My Top Android Apps of 2013

Android Apps

Here’s my top Android apps as promised! The apps listed below are those I often use and find handy.

Let’s get started with My list of Top Android Apps of 2013!

Please note:

Some apps may require a certain version of Android or other functions your phone may not have. I have the Xperia V and all of this apps function perfectly.
Apps are listed in alphabetical order.

Move apps:
Are you running out of application storage? Do you hate having to check each and every app if it supports moving to the SD card? Do you want an app that automatically does this for you and can notify you when an app can be moved? This component streamlines the movement of apps to on your device’s external or internal storage through your device’s Settings. With this, you’ll have more control over your ever-expanding collection of apps. This is crucial to anyone who has memory management issues.

Hide apps:
You don’t care for all the apps your carrier adds to Android? Well, now you can get rid of them! This component enables you to hide system (built-in) apps from the app drawer.

This app is a must-have! Each time you install a new app AppMgr III will notify you if it can be moved to your smartphone’s internal storage or μSD card. Some apps are moveable, but shouldn’t be moved if you want the widget to be displayed. AppMgr III will warn you about this too!

avast! Mobile Security & Antivirus by AVAST Software

avast! Mobile Security keeps your device safe from viruses, malware, and spyware.

It helps you locate your lost phone through our web-based phone locate feature.

Remote device lock and/or memory wipe in its advanced Anti-Theft component keep your data safe.

Handy tools like network meter, app manager, and even firewall (on rooted phones) give you complete control of your mobile phone.

The antivirus is great, but what’s even better is the Anti-Theft add-on. I’m pretty sure no one will steal your phone and get away if you have this app installed. In the premium version you can even remotely take a photo of the thief using the front camera! This app is another necessity!

ES File Explorer by ES APP Group

ES File Explorer is a free, full-featured file and application manager.
It functions as all of these apps in one: file manager, application manager, task killer, cloud storage client (compatible with Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Box.net, Sugarsync, Yandex, Amazon S3, and Ubuntu One), FTP client, and LAN Samba client.
It provides access to pictures, music, video, documents, and other files on both your Android devices and your computers.

Without this app file management isn’t the same. I can manage my cloud drives, my website’s files via FTP, move files to and from USB storage if I connect a flash drive to my phone, backup apps, compress files, extract files etc. Definitely a must-have!

Facebook Pages Manager by Facebook

Pages Manager helps admins connect with their audience and keep up with activity on multiple Pages, all in one place.

Post updates and photos and respond to comments as your Pages

View and reply to private messages sent to your Pages

Option to get push notifications for new activity, tips and reminders

View your latest Page Insights

Turn push notifications on or off for each Page

Upload a photo to a specific album

Attach a photo to a status update

Change profile and cover photos

Save a shortcut to a Page on your phone’s home screen

Share links from other apps to Pages Manager

Post and promote at the same time

Turn an external link into a share post

Share photos from other apps

Create an album

Save a draft of a post

Write posts on an Event

Use bookmark links to see full-page Messages, Insights, Photos, Events and Activity Log

To delete a comment or ban someone from your Page, just tap the comment

Go to Settings to edit basic info and invite friends to like your Page

Upload multiple photos for a single post

Edit Page admins: add new admins for the Pages you manage

Tag people in comments to build a deeper connection with the people that matter to you

Keep up with updates from other relevant pages in Pages Feed

Tag other Pages in sharing tool

Tap on a person/Page to easily access their Timeline

Edit comments

Tap on push notifications to go to messages and posts

If you are the administrator of a Facebook page you should really get this! I especially like the Schedule Post function as I always forget to post things on the day I want to. This app is cool, but you don’t need it. You can manage pages with the default app also.

HomeWork by Klwinkel.com

1. HomeWork app to keep track of your homework and Timetable.

2. The app has 5 main screens:

Main Menu

List with all homework assignments, sorted on date, with counters for the amount of homework not “done” yet.

List with all Exams, sorted on date.

Timetable for the current day

Timetable for the current week

3. You can define your own subjects/lessons.
You can define the start and end times of the lessons.
Upto 20 lessons per day.

You can define contact information for each subject.

4. Feature to make a temporary (one lesson, one day) timetable change.

5. Possible to use a 2- 3- and 4-week timetable (enable it in the Settings!)

6. Possible to use a rotating timetable (enable it in the Settings!)

7. By (short) Clicking on a lesson in the timetable screens, you can define homework for that lesson.
By (long) Clicking on a lesson in the timetable screens, you can define a one-time timetable change for that lesson.

