Android [Essentials] Android

[smileyhead]

Post the names of your favourite apps. Every vote grants an app one point. Bulk votes are not allowed.

Format: [app's name as it appears on Google Play, excluding any subtitles] ([short description]) - [score]
Apps with 2 points or less are hidden in spoilers.

*: Paid application; free version available
**: Paid application
$: Requires root access for some features
$$: Requires root access

Books & Reference

Spoiler

Bible Study app, by And Bible Open Source Project (Bible reader) - 2 pts
Wikipedia (Wikipedia reader) - 2 pts

Communication

Dolphin Web Browser (Internet browser) - 7 pts
Opera (Internet browser) - 6 pts
WhatsApp Messenger (Instant messaging service) - 4 pts
Skype (Instant messaging service) - 3 pts

Spoiler

Gmail (Email manager) - 2 pts
Google Chrome (Internet browser) - 2 pts
Handcent Next SMS (SMS manager) - 2 pts
Trillian (Instant messaging service) - 2 pts
Brave Private Browser (Internet browser) - 1 pt
Discord (Instant messaging service) - 1 pt

Entertainment

Netflix (Movie & TV streaming service) - 4 pts

Spoiler

IMDb (Media & celebrity database) - 2 pts
MALClient (MyAnimeList client) - 1 pt

Games

Angry Birds Classic (Casual game) - 10 pts
Sonic CD Classic (Action game) - 7 pts
Fruit Ninja® (Arcade game) - 6 pts
Angry Birds Rio (Casual game) - 5 pts
Cut the Rope (Puzzle game) - 5 pts
Minecraft** (Arcade game) - 5 pts
RetroArch (General emulator) - 4 pts
Flow Free (Puzzle game) - 3 pts
Fpse** (PlayStation 1 emulator) - 3 pts
Plants vs. Zombies (Strategy game) - 3 pts
Where's My Water** (Puzzle game) - 3 pts

Spoiler

Angry Birds Seasons (Casual game) - 2 pts
Canabalt HD** (Arcade game) - 2 pts
Death Worm* (Arcade game) - 2 pts
Doodle Jump (Arcade game) - 2 pts
Dragon, Fly!* (Arcade game) - 2 pts
DraStic** (Nintendo DS emulator) - 2 pts
Game Dev Story* (Casual game) - 2 pts
GBA.emu (GameBoy Advance emulator) - 2 pts
MAME4Droid (Arcade emulator) - 2 pts
MD.emu** (Sega Genesis, CD, Master System emulator) - 2 pts
Meganoid* (Action game) - 2 pts
Mupen 64 (Nintendo 64 emulator) - 2 pts
NES.emu (NES emulator) - 2 pts
Snes9x EX+ (SNES emulator) - 2 pts
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Classic (Arcade game) - 2 pts
Sonic the Hedgehog Classic (Action game) - 2 pts
Words with Friends Classic (Word game) - 2 pts
World of Goo (Puzzle game) - 2 pts
Alto's Odyssey (Action game) - 1 pt
ePSXe** (PS1 emulator) - 1 pt
FINAL FANTASY DIMENSIONS (RPG game) - 1 pt
FPse** - (PS1 emulator) - 1 pt
Magnet Balls** (Puzzle game) - 1 pt
My Boy! (GBA emulator) - 1 pt
osu! (Rhythm game) - 1 pt
Pokémon GO (AR game) - 1 pt
PPSSPP (PSP emulator) - 1 pt
Rusty Lake Hotel** (Adventure game) - 1 pt
Rusty Lake Paradise** (Adventure game) - 1 pt
Rusty Lake: Roots** (Adventure game) - 1 pt

Music & Audio

Google Play Music (Music player) - 3 pts
SoundHound (Ambient music recogniser & Spotify client) - 3 pts

Spoiler

Poweramp** (Music player) - 2 pts
TuneIn Radio* (Internet radio player) - 2 pts
AIMP (Music player) - 1 pt
Spotify (Music streaming service) - 1 pt
ViPER4Android FX (Music player) - 1 pt

