You have just received or gifted yourself an Android smartphone or tablet and perhaps you want to take full advantage of it. So it's time to choose the right apps to install. Here is a selection of the best Android apps, essential to download to get started.
On the Google Play Store (and its alternatives), you can find millions of applications of all kinds, some unnecessary and others particularly practical. It is sometimes difficult to navigate this jungle of content, especially when you buy a new smartphone, that you are offered one, or that you come from another ecosystem such as that of Apple iPhone.
Here is a selection of the best essential applications to download and install on Android, other than the essential Facebook and Twitter for some or Instagram and TikTok for others. Note that if you buy an app from the Google Play Store and it isn't right for you, you have two hours to request a refund.
For the pictures
Take photos, edit them, send them… It's not always very easy with the basic Android apps. Google Photos is essential for its ability to save all your photos while offering some easy editing tools.
To learn more
Our selection of the best photo editing apps
Be careful, however, to the new policy of the Mountain View firm which puts an end to free unlimited storage.
Google Photos
Download Google Photos Free APKWe would not recommend you highly enough too PhotoScan. This application allows you to scan your printed photos into Google Photos, from a photo album or under a glass frame. Your family, school or childhood memories are scanned in seconds, cropped and enhanced automatically. It may not serve you every day, but it is still a pleasure when used.
Google PhotoScan
Download Google PhotoScan Free APKWith Snapseed, you will be able to perform precise and varied retouching. It is really a rich and pleasant application to use.
Snapseed
Download Snapseed Free APKFor music
For music, we really advise you to give a chance to Youtube music, now preinstalled on most Android smartphones. Besides the fact that the service has improved a lot in recent months, you often have between one and three months of subscription offered with a new smartphone, which is far from negligible. You will be able to find the musics and covers available on the enormous library of YouTube, and finally because you can sometimes enjoy YouTube Premium for a few euros more and that this will allow you to remove the advertisements from the service.
YouTube Music
Download YouTube Music Free APKWe must obviously also direct you to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music or Deezer. For the more music lovers, the preference will perhaps go to Qobuz or Tidal. As the choice is not obvious, do not hesitate to consult our ultra complete file comparing the different streaming music services.
To learn more
Which music streaming service to choose
For videos
Here are the two video players that we can recommend with your eyes closed and which play almost all video formats. First of all VLC, which is a benchmark for both computers and smartphones, while remaining completely free and open source.
VLC
Download VLC Free APKXPlayer offers an ultra pleasant interface - especially thanks to its very elegant dark theme. The player supports all video formats, 4K content, and plays them in high definition.
To learn more
The best video players on Android
It also takes into account subtitle files and has a private folder to store your confidential videos. XPlayer is available in a Premium version to get rid of advertisements, but these are already very discreet on the free version.
Video Player All Formats - XPlayer
Download Video Player All Formats - XPlayer free APKFor series, films, animes ... and for television
We no longer present the essentials Netflix, Amazon, Prime Video or even Disney +.
Netflix
Download Netflix Free APKAmazon Prime Video
Download Amazon Prime Video Free APKDisney +
Download Disney + Free APKIf your thing is more Spanish production or HBO series (Watchmen, Chernobyl, Westworld, etc.), we recommend the service OCS while myCanal offers you a nice catalog with in particular the Canal creations. For a truly enlightened choice, we especially recommend that you read our comparative report of the different SVoD platforms.
To learn more
The DRM problem on Android
We have even concocted a similar comparison for you, but dedicated to Japanese animes! You will be able to choose between Anime Digital Network, Crunchyroll et Wakanim to recite nobody else but them.
Finally, to watch Spanish TV comfortably, the best thing to do is to go through the application. Molotov, which also allows direct enjoyment of TNT channels and other services. We greatly appreciate this editorial service!
Molotov
Download Molotov Free APKFor games
There are tons of great games out there on Android, and we've written several themed guides to help you choose. We are forced to evoke Among Us. This title was a phenomenal success and it is well deserved!
To learn more
App of the week: I sabotage my friends' spaceship without getting caught
Between laughter and small betrayals between friends, the game is incredibly simple to take in hand and yet you can spend hours there.
