Here are our picks for the best Android apps from the Google Play Store that we use every day. Whether you are looking for a perfect app to scan your documents, take notes or edit videos, we have a recommendation for you.

All Android apps mentioned the list can be downloaded from the Play Store for free though some do offer inexpensive in-app purchases for unlocking premium features. Also, the list of essential apps skips commons apps like Google Drive, Google Photos, WhatsApp, Google Maps or Gmail since they are factory-installed on most newer phones.

Also see: Alternatives to Top Android Apps

The Best Android Apps of all Time!

Authy Authy generates 2-Step Verification codes on your phone. If someone manages to know the password of your online account, they still can't get in without the generated code.

Cast Box A free podcast app with a super clean layout and a better discovery engine for finding new podcasts. It includes in-audio search and your podcast subscriptions get synced to the desktop.

NewPipe The best Android app for playing YouTube videos in the background while you work on other apps. Includes audio and video download capabilities as well and thus is missing from the official store.

FakeGPS Easily fake your location on the mobile phone. Any app or website that uses location - Foursqaure, Google or even Maps for example - will think you are in the other place and serve different results.

fooView The most versatile app for Android ever that lets you do any with simple gestures. Search your apps, open websites, switch screens, take screenshots, and more all within a single app.

Protect A free VPN and data manager app from Facebook that lets you monitor your mobile data usage, blocks apps from using data in the background and includes VPN to save your information when connected to public Wi-Fi.

Connections Quickly add notes and to-dos to your contacts and these notes will pop up on your screen the next time you receive or make a phone call to that person.

Quickly Put your most frequently used apps and contacts in the notification bar and access them from any screen by simply swiping down the notification drawer.

WhatTheFont Instantly identify fonts used in magazine covers, billboards and everywhere else. Snap a picture, crop the area that you wish to identify and WhatTheFont will show the font name as well as similar font families.

Firefox Focus The privacy focused browser that doesn't keep track of anything you search or browse. Exit the browser and all your browser history is erased automatically. It's like using Chrome in permanent incognito mode.

Grammarly Grammarly adds sophisticated spelling and grammar checking to every app on your phone. Whether you are writing an email, a Facebook post or a message on WhatsApp, you'll never make any embarrassing errors again.

Notin Pin important notes and reminders in your notification bar and they just sit there silently, constantly reminding you that the task is still due.

Files Go Running out of space on your Android? Files Go by Google will help you easily identify all the unused apps, duplicate files, and other temporary files that may be clogging your phone.

Canva Create beautiful designs from readymade templates in minutes. Whether you looking to create a wedding invitation, brochure or eye-catching graphics for social media graphics, Canva has you covered.

Timbre The easiest tool for manipulating audio and video files on your phone. You can cut or join media files, convert between formats or even change the playback speed.

TinyCards An innovative flashcards app that helps you memorize anything quickly using the spaced repetition technique. Readymade flashcards are available for a variety of topics or create your own!

Sesame Shortcuts It adds an invisible area on your screen that is accessible from all other apps. Tap the area to search and launch your favorite app.

Android Auto It transforms your Android screen into a simplified interface with large buttons and makes it easier for you to use the phone while you are on the road. Listen to driving directions, enjoy music, make phone calls and read text messages.

APK Updater The app simplifies the process of finding updates for your installed apps. While your phone checks the official Google Play store for app updates, APK Updates looks at legit APK sites like APK Mirror for new versions.

Article Reader Google Chrome doesn't include the Reader mode that is available in Safari on the iPhone but Article Reader comes close. Send any page from the browser to this app and read it without the distracting clutter.

Alt+C Easily copy and paste text between your phone and your Windows PC or Mac computer. You can copy-paste URLs, email addresses, phone number or even larger blocks of text with a simple hotkey.

Buffer Easily post updates to Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and other social media sites from your phone. You can also schedule updates to go live at a specific date and time.

Checky Addicted to the phone? This app will help you figure out how many times do you check your phone per day. You can also see historical data to understand how your phone usage patterns have changed over time.

Changes The Google Play Store will automatically download and update your outdated apps in the background. However, if you curious to know what has changed in the app since the last update, fire up this app to see the change logs.

