It's that time of the month again when we test out some newly discovered apps to help you enhance your Android experience. In this month's list, we want to show you apps that help you maintain a productive routine, protect your eyes while using your phone, and a brand-new app for listening to music. PodcastsWe're sure you'll love this month's list of the best free Android apps.
Hundreds of apps are downloaded to the Play Store every week, but premium apps are already popular. Therefore, finding a few hidden gems is important.
That's precisely why we curate this list of the best free Android apps each month so you can stay up-to-date with the latest Android apps. What's more, all of these apps are free to use. Read on to check out our list of the best free Android apps this month.
1. BATTERY WIDGET: Charge your BLUETOOTH devices on time
Manufacturers have removed the headphone jack from almost every smartphone, and we've resorted to using a pair of Bluetooth earbuds. The main downside is that these devices run out of charge, and we've all been in situations where we rely on our earbuds, only for them to die. Here's an app that helps you effectively monitor the battery level of your Bluetooth devices: Battery Widget.
There are three styles of widgets you can use, and the app displays the battery level of all your connected Bluetooth devices. We also like the Material You theme, and the widgets match your wallpaper color. You can also customize the color of these widgets, adjust the corner radius, and adjust the background transparency.
However, these tools have a trial period, and you need to keep the "Enable Trial" switch turned on to continue using the tool. If you want to eliminate the inconvenience, you can pay for the premium version of the app.
2. BRING ME: Never leave your stuff behind.
Keys, phone, wallet, headphones AirPodsAnd the tissue we really love—they're all that go into our pockets when we go out. That's a fair number of items we carry, and it's possible, though God forbid, that we forget one or two. Thanks to Bring Me, an app we found on the Play Store. It takes that worry away.
The app allows you to record items repeatedly. First, you need to create a list of all the items you're carrying. When you arrive at your destination, open the app and tap "With Me" next to all the items you currently have with you. The app will record the time and location you confirmed the item was with you.
When you leave the location, the app notifies you and asks if you've packed everything on the way back. Apps like these with simple yet essential ideas win our hearts and deserve a place on this list.
3. 24 HOURS: Track every hour of the day
If you aim to complete multiple activities and rituals daily but struggle to keep up, you can definitely use some apps on your smartphone to your advantage. Here's an app called 24 Hours that helps you track your time and everything you do each day.
This app helps you manage your day by giving you a 24-hour clock, where you can record activities and see a visual representation of the type of activity and the time spent on it, as an hour.
You can create a variety of activities, each customizable with icons and colors. You can track the time you spend on each activity, schedule it, create recurring activities with a specific frequency, and check weekly statistics on how you spend your time. Additionally, there's a stopwatch function for timed activities with uncertain durations.
Fortunately, there's no required login or registration, ensuring your information is secure. However, we wish the user interface was more refined, as we didn't like the color schemes the app uses in Light mode.
4. EYE PRO – BLUE LIGHT FILTER: Protect your eyes from blue light
Your smartphone is both a blessing and a curse—something we hear almost every day. Not only does excessive screen time affect your mental health, but the blue light emitted by your smartphone can also strain your eyes and disrupt your sleep cycle. Here's an app that will help.
The app lets you activate Night Mode with one of four blue light filters to protect against harmful blue light rays during late-night screen activity. Additionally, you can schedule automatic filter switches that ensure the blue light filter activates after twilight to help you get a good night's sleep.
Moreover, there is also a notification widget that allows easy control of turning the blue light filter on/off, giving you the convenience of a simple tap to choose from different filters.
Complimentary
Download Eye Pro Bluelight Filter
5. JUST THE RECIPE: Cooking instructions at this point
Are you tired of reading a long recipe article full of stories and fluff? This can be frustrating, especially when you're hungry. What if we could skip that and go straight to the cooking instructions? Well, just the recipe does just that.
Simply paste the article URL and let the app work its magic. A brief summary of the recipe's instructions and ingredients will appear. Furthermore, the app allows you to categorize recipes, save them into different collections, and even share them. What we also love about the app is its beautiful, easy-to-use interface designed for easy reading.
