The Google Play Store is overwhelming, with millions of apps and games to choose irefrom. Even if you know exactly what type of app you want, how do you know which is the best to download? With this: our list of Best Apps, hand-picked by Android experts.

Essentials Before you dive into this list, it should be noted that some very popular apps are not included such as Gmail and Google Maps. We have purposefully not included Google apps in this list. It’s not that we don’t think they are worthy, in fact, it’s the opposite. Google’s apps are installed on most Android phones by default. Most users are already familiar with them. If you’re unfamiliar with the many great apps by Google, check out their page in the Play Store.

Books Phones and tablets don’t just have to be about fun and games — they are also great learning tools. You can stuff tons of reading content onto these things and carry more literature in your pocket than even a library could dream of. Here are the best Android apps for eReading. BEST EREADER: Moon+ Reader Moon+ Reader’s cleanliness, efficiency, and no-nonsense design makes it the best eReader we’ve ever seen. It’s not tied to any specific eBook ecosystem, but it supports a vast array of eBook formats, has a very customizable (and beautiful) Material Design user interface, and enough options to satiate the needs of beginner and advanced users alike. [Download Moon+ Reader] SEE ALSO: Best E-Book Readers for Android BEST AUDIOBOOK APP: Audible There’s no bigger audiobook platform than Audible (150,000 titles and counting), and their Android app provides the perfect listening experience to take all that literature in. Bookmarks, chapter selection, variable audio and more are all on tap to let you listen exactly how you want. Even better is how it integrates with select Amazon Kindle books, so your reading position syncs between both services no matter which method you’re using to read. [Download Audible] SEE ALSO: Best Audiobook Apps for Android

Business When you need to simply “get it done,” you want to make sure you have the best tools for the job, and it can be hard to find those tools on mobile. Look no further: here are the best Android apps for getting business done on the road. BEST ceCE SUITE: Microsoft Office Microsoft made a strong commitment to Microsoft Office users: they were going to make apps worthy of your monthly dollars no matter what platform you use. In our opinion, they’ve delivered and own the best catalog of office apps on Android. Microsoft’s biggest achievement was embracing Material Design in an app that doesn’t trade usability for mobile efficiency — most things you can do in the desktop apps can be done right on your phone or tablet. [Download Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint] SEE ALSO: Best Office Suite Apps for Android BEST PAYMENT PROCESSOR: Square Square is the original mainstream mobile payments processor, and it only got better with time. It still remains the best mobile payments processing platform even after heavyweight Paypal stepped into the arena. You can take payments via cash or credit cards, generate and print receipts, get revenue and sales reports and more — all from your phone. Square even took it upon themselves to introduce a card swipe tool with NFC embedded, so you can accept payments from those who use Android Pay or Samsung Pay. [Download Square] BEST COLLABORATION TOOL: Trello Here’s a business app that’s so good even Phandroid has to use it every second of every day. Trello is a project management tool that’ll let you and your team organize and communicate ideas, tasks and information in an easy and meaningful way. You can keep it simple and use it as a place to store ideas and notes, or get as deep as you want and make it your one-stop shop for managing your entire workflow. [Download Trello]

