Last updated on December 20, 2016

Two of the most common smartphone uses today (apart from calls & texts) are web browsing and listening to music. While people used to carry stereos, portable players and iPods in the past, most dedicated music devices have been replaced by smartphones thanks to increasing storage capacities and performance improvements.

If you’re addicted to your playlists and want to rock them with your Android phone on the go, our selection of the best Android music player apps available in 2016 below will come in handy for you.

#1. Poweramp Music Player

Poweramp is one of the most powerful Android music players with a ton of features and options. You can customize the player’s appearance via themes and tune your music with a 10-band graphic equalizer.

Other features include crossfading, replay gain, last.fm scrobbling, gapless playback, lyrics search, cover art animations, headset support and 4 different widgets for your Android homescreen.

You can either buy the full version of Poweramp from Google Play Store or download the free trial version from the link below.

#2. Neutron Music Player

While Neutron is a paid music player app, it’s well worth your money if you are particular about sound quality and performance. The app uses a 32/64-bit audio rendering engine for the highest quality of audio and sound playback on your Android phone.

It also supports a variety of sound effects and features along with a host of sources including network devices with SMB/CIFS or UPnP/DLNA support.

You can either pay $5 for the full version or download the trial version from the Play Store link below to give it a try before you decide whether to buy it or not.

#3. PlayerPro Music Player

PlayerPro rivals the best Android music players in terms of features and customization options and is one of my personal favorites. While it doesn’t quite match Neutron’s sound quality levels, it is still very decent with its equalizer and enhancements like SRS and Beats audio.

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The app can also help you find cover art for your music via the internet and there are several free skins you can download as well. If you want widget support, PlayerPro also has a couple of sleek-looking widgets for your homescreen.

If you want to give PlayerPro for Android a go, download the 10-day trial from the link below before you decide to go Pro.

#4. jetAudio Music Player+EQ Plus

Chances are that you’re familiar with jetAudio from back when Android devices didn’t exist and we used to listen to music on our PCs. Since then jetAudio has been among the leading music players in terms of features, and the same holds true for its Android version.

The basic version of jetAudio comes with a 10-band equalizer while the Plus version has a 20-band equalizer. You can also buy sound effect plugins via in-app purchases if you need them.

Overall, jetAudio is definitely worth a try and we recommend that you download its basic version via the Play Store link below.

#5. MixZing Music Player

MixZing offers a nice set of features along with decent music playback performance and battery consumption. If you’re big on internet radio, you can play music from thousands of stations supported by SHOUTcast Radio.

The music player also identifies your music, displays lyrics for it and creates mood based playlists for you to play according to how you’re feeling. The app also comes with homescreen widgets and a sleep timer option in case you fall asleep while listening to music.

MixZing also works properly on Android 5.0 Lollipop and the developer has also fixed issues with the equalizer in the recent update. You can download it for free via the Play Store link below and upgrade it later if you want an ads-free experience.

#6. Rocket Music Player

Rocket Music Player has seen several improvements over time and has a solid set of features in its free version. You also get a lot of themes and a 5-band equalizer in the free version along with scrobbling support, sleep timer, batch editing and album art management features.

The paid version of Rocket Music Player brings a 10-band equalizer along with support for additional music formats and album art downloading. Even if you don’t want to purchase the full version the free version works well for basic use.

#7. doubleTwist Music Player

Whether you want to listen to music, online radio or podcasts, doubleTwist player has you covered. It can also sync with your iTunes or WMP playlists and play songs via its Magic Radio feature to go with your existing libraries.

If music alone doesn’t cut it for you, doubleTwist is actually one of the most gorgeous looking music player apps for Android. It is completely free to download and use and includes in-app purchases if you want to unlock features like AirSync, AirPlay and DLNA support etc.

#8. Musixmatch Music & Lyrics

Musixmatch is not just a good music player with a 5-band equalizer – its main feature is the ability to display lyrics synced with the music tracks you play. The app also works with Google Play Music and Spotify by displaying floating lyrics for your songs.

The app looks great with the Material Design look and now supports Android Wear as well. You can download and use the free version which supports ads or go for a monthly or yearly subscription to remove them.

#9. GoneMAD Music Player

GoneMAD music player for Android has all the standard features and options along with changeable user-interface themes based on Holo and Material Design guidelines. You can play all your music with GoneMAD, including flac files, ogg and mpc files along with the standard formats.

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The app also features a 10-band equalizer, gapless playback, crossfading, replaygain and bass boost. You can download the free trial version and use it for 14 days, after which you will need to buy the unlocker for the full version.

#10. Shuttle Music Player

Shuttle is an awesome free Android music player with a host of features including a 6-band equalizer with bass boost, gapless playback, auto coverart downloads, last.fm scrobbling, sleep timer, homescreen widgets, a sleek UI and beautiful Material Design themes.

Shuttle+ is the paid version of the app and brings ChromeCasting, id3 tagging and the ability to browse your music by folders. Even if you don’t purchase the plus version though, the free version works great as it is.

#11. n7player Music Player

n7player is a nifty little Android music player with a great set of features like tag clouds, 3d sound effects, multiple theme skins, album art downloading, bass and treble adjustment, folder browsing and widgets.

You also get a 10-band equalizer and gesture navigation works well with the app’s gorgeous user interface. All in all n7player is worth the money with support for network streaming and UPNP, DLNA, AirPlay and Chromecast support.

Download the 14-day free trial version via the link below and if you like it, you can go for the full version by downloading the unlocker from the Play Store.

#12. Google Play Music

Google Play Music is a simple music player which excels at providing ad-supported radio streaming which can match your mood and likes. Make no mistake however, Google Play Music focuses more on streaming music rather than playing your own collection, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good free option.

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You can upload up to 50,000 of your own songs as well and listen to them seamlessly on multiple devices, including Android and iOS phones and tablets.

The free version has ads however, but you can subscribe for uninterrupted streaming and on-demand music access and downloads for offline listening. All in all, if you’re a music lover on the go, you should definitely give Google Play Music a try.

What do you think about our selection of the best free and paid Android Music Player apps for phones and tablets? We’ve not included the likes of Fusion Music Player and Winamp because they haven’t been updated lately and cause issues with newer versions of Android like Lollipop 5.0.

Which music player do you use on your Android? If you have any suggestions or recommendations of your own be sure to comment and let us know. If you like this list, you should scroll down and subscribe for more great app selections and the latest Android updates.