Hackabolic: Best free Android apps of 2015

So you've just cracked open the box and peeled the plastic off your brand spanking new Android smartphone. But there's not much going on in the way of Android apps straight away. This is where our best free Android apps comes in. This list is your one stop shop for the absolute best-in-class Android apps. And it won't cost you a cent. Here are the apps you absolutely must have in 2015.

Unclouded

With all the cloud storage services out there, there's a good chance you have a few accounts yourself. This can lead to situations where you don't remember if you put a certain file on Dropbox, or Google Drive, or OneDrive. With Unclouded, this becomes a non-issue, as you can manage and view all the files you keep in the cloud from one place. It's more than just an overview however, as you can find duplicates, see which files were updated most recently, and find those files which are sneakily using up most storage space. A must-have for those of us living in the cloud.

The perfect way to keep all your cloud accounts organized. / © Christian Gollner

Unclouded

Dreamstime: Sell Your Photos

This app is not only free, but it actively helps you make money too. Ever thought those photos taken with your fancy smartphone camera could be worth some money? Well, with Dreamstime they can because this app lets you upload your photos to a Dreamstime's stock photography archive, where millions of people will be able to buy them. It's a fantastic idea, and using the app you can track sales of your photos, and receive tips on how to present them to maximize sales.

Sell your photos on stock sites using this entrepreneurial little app. / © Dreamstime

Dreamstime: Sell Your Photos

Drupe

It's rare that we find an app so useful that we dedicate a mini-feature to it, but Drupe deserves all the praise it gets. With Drupe, you can manage all your contacts and messaging apps in one place. Your contacts are on the left, your communications app icons on the right, then it's just a matter of dragging your contact into the icon of the app you want to contact them with. It looks great, it feels great, and you can give it a permanent icon on your screen in order to instantly access it whatever you're doing on your phone.

Drupe is the perfect way to instantly contact people using whichever app you like.

drupe – Contacts. Your way.

Skype

Maybe a bit of a predictable addition to the list, but the basic principle of being able to call anyone anywhere in the world (with internet) for free still seems as ingenious today as when Skype was first released all the way back in 2003. Take it from someone who works remotely and uses the Skype app to communicate with HQ on a daily basis that it's been truly world-changing in terms of how we work and communicate. The app interface is simple and very well-designed, letting you communicate by video and voice calls, as well as messaging.

Skype - recognizable, intuitive, and world-changing. / © AndroidPIT/Skype

Skype - free IM & video calls

Google Earth

Google's ever evolving Earth-viewing app never ceases to impress, now letting you fly around whole cities in street view one second, then pinch to zoom out and see the whole country the next. More of a world-exploration app than an actual navigation assistant, Earth lets you submit photos you take in specific areas for other people to enjoy, and also look at Wikipedia entries for the area you're exploring. Earth recently added the option to track planes in flight, and even look at hiking trails. This really is an app you can get lost in for yours.

Google Earth is an app that's evolving at an incredible rate. / © Google

Google Earth

Vine

Vine is a super fun online video community where only one rule applies: each looped video uploaded is only six seconds long. This means you can watch dozens of Vines in a bunch of different categories and it all takes no more than a few minutes. Follow your favorite Viners, share Vines with friends, interact with your favorite Vines, upload your own videos and keep an eye on trending Vines and hashtags.

There's plenty of awesome attitude and humor on Vine. / © ANDROIDPIT

Vine

Evernote

Evernote is a little like Google Keep but has its own particularities and fan base. You can save notes, voice memos and files and access them on your various devices or laptop at any time you choose. You can also set reminders, take snapshots and even hand write your notes for that personal flair. Evernote has also had a nice Material Design makeover, making it one of the best looking productivity tools on Android.

Evernote is a very clean and capable productivity tool for note-taking and much more. / © ANDROIDPIT

Evernote

Tumblr

Tumblr hardly needs an introduction. One of the original and best photo sharing communities on Android, Tumblr is an endless stream of amazing photography and imagery. But it doesn't stop at still images: you can post GIFs, videos, music, links and more. Whatever it takes to get the conversation started. Plus, you can follow your favorite blogs or celebrities and stay up to date with what's happening right now in a fun visual format.

Tumblr provides endless imagery, video, inspirtaional quotes and more. / © ANDROIDPIT

Tumblr

Autodesk Pixlr

Do you take photos on your smartphone? You do? Then you should have Autodesk Pixlr installed. Pixlr is the gold standard for awesome free photo editing apps on Android.

You can edit all sorts of things in your photos like you normally would on a desktop (see screenshot below), and you can also make collages, add filters, overlays, borders, text, stickers and more. Pixlr is perfect and it will make your photos perfect too.

Pixlr has some serious photo editing tools on board. All at your fingertips. © ANDROIDPIT

Autodesk Pixlr – photo editor

Greenify App Hibernator

Greenify is a fantastic utility that lets you take complete control over your Android by telling it which apps to put to sleep. Greenify includes a fantastic auto-hibernation mode that will extend your battery life by a great deal. Just try it if you don't believe me.

If you have root access, Greenify can do even more, but even without root privileges, Greenify is a must-have for any Android device. If you have apps on your phone that you know suck your battery power, Greenify lets you put a short leash on them. Why wait? Take control of your phone right now.

Greenify sounds complicated, but it's actually a breeze to use. © ANDROIDPIT

Greenify

Everypost

If you have anywhere near as many social channels going as me, then you know how important it is to streamline your social posting schedule. Everypost lets you register multiple accounts with practically every social network around, to which you can post individually, as a group or even schedule for the future. Once you've gone through the setup procedure, you'll wonder how you ever lived without Everypost.

Connect all your accounts in Everypost and never have to double up again. © ANDROIDPIT

Everypost: Twitter, Facebook

Any.do Task List & To-do

If you want to expand your horizons from the Google Keep world, there are many list and task apps which are actually really good, like Any.do Task List & To-do List. It’s got it all in one clean-looking user interface.

You can make multiple kinds of lists, like for chores, shopping lists etc, as well as attach videos, photos and Dropbox files. The lists can be shared with colleagues or family members. There’s also an Any.do Moment feature which is a daily planner that has received a lot of praise.

Any.do is your all in one task list and day planner. / © Any.do

Any.do Task List & To-do List

Audible for Android

If you haven’t got time to read a book, that doesn’t mean you can’t listen to it! With Audible for Android installed on your phone, you can listen to books on the go from about 150K titles, of all different genres. Perfect for the commute, going for a run or a long road trip.

The app is really well made, with a bunch of features like bookmarking, sleep mode, variable narration speed, multitasking features, etc. It’s quite complex!

Audible for Android lets you listen to books while on the go. / © Audible, Inc.

Audible for Android

AccuWeather

Weather apps are a dime a dozen, all stating that they are the best, most accurate apps to keep you up-to-date with the forecast. Well, how does one choose which app is for them? One of the best weather apps that you can get isAccuWeather.

First of all, it’s free and offers a bunch of customization options that can’t be beaten. You get services such as Minute Cast for weather by the minute, weather for worldwide locations, a nifty home screen widget and much more.

One of the best weather apps that Android has to offer. / © Accuweather.com

AccuWeather

IFTTT

If This Then That (IFTTT) is a brilliant app for automating your phone that lets you set very simple rules for making something happen on your Android, based on a simple premise: if this happens then do that.

If This Then That (IFTTT) lets you create simple recipes for action. © ANDROIDPIT

IF by IFTTT

Inbox by Gmail

The Inbox by Gmail revolution has begun! Inbox lets you bundle similar emails, create reminders, pin important emails to the top of your inbox, snooze messages for later and get the highlights of an email previewed without actually having to open it. Here's everything you need to know about Inbox by Gmail.

Once you try Inbox by Gmail you'll never go back to normal email. © ANDROIDPIT

Inbox by Gmail

Poweramp

Poweramp is easily the best music player on Android, so if you like music, you have an Android phone or tablet, and you know what the Install button is for, then you can do the math!

Poweramp should practically come preinstalled it's that good. © ANDROIDPIT

Poweramp Music Player (Trial)

Google Fit

Google Fit is about to redefine the way we see smartphone health. Closely tied into Android Wear but functioning perfectly fine on it's own, Google Fit will help you achieve your fitness and activity goals.

Google Fit is the simplest and easiest to understand health app I've seen. © ANDROIDPIT

Google Fit

Amazon Kindle

Anyone that has ever read an ebook knows that Amazon Kindle is the king of ebook readers. Of course, you can read all or your Amazon ebooks but the Kindle app can be used to read any other ebooks you have as well.

Anyone that likes reading on their phone or tablet really needs the Amazon Kindle app. © ANDROIDPIT

Amazon Kindle

VLC

VLC is the app for every Android. If you want to play any media file on Android, VLC is the one app that can handle everything. VLC is technically still in beta, but it is already just as awesome as you'd expect it to be when it's finished.

No matter the media, VLC can handle it. © VLC

VLC for Android beta

Google Camera

Unless you're lucky enough to have a rock solid camera app on your phone that you actually like, the next best thing is Google's fantastic Google Camera. It's free and it's definitely worth trying out. It even has post-focusing capabilities.

Google Camera has some great features for a free app. © ANDROIDPIT

Google Camera

SwiftKey

If you haven't heard of SwiftKey then you must have been living under a rock for the last couple of years. Or been using an iPhone. Either way, SwiftKey is the class leader for swipe-typing apps, and it doesn't get any better than this.

SwiftKey makes typing on Android a swipey typey breeze. © ANDROIDPIT

SwiftKey Keyboard + Emoji

Nova Launcher

Nova Launcher is the king of Android customization and is easily the best known custom launcher. Jam packed with options, Nova lets you rebuild your home screen, app drawer and gesture controls just how you like them.

Nova Launcher lets you customize, theme, modify and tweak your Android phone endlessly. © ANDROIDPIT

Nova Launcher

Pocket

Pocket is an incredibly useful tool you'll wonder how you ever lived without. Simply save any online content to Pocket and you can read it later, offline and stripped of ads and everything else but what you actually want to read.

Pocket lets you save online content to read later, offline. © ANDROIDPIT

Pocket

Spotify

Spotify goes up against the likes of Google Play Music, last.fm, Pandora, SoundCloud and even YouTube in the battle to bring music to your ears. An eternal playlist at your fingertips for free? Sounds good to me.

Spotify is arguably the best streaming music app around. © Spotify

Spotify Music

Facebook

Love it or hate it, Facebook is one of the most installed apps in the world. Resource hungry, slow and buggy, there's still no living without the official Facebook app. As far as features go, none of the third-party options even come close to the official app.

Say what you will, but Facebook and WhatsApp may as well jsut come pre-loaded.

Facebook

Another essential app for every Android phone, if you're not using WhatsApp, then how exactly are you communicating? WhatsApp is ubiquitous, like Facebook, and is easily the msot popular instant messaging app in the world.

You can even get WhatsApp on Android Wear.

WhatsApp Messenger

Facebook Messenger

Of course, where Facebook goes, Facebook Messenger is soon to follow. If you want to chat on Facebook, you now have to do it via Facebook's Messenger app, as the chat function no longer exists in the official Facebook app.

If you want to chat on Facebook, you've got to do it with Facebook Messenger.

Messenger

Wikipedia Beta

What's better than Wikipedia? Wikipedia Beta, that's what. Live life on the informational cutting edge with all the latest features the Wikipedia team has to offer. The biggest difference right now is the awesome new native design on Wikipedia Beta.

Never sound ignorant again with Wikipedia: a world of information at your fingertips.

Wikipedia Beta

ES FIle Explorer

ES FIle Explorer is the undisputed king of file managers. If you spend any time downloading files, managing music or images, then a good file explorer is an essential Android app, and they don't come any better than ES File Explorer.

Dropbox

Dropbox lets you expand your internal storage into a cloud based backup of everything that's important to you. Music, photos, files and more can be saved, accessed on all your devices and restored if you ever lose your phone.

Instagram

Speaking of photos, it doesn't get any better than Instagram if you love life through imagery rather than text. Follow your friends and celebrities to see the whole through someone else's eyes. Be warned though, it's addictive.

Pushbullet

Pushbullet is a fantastic app that means you'll never miss another notifiaction again. Pushbullet can display your notifications direct on your computer screen or share links, photos, files and more between multiple Android devices.

QuickPic

Let's face it: most stock Android gallery apps are pretty sucky. That's where QuickPic comes in. QuickPic is a nice clean gallery app that foregrounds your images, has plenty of sorting options and is also connected to the cloud.

Google Keep

Google Keep is like the Android version of Post-Its on steroids. Any time you have something quick to record you can note it in Keep and, well, keep it for later. You can set reminders, save images, audio notes and more.

Feedly

If you like to keep up to date with the endless stream of news in the world of Android and beyond then you need an RSS reader, and Feedly is the original RSS champ, in case you didn't already know. All your favorite websites in one place.

Helium

Helium is a must-have app for anyone that has ever lost data or never done a backup before. It works great with root, but even without, you can simply connect your Android to your computer and use Helium to backup everything. Use it.

Microsoft Office Mobile

Microsoft Office Mobile finally made it Android for free and we couldn't be happier. If you ever use a mobile device for reading or editing Word documents, Excel spreadsheets or PowerPoint presentations, then you know you need this app.

Microsoft Office looks great, works perfectly and is totally free.
Falcon Widget (for Twitter)

While there's not really anything wrong with the official Twitter app, I still like Falcon Widget better. But I'm a fan of full-screen widgets, sooo... Still, if you like your Twitter feed front and center you can certainly do worse than Falcon Widget.

Falcon Widget for Twitter is easily the best looking Twitter widget around.

Falcon Widget (for Twitter)

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