Favourite Apps
Check These Other Places
Apps for entertainment
See this sister Help site for some great entertainment Apps.
Apps that are trending
See this page in the Google Play Store for details of current popular Apps that might appeal to you - pop back now and again to see what’s new.
Some examples of popular Apps
Audio Recorder for Pixel - features off-line mode
See this Google Support Page to learn about App that can be used "off-line" to capture audio and create text that can be saved and / or repurposed elsewhere.
Bamboo Paper : For drawing - just like pen and paper
See this download page in the Google Play Store for full details of the product and how to get it. It is also available for iOS / iPadOS and the 'Pro' [paid for] version is occasionally made available to download for free.
Gboard and 'hands-free' typing
Click here for a 9to5google article called "Gboard and new Google Assistant readying ‘hands free’ voice typing" from Aug 2020 that reveals what Google are working on to integrate Apps like Gboard with the latest Google Assistant features. It cautions that the new version of the Gboard App, including hands free typing, is still to launch and there is no indication of it entering public testing yet.
Gesture : Change The Way You Activate Apps
Click here to visit the Play Store where you can read about and download the Gesture App for your phone, tablet etc.
Large Text : For displaying BIG messages on your phone's screen
Click here to visit the Play Store where you can download the Large Text App for your phone, tablet etc. Get your message across with big text and emojis.
Write what you want then show it on your phone, fullscreen. Extremely easy to use. No Sign Up required. No permissions needed, no ads and no tracking. Works offline.
Other Ways To Use Your Phone !
Click the links provided below to watch a video that goes through the features of the following 5 Apps via ....
There are countless other Apps for you to download and try out. However plodding around in the dark could take you ages so the rest of this page provides some examples of the types of App available that may be of interest to you.
Browser for streamers and File Managers
TV Bro
Apart from being a useful browser in it's own right it has been specifically tailored for TV interfaces to make tab navigation and managing bookmarks very easy.
It has simple facilities to make the downloading / installing of other 3rd party Apps a breeze.
It also includes voice control and shortcuts etc.
Click here to see the beginning of a video about using the Google TV device, or jump straight in at around 8:30 secs into the video to see the installation of the TV Bro App.
Click here to see the entry in the Play Store.
Files by Google
Of all the file managers available there is one that stands out as it has the ability to handle 'zip' files which you may download to your Android Smartphone or Tablet and then realise you don't know what to do with it.
See this HowToGeek article called "How to Free Up Storage Space on Your Android Phone with Files by Google" from Sept 2020 for more details.
File Managers
Every device needs a good file manager to look after, and organise, files and folders. Devices usually come with a default App from the manufacturer that provides a number of features but they may not be as comprehensive as others that you can download [mostly free] from the Play Store.
See this Android Police article from Aug 2020 that lists the features of some of the best available.
Games
Getting Organised
See Evernote App and the EverNote site and a video from a guy showing 3 main uses he has for using the App
Maps:
Google Assistant : Driving Mode
11/06/2022 : Click here to read a ChromeUnboxed article that explains " How to use Google Assistant Driving mode" which is Google's latest preferred way for helping drivers and replaces the "Android Auto" functionality [which is still built into some cars] but is being phased out as a stand alone Android App for your phone.
Photography:
e.g. Amazon; Flickr; Google Photos; Photobucket & ThisLife
Use Optical Character Recognition to extract text from photographs
- Take a picture of anything containing written material.
- While viewing the picture in Google Photos take the option to recognise and convert words to digital text.
Sound & Vision - Examples
YouTube : Essential Tweaks
There are three specific settings that YouTube gets wrong by default, these are "Autoplay"; "Continuous Play" and "Display Quality".
They are simple to fix, and you'll definitely notice the difference once you get them adjusted to their smarter options.
➜ First Autoplay : Have you ever noticed how videos start playing automatically while you're scrolling through YouTube on your phone — even before you tap 'em to open 'em? This can be be annoying and is unnecessary. It also burns through a bunch of extra data, which can be expensive if you're not on Wi-Fi (especially if you're on a plan either with limited mobile data or a pay-as-you-go setup).
Here's the fix:
Tap your profile picture in the upper-right corner of the YouTube Android app.
Tap "Settings" in the menu that comes up.
Tap "General" and then "Playback in feeds," and change its setting either to "Wi-Fi only" (at the very least!) or "Off" (to get rid of it entirely).
➜ Next Continuous Play : The YouTube Android app has a bad habit of automatically playing a stream of additional videos once you reach the end of whatever video you actually wanted to watch.
To turn that on-by-default setting off:
Head back into the YouTube app's settings.
This time, tap "Autoplay" in the main settings menu.
Tap the toggle next to "Autoplay next video" and flip it off (with any and all interpretations of that phrase).
➜ Finally Display Quality : Perhaps the most important of all options, but did you know YouTube is probably showing you grainy, low-quality videos instead of crisp, clear goodness most of the time on your phone.
The app has an option for video quality that's typically on an "auto" setting. This is supposed to "adjust to give you the best experience for your conditions" however it seems to result in most videos getting dumbed down to a disappointing 480p resolution which can result in them being "fuzzy-wuzzy".
It's another easy fix, though:
Go back into the YouTube app's settings once more.
Tap "Video quality preferences" in the main settings menu.
In the "Video Quality on Wi-Fi" section, change the option from "Auto" to "Higher picture quality."
You could leave the setting on "Auto" for when using a mobile network connection without a truly unlimited phone plan. But you you have unlimited download data, or are using Wi-Fi, it's well worth increasing the setting to provide better quality video.
YouTube : Playlists and how to remove them
See these instructions put together by HowToGeek that show you two ways to find and remove old Playlists from your Google Account at YouTube using a desktop or mobile.