TuneIn
If you like to listen to radio on your smartphone, it is smart to install the TuneIn app. The app has recently been redesigned and the radio functions are a bit hidden, but with the app you have access to hundreds of internet radio stations, including all Dutch channels. But even if you occasionally want to listen to Radio Brussels, BBC Radio 4 or the WDR, this is easy. You can save favorite channels and the streams are almost always up-to-date.
19 canvas
No more hassle with Paint to create a birthday card or invitation. Install the Canva app to create professional looking flyers, banners or posters. The app has many social media templates so you can quickly create a fun post with a cool font without any design experience. Canva can also be controlled from your browser as an online desktop version, and you can share designs with others or work in teams on specific projects. Of course you can immediately share your created artwork on Facebook or Instagram.
20 drops
Learning a language is an intensive and lengthy process. There are many apps in the Play Store that allow you to learn a language, but Drops takes a slightly different approach. The app is designed as a game and you have to link pictures to statements and words. The app keeps mixing everything up and after a few repetitions new words are stuck in your head. You only get five minutes to do this. Nice, because that way it's no problem to learn a few words. You must be able to speak English, because all languages are offered from English.
21 Opera Mini
Opera Mini is a smart little browser for your Android smartphone. In the app you can see how much data you have already used and you can choose to block the download of large files if you are not connected to a Wi-Fi network. Of course you can surf privately and you have access to tabs. Moreover, you do not necessarily have to search with Google's search engine, you can add websites to your home screen with one button press and Opera Mini has an ad blocker on board. All in all, Opera Mini is one of the most useful browsers for your Android device.
22 1.1.1.1
Every time you access the internet, you connect to a DNS server. This is, for example, the server of your internet provider, which forwards your request to the page you want to visit. Your provider can track your traffic, if you want to surf anonymously, it is more convenient to install the app 1.1.1.1. This app installs a vpn profile and lets you access the internet via Cloudflare's DNS server. The company says it keeps no logs, installation is super easy, and websites load quickly.
23 WiFi man
With WiFiman you always know how fast your WiFi network really is. You can see your network's upload and download speeds and save the results for later. If you want to share the results, this is of course also no problem. The app also allows you to learn more about networks that your device detects. Bluetooth LE devices are also listed. WiFiman looks wonderfully well-organized, is free to use and contains no advertisements.
24 Goose VPN
Occasionally it is useful to use a VPN server if you want to watch a certain football match or when a series or movie cannot be found in the Dutch Netflix database. Goose VPN is a paid VPN service of Dutch origin and has many different servers at home and abroad. You can already have a subscription from 2.99 euros per month. For this you can view 50 gigabytes via the Goose servers. The company has a 100 percent no-log policy, which means that it does not keep track of which sites you visit.
25 DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser
Searching with Google is useful, but be aware that Google stores and keeps track of everything about you. DuckDuckGo is a search engine that doesn't want to know anything about you and still delivers good search results. The app is a full browser and also ensures that no ads are displayed and that you are constantly private on the internet. If you want to visit a website, the app also displays a rating from A to F. This way you know whether the site you want to visit is safe.