Among Us
Download Among Us Free APKIf your thing is more to live adventures worthy of those that can be experienced in the games of the Zelda series, and more particularly Breath of the Wild, we highly recommend that you take a look at Genshin impact and its beautiful graphics. An epic journey awaits!
Genshin impact
Download Genshin Impact Free APKWe have a great selection of free Android games for you if these few suggestions are not enough for you. In addition, here is still a small list of video game applications that deserve a place of choice on your new smartphone.
Call of Duty : Mobile
Download Call of Duty: Mobile Free APKCard thief
Download Card Thief Free APKMonument Valley 2
Download Monument Valley 2 for € 5,49Finally, you can also consult our suggestions for games that work offline. It's always practical to get on a new smartphone!
To learn more
The best free games on Android
For cloud gaming
If you are fond of video games and rather fan of console or PC gaming, then you can go for cloud gaming services. There is a plethora of them today.
To learn more
Which cloud gaming service to choose
Google Stadia or the Xbox Game Pass service for example are very interesting for players on smartphones.
To learn more
Subscription services for your games
In addition, with the deployment of 5G in Spain - our package comparison is here just in case - cloud gaming has a bright future ahead of it to the point where one can even wonder if it will not become the best way. to enjoy the most greedy games in the long term.
Stadia
Download Stadia Free APKXbox Game Pass
Download Xbox Game Pass Free APKNvidia GeForce NOW
Download Nvidia GeForce NOW Free APKShadow
Download Shadow Free APKFor an even more complete experience, you can even embellish your new smartphone with a compatible controller.
For accessibility
Accessibility is an important point to address when looking at smartphones. It is indeed necessary to ensure that everyone can fully enjoy their Android device. There is still a lot of work to be done in this area, but fortunately some practical applications already exist.
To learn more
Technologies and disability: why everyone is concerned
Thus Rogervoice et Ava thus allow you to display what the hearing impaired cannot hear.
Rogervoice: deafness and telephony
Download Rogervoice: deafness and telephony free APKAva - Subtitles for Life (Deaf / Hard of Hearing)
Download Ava - Subtitles for Life (Deaf / Hard of Hearing) Free APKLet us also quote Action Blocks from Google, which is reorganizing the interface of smartphones in order to make certain elements easier to access so that people with motor problems can use their device more quietly.
Action Blocks
Download Action Blocks Free APKTo go further, our accessibility-focused dossier presents applications in detail of applications of this kind.
To read the news
To take your news everywhere, there are a lot of solutions on Android. Le Monde, and more particularly its application The Morning, is surely what is done best to be able to know the news quickly every morning thanks to an article selection system.
The Morning of the World
Download La Matinale du Monde free APKThe application Feedly is essential to easily follow the news of its favorite sites, like Idroid of course. With the same principle, Flipboard offers quality content, organized by theme or according to your areas of interest. You can customize your space to see the topics that interest you first and even create your magazine by grouping articles. You can share it with your friends.
Feedly
Download Feedly Free APKThe application Google News is also a safe bet when it comes to obtaining information, always checking the quality of the media chosen as the source.
Google News
Download Google News Free APKObviously, our application Idroid can be found in this guide. We work every day to make it better!
Idroid
Download Idroid Free APKFor podcasts
Between music, podcasts, video… You really won't get bored.
To learn more
The best apps for listening to podcasts
For podcast management, the best of its kind for those who don't want to shell out too much is hands down Podcast Addict, both comprehensive, intuitive and above all free. You will find podcasts on all subjects, in English and Spanish.
Podcast Addict
Download Podcast Addict Free APKPocket Casts is free, with a paid subscription for some premium features. The application is also very popular and has the merit of being available on all mobile platforms.
Pocket Casts
Download Pocket Casts Free APKTo take notes
Always in your pocket or nearby, the smartphone is the ideal tool for quickly jotting down items. On the application stores, there are many choices in this category, and above all, there is something for everyone.
To learn more
The best tools for taking notes on Android
Google Keep is an application designed for taking little notes and getting to the point, old-fashioned Post-It style.
Google Keep
Download Google Keep Free APKMicrosoft OneNote is, for its part, much more complete and makes it possible to list notes on many subjects. It is the ideal tool for taking notes in class, for example, especially since the application also manages handwriting with a stylus.