News & Magazines

Spoiler

rif is fun for Reddit (Reddit client) - 2 pts

Personalisation

Nova Launcher* (Launcher) - 5 pts
ZEDGE (Wallpaper and ringtone downloader) - 4 pts

Spoiler

Magisk Manager $$ (Root manager) - 1 pt
Smart Launcher (Launcher) - 1 pt
Swift Installer (Theming engine) - 1 pt
Wallhaven (Wallpaper downloader) - 1 pt

Photography

Spoiler

QuickPic Gallery (Gallery manager) - 2 pts

Productivity

Microsoft SwiftKey Keyboard (Keyboard) - 7 pts
Dropbox (Cloud storage) - 4 pts

Spoiler

Alarm Clock Xtreme (Alarm clock) - 2 pts
Evernote (Note-taking app) - 2 pts
Google Docs (Word processor) - 2 pts
Acode (Code editor) - 1 pt
Google Keep (Note-taking app) - 1 pt

Shopping

Amazon Shopping (Web shop) - 6 pts

Social

Facebook (Social network) - 10 pts
Twitter (Social network) - 6 pts
Tapatalk* (Forum client) - 4 pts

Spoiler

PingChat (Social network) - 2 pts

Sports

Spoiler

MyTrails (Trail map) - 1 pt

Tools

ASTRO File Manager & Storage Organizer (File manager) - 10 pts
App2SD $$ (App manager) - 5 pts
Lucky Patcher $ (App patcher) - 4 pts
Newpipe (Internet video downloader) - 3 pts
Magisk Manager $$ (Root toolbox) - 3 pts

Spoiler

AdAway $$ (Ad-blocker) - 2 pts
Gboard (Keyboard) - 2 pts
Google Translate (Translator) - 2 pts
ROM Toolbox Pro** $$ (System tweaker) - 2 pts
Terminal Emulator $ (Terminal emulator) - 2 pts
TubeMate (YouTube video downloader) - 2 pts
Aurora Droid (FOSS app catalogue) - 1 pt
Blokada 5 (Ad-blocker) - 1 pt
F-Droid (FOSS app catalogue) - 1 pt
FlorisBoard (Keyboard) - 1 pt
FX File Explorer* (File manager) - 1 pt
Lawnchair (Launcher) - 1 pt
LibreTorrent (Torrent downloader) - 1 pt
MatLog (Log viewer) - 1 pt
RAR (File manager) - 1 pt
SD Maid* (File manager) - 1 pt
Termux $ (Terminal emulator) - 1 pt
Tasker** $ (Automatic settings-tweaker) - 1 pt
Total Commander $ (File manager) - 1 pt
Via Browser (Internet browser) - 1 pt

Travel & Local

Spoiler

Google Maps (World map) - 2 pts

Video Players & Editors

YouTube (YouTube client) - 12 pts
MX Player (Media player) - 8 pts
YouTube Vanced (YouTube client) - 3 pts

Spoiler

VLC (Media player) - 1 pt

 

[FancyNintendoGamer567]

Why is DraStic below the .emu ones?

 

[nxwing]

+1 for Youtube Vanced. If you hate ads, you should check it out. Also comes with a pure black theme for the AMOLED screens out there

 

[KokoseiJ]

Is SuperSU better than the magisk? To be honest I don't see any reason of using SuperSU over Magisk unless you are using android below 5.0.

 

[AmandaRose]

The First Final Fantasy Dimensions should be in the essentials list its every bit as good as any of the first 9 mainstream Final Fantasy games. Just nobody meantion the disaster that is Final Fantasy Dimensions II

 

[Ricken]

SuperSU + 5

ES File Explorer + 5

Is it still good to keep the list as is since some apps have been obsoleted or removed from the play store?

