All right team, 2025 is right around the corner and given that we've finished with all of our best Android apps videos for the year, that means that it is once again time for my yearly roundup of the best Android apps. And just to set the scene, this year alone I featured over 150 different apps and for this video I've picked just 20, all of which are my absolute favorites. So without further ado, here are my top 20 apps for 2024. And I know I might seem a little self-indulgent, but first up is one of my very own apps, the Drops Icon Pack, which was featured all the way back in January of this year. And if you're thinking that the app name sounds somewhat familiar, well, you bang on, because this is actually a brand new version of an old and discontinued icon pack of the same name, with a bunch of design cues taken from that original pack, but updated and modernized for 2024. And this hopefully puts to bed the question that I get in, pretty much every single phone review that I make, which is, what icon pack are you using?
Well, now you know. Second up is an app called G-CPU, which is a feature-packed app that shows off just about every single bit of spec-related information that you might ever need to know about your phone. So you can see your phone's display size, its battery status, RAM and CPU information, and you can even use the app to run a series of tests to ensure that your phone is working as expected. And then on top of all of that, It's the app's incredible design that makes it stand out from the rest. Then we have Obtainium.
And if you're someone who has a bunch of apps installed on your phone that aren't from the Google Play Store, well, this is an app that lets you set things up so that you're notified as soon as any of them have an update available. You just copy the app's URL, then open Obtainium, tap on Add App, then paste the URL here and tap on Add. And just like that, it'll be added to this list where you can track its updates manually or manually. even be notified whenever an update is released. And then Groover 5 is for those Spotify users out there who are looking to generate new playlists based on set criteria.
You just select a song that you want to use as the base and that'll instantly generate a completely fresh playlist for you. But then what's really cool is that you can then refine that playlist even further by using this filter menu at the bottom here. As you adjust your filters, the playlist will update automatically in real time and when you're happy with the final selection, you just tap on save playlist.
There you go, that playlist will be added to your Spotify account, which you can then listen to whenever you like. But then if you're looking for an offline music player, then the Meetup is one of the best options that I've come across in years, certainly in terms of its UI. You just take one quick look around the app and you'll see a bunch of these beautifully fluid animations, and that's not to mention the incredible modern and clean look that the app has too. It also has a heap of extra features on top of the basic music playing functionality as well, so it's absolutely worth giving a go.
After that is Pixel Expert, which is a root-only application, and even though I don't currently use any rooted phones, I kind of wish that I did just so I could use this app. Now keep in mind, the app is designed to work best with AOSP or pixel-based ROMs, but it is absolutely packed to the brim with so many system-level customization options, my favorite of which is this one that lets you set up this slidable flashlight quick settings toggle, and honestly, I wish Google would still... this implementation because it is seriously genius. Following that is Standby Mode Pro and this is one of those apps that just makes me love Android so much because it takes one of iOS's best features in recent years, Standby Mode, and replicates it for Android and then adds in a few extra features to make it even better. You get this really cool dual mode option that lets you have two different widgets side by side, both of which you can then swipe vertically to show other widgets if you like.
You also get this really nice collection of... digital and analog clocks to choose from. And then on top of that, there are a stack of customizations and tweaks that you can make within the app settings as well. Now, back when I featured Beeper on the channel, I was using it as my full-time messaging replacement app. And even though it no longer holds that title, I do still use it from time to time and I love so much about the app.
In short, it essentially lets you connect all of your favorite chat applications into a single, easy to use, and well-designed interface. And the app has been getting countless really fantastic updates ever since it launched and the only reasons I stopped using it was because 1. The stopped Google messages and WhatsApp apps have been getting so good and 2. Because it doesn't let me set custom notification sounds for each different chat connection. But I will be keeping an eye on it and who knows, I may very well go back to using it in the future.
And then Blockit is an app that caught everyone's attention when it was released, almost exclusively thanks to its incredible interface. It is honestly up there as one of the coolest app designs that I've ever come across. As for the app's functionality, it's essentially designed to help you to stop using your phone for a set amount of time, and once you've entered how long you want, you just hit the play button down here and there you go your phone will be completely inoperable except for this neat floating clock here allowing you to stay focused and off your phone for that pre-selected amount of time and then we have another app that is my very own lumina walls and i've got to say out of every app that i've ever made this is by far the one that i actively use the most often and that's because for every single phone that i review i like to mix up the videos by using new and unique wallpapers and so instead of having to sift through countless apps to find suitable wallpapers that fit my style. Now I've got my very own app filled with over 2000 wallpapers, all of which are my very own style. Literally every single wallpaper gets vetted by me.
But I'm also particularly proud of not only the app's design, but also the fluid engine that we implemented and it just makes using the app an absolute joy. We're also currently running a sale on the lifetime upgrade option where you can upgrade for 50% off the total price and This unlocks every single premium wallpaper within the app and it also removes ads completely. So go and check it out. You're not going to regret it. All right, before we get to the next app, just wanted to mention another amazing app that I use, which is also the sponsor of this video, Notion.
And if you're looking for the ultimate all-round productivity tool, then this is the app for you. What's amazing is that they've just recently added their brand new Notion AI tool, which has taken the feature set of the app to another level altogether. So aside from using it to chat about anything, using knowledge from models like Claude and GPT-4, you can also use it without prompting with a stack of these easy one-click skills to choose from. It can also analyze file and image attachments or generate documents in... your writing style and it even connects to slack and google drive meaning it can use information from those platforms when generating its responses for instance when working on shared documents with clients instead of manually searching for tiny changes i've been asked asking Notion AI to scan the documents and show me any new changes made within the last 24 hours.