Entertainment Phones and tablets are perfect for consuming entertainment. There is a device in your pocket that can access nearly anything you can imagine. Movies, TV shows, funny videos, memes, and more. All you have to do is relax and open one of these apps. You will be entertained. TV REMOTE: Peel The days of fishing in the couch cushions for your TV remote are long gone. Why not use the phone that’s on you at all times? Peel turns your phone into a universal remote. It can control your TV, Blu-ray player, set-top box, and more. It also provides recommendations for what you should watch. If your phone has an IR blaster, Peel can work for you. [Download Peel] LIVE TV STREAMING: Sling TV Sling TV puts live television on your phone. For $20 per month, you get channels like ESPN, Food Network, Cartoon Network, CNN, IFC, Travel Channel, and more. Why pay a cable company for channels you don’t need that can only be viewed in your living room? Sling TV works on many set-top boxes, and you can take it with you on your phone. [Download Sling TV] SEE ALSO: Best TV Streaming Apps for Android MOVIES & TV SHOWS: Netflix When it comes to streaming movies and TV shows, it’s hard to beat Netflix. The service has been around for a long time, and the library of content has gotten better throughout the years. Netflix has also created their own original shows and movies, which are some of the best around. It’s $10 per month that you will never regret. [Download Netflix] PHOTOS AND MEMES: Imgur Enjoy the day’s most ridiculously entertaining stream of images, pictures, GIFs, and memes with Imgur. Millions of people around the world use Imgur every day to share and enjoy hilariously funny GIFs, awesome science facts, amazing 4K wallpapers, cute kitten pics, and so much more. Just open the app and explore. [Download Imgur] DRAWING: SketchBook SketchBook is a professional-grade paint and drawing application designed for Android devices. It offers a set of sketching tools and delivers them through a streamlined and intuitive user interface. If you’re looking to do some serious artwork on your Android device, SketchBook has the tools you need. [Download SketchBook] DRAWING FOR KIDS: Kids Doodle Kids Doodle is a simple drawing app for, you guessed it, kids. It’s super easy-to-use painting controls allow kids to draw on photos or blank canvas. It has endless bright colors and 24 beautiful brushes, such as glow, neon, rainbow, crayon, and sketchy. There’s also a unique “movie” mode, which can playback kid’s artwork like a small film. [Download Kids Doodle]

Finance Keeping track of your finances is something everyone should do. This is one area where apps have truly made life easier. You can now track all of your purchases, payments, bills, and more, right from your phone. With the right apps, you can take full control of your finances and even make some extra cash on the side. PERSONAL BUDGETING: Mint Mint is the best popular personal finance app around. It can sync with your credit cards and bank accounts to automatically track your purchases, bill payments, and more. It’s also great for creating budgets and alerts. And with today’s mobile phones offering fingerprint scanning security, you won’t have to worry about your information and privacy. [Download Mint] PAY WITH YOUR PHONE: Venmo We live in a digital age of money. Carrying cash and change is becoming a thing of the past. This can make it a little tricky to pay people in person. How do you lend someone a few bucks when you only have a credit card? Venmo makes it easy to transfer money and collect money. Simply choose a person, enter the amount, and send. [Download Venmo] SEE ALSO: Best Apps to Pay With Your Phone INVESTING: Acorns Acorns helps you save and invest spare change from your everyday purchases and invest into a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds. When you make a purchase with your credit card, Acorns rounds it up to the nearest dollar and invests the change into a portfolio. You don’t even have to think about it. [Download Acorns] STOCK MARKET TRADING: Robinhood Most brokerages charge for every stock trade, sometimes up to $50. Robinhood allows you to trade stocks for free. Unlike most stock trading apps, Robinhood is beautifully designed and simple to use. With just a few taps you can buy and sell stocks. If you’re ready to venture into the world of stock trading, Robinhood is the best way to do it. [Download Robinhood] EXPENSE TRACKING: Concur Concur allows you to easily keep track of business expenses without saving dozens of paper receipts. Simply enter all of your expenses in the Concur app. All of your receipts and expense charges are gathered and ready for an expense report when you get home. [Download Concur] REWARDS & GIFT CARDS: Key Ring Is your wallet or purse full of loyalty, membership, or gift cards? Or do you forget to bring them when you go shopping? Key Ring puts all of your reward cards on your phone. Key Ring also shares circular ads from your favorite local stores, so you always know about the best deals. Give your key chain, wallet, or purse a rest and digitally store those loyalty cards. [Download Key Ring]