8. In the Timetable screens, there are indications for unfinished homework and examinations for lessons.

9. By sweeping left or right on the timetable screen, you can go forward or backward in time.Sweep down is back to current day/week

10. Multiple homescreen widgets available.

I’m a scholar and I use this app daily! It shows my timetable and homework on my home screen and I’ve added a button to easily add homework. Our school has a 6-day timetable and this is one of the few apps which supports this situation. I’ll give this app an A+ 😉

Google Keep by Google Inc.

Quickly capture what’s on your mind and be reminded at the right place or time. Create a checklist, enter a voice note or snap a photo and annotate it. Everything you add is instantly available on all your devices – desktop and mobile.

With Google Keep you can:
• Keep track of your thoughts via notes, lists and photos
• Add reminders to important notes and be reminded through Google Now
• Have voice notes transcribed automatically
• Use widgets to capture thoughts quickly
• Color-code your notes to help find them later
• Swipe to archive things you no longer need
• Turn a note into a checklist by adding checkboxes
• Use your notes from anywhere – they are safely stored in the cloud and available on the web at http://keep.google.com and via the Google Keep app in the Chrome Web Store.

I use Google Keep to make (colourful) notes and set reminders. It looks & works great!

My Data Manager by Mobidia Technology

My Data Manager is a popular data usage monitor to help you keep track of your mobile data usage. It’s a simple data counter that helps you monitor the data that you use and keep track of your data count on a daily basis. It helps you understand what apps used the most data and will always tell you the total amount of data used in your current mobile data plan period.

Do you wonder which apps are consuming all your data? Do you wonder how much data you’ve used this month and if you are going to go over your limit? Try My Data Manager to take control of your data and start saving on mobile data!

Although Android JB has its own data manager, this app warns me when I exceed my daily limit on mobile data. It can also predict how much data one will use. It’s the best data management app I’ve seen so far!

My Vodacom by Vodacom (Pty) Ltd.

We give power to you with the My Vodacom app for your smartphone. View: your bill so far; your airtime, data and messaging balances before you log in as well as your next upgrade date and PUK number. Purchase data, transfer data and airtime, recharge any Prepaid number and find a Vodacom outlet near you.

If you’re a Vodacom subscriber this app is a must-have. You can see almost everything in connection with your account and even buy and manage bundles. The best is that you can send bundles to a friend!

Nike+ Running by Nike, Inc.

From the trail to the treadmill, your phone’s GPS and accelerometer accurately record your distance, pace, and time. In-run audio feedback lets you know these metrics at every mile, so you can stay focused on your run.

No sensor or additional products needed, just grab your phone and go.

Get in-ear cheers from your friends on Facebook when you broadcast that you’ve started a run. Tag the friends you ran with and share a map of your route with friends and family.

Have a song that gets you pumped? Set up PowerSongs to give yourself a boost with the tap of a button.

Need extra motivation? Add a widget to your phone’s home screen to show when you ran last, display your total mileage, and for even quicker access into a run.

For me is a great app to track my jogging route and it keeps me entertained and informed by playing my favourite music playlist and reading my pace, distance and time out loud every 500m! I compete with friends and can easily monitor how far I ran on a specific day. You can unlock achievements as you make progress. There’s also other cool fitness apps like Endomondo Sports Tracker by Endomondo.com.

on{X} by Microsoft Corporation

automate your life with on{X}.
on{X} (pronounced ‘on-ex’) lets you control and extend the capabilities of your Android phone using a JavaScript API to remotely program it.

on{X} beta requires Facebook ID for authentication, no info is shared or saved, additional authentication methods will be added very soon.

I haven’t used it a lot yet, but from a programmer’s point of view this can be a really nice app to automate certain tasks on your Android! You can choose from default apps or write your own “recipes”.

QuickSupport by TeamViewer

Get support for your mobile device from any Windows or Mac computer! You can now receive technical remote support for your mobile devices. Technicians have the ability to chat, transfer files back and forth, view device information, stop processes, push and pull Wi-Fi settings, and much more.

It is even possible for your device (Samsung, Sony, Alcatel One Touch / TCL, Medion and more) to be remotely controlled, allowing the technician to access your device as if it were in their own hands.