The free version of the app has most of the built-in features, but if you decide to purchase the pro version, you can save an unlimited number of recipes, adjust portion sizes, convert units, and even print recipes. Overall, we love this app, and it's one of the best we've found while writing this list of the best free Android apps.
6. SNIPD podcasts: A new way to listen to podcasts
Pick a popular podcast, like Joe Rogan's or Lex Friedman's, and you'll see that each episode averages nearly two hours. We're all used to short content, so keeping up with audio-only content for a long time can be challenging. An app called Snipd can help. It provides valuable feedback, insights, and highlights from a podcast episode.
The app lets you effortlessly discover new podcasts through a TikTok-style feed featuring the best features. You can listen to and save motivational moments with one tap, and access transcripts and summaries. Furthermore, you can organize notes and share highlights across different platforms. The app also claims to have AI-powered search to easily find specific podcast moments. The app currently supports English-language podcasts, with plans for expanded language support.
The free version has most of the basic features covered, but there's also a premium version of the app to run AI features on entire podcast episodes, even those not already processed by the app.
7. BUILD HABITS SLOWLY: Track the visual progress of your habits.
Often, the excitement we feel when learning a new subject fails to translate into a consistent, disciplined routine. But don't lose hope just yet. Various techniques can help you achieve your goal, and here's an app called Build Habits Slowly that combines many of these features!
Some habits may not show tangible results after a few days, so you'll need a different motivation to continue. This app helps by giving you a colorful chart that charts your progress, motivating you to maintain your progress.
You can add multiple habits to the app, set different colors, and even add a motivational message to help you get started. Furthermore, the app helps you set a realistic goal and doesn't break your streak if you miss a day—it even allows you to have multiple "slip days." The app is completely free to use and ad-free.
That was our list of the best free Android apps for October. Missed the best free Android apps for September? Don't worry! Scroll down to see the list.
Top 7 Free Android Apps for September
1. Swipefy for Spotify: A great way to discover new music
Spotify does an excellent job of helping you discover new songs. However, the best part of most songs—the ones that turn out to be earworms—lies in the chorus. Most of us judge a song based on the first few seconds, but what if we could directly find the best part of a song? That's where Swipefy for Spotify comes in!
This has to be one of the best free Android apps we've discovered during this series. First, you need to link your Spotify account to the app. You'll then get music suggestions in the form of cards; these cards provide a preview by playing the best part of the song. Swipe right on the card if you like it, swipe left if you don't – and the best part is that all the sounds you like will be added directly to your liked songs playlist on Spotify!
Moreover, you can also discover new music across different genres. The app's interface is also beautiful and contains no ads. It's completely free to use. However, the developers are working on a pro version to add more features to the app.
2. Feeder.co: A Powerful RSS Feed Application
Are you tired of accessing all the different sites to keep up with the news? What if you could access it all in one place and with one feed? Sounds like a dream, doesn't it? Well, an internet algorithm called RSS feeds helps you do just that. Feeder.co is an Android app that implements this algorithm—here's everything you need to know.
You can select all the sites you read your news from. New articles and updates will appear on the Feeder homepage. You can also group these websites based on different categories. There's an "All Posts" tab that displays all posts from the websites, an "Unread" tab that displays articles you haven't read yet, and a "Starred" tab that displays articles you've liked.
We've tested various RSS feed apps for Android, and Feeder is one of the smoothest and most optimized. You get a variety of customization options to change the app's theme, and you can also enable news notifications. The only downside is that you must register to use the feed and create a feed of your own news sources.
The app is free to use, but there's a pro version that disables all ads, helps you enable news filters, and adds a one-minute refresh feature to help you quickly catch up on all the news.
3. StandBy iOS: Our favorite iOS 17 feature on Android
The new StandBy feature for iPhone is one of the Our favorite features on iOS 17. It's a feature we wish we could use on Android devices as well. Thanks to a few enthusiastic app developers who share our same desire, we have an app that emulates the StandBy feature on Android.