Food & Drink Food is often the central part of the best gatherings, and fun nights often include delicious beverages (sometimes of the adult variety). It’s only natural that so many apps have been created to further enhance the eating and drinking experience. Download these apps, delight your inner foodie, and never be hungry or thirsty again. RECIPES: Allrecipes With the power of the internet in your pocket, cookbooks are a thing of the past. Allrecipes has millions of recipes from millions of home cooks like you. You can see user-submitted photos, ratings, and reviews of nearly every recipe. Only have a few ingredients? Search for recipes that include what you have on hand. Save recipes to your Recipe Box, watch tutorials, create shopping lists, and spin the “Dinner Spinner” for random ideas. [Download Allrecipes] SEE ALSO: Best Recipe Apps for Android GROCERY DELIVERY: InstaCart InstaCart allows you to order groceries and have them delivered to your home. Create a grocery order with a few taps, from fresh fruit and vegetables, to meat, seafood and home essentials. Order from local grocery stores like Whole Foods Market, Petco or Costco and get your groceries delivered when you want them. [Download InstaCart] FOOD DELIVERY: GrubHub The days of fishing through a phone book to find the number of your favorite pizza delivery place are long gone. GrubHub works with thousands of chains and local restaurants. You can view menus, customize orders, add special instructions, and much more. Order food without ever talking to another human being. [Download GrubHub] WINE TRACKER: Vivino Wine is a very serious matter for a lot of people. Vivino puts the expertise of over 12 million of those people at your fingertips. Use the app to scan your bottle of wine. You’ll see user reviews and ratings, average price, and more. The app can also recognize names on a wine list, so you always pick the best wine. Keep track of the wines you loved and the wines you hated. [Download Vivino] BEER TRACKER: Untappd Untappd is like Foursquare for beer. Every time you drink a beer, you select it and give it a rating in Untappd. You can see the reviews of other people as well. Untappd uses this information to give recommendations based on your taste. The more beer you drink the more badges you will unlock. As if you needed more reason to drink beer. [Download Untappd] RESTAURANT FINDER: Yelp Finding a good place to eat is something that always gets people to pull out their phones. Yelp is one of the very first apps to be available for Android and also happens to be one of the best. With over 50 million user reviews, it’s a great way to find the best food in your area, decisively solving any “Where should we eat?” debate. Whether you are looking for a pizzeria that is open now, coffee shop nearby, or fine dining downtown, Yelp is your local guide to finding the perfect place to eat. [Download Yelp]

Home & Family If your home and family are two of the most important things in your life, you’ve likely looked for apps to make sure their both safe and sound. Whether near, far – wherever you are – these apps will do exactly that. HOME SURVEILLANCE & VIDEO: Alfred Alfred is a very powerful app. It has a lot of the tools that you would be expected to pay for with products like the Nest Cam. You can view your camera remotely and switch between front and back, turn on the flash, talk over the speaker, see at night, get motion alerts, and more. [Download Alfred] THERMOSTAT: Nest Most people don’t think much about their thermostat, but you may start looking at it more when you learn about Nest. The Nest Thermostat learns your routines and automatically adjusts to save energy. The companion app allows you to monitor the thermostat and adjusts the temperature from anywhere. [Download Nest] LOCATOR: Family Locator If you have kids, you know how important it is to keep track of their whereabouts. Family Locator allows you to keep tabs on your kids, friends, and other people in your life. You can create “circles” of people and see where everyone is in real-time on a map. The app is really well-designed and simple to use. [Download Family Locator] MULTIMEDIA PLAYER: Plex Plex is a great way to set up a server filled with content for your friends and family. Drop all of your photos, videos, and music into Plex and it will be available to everyone in your group. One of the best things about Plex is it works on nearly every platform, including Android TV and Roku. [Download Plex] SEE ALSO: Best Multimedia Player Apps

