With millions of apps on the Play Store, searching for the best among them is daunting. Whether you need a great weather app or a new tool to speed up your productivity, there are always dozens available. We’ve spent hours curating the top Android apps for every purpose and compiled only the best of them into one list.

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Over the years, some titles have been dropped from this list, as they are overshadowed by new contenders or fall behind in updates or features. Newer, better apps have taken their place. Yet, some apps still hang on to the top spot tenaciously. To create a little more space for new blood, we asked our editorial staff which new apps changed their lives in 2019. Here's what stood out:

Google Trips

Recommended by David McCourt

The Trips app has been around for a while but has Google rolled out a huge update that dramatically improved this app for me. It pulls information from Maps, Flights, Hotels and Gmail - there are times when the all-seeing, all-knowing Google data gathering machine is useful - to give you tailored holiday plans.

The app will even save old trips for taking a trip down memory lane! / © NextPit

What I love about the app is how well curated all of the information is. You really can manage your whole trip from one place - getting an overview of your reservations, providing lists of things to do, as well as information about getting around your destination. You can also download your destinations so that you can access all features offline.

Period Tracker Flo, Pregnancy & Ovulation Calendar

Recommended by Silvia Santos

This period tracking app is really easy to use. Simple and clear. It only offers the essential information and it doesn't bother you with notifications. You enter your period dates and if you want - and for a better analysis of your symptoms - share information about how you feel (mood, sexual activity, exercise, sleep...) with the app.

It offers you related articles with useful facts you need to know more about, in order to improve living with your period. They also dispel some menstruation myths.

Flo helps with periods, fertility and general wellness. / © NextPit (screenshot)

When you open the app, you receive information on which phase you are in (ovulation and so on) and it also offers you info about how likely you are to get pregnant. So aside from your period, it is also a good app if you are trying for a baby, informing you about your most fertile days.

Getting around urban environments is increasingly becoming a struggle with growing populations and crowded public transport networks. Fortunately, there are a couple of brilliant apps that make getting from A to B an absolute breeze.

Uber

Who still takes regular taxis? Ride-hauling apps such as Uber and Lyft have revolutionized the way in which we move around our cities. Hailing a cab has never been quicker, easier or cheaper. Sure, Uber has had its problems with local governments and regulators, but you can't knock it as a service.

Bikes can be rented from the main Uber app. / © NextPit

What's also cool for 2019 is Uber's electric bicycle sharing system, JUMP. The JUMP bikes can be rented directly from the existing Uber app. There's no need to sign up for a new account, and your existing Uber payment method can be used. If the weather is nice, why not ride the route yourself! JUMP is only available in select regions at the moment but will be rolling out to more cities in 2019 and 2020.

Smartphones are used for messaging even more than for calls, so there are a lot of messaging apps to meet this demand. Here are two of our favorites.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp, the ubiquitous chat app, has been installed on over one billion smartphones. It's always improving user experience, adding new features and becoming more secure. What makes it number one? Everyone uses it, simple as that. If you already use WhatsApp, then you should check out our favorite WhatsApp tips and tricks.

Telegram

No messaging app comes close to the number of users WhatsApp has, but there are some great alternatives out there. Telegram is one of them. The free app has end-to-end encryption, offers group chats and is a pioneer of chatbots. Unlike some other messengers, you can also use it on multiple devices. Read our full review of Telegram here.

Telegram: a powerful communication tool. / © NextPit

Typing on mobile can be frustrating or awkward for many of us, and that's a shame because most users don't think about ditching their default keyboard. Installing a new keyboard can really change your life when it comes to how comfortable you are using your phone.

Fleksy

This keyboard is one of the best for fast, accurate typing. Once you use it for a couple of hours, you realize how useful some of the smaller details are.

Be sure check out some of the extensions like invisible keyboard too — it works surprisingly well. Download it from the Play Store for free now.

Fleksy is primed for use with two thumbs on bigger phones, if that's your thing. / © NextPit

SwiftKey

If you are looking for a very special virtual keyboard for Android, you will find one here. SwiftKey works wonderfully with tablets, and if you simply want a good Android keyboard, it offers intuitive operation, very good spell checking and word recognition.

There are plenty of great weather apps available. Some are more accurate and better looking than the ones that come pre-installed on your Android device, so they are worth checking out.

Today Weather

One of the simplest weather apps and one of the cleanest in terms of user interface - Today Weather. It's a new offering that really impressed us this year. The app pulls weather data from a source of your choice. Options include popular services such as Weather Underground, AccuWeather and Dark Sky.

You can also set alerts to let you know when it is going to rain or if you'd just like a daily update in the morning.

Today Weather can pull data for multiple cities and has a lot of detail. / © NextPit

Weather Underground

Weather Underground is an app specialized in tracking hyper-local weather and temperatures in your area. It uses its own network of around 180,000 private weather stations to achieve this. Predictions have a good record of accuracy and warn you of rain in the surrounding area.

Weather Underground even has advice for your hobbies and activities. / © NextPit

Weather Underground is free of charge, but displays ads. This can be deactivated for one year through a $1.99 in-app purchase.

PhotoDirector

PhotoDirector is the whole package. It has everything you could possibly need to edit your photos. The tools range from simple text bubbles and filters, to more complex things, such as HSL and curves. They're all heavily adjustable, helping you get the best out of your photos.

PhotoDirector's array of features is impressive, to say the least. / © NextPit

Snapseed

Snapseed is Google's own photo editing app and basically comes with everything, for free. It offers all sorts of filters and optimization tools. Whether trimming, applying filters or correcting colors, Snapseed offers a powerful picture editor for your needs.

Snapseed also saves your pictures in a separate folder - that way you don't need to modify the original image. Apps like Dropbox or Google Photos can also be synchronized with Snapseed.

Snapseed screenshots. / © NextPit

Downloading free music

Google Play Music is our favorite app for downloading free music right now. It provides a totally legit, ever-changing list of free tracks from major artists to download.

Spotify has an excellent paid subscription service, and SoundCloud has a multitude of tracks readily available to stream. However, for actually downloading tracks to your phone, Google Play Music is as good as you can get.

Best music player

While the