{"id":149248,"date":"2020-01-06T09:14:55","date_gmt":"2020-01-06T09:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=149248"},"modified":"2025-07-01T21:25:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T04:25:41","slug":"essential-android-free-apps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/essential-android-free-apps\/","title":{"rendered":"New year new mobile? You need these essential Android apps going into 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Essential<\/p>\n

Everybody loves getting a new phone. Smartphones are fun and exciting because more and more they\u2019re becoming powerful beasts with processing power that rivals that found on laptops and huge amounts of RAM that make even the most resource reliant apps work smoothly. When you get a new phone though, it is like a blank slate. Sure, an Android phone can do almost anything but when you take it out of the box, it is limited to whatever basic apps that came with it.<\/p>\n

This is why today we\u2019re going to walk you through all the best\u00a0apps you need to install on your Android device. Check out our list of essential\u00a0Android apps.<\/p>\n

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More Softonic Articles<\/p>\r\n

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7 mistakes that put your internet security at risk \u25ba<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n \r\n

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8 tricks to boost your security on Google Chrome \u25ba<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

Android must-have apps<\/h2>\n

Core Features and Social Media<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There are a lot of essential\u00a0apps these days that could be described as offering your new Android phone its core features. Google apps like\u00a0Gmail<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Google Chrome<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0will likely come pre-loaded on your phone offering you an industry-leading email client and web browser. Even\u00a0Google Maps<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0provides a core mobile function these days. Other core apps, however, include messaging apps, which could be\u00a0WhatsApp<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook Messenger<\/strong>,or Telegram<\/a> for more private users. Another core feature could be video calls offered by\u00a0Skype<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"WhatsApp\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n WhatsApp Messenger<\/span>\r\n Download Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n \"Messenger\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Messenger<\/span>\r\n Download Messenger \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n \"Skype\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Skype<\/span>\r\n download free \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Finally, what is an Android\u00a0smartphone in today\u2019s modern world without a plethora of social media apps, each offering exclusive access to their own hip networks? You know your new phone needs apps like\u00a0Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter<\/strong>, and\u00a0Tik Tok.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Facebook\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Facebook<\/span>\r\n Download free \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n \"Instagram\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Instagram<\/span>\r\n Download Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n \"Snapchat\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Snapchat<\/span>\r\n Download Free \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n \"Twitter\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Twitter<\/span>\r\n Download Twitter Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n \"Tik\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Tik Tok<\/span>\r\n Download Free \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>9<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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LinkedIn<\/h3>\n

You could say that\u00a0LinkedIn<\/strong>\u00a0is just another social network, but you could also say that helping you find and stay in work elevates it above the triviality that we often attach to the other forms of social media. LinkedIn isn\u2019t for fun, which sets it apart from other social networks. Either way, you really should have LinkedIn installed on your Android\u00a0smartphone.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"LinkedIn\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n LinkedIn<\/span>\r\n download free \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Google Drive<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Syncing across multiple devices is important for pretty much every type of file. More than ever these days we start a job on one device and finish it on another. This is made possible by storing our files and folders on the cloud and then accessing them from wherever. The best service you can get for this on your Android phone is\u00a0Google Drive<\/strong>. As well as the cloud\u00a0storage, Google Drive also comes with a suite of apps you can download onto your Android phone. These include\u00a0Google Docs<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for word processing,\u00a0Google Sheets<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for making spreadsheets,\u00a0Google Keep<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for note-taking and lists, and\u00a0Google Photos<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for storing and viewing every photo you\u2019ve ever taken across all of your devices.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Google\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Google Drive<\/span>\r\n Download Google Drive \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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MiXplorer<\/h3>\n