Lifestyle Lifestyle apps have become a big part of our lives (imagine that). Phones are now essential everyday items, which makes lifestyle apps invaluable tools. They help us find the right clothes, fix stuff around the house, plan weddings, and decorate. The right app is a powerful tool. FASHION: The Hunt The Hunt allows you to exchange style advice and discover new trends with people like you. You can influence the community’s style and share your shopping expertise and style tips with four million people. Browse endless outfits, get style suggestions, and buy your must-have trends with The Hunt as your style guide. [Download The Hunt] DO IT YOURSELF: Instructables Have you ever wondered how to build…anything? Instructables can teach you. From useful and entertaining how-tos and hacks, to delicious recipes and outrageous inventions, Instructables is the place to explore, document, and share your creations. [Download Instructables] WEDDING & MARRIAGE: The Knot Planning a wedding is one of the most stressful things you can do. TheKnot.com is the most popular wedding planning site on the web, and the mobile app puts it all in the palm of your hand. Find the perfect caterers, photographers, designers, and more. Make a schedule and make sure you don’t fall behind. [Download The Knot] INTERIOR DESIGN: Houzz Whether you’re looking to renovate or redecorate, Houzz has everything you need to improve your home. Get inspired with over eight million high-resolution photos of home interiors and exteriors that you can browse by style, room and location, save and share. [Download Houzz]

Music & Media Remember iPods? They’ve largely gone the way of the dinosaur because our smartphones have also become our entertainment hubs, housing loads of digital content like music and movies. The creativity of Android developers has allowed us to consume amazing content in ways we never thought we would. These fantastic apps will help you make the most of the multimedia on your Android phone. STREAMING RADIO: Pandora If you’re looking to set-it and forget it, Pandora is the music app for you. Simply select an artist whose style of music you want to hear and let Pandora do the rest. By far the most popular Streaming Radio app, Pandora is free and ad-supported, but you can upgrade to a monthly subscription to remove them. [Download Pandora] SEE ALSO: Best Music Apps for Android STREAMING ON-DEMAND: Spotify Want fine-tuned control over an extensive playlist? In addition to mood-setting auto-play options like Pandora, Spotify also let’s you queue specific songs by your favorite artists with advanced playlist features you can save and share. It’s practically guaranteed to have every song you want to hear and an ever-growing number of features for audiophiles, exercisers, and party animals. [Download Spotify]

News & Magazines Having an Android Phone means you’re always in touch with the rest of the world. Whether that means taking 10-seconds in the shopping line to sneak-a-peek at celebrity gossip headlines or spending awhile to read an introspective article on world affairs, apps are a powerful tool for keeping up to date with your favorite type of news. RSS READER: Feedly Checking all your favorite news sources individually could be tiresome, but RSS Readers let you select specific sources, subscribe to updates, browse by categories, and create your own little library of content. The best RSS Reader on the market is Feedly, which brilliantly replaced Google Reader upon its demise in 2013. Since then it’s developed until a more fully featured solution, and perhaps most importantly, it’s quick, solid, and reliable. [Download Feedly] SEE ALSO: Best RSS Readers for Android PERSONALIZED NEWS: Pocket Similar to an RSS Reader, Pocket will allow you to save content from anywhere on the web so you can “Read it later” as the feature is called. But Pocket offers much more, bringing users a personalized list of recommended reading based on their activity, and offering a way to follow other users of the app. These features are weaved into an experience that is not only about consuming content you find on your own, but also about helping you Discover new content you would never have known existed. [Download Pocket] SEE ALSO: Best Apps for Personalized News PODCASTS: Pocket Casts Whether you’re commuting to and from work, out for a walk or run, or around the house completing to-do tasks, Podcasts are an excellent way to multi-task the time away. For the hands-down best experience in finding, downloading, sharing, and listening to podcasts, try Pocket Casts. A few bucks will get you a beautifully crafted podcast app that will meet all your needs and more. Honestly, if you’re looking for a great podcast app, look no further. [Download Pocket Casts] SEE ALSO: Best Podcast Apps for Android ANDROID NEWS: EarlyBird – News for Android If you’re looking to keep up to date with the latest developments in the Android World, you’ll want to download the EarlyBird news app for Android. Stay in the know about the latest news and rumors, upcoming phones and devices, great deals on products and accessories, and the newest and coolest apps and games. You get to vote on stories and see what’s trending in the Android world every day. [Download EarlyBird]