 

[Joom]

A bunch of stuff here is rather old. Titanium, for example, really isn't all that usable on Android 10. I've started using Lucky Patcher to handle backups and freezing, but of course, there's a lot more options out there now. ES File Explorer was also found to contain malware, no? I stopped using it for FX a good while ago, and never looked back. I also definitely wouldn't call Facebook essential unless being tracked all the time is a necessity. SuperSU and most other rooting solutions have also been largely replaced by Magisk. Anyway...Here's a lengthy list of the stuff I recommend:

YouTube Vanced (If you go looking for this, only get it from the vanced.app site) +1
NewPipe +1
Aurora Droid (F-Droid alternative) +1
LibreTorrent +1
Magisk +1
AdAway +1
MatLog +1
Termux +1
Viper4Android +1
DraStic +1
VLC +1
Brave Browser +1
FX File Manager +1
SD Maid +1
Wallhaven +1
My Boy! +1
Lucky Patcher (Only use releases by Mr. ChelpuS) +1
Swift Installer (Versatile themeing engine for both root and rootless) +1
RAR +1
Smart Launcher +1

 

[smileyhead]

I've finished updating the list. I've re-counted every reply in the original thread and looked through the list.
Here is a list of changes:

• Dropped anything with only one vote. Most of these apps are really old and obscure, and might even have been taken down.
• Dropped anything with generic names, like ‘File Explorer’ or ‘Navigation.’ These are impossible to track down.
• Dropped anything that has been taken down. I doubt y'all want to download the Adobe Flash Player app on a modern phone, for example.
• Dropped anything that is really old and hasn't been updated in a while (unless it's popular).
• Dropped some others mentioned by @Joom.
• Adopted a new format that primarily separates applications into categories instead of being solely based on score (though I might revert this based on feedback; it was just an idea).

 

[Ricken]

Guess I'll add my suggestions

- Magisk$$ +1
- Via Browser +1
- Lawnchair +1
- Adaway$$ +1
- YouTube Vanced$$ +1
- AIMP +1
- Acode +1
- Tasker**$ +1

 

[Flame]

Pokemon Go +1
Spotify +1
DraStic +1
ePSXe +1
FPse +1
PPSSPP +1

 

[Garcimak]

Total commander*$ (free files explorer w Lan/FTP plugin + adhoc wifi transfer )
Mytrails*$ (multiple client trekking gps )
google keep$ (note tool)

magisk +1
youtube vanced+1
mxplayer+1
poweramp +1

GAMES :
Rusty lake serie*
Lines*
Soccer Physics -(Otto-Ville Ojala)*

 

[Takokeshi]

Nearly a year later...

+1 for FlorisBoard

 

[termico]

Okay, not sure if this list is still being updated, but an adblocker like Blokada 5 (go for 5, the 6 is not free and not sure if is better) is almost essential now-a-days.
Other one i can recommend is f-droid, there you can find open source apps.

 

[mrmagicm]

Other one i can recommend is f-droid, there you can find open source apps.

Ok....So what open source apps do you recommend?? ^^

 

[SMNFXCN]

Don't remember seeing it on F-Droid but XDA. MiXplorer is a great file manager, and I wish more people knew about it. +1

You can get it on Google Play but it's paid. So just get it from XDA, it's free. There's many great things about it, but what I like is the themes, external device support, FTP and other types of server support. There's really no need to use some shitty, sketchy file manager with ads from the Play Store.

Another app I like is Retro Music, it has Material You design, and allows you to customize some parts of the interface. Such as showing the bitrate of your music, etc. Really just like it for the design. You can get it from Google Play or F-Droid +1

As a replacement for F-Droid you can use Neo Store which also has Material You design, and comes with multiple repos to choose from out of the box. +1

Ok....So what open source apps do you recommend?? ^^

Seal on F-Droid is a nice video downloader app that has the Material You design +1
it allows you to be really picky about the format/quality etc. it's similar to yt-dlp if you can remember the commands