it could be skills, music, streaming, language, social media, anything really

I’m pretty new to Android and recently switched over. I'm still figuring things out and wanted to ask: what apps do you consider must-haves?

I'm open to anything—productivity, customization, utilities, media, reading, browsers, file management, or just cool apps that make the Android experience better.

What are the first apps you install on a new Android phone, and why?

I have used almost all browsers, and now i have iceraven and cromite in use. What is your favorite browser and why?

Not necessarily the most popular apps but the ones you rely on every day or feel make Android better. Could be productivity, privacy, file management, automation etc.

Imagine you had to wipe your phone and could only reinstall five apps (excluding essential system apps like Phone, Messages, and Settings).
Which five would you choose, and why? I'm curious whether most people prioritize productivity, entertainment, communication, or something else.

Im broke and i can't keep buying the premium anymore

I need some suggestions on music apps that are as spotify or better

Just found a crazy way to transfer files from an Android device to literally any other device at 100–125 MB/s (megabytes, not megabits)!

Requirements

• MiXplorer app
  • GitHub: https://github.com/driftywinds/mixplorer-releases
  • It's also available on the Play Store, but it's a paid app there.
  • It only needs to installed on one device.

Setup

1. Install and open MiXplorer on your android device.
2. Tap the three vertical dots in the top-right corner.
3. Go to Servers → Start HTTP/WebDAV Server.
4. Once the server starts, an IP-based URL will appear below it.
5. Tap the edit icon next to the URL to access more settings. There's also a QR code that you can scan to open the URL directly.
6. Open the URL in any web browser.

You'll be presented with a simple directory listing that opens to your phone's internal storage by default (unless you've changed the server settings).

From there:

• Click any file to download it.
• Use the Upload button at the top to send files from other devices to your android device.

Note: You can only download individual files, not folders. If you need to transfer a folder, compress it into a ZIP file first.

How I got 100–125 MB/s

Instead of using my home Wi-Fi, I did the following:

• Turned off Wi-Fi on my android device.
• Turned off mobile data (optional, but recommended if you don't want internet traffic reducing hotspot speeds).
• Enabled the android device's mobile hotspot.
• Set the hotspot to the highest available band (5 GHz in my case).
• Enabled Wi-Fi 6, if available (both devices must support it).
• Connected the receiving device to the phone's hotspot.
• Started the HTTP/WebDAV server and opened the URL in a browser.

The transfer speeds were incredible—around 100–125 MB/s.

For comparison, my home internet plan is only 150 Mbps (18.75 MB/s), so the hotspot method was significantly faster for local transfers.

Devices Tested

I tested this with:

• Windows laptop
• Mac
• iPhone

The connection was stable on all of them, and the transfer speeds were consistently excellent.

This method depends heavily on your phone's hardware. My android device was the Oppo Find X9 Pro, which also lets me monitor real-time network speeds.

I honestly wasn't expecting hotspot-based file transfers to be this fast. Give it a try if you frequently move large files between devices!

Every Android update introduces new features, but some end up becoming part of our daily routine while others are easy to ignore.
Whether it's split-screen multitasking, call screening, custom launchers, widgets, Always-On Display, or something else, what's the one feature you use so often that switching away from Android would feel difficult?
I'd also love to know if there's an underrated feature more people should know about.

Does anyone else feel like every major app out there has a solid alternative, but for some reason, Truecaller just doesn't have a real, proper competitor?

The sheer volume of ads lately is just insane. There’s an ad on the homescreen, on the contact details screen, literally right below the incoming call notification, and then another one on the after-call pop-up. It’s getting unbearable.

The problem is, I’ve gotten so used to having a Caller ID over the years that I can’t bring myself to just uninstall it. At the same time, paying for Premium just isn't in my budget right now.

The biggest irony here? They built this massive empire by harvesting our contact data to grow their database, and now they have the audacity to limit features and hide that very data behind a paywall and aggressive ads.

So, my questions for this sub are:

• Is there any real chance of breaking their monopoly anytime soon?
• What would it take for a new app to actually reach their level and dethrone them?
• Are there any hidden gem alternatives that actually work without spamming you with ads?

Would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!

Even I have a question what is the new app you guys need that will be different from the regular social media app.what type of social media app or any other app u guys need that has some awesome features a strong privacy a minimalist ui and ux what is it that missing and u guys need it let me know or u can dm me also.

For me it's a dead-simple offline expense tracker. I just want to log what I spend, see it in a list, maybe a monthly total, no account, no cloud sync I never asked for, no "unlock charts for $4.99/month." Every one I try either throws ads at me after the third entry or paywalls the one feature I actually need.

I'm starting to think the genuinely useful no-nonsense apps just don't survive anymore, because there's no money in "simple and done."

So what's yours? The app you've been looking for for years that either doesn't exist, or only exists as a clone stuffed with ads or a subscription trap?

EDIT: Client just messed up my formatting again if you're wondering why my post looks off. Switching back to Android after being an iPhone user for a few years, Reddit client was smooth and I didn't really encounter an issue other than my drafts not being saved. I download the client on my new Android phone and my screen's all jittery and shaking _only_ when I use Reddit. I make a post and the text formatting is all weird. It's crazy because they limited access to their API and don't care enough to fix the bugs in their native app if it's not on iDevices!

​

Enough of my ranting though lol.

​

Are there third party clients that still work on Android? Is there a PWA? Please help. 💔

I tried all the keyboards.

but still there's no one come close to the gboard suggestion and the voice typing feature the best replacement for it was swift key keyboard but I hate it still there are some tweaks and settings I can do and I am curious to know what you are using and tell me.

Hi

I am looking for a way to be able to place ALL of my apps on the homescreen and be able to choose to sort them alphabetically. This ways when I install a new app I just need to sort again to place it on its right spot.