Personalization If there is one thing that makes Android unique, it’s personalization. Android gives users near complete control over how the phone works and looks. You can replace certain built-in apps with your own, change the home screen, use a live wallpaper, and much more. When you have an Android phone you can truly make it your phone. These apps can help. HOME SCREEN REPLACEMENT: Nova Launcher The home screen is the screen you see when you tap the home button. It houses your app icons, shortcuts, and widgets. Like most things in Android, the home screen can be replaced. Nova Launcher is a home screen replacement that adds a ton of customization and options to your home screen. If you take Android seriously, Nova Launcher is an essential app. It’s an absolute must-have. [Download Nova Launcher] SEE ALSO: Best Android Launchers WALLPAPERS: Backdrops Changing the wallpaper is a quick and easy way to give your phone a new look. There are a million different ways to find wallpaper for your phone. Backdrops is an app full of wallpapers, all of which have been hand crafted by a team of designers. The wallpapers in Backdrops are original and exclusive to the app. [Download Backdrops] SEE ALSO: Best Android Wallpaper Apps RINGTONES: Audiko Ringtones might not be as popular as they once were, but people do still make phone calls. Audiko is a great place to find not only ringtones for the few phone calls you get, but also SMS alerts, and other notification sounds. You can edit the audio files to your liking, and then download to your device. [Download Audiko] EMOJI: Dango The newest way to communicate without words is emoji. Those cute little characters and icons that represent emotions, reactions, food, animals, and much more. Dango works with your existing to keyboard and shows you the right emoji or GIF whenever you need it. Don’t say it when an emoji can do the job. [Download Dango] KEYBOARD: Swiftkey One of the best things you can do to improve your smartphone experience is to upgrade your keyboard. SwiftKey uses artificial Intelligence to automatically learn your writing style, including the emoji you love to use, the words that matter to you, and how you like to type. That means autocorrect and predictive text that actually work. [Download Swiftkey] SEE ALSO: Best Keyboards for Android

Photography One thing that every single smartphone has is a camera (or two). Smartphone cameras have eliminated the need for separate cameras, and they’ve opened up the world of photography to many more people. A great camera is nothing without equally as good software to go with it, and the right software can make a good photographer into a great one. CAMERA: Open Camera The camera app that came with your phone is probably okay, but like most things on Android, it can be upgraded. Open Camera is a camera app on steroids. It has all the tools that a professional photographer would need. Open Camera is free, open source, and has no ads. [Download Open Camera] SEE ALSO: Best Android Camera Apps FILTERS & EDITORS: VSCO There are hundreds of apps that can edit photos and add filters. If you’re really serious about adjusting the look of your photos, VSCO is the best. This app uses innovative processing technology to create stunning results with preset fixes. VSCO also has a social aspect that allows users to share and view other photos from around the world. [Download VSCO] SEE ALSO: Best Photography Apps for Android PHOTO FUN: Prisma Prisma is unlike any photo “editor” you’ve used before. It doesn’t simply put a filter over your photo and change the colors a bit. Prisma transforms your photos into artworks using the styles of famous artists and world famous ornaments and patterns. A unique combination of neural networks and artificial intelligence helps you turn memorable moments into timeless art. [Download Prisma] COLLAGE MAKER: Layout by Instagram Instagram is one of the biggest names in mobile photography. There are better apps for adding filters, but Instagram’s dedicated app for making collages is great. Layout lets you create one-of-a-kind collages by remixing your own photos and sharing them with your friends. Choose photos from your gallery, or use the built-in Photo Booth to snap spur-of-the-moment shots. [Download Layout by Instagram]

Shopping Shopping from your phone was once something straight out of the Jetsons, but today it’s a reality. With just a few taps you can buy almost anything and be confident with your purchase thanks to apps that offer reviews, recommendations, gift ideas, and great deals. Use these apps to be a super shopper. PRODUCT REVIEWS: Amazon The biggest store in the world is hands-down the best place to go when you need product reviews. Millions of people buy things from Amazon every day, and those same people have left millions of reviews. Even if you’re shopping somewhere else, you should check the Amazon reviews before purchasing. It’s a great free resource for shoppers online and offline. [Download Amazon] DEALS: Groupon Groupon delivers unbeatable deals from 50—70% off the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in more than 500 cities. Use the Groupon app to start saving on everything you’re looking for, from right next door to across the globe. Whether you’re shopping for the latest fashion trends, craving a new restaurant in town, a daily replenishment of deals delivers all the discounts you like. [Download Groupon] GIFT IDEAS: Etsy Finding the right gift can be challenging. The Etsy app gives you many ways to discover one-of-a-kind goods handmade by people around the world. Shop curated collections for special gifts, unique wedding ideas and handmade jewelry, or explore personalized recommendations for stylish art, clothing, and furniture you’ll treasure forever. [Download Etsy]