I’ve only used this app once and I must say that it is quite a useful app for assisting someone with tasks on his phone – without being near that person!

Smart Connect by Sony Mobile Communications

Smart Connect (LiveWare™ Manager) allows you to decide what happens when you connect your smartphone to another device. Smart Connect is provided from Android 4.0.

Manage devices

Manage smart accessories like SmartWatch, Smart wireless headset pro or SmartTags.

Introduces events

Create events based on device, time and actions. For instance connecting a headset, launching the music player and playing music while at home. A rich set of preconfigured events available from start.

This app is AWESOME! It automates my life greatly. At night my phone automatically switches to vibrate mode. Weekdays I go to school without having to switch to silent mode manually! It can do loads more. Check out my review on this app!

SoundHound by SoundHound Inc.

Blazing fast music recognition

The world’s only singing and humming recognition

LiveLyrics: see lyrics move in time with the music

SoundHound Headlines: brings you free song streams, new artists, and more

Real-time Facebook and Twitter updates from your favorite artists

Facebook and Twitter sharing, listen-on-startup, and geotagging

Buy links, YouTube videos, artist biographies, and much more

Best app for music recognition! I especially like LiveLyrics which shows the live lyrics as the song progresses.

Temple Run 2 by Imangi Studios

With over 170 million downloads, Temple Run redefined mobile gaming. Now get more of the exhilarating running, jumping, turning and sliding you love in Temple Run 2!

Navigate perilous cliffs, zip lines, mines and forests as you try to escape with the cursed idol. How far can you run?!

This game is very cool. You can spend hours playing this game without getting bored! Compete with friends and unlock achievements daily.

tTorrent Pro by 3D Magic LLC.

download single files from torrents with multiple files

multiple torrent downloading, queuing

search for torrents

Wifi only mode, Wifi or WiMAX mode

able to set Upload/Download speed in options

web browser integration

magnet link support

trackerless torrent (DHT) support

RSS support(automatically download torrents published in feeds)

UPnP and NAT-PMP support

IP filtering support

proxy support (SOCKS, HTTP)

encryption

Local Peer Discovery

creating torrents

This is a paid app, but DEFINITELY WORTH THE MONEY! Manage your torrent downloads, specify the files you want to download, queue and more advanced features.

TuneIn Radio by TuneIn Inc

TuneIn lets you listen to the world’s radio with music, sports, news, talk, and comedy streaming from every continent. Enjoy 100,000 live radio stations and 2 million podcasts, concerts or shows on your Android phone or tablet, all for free.

Sports fans rejoice! Use TuneIn to listen to hundreds of college football games spanning every conference. Just browse “Sports–>College Football” at game time for a full listing of that day’s events. If the game hasn’t started, you can add it to your calendar to receive a reminder so you don’t miss a play.

Already a TuneIn listener? TuneIn Radio is fully integrated with tunein.com, so just log in to enjoy your Favorites right from your Android.

When I feel like listening to music without hearing my “favourite” playlist for the tenth time that day, I’ll launch TuneIn and tune in to some Top 40 charts. It shows album art and song names. Great!

WiFi File Explorer by dooblou

1. Using a web browser, you can browse and download all the files on your Android device without the need for a cable. Download entire directories with one click which no other similar app offers;

2. View all the camera pictures and videos or listen to all the music on your Android device streamed directly in a web browser. Use shortcut tabs to quickly view ‘All Music’, ‘All Pictures’ and ‘All Videos’ stored on your device, no matter which directory they are in;

3. Use the one of a kind gallery viewer to create a slide show of all your camera pictures directly from your Android device. Simply click on a picture’s file name to launch the gallery viewer and then hit the play button to enjoy all your pictures in the web browser;

4. Search box so that you can find any file on your Android device;

5. Select between thumbnail and detail views to choose the best method to quickly browse your files. Thumbnails are supported for both pictures AND videos!

6. Upgrade to the PRO version to perform multiple file uploads/download do full backups, stream media playlists, create new directories, delete/rename/copy/zip/unzip files and auto-install apps saved on your device,

7. Runs as a service in the background so you can use other apps while you are making transfers;

8. Simple to use with no set up or buttons – it just works!

9. Password protected to prevent unwanted access;

10. Ability to configure the port settings;

11. Full support for special characters in file names which competitor apps do not support;

12. Visual indicators and stats of how much free space is on your Android device as well as real-time indicators of how much battery and WiFi signal you currently have.