I've also just recently started using it to analyze contracts, breaking them down into more understandable language. And these are just some of the pretty basic ways that I'm using it so far. But honestly, the sky is kind of the limit with this tool. It is an incredible addition to an already incredible app.
So to start using Notion for free today, use the first link down in the description below. Okay, QuickShort is an app that I do still use from time to time, and it essentially lets us create custom icons for almost any shortcut that you can think of, and this is primarily helpful for phones that don't support custom icon theming natively. And thank goodness that this app is came along when it did because the two apps that I used to use for this purpose, Shortcut Maker and Shortcut Creator, they either don't work anymore or they now charge you to change the icons. But Quick Short is not only completely free, save for if you want to create shortcuts to in-app actions, but it also works perfectly even with Android 15. Then we have an app that I use pretty much every single day or thereabouts, LocalSend.
And I kind of hate that I need to use this app as much as I do because QuickShare was supposed to be the ultimate airdrop equivalent for Android. But it's kind of been broken for close to a year now. And so thank goodness that we still have LocalSend.
You just install the app on the devices that you want to seamlessly share between. And yes, it works on iOS, Mac and Windows devices as well. And then from there, as long as they're connected to the same Wi-Fi network. you can just send them via the local send app, and it honestly works close to flawlessly.
The only issue is that it doesn't currently work in the background on either iOS or Android. The app first needs to be open, so fingers crossed that they can find a way to make that feature work at some point in the future. Then we have a very, very simple app called Private DNS Quick Toggle, which just lets you turn the private DNS provider feature on and off. For example, I use AdGuard's DNS provider 99% of the time, but there is the rare occasion where I actually want to disable the feature.
And so instead of having to dive into my settings and switching it off that way, and then vice versa with Private DNS Quick Toggle, I'm able to set up a quick settings toggle and quickly switch it off and back on again way, way faster. Just keep in mind that it does require permissions to be granted via Shizuku to work. And then speaking of Shizuku, next on the list is an app called Shizu Tools, which actually plays host to a bunch of really handy Shizuku enabled features all within the one interface. There's a system deep loader tool which allows you to uninstall any app from your phone.
There's a mixed audio tool which allows you to have audio playing from multiple apps at the same time. There's even this sound master tool which lets you control how loud or quiet the audio output is on an app by app basis. Plus there's a few more on top of those as well.
After that is an app called Droid Dashcam which as the name indicates actually lets you use your phone as a dash camera while you're driving. You can either... manually open the app and start a recording that way or if you dive into the app settings and open up this auto start recording section there's a whole host of options that you can enable that will trigger the app to start recording automatically including this start on bluetooth device connection option and this one is my favorite because it means anytime my phone connects to my car's bluetooth system a recording will start automatically which is honestly perfect Okay, one other root-only app that I stumbled upon this year, which I sorely wish worked on non-rooted devices, is Data Backup, which allows you to create comprehensive backups of the apps installed on your phone. You just tap on Backup, then select any app that you want to backup, then you just follow the prompts, and just like that, all of those selected apps and their respective data will be backed up. And you can then restore them to that exact state on whichever device that you're wanting to restore them on.
as long as it's also rooted. Following that is SumUp, and if you saw that notification summary feature on iOS 18 and wished that you had it too, well, this app replicates the feature nearly perfectly. Funnily enough, I used this app on Android before I experienced the real thing on my iPhone 16 Pro, and at the time, I kind of thought that whilst it was kind of cool, it was probably not going to really hold a candle to the real version that we got on iOS.
But after using the real feature on iOS, honestly, the app is just as good. And then we have Pinit, which is such a cool app that essentially makes keeping track of and managing your notifications way, way easier. On top of keeping your entire notification history saved, it also lets you pin notifications, which not only restore them to your system notification panel, but also pin them to the top so that they'll stay front of mind even if you accidentally dismiss them.
There's a bunch of extra features as well, and then beyond all that, The app has one of the cleanest designs that I've ever come across with incredibly fluid animations, which, if you didn't already know by now, gives it some serious brownie points. Second to last is a super old yet incredible app that I only just discovered this year called Contextual App Folder. It basically lets you create a folder on your home screen that will actually change what apps are shown inside of it, depending on various triggers, such as showing you one set of apps when you're connected to your earphones, and then a completely different set of apps when you're connected to your car's Bluetooth system. And what's amazing is that there are so many triggers that you can set up, including Tasker Intense, which means you can set up nearly any trigger that you can set up. can think of.
And so last but certainly not least is NeoStore, a beautiful app that lets you browse all of the amazing apps found on F-Droid, but within a much improved user interface. And that's kind of it. But if you're someone who likes discovering new apps that aren't on the Google Play Store, then this has got to be one of the best ways to do it. And even more than that, it also lets you keep the apps updated too, which is amazing. But that, my friends, is it.
Those were my favorite apps out of all of the apps that I featured. in 2024. You can find all of the links to the apps that I mentioned throughout the video down in the description below and as always let me know which apps were your top picks throughout the year and who knows maybe they'll be featured on the channel in 2025. If you enjoyed the video then a sub to the channel would be amazing but that's it thank you all very much for watching and I'll catch you later.