5 essential apps I install on every new Android phone
I’ve been using Android phones for over 15 years and it’s hard to imagine how many apps have graced my home screen in that time. However, a few favorites have risen to the top in recent years. I feel safe calling them essential.
But what makes an app “essential,” anyway? I guess it’s different for everyone. For me, these are apps that I use every day. Apps that are not pre-installed on a new phone. I have to go out of my way to install these apps from the Play Store, and these are the first ones I connect to.
Paprika
For many years, I juggled a handful of accounts on various recipe apps. I lived with this disorganized mess because I didn’t want to pay for a better solution. Paprika was an app that I knew people liked, but I also knew that its best features were paid for, so I never gave it a fair chance. Boy, was that a mistake.
The problem was that I didn’t fundamentally understand the superpower of Paprika. This is not just a revenue aggregator. It eats up wordy, poorly formatted recipe blog posts and spits out clean, uniform recipes with easily adjustable portions. All of these recipes can be organized into categories, added to grocery lists, and put on a meal calendar. It absolutely changed my life and I use it every day.
Firefox
Like many Android users, Chrome has long been my favorite browser. I had a brief fling with Microsoft Edge, but a few years ago I completely switched to Firefox on my phone and PC. It was one of the best decisions I made.
What I really like about Firefox is the browser sync that actually works. Chrome claims to sync browsing history and tabs, but I’ve never been happy with it. I found myself constantly typing into the address bar, looking for a page I had recently viewed, only for Chrome to act like it had never heard of it. Tab syncing is fine, but it was slow.
In my experience, Firefox is much better in both of these areas. When I type in the address bar to find a page in my history, it actually appears. It doesn’t matter if I already viewed it an hour ago or last month. Tab sync is so much more reliable that I actually use it. I have no desire to go back to Chrome.
Backdrops
Every time I post a photo of my phone online, there are inevitably comments asking, “What wallpaper is this?” The wallpaper is almost always from an app called “Backdrops”, and it’s one of the apps that has been with me the longest. I change my wallpaper almost every day.
What I like about Contexts is that it features original wallpapers created exclusively for the app. Almost every day new wallpapers are also added. In addition to this, there is a “Community” tab where people can upload their own as well. Honestly, this is the only wallpaper app you need.
Pocket castings
Pocket Casts and I go back, but we broke up at some point. I wanted to be able to play podcasts with my voice through Google’s smart speakers, so I started using Spotify for podcasts. Then, earlier this year, I ditched Spotify altogether, which meant a return to Pocket Casts.
If you’re more than a casual podcast listener, you’re really missing out by not using a dedicated podcast app. Pocket Casts is so much better than music-focused audio services that piggyback on podcasts. I didn’t realize how much I missed Pocket Casts until I started using it again.
Guava
Last up is an app that has only recently entered “essential” territory. I’ve tried many health and fitness apps throughout my life, but I never felt like they were using my data enough. What’s the point of telling me I didn’t sleep well if there are no concrete suggestions to improve it? I know I didn’t sleep well.
I was hoping Android’s Health Connect feature would help, but ultimately you need an app that can work with data. Guava is that app. It syncs with a huge library of health and fitness services, can connect to medical facilities for automatic upload of test results, and allows manual reporting for many things. Guava can then analyze all of this information and look for correlations. This is what I always wanted in a health app.