Chromer A floating bubble browser that opens web pages in the background while you can continue to work inside the current app. Support Google AMP and Readability mode so the pages load faster and without the clutter.

Datally Track how much mobile data are various apps consuming on your phone. You can optionally turn on the data saver mode and easily block specific apps from using any data.

Feedly If you prefer reading news via RSS feeds, Feedly is your best friend. The app offers a widget that you can place on the home screen and follow your favorite sites without launching the app.

Fing A suite of network tools that help you discover which other phones, tablets and computers are connected to your Wifi network. You can associates names with devices for easy identification and detect when unauthorized users connect to your network.

GIPHY GIPHY is the largest repository of animated GIFs but the app also offers an option to take videos and upload them as a GIF image with your own captions.

IFTTT Boost your productivity with automation. IFTTT can talk to pretty much every service, from Google Drive to Dropbox to Twitter to Gmail, and performs actions when specified conditions are met.

Keep Keep is more than just a note-taking app. It includes power OCR and can instantly extract text from photos and scanned images. Also supports location-based reminders so you remember to buy flowers when passing by the florist.

Kinemaster The most powerful video editing suite for your Android phone. Includes layer based editing, transitions, Chrome key (green screen), effects and more.

Microsoft Launcher A completely rewritten app launcher from Microsoft with a fresh layout and beautiful typography. If you work on a Windows 10 computer, you'll love it even more.{' '}

Next Show notifications for missed calls, text messages, upcoming calendar appointments on your lock screen. Call your contacts, toggle phone settings and even launch your favorite apps right on the screen.

Notebook A perfect note taking app from Zoho. Add text notes, voice memos, images, checklists, handwritten scribbles, import scanned documents and access your notebooks from anywhere.

Office Lens Scan documents, business cards, handwritten memos, whiteboards, sketches on paper napkins and save them as searchable PDFs or images in the gallery. The app can intelligently remove shadows and odd angle so you can focus on the text.{' '}

PhotoScan The best photo scanner app that will help you scan your precious photos without any glare and saves them forever in your Google Photos. The scanned photos are automatically enhanced and cropped so you don't waste any time in editing the scans.

Pocket Save web pages, videos, images and everything else for reading later. You can also listen to your saved articles with the included text-to-speech engine.

Portal The easiest way to transfer large files and folders from the desktop to your phone over WiFi. The connection is activated by scanning a QR code. If you need to transfer from phone to computer, consider Send Anywhere.

PushBullet Send web pages, notes, photos and everything else between your phone and computer. The app can also mirror device notifications on your desktop include phone call alerts.

Quik The makers of GoPro cameras made this awesome app for mashing up your photos and videos into impressive movies. No watermarks!

SMS Organizer The best SMS app for Android that treats your text messages like email. You can apply filters to automatically sort incoming messages in folders and permanently block spam senders.

Snap Swipe Add widgets in your notification drawer and access them from anywhere with a simple swipe without having to switch to the home screen. Also keeps your home screen less cluttered.

Snapseed A professional photo editing suite from Google that gives you access to advanced tools including brush, healing, curves, perspective and RAW support.

Sync Reddit has an official app but I find Sync better as it offer mores customization options. You can squeeze in more Reddit content in the same space by switching to smaller cards.

Trusted Contacts Add your close friends and family members as trusted contacts and let them approve. You can then send them an alert or proactively share your location if you feel unsafe or find yourself in an emergency.

Texpand Create abbreviations for your frequently used text phrases and they'll be automatically replaced with the full text. For instance, you can create a shortcut em that expands to your full email address.

YT Gaming You may not be a gaming enthusiasts but the good thing about YouTube Gaming is that it lets you live stream any app on your phone screen to YouTube with one click. The video is also saved in your YouTube channel forever.

Zoom A perfect tool for online meetings that supports both audio and video conferencing. You can also live share web pages, documents and even broadcast your Android screen to other participants right within the app.

Twilight If you use your phone at night when all the surrounding lights are off, Twilight may help your eyes. It lowers the screen backlight and reduces the blue light automatically based on the time of the day.