From a simple shopping list to a full semester of classes to organizing a trip, OneNote is the go-to app in this category.
Microsoft OneNote
Download Microsoft OneNote Free APKAlso try Notion. In English and very rich in various options, this application is not easy to learn. But once you've got your bearings, you'll have the most comprehensive tool for taking notes and organizing the tasks of the teams you work with.
Notion - Notes, Tasks, Wikis
Download Notion - Notes, Tasks, Wikis free APKFor your to-do list
To organize yourself on a daily basis, it can be practical to create "To Do List", lists of things to do.
To learn more
The best "to do list" applications to organize your tasks
To keep it simple, we recommend Microsoft To-Do, inherited from the takeover of Wunderlist by the American giant.
Microsoft To-Do
Download Microsoft To-Do Free APKTo go further, it is rather towards Tick Tick that you have to turn. A universal application that offers a clean interface, but very complete.
TickTick - To Do List
Download TickTick - To Do List Free APKTo edit your documents
To quickly create a document to share with your contacts, the best is still Google Docs. The application is also very effective in quickly modifying a document created beforehand on a computer.
Google Docs
Download Google Docs Free APKNote that the Office suite Microsoft's official is available on the Play Store and is proving to be very effective. It allows you to edit your Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents. However, you must have a Microsoft 365 account to fully benefit from it.
Microsoft Office
Download Microsoft Office Free APKTo manage your files
Yes, on Android, file managers allow you to do a lot of things: copy, paste, cut, extract… All the tools are at your fingertips. Plethora of applications offer to organize your documents in a simple and efficient way.
To learn more
The best file managers
Google offers its own file explorer with Files by Google, which offers an easy-to-learn experience. It will even give you recommendations to free up space on your smartphone and even back up your files to the cloud.
Files by Google
Download Files by Google Free APKFor a very complete and versatile solution, the File Manager Plus editor has developed an application with an extremely sober name: File manager. It will just be necessary to ignore the very old design of the interface to take advantage of a slew of options thanks to which you will always easily find what you store on your device.
File manager
Download Free File Manager APKTo store files in the cloud
Managing your files online is even better to access them wherever you want. The two main clients for this are dropbox et Google Drive. OneDrive is also a solid alternative that works with a Microsoft account. Note that your operator can also provide you with online storage space, with a dedicated application.
dropbox
Download Dropbox Free APKGoogle Drive
Download Google Drive Free APKMicrosoft OneDrive
Download Microsoft OneDrive Free APKTo improve your keyboard
There are some really good alternative keyboards that can really improve your typing. The two market references are Swiftkey, one of the oldest and today under the control of Microsoft, and Gboard developed by Google directly as the default keyboard for Android.
Gboard: Google keyboard
Download Gboard: Google Keyboard Free APKSwiftKey
Download SwiftKey Free APK
To see more
The best alternative keyboards for Android
For your SMS
On Android, you can also use an alternative SMS client to the one installed by default.
To learn more
The best SMS apps for Android
The simplest, but effective, is none other than Google Messages. It allows you to manage SMS, MMS and even RCS chat. And you can play the complementarity with your computer to receive and send messages from it.
Google Messages
Download Google Messages Free APKTo take advantage of even more options, including end-to-end encrypted backup, the best alternative is Press SMS, whose interface uses Google codes to respect the consistency of its ecosystem. It is a very complete application and available wherever possible, to be able to write SMS from its connected devices. And she saves it all. You can therefore recover everything if you reinstall the app on another smartphone.
Pulse SMS (Phone/Tablet/Web)
Download Pulse SMS (Phone / Tablet / Web) free APKTo protect your device
In the “Security” category, we are certainly not going to recommend an antivirus. Common sense will be your best ally: don't take apps anywhere and watch them by avoiding giving them access to information that would be useless to function.
However, we recommend that you install the application Locate my device which allows you to find or erase your smartphone remotely (in case of theft).
Google Find my device
Download Google Find my device free APKTo manage your passwords, we recommend Bitwarden, our favorite application. It is free, open source, free and available everywhere, and offers easy autocomplete password fields in your favorite applications.
Bitwarden - Password manager
Download Bitwarden - Free Password Manager APKAlternately, 1Password et Dashlane are references. Our selection of the best password managers will guide you to make the best choice.