A key app that is often overlooked by Android users is a competent file manager app. A good file manager will allow you to organize your device files and give you greater control of and access to key folders like Downloads and Photos. As Android allows for much greater customization than Apple\u2019s iOS for iPhone, a file explorer allows you greater control and also greater security when playing around with your phone\u2019s OS. We used to love ES File Explorer Pro, but that is no longer available on the Google Play Store. Now, however, we love the\u00a0MiXplorer file manager<\/strong>, which does everything we\u2019ve already mentioned and also gives Android users another key feature that is missing from their phones; a Recycle Bin for recovering lost files.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"MiXplorer\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n MiXplorer Silver File Manager<\/span>\r\n Download now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>10<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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LastPass<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t recommend\u00a0LastPass<\/strong>\u00a0enough. These days you need a password manager if you\u2019re going to secure all of your online accounts properly and LastPass gives you the best password manager you can get for free. LastPass\u2019s free version will sync your passwords across three devices meaning it\u2019ll secure logins on your desktop\/laptop\/Mac, mobile, and one other device. This is very important because most free password managers only work on one device, which means you\u2019ll need to switch the passwords between devices manually and this is much less secure.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Lastpass\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Lastpass<\/span>\r\n Download Lastpass<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Snapseed<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We mentioned Google Photos earlier, which itself comes with rudimentary photo editing capabilities.\u00a0Snapseed<\/strong>, which is also by Google offers much more, however, and is completely free to download. As well as basic cropping and rotating, Snapseed will also give you the chance to make advanced edits and put all sorts of cool filters and adjustments onto your photos. If you\u2019re serious about your social media presence or just want your photos to look as good as they should, download Snapseed now.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Snapseed\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Snapseed<\/span>\r\n Download Free \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Google Podcasts<\/h3>\n

Podcasts have become an essential part of modern life. They basically allow you to choose all of your favorite radio shows that you can then listen to whenever you want. Android users used to have to download third-party podcast apps like\u00a0Acast<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Castro<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and, of course, they still can although their free but not really free status can be annoying. Google, however, has now brought out its own podcast app imaginatively called\u00a0Google Podcasts<\/strong>, which is free and has almost every podcast series you could ever search for.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Google\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Google Podcasts<\/span>\r\n Download now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>9<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Netflix<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

OK, this one is subjective. Not everybody has a Netflix subscription, but enough people do for us to include it on our list. Downloading the\u00a0Netflix<\/strong>\u00a0app will enable you to download movies and shows that you can then watch later when away from your Wi-Fi connection. This means you get your fix without hitting your network mobile data allowance.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Netflix\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Netflix<\/span>\r\n Download Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Spotify<\/h3>\n

\"Spotify<\/p>\n

Again, this is another subjective one. Not everybody has\u00a0Spotify;\u00a0<\/strong>you could just as easily have\u00a0Deezer<\/strong>,\u00a0Apple Music<\/strong>, or\u00a0Google Play Music<\/strong>. Which one you have doesn\u2019t matter as although there are differences between them, they\u2019re not so big. Download whichever app you\u2019re subscribed to and instantly your phone is better than any iPod or MP3 player you\u2019ve ever owned.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Spotify\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Spotify<\/span>\r\n Download Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n \"Deezer\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Deezer<\/span>\r\n Download now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n \"Apple\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Apple Music<\/span>\r\n Download Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n \"Google\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Google Play Music<\/span>\r\n Download now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Wrapping up<\/h5>\n

With all the best\u00a0Android\u00a0apps we\u2019ve outlined today your mobile device is ready to go. You could download these apps and no others, and your phone would still be a powerful machine capable of everything modern life demands of it and you. Obviously from here, there are plenty of other apps you can download too if you’re a big shopper get the Amazon app for example and there are a whole host of alternative apps to the Google options we’ve outlined. These include the Microsoft Android apps including OneDrive and other apps like Evernote and Dropbox. We just wanted to give you and your new phone a solid foundation to build on.<\/p>\n

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More about Android<\/p>\r\n

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How to block texts on Android \u25ba<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n \r\n

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Android antivirus apps aren\u2019t as useful as you think they are \u25ba<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n

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How to find your lost or stolen Android phone or tablet \u25ba<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n \r\n

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How to save battery on your Android \u25ba<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These are all the essential apps you need to download on your new Android phone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9073,"featured_media":149253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[3150],"tags":[1082,1068,1036,1027,1035],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-149248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-android","tag-google","tag-productivity","tag-security","tag-social-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325386,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149248\/revisions\/325386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149248"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=149248"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=149248"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=149248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}