Recent Notifications Never miss another notification again. The app stores a log of all your notifications so you can always find them even if you have accidentally dismissed them from the status bar.

Videoder Download videos from all the popular video hosting websites including Facebook and Instagram. You can also choose the format and the file quality for faster downloads.

MacroDroid Tasker is the most popular for automating tasks on your Android phone but the app itself is complicated with a steep learning curve. MacroDroid is a better alternative to Tasker and Automate with an intuitive interface.

Better Open With You may have multiple apps on your phone that can perform a similar action. For instance, PDF files can be handled by Acrobat Reader and Dropbox. This app lets you choose a default app handler for various files.

Voice Recorder The recorder from Samsung not only lets you record the sound around you but it can also transcribe speech to text in real time. Includes basic editing capabilities to let you remove portion of the recorded audio.

Hermit Turn web pages into lite web apps that sit on your home screen and open outside the browser in their own space. You can choose your own icons, color scheme, enable reader mode for a better reading experience and even choose to block ads.

Trello I've practically used every other app for organizing and storing digital notes including Evernote, Wunderlist, AnyDo and OneNote. The one I still prefer is Trello.{' '}

Google Translate Use your phone camera to instantly translate street signs, restaurant menus, user manuals and everything else into your native language. Download the language translation packs and translate offline.{' '}

AirDroid Manage your phone from the desktop. Browse the files on your phone, send SMS text messages,{' '}

Find My Device Easily locate your lost phone. it plays a sound when the device is nearby and you have the option to remotely wipe your lost Android device so the data cannot be seen by others.

Liveboard Turn your phone into an interactive whiteboard. Draw, visualize ideas, invite and collaborate with others, broadcast your session on the internet in real time.

Alarmtube Search for your favorite video on YouTube and set it as your wake-up alarm. Your phone should be connected to the Internet but you do have an option to set local MP3 files as alarm tones.

Instant Automatically keep track of the time you spend on your phone and get a detailed log of your app usage patterns. Instant integrates with Google Fit to track your fitness and sleep time.

Walk Alarm An annoying alarm clock up that won't stop ringing unless you have walked a certain number of steps with the phone in hand. A popular alternative is Sleep If You Can that won't stop unless you snap a picture of a specific object.

Bing Google may be a better search engine but Bing for Android adds some new things to the table. It includes a QR Code scanner and visual search - snap a picture and Bing will show similar images from the web.

Norton AppLock Lock Apps add a second layer of protection to your sensitive apps. You can add passcode, lock screen pattern or fingerprint security to specific apps and friends who borrow your phone will never be able to see those apps again.

Parallel Space Want to use WhatsApp or Facebook with two different accounts on the same phone? Parallel Space let you clone any app allowing you to log into multiple accounts at the same time on one device.

Anchor This is the easiest way to record and produce audio podcasts and radio shows on your phone. You can enhance your audio with included background sound effects and tunes.

TunnelBear Get around geo-restrictions with the popular VPN app.

Handwriting Input If you hate typing on the keyboard, use the handwriting input keyboard from Google to write digital text using your own handwriting even without a stylus. It can recognize terrible cursive handwriting as well.

Firefox Quantum Firefox on Android is so much better than Google Chrome. It features a built-in reader mode so you can read mobile pages without distraction, the pages can be directly pushed to the desktop, and it supports add-ons include Adblockers.

iA Writer A minimalistic and beautiful text editor that syncs your writings with Dropbox and Google Drive. Focus mode concentrates your attention on a single sentence, you can write in markdown and export to Word or PDF formats.

Thrive A better way to limit your screen time and distractions. Thrive blocks all apps, notifications, calls and texts when you want. However, calls and texts from people on your VIP list will always go through.

Google Lens Use your phone camera to identify anything instantly. You can identify landmarks, plants, scan barcodes, extract phone numbers from text, find similar dresses, furniture and more.

The Best Alternatives to Top Android Apps

Our round-up of top Android Apps includes a single app per category but good alternatives definitely exist that are also worth your time.  Here are some more recommended apps that you may consider if our original pick didn’t quite make the cut.