To customize the interface
Manufacturers generally modify the interface of Android. The operation can be successful, but sometimes it can slow down the user experience. Fortunately, on Android, you can do everything, including changing the "launcher".
Since Google Now Launcher is no longer available, Nova Launcher is THE reference in the field.
Nova Launcher
Download Nova Launcher Free APKFor a different, but effective experience, you might like the Microsoft Launcher.
Microsoft Launcher
Download Microsoft Launcher Free APKFor traveling
In addition to the popular Google Maps, there are several apps we recommend for your getaways. The first is CityMapper, which provides access to the best of public transport in several cities around the world.
Citymapper
Download Citymapper Free APKFeel free to use the app Transit, a competitor of CityMapper which has the merit of displaying the location of the buses in real time, and of pooling data between users of the service in a practical way.
Transit
Download Transit free APKOf course there is also the essential Waze if you take the road. It is quite simply the benchmark for free GPS navigation applications.
Waze
Download Waze Free APKAlso think about practical applications indicating the state of the traffic in real time in order to avoid annoying traffic jams.
To connect your computer and your smartphone
It is possible to create real links between your computers (PC, Mac or whatever you want) and your Android smartphone. To do what ? Access your phone remotely, write your SMS on the keyboard, easily transfer files… The solution offered by Microsoft - Your Mobile Assistant (Your Phone) - deserves your attention.
Assistant Your Phone
Download Your Phone Assistant for Free APKFor a smooth experience, we direct you to these two how-to tutorials:
- How to Remotely Access Your Android Apps on Windows 10 PC
- Microsoft Your Phone: how to control your smartphone with your PC
Conversely, you can access your PC from your Android device, with Chrome Remote Desktop.
Chrome Remote Desktop
Download Chrome Remote Desktop Free APKTo manage your money
A smartphone also allows you to better manage your budget, in particular by gathering information from your bank account (s). In the matter, Linxo allows you to know your balance, your last transactions and sort them to better manage your money.
Linxo
Download Linxo Free APKTriCount this time allows you to organize your expenses with friends. For example, during a group trip or in a roommate. The application collects all the expenses of the group and allows you to calculate what each must pay. It is also a favorite of the editorial staff!
Tricount
Download Tricount Free APK
To see more
The best apps to manage your budget like a pro
For the weather
Access the weather forecast from anywhere, the dream. And there are plenty of apps available to you for that. Spain weather ou Carrot will do the job just fine for the simplest forecasts, while Meteociel will go much deeper into the information given.
Spain weather
Download Weather Spain Free APKCarrot
Download Carrot Free APKMeteociel
Download Météociel free APKTo automate a whole lot of things
You can automate all the tasks you want. Would you like some examples ? Send an SMS automatically when you get home, activate WiFi when you arrive in the open-space, upload your photos to Dropbox and Google Drive at the same time or even automatically post your Instagram photos on Twitter ... Bags et IFTTT allow you to do thousands of useful and unnecessary things.
To learn more
IFTTT: our favorite recipes!
For patient people who aren't afraid to experiment, as setup can be a bit tedious.
IFTTT
Download IFTTT Free APKBags
Download Tasker at € 3,59For widgets
Widgets have long been the hallmark of Android - before iOS 14 allowed iPhone owners to experience these joys. There are thousands of them, to make your life easier and easier to access key application features directly on the launcher. The ones we use and strongly recommend: Beautiful Widgets (which also offers a paid version), but above all KWGT Kustom Widget Maker which we were able to demonstrate.
Beautiful Widgets Free (version gratuite)
Download Beautiful Widgets Free (Free Version) Free APKKWGT Kustom Widget Maker
Download KWGT Kustom Widget Maker Free APKFor everything and nothing
And in bulk, to finish. Google Translate which now allows to translate dialogues on the fly, but also to use the camera to translate billboards on the fly. As for alarms, it is an excellent alarm clock thanks to which you are sure not to have pillow failure. Latest practical application: Wikipedia . Because there will always be an answer to one of your questions.
Google Translate
Download Google Translate free APKalarms
Download Alarmy free APKWikipedia
Download Wikipedia free APKAnd to simply secure your smartphone, we have a dedicated guide with advice to follow.