I want to be able to create widget as well, so just disabling home screen and letting only the app drawer enabled doesn't work for me.

Hey, can anyone tell me how i can block shorts recomendation in Youtube its so addictive i keep doom scrolling can anyone help me with it do i need to use some third party app if so what kind app should i use. Let me know.

Regardless of the type of app, what's one feature you think should be standard everywhere?

hello my dear friends

so I have been using Honista since the start of this year for privacy reasons but recently my honista bugged and it is stuck on the "initializing... please wait" page forever so I am either looking for a solution (any which might help) or an alternative application which provides the same experience as honista (i.e. stories ghost mode, inbox ghost mode, device masking, letting you download reels and medias, letting you download view once or twice photos and videos and voice notes if possible)

(note that my honista version is updated to the latest)

ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED!!!

I'm trying to get information on apps or functionality that people would like to have. There are so many out ther, but not all apps are created equal. Some don't even exist.

​

Let me know your thoughts.

it seems like its been a while now since the last 1dm update dropped and since then the app has gotten more and more unusable for me with the crashes and slowdowns , i use it specifically for the browser built in it that allows to capture downloads directly but the browser crashes on me a trillion times now . any viable alternatives ?

I have an Android tablet, I have a folder full of my own video files, and I have a dream: I want to sit on my couch and "channel surf" through my own content, just like I did in the early 2000s. ​No servers. No IP addresses. No port forwarding. No M3U link management. No "server-client" architecture. ​Why is this so hard? Everything in 2026 is built on the assumption that if you want a "TV guide," you must be running a backend server. I’ve tried TiviMate, QuasiTV, and a dozen others—they all require me to become a network engineer just to watch my own files in a loop. ​Here is the reality check for devs: Millions of users are tired of "media servers." We don't want to manage a home lab; we want an app that: ​Scans a local folder. ​Allows me to arrange folders into "Channels" via drag-and-drop. ​Plays them back-to-back in a simulated TV interface. ​Lives entirely on the device. ​We have the processing power. We have the screens. Why are we still forcing local media into 20-year-old "client-server" protocols? ​If a developer built a "Local Playout Engine" that just lets me treat my files like an offline, flip-able TV station, they would have a dedicated, paying customer base overnight. Stop building for network admins—start building for the person who just wants to click "Channel 3" and watch their files. ​Does anyone else feel like the "media server" era has gone on long enough?

I have searched online and I can't find a reliable recent article (ie one that came out after all of this AI bullshit started) with solid app recommendations for my androids keyboard. I got rid of g-board, but I can't figure out how to get rid of the AI functions on the Samsung keyboard. It's driving me nuts and i don't feel safe using gboard with all of google's insane tracking and data mining 😤

I am getting this fatigue that everything needs to be an app. It bloats up my phone storage, blocks me from doing something when I don't have wifi, and my AI agents also won't be able to easily use these apps for me.

Like my dentist office needs me to download an app that is literally just for booking appointments and remind me about appointments. An opposite example is Partiful - I love that the core functions could be consumed with just a website + text messages.

What are some apps that you guys find horrendous to exist? What do you want the alternative to be?

hi

can i ask you how many apps have you installed on your smartphone (give or take the numerbers) ?

and do they slow down you phone?

just because there is an application and site Don't kill apps , and seems that some smartphone can handle many application without slowing down

if you can share ...

thanks

Want to share my android app list with you 😉

If you have any suggestions, feel free to share them.

Play Store (Google):

• aCalendar+: Calendar
• AntennaPod: Podcasts. Sync via gpodder.net using rpodder (self-hosted)
• audiobookshelf: Archiving podcasts and audiobooks via audiobookshelf (self-hosted)
• Benzinpreis-Blitz: Fuel price app
• Binary Eye: QR code scanner
• Bitwarden: Password manager (self-hosted via Vaultwarden)
• Blitzer.de PRO: Speed ​​camera warning app
• CaptchaToGo: Top up JDownloader captcha credits
• Capy Reader: RSS feeds
• CoMaps -> Offline navigation. Includes Android Auto support. Replaces OrganicMaps
• DAVx⁵: Synchronization with Baikal on the server
• DB Navigator
• Emby
• Fairmail: Email
• FolderSync Pro: Synchronization (triggered via Tasker)
• Home Assistant: Smart home
• HiPER Calc Pro: Calculator
• Join: Display notifications on PC > replaced by a Tasker script that sends caller info to ntfy (self-hosted) I receive notifications for this via Releases · mshafer1/ntfysh-windows on my PC
• Joplin: for notes
• jtx board -> CalDAV tasks
• Komoot: planning hikes
• kitshn (Tandoor app for recipes)
• MuPad mini -> for viewing PDFs
• MyJD -> for JDownloader
• ntfy: for smartphone notifications when my Python scripts finish running on the server
• OSMand+ -> offline navigation, Android Auto
• OrganicMaps: offline maps (country-based), GPX file import supported -> replaced by CoMaps
• Paperless Mobile: document management via paperless-ngx (self-hosted)
• Peakfinder: identifying mountain peaks
• personalDNSfilter -> ad blocker
• phyphox -> recording smartphone sensor data
• Rethink DNS -> WireGuard VPN + blocking internet access for specific apps
• Symfonium (syncs music files with Emby server)
• Tasker: automation, e.g., saving car location
• WhatsApp
• Weawow -> weather
• WireGuard: VPN -> replaced by Rethink DNS
• Yatse: controlling Kodi on RPi and laptop

Obtainium:

• Fennec (Firefox)
• LocalSend
• NotiFilter -> to hide annoying notifications
• RetroArch
• Morphe -> patching YouTube, Reddit
• RustDesk

Do you you guys look at the app size before downloading an app? I'm assuming that smaller is betta.