StandBy iOS is an app that lets you use the StandBy feature from iOS 17 on your Android device. This feature turns your device into a smart display while plugged in. In some ways, this Android app is superior to how the feature works on the iPhone. Not only does this app help you use standby mode without plugging in your Android device, but it also offers a host of features to customize your display.
The app is completely free to use, and we love all the options it gives you to control the various elements of the StandBy screen. If you feel like you're missing out on seeing your friends show off their new iOS 17 feature on their iPhone, this app has your back!
4. Ascent: Delay for XNUMX second, App Block: Quit Doomscrolling
We all grab our smartphones to check that notification, and before you know it, you've spent an entire hour scrolling through Instagram. Well, most of us are in the same boat. However, while covering this list of the best free Android apps, we found an app that prevents you from doing just that: Ascent.
Ascent is an app that prevents you from using distracting apps by adding a one-second delay between opening and using the app. Once you've set up Ascent, select the app you want to prevent from being used. Ascent will pop up and prompt you to take a deep breath. You'll then be asked if you want to use the app. This time gap will help you be more mindful and aware of what you're doing, thus preventing a scrolling session.
The free version of the app allows you to add up to two apps to the list. If you purchase the pro version, you'll get additional features like Focus Sessions, where you can't open a specific app for a certain period of time, reminders to stop using apps, and the ability to add more apps to the list.
5. Shutterbite: A New Way to Improve Your Eating Habits
Although the Google Play Store has plenty of apps to help you track calories, the process is often complex. You may not find the meal you want to track calories for, and manually entering calories can result in inaccurate information. Enter Shutterbite—an app that makes it easy to track your eating habits on your Android device.
Unlike traditional meal tracking apps, Shutterbite asks you to upload a photo of what you eat for each meal. This definitely helps you visualize your eating habits. For example, think of a week filled with photos of fast food on the app—you'll definitely want to improve your eating habits when you see them.
Furthermore, the app also helps you understand your relationship with food. With multiple filtering and visualization options, you can view your eating habits from a new perspective. Shutterbite is free to use, but the pro version removes ads. The downside is that registration is required to use the app. Overall, this is undoubtedly one of the most unique apps we've encountered in the food tracking category!
Free; In-app purchases: $4.99 and up
6. Open Audiobooks & E-Books: A great source for free digital books
There are a lot of conveniences that come with reading an e-book or listening to an audiobook—but there's a price to pay. Amazon's Kindle and Audible aren't the best places to go if you're looking to get a few free e-books or audiobooks. However, in this month's list of the best free Android apps—we have an app that makes it possible!
Open Audiobooks and E-Books is an app that offers a wide range of free content. You simply select whether you want to read or listen to a book and choose your preferred genres; the app will recommend titles.
The interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate and discover new books. Books are also sorted by authors, and you can choose your favorite. However, we were disappointed by the intrusive ads, and there's no pro version to disable them.
Download Open Audiobooks and E-Books
7. STFO Notification Manager: End Distracting Notifications
We previously showed you an app that helps you prevent yourself from using your phone for extended periods when you just want to check your notifications. However, we receive many notifications that aren't worth our attention. Disabling such apps from notifying you is one option, but here's an app that helps you block certain types of notifications—here's everything you need to know about STFO!
STFO is a notification management app that lets you create rules and filters for notifications on your Android device. For example, if you don't want to receive spam notifications containing words like "lottery" or "offers," you can set a rule that automatically blocks such notifications from ringing your phone.
There are plenty of presets for these rules and filters. You can also create custom ones. Furthermore, there are features to hide notification content, prevent the app from sending multiple notifications, turn off DND when an important notification arrives, and more. Best of all, there are no ads, and the app is free!
Download STFO Notification Manager
It's time to boost your Android experience.
These were our recommendations for the best free Android apps for October 2023. We hope you try them all. We're sure some will stick with your phone for a while.
Meanwhile, if you find a new app you like, leave it in the comments section below, and we'll test it and recommend it if it's a great discovery. That's it for this month. See you soon!