Social Phones have always been social devices at the core, but smartphones have taken it to a whole new level. A vibrant social life is dependant on a few key social apps. Don’t miss out on the fun. DATING: Tinder There are a few services that have revolutionized the dating world. Tinder is one of them. Tinder is the world’s most popular dating app. More than 9 billion matches have been made through Tinder. Swipe right on the people you like, swipe left on the people you don’t like. Only the people you like can message you on Tinder. [Download Tinder] SEE ALSO: Best Dating Apps for Android SOCIAL NETWORKING: Twitter At its core, Twitter is the most simple social network on the planet. Everyone from athletes, movie stars, politicians, and people like you, can share their thoughts. All in 140 characters or less. Twitter is a great way to follow the news, experience events with the world, or just make jokes. It’s fun, fast, and easy. If you’re not already on Twitter, it’s time to join the conversation. [Download Twitter] BLOGGING: Medium Medium is a great place for hosting a blog, and the Android apps makes it super easy to post from your phone. Start writing your draft in the app, and it will automatically sync to your drafts folder at Medium.com. You can also edit a published post from anywhere. The editor is easy to use, with all the functionality of the web, right from your pocket. [Download Medium] ACTIVITIES: Meetup Finding things to do can be tough if you don’t have anyone to do things with. Meetup helps you find groups of people meeting up in real life who share your interests. Find book clubs, fellow pet owners, fitness groups, fellow dads or moms, and many other groups near you. Find activities and make friends with Meetup. [Download Meetup]

Sports If you’re a die-hard sports fan, you can’t go more than a few minutes without reading the top headlines, checking scores, and watching highlights of your favorite teams and players. Sports apps have made this possible. You can watch a game from the backseat of a car, or check scores from around the league while in the stands. A smartphone is a sports fan’s best friend. WATCH SPORTS: WatchESPN The WatchESPN app lets you keep up with your sports anytime, anywhere on your Android phone and tablet. Watch live games and shows with access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, and other ESPN-owned channels. If you get ESPN with your TV provider you can access live streaming video in the WatchESPN app. [Download WatchESPN] SEE ALSO: Best Apps to Watch Sports SCORES & NEWS: theScore theScore is the best way to follow the NFL, NCAA Football, MLB, NBA, NHL, and many more sports and leagues. Create your own personalized stream by choosing favorite teams, sports, and athletes. Get alerts for breaking news, close games, final scores, and more. theScore is the best place to go when you need scores and news. [Download theScore] SEE ALSO: Best Sports Apps for Android TICKETS: StubHub Need tickets at the last minute for a “Sold Out” event? StubHub is the place to go. From the day they go on sale to hours before kick off. Get tickets to the games, concerts and theater shows you want to see (or sell them when you can’t go). StubHub has some of the best ticket deals you can find, and they guarantee every order so you don’t have to mess with shady ticket scalpers. [Download StubHub] SEE ALSO: Best Apps for Buying Tickets

Wearables Android is for more than just phones these days. “Wearables” are a new category of devices that can be worn. The most popular wearable devices today are smartwatches. Most apps have some type of smartwatch integration, but at the core, you’ll want to make sure your wearable tech looks amazing. WATCH FACES: Facer The main thing you see on a smartwatch is obviously the watch face, but unlike a normal watch, it can do more than just show the time. Facer allows you to create your very own watch faces. You pick the colors, designs, and information at a glance. If you’re not the creative type you can download thousands of designs from other people. [Download Facer]