Soon theyll even beon your favorite Chromebooks as well.
TheLifehacker Packis a yearly snapshot of our favorite, essential applications for each of our favorite platforms.
For our always-updating directory of all the best apps, be sure to bookmark ourAndroid App Directory.
In addition to beinga Lifehacker crowd favorite, Any.DO comes with a bunch ofsweet extra features.
Google Keep keeps thingssimpler and as straightforward as possible, while Wunderlist ispacked with great features.
Whatever your preferences, one of these to-do apps should work for you.
you’re free to schedule messages, snooze them for later, and even set up recurring messages.
Google also offers a similar app that works directly with your Gmail account called Inbox.
This app allows you to bundle related emails together, snooze emails, or pin them as to-dos.
It also surfaces important information in your emails like links to package tracking info, reservations, and more.
Inbox also plugs into your Google account to show you your Google Now reminders directly in the app.
Inbox is anentirely different way to approach email.
Today Calendar
Making a decent-looking calendar tool on a phone is hard.
Calendars need to display a lot of information in a small space.
In this, Today Calendar excels.
Dropbox/Google Drive
Dropbox set the standard when it comes to syncing files between multiple computers.
Nothing beats its speed, simplicity, and ubiquity.
you might even combine it with Pocket toreduce clutterwhile stillsaving everything.
Unfortunately, Evernote recently upped its paid subscription price andlimited users to two devices.
Habitica (formerly known as HabitRPG) takes this concept and applies to real life instead ofWorld of Warcraft.
Create habits or repetitive tasks you want to perform and it will give you experience points for completing them.
If you fail to do so, youll lose health points.
The app is one of the best ways toproductively gamify your life.
Now, it includes a ton of useful features.
you’re free to also useChromes data saver modeto keep your downloads light.
With that manufactured advantage, though, Twitters app has come a long way.
It supports multiple accounts, lists, and plenty more.
Hangouts/Facebook Messenger
Hangouts has been getting incrementally better over the years.
Best of all, everyone you know is probably already on Facebook and using Messenger to begin with.
Google Voice
Another year has gone by with hardly any update for Google Voice.
That may cause some toworry a bit.
you’re able to use it to mirror your phones notifications, connectwith IFTTT channels, and more.
Just be sure totrain Google Now well.
Google Maps for Android includes a ton ofexcellent featureslike integrated search history, local traffic incidents, and more.
This year, Googles also made it way easier toadd stops to your route and find gas prices.
And all of this is on top of Maps already beingour favorite map app.
The app comes with live-updating widgets, animated radar and cloud cover maps.
Dark Sky, the awesome up-to-the-minute weather app alsocame to Android this year.
This app can locate your phone if lost, remotely lock or even wipe it if its stolen.
As basic security goes, its the bare minimum anyone should have.
Thats a pretty great package, even ifGoogle does suck at naming stuff.
Its desktop app even allows developers to augment it, so theres plenty to explore.
The service is known for its ability to match users tastes reliably with minimal interaction.
Just set it and forget it.
The app can recognize virtually any song, even over background noise.
It will also show you music videos, lyrics, and discography information for tracks where available.
Snapseed/Google Photos
Googles photo tools have always beenpretty stellar.
Camera Zoom FX/Google Camera
Camera ZOOM FX remains one of ourfavorite Android cameras.
Focus
Focus is a relative newcomer and already its become ourfavorite photo management alternative on Android.
If youre looking for a better way to manage your huge photo collection, Focus is our new go-to.
Movies and Video
Netflix/Hulu
Netflix is inarguably theking of content streaming online.
Where Netflix doesnt have what you want, Hulu very well may.
The overlap between the two services libraries are so minimal that its sometimes worth it to have both.
IMDb is useful for more than just trivia, though.
If you ever watch movies, IMDb belongs on your phone.
BS Player is ourfavorite pick for Android video player.
Amazon has the advantage in having one of the most robust libraries, as well as a powerful app.
Play Books is no slouch either (and in fact its ourfavorite ereader for Android).
If youre a runner, or just like getting out of your house its worth keeping around.
It also encourages community involvement so that keep you accountable.
It also has a robust web app that keeps you engaged when youre at your desk.
MyFitnessPal/Lose It!
If youre tracking your workouts, it makes sense youd also track what you eat.
MyFitnessPal and Lose It!
When it comes to restaurant discovery and reviews, Yelp is the de facto standard.
Customization
Nova/Apex
Googlesdefault launcheris pretty good, but theres plenty of room for improvement.
Nova and Apex are both excellent, customizable launchers with copious extra features on top of existing functionality.
With the right extensions, Dashclock may be the only widget you ever need.
SwiftKey/Google Keyboard
SwiftKey was already our favorite Android keyboard before it becamefree to use.
If it doesnt come standard with your phone, its worth a download.
Utilites
Tasker/IF
Tasker is a miracle app on Android.
Both serve different purposes on Android, but theyreeven better together.
Fortunately,Solid Explorer is an excellent alternative.
AirDroid doesmore than you could possibly ever need, all without ever touching your handset.
you might even create custom widgets to controljust about everythingon your HTPC from a single home screen.
Titanium Backup is the classic mainstay that fixes this problem.
Despite being an older app, it still checks out.
Rooted users can employ Titanium Backup to createa fully automated app backup system.
Technically, Xposed is a framework that allows users to create their owncustomized version of Androidsolely using modules.
While its not a total replacement for custom ROMs,its good enough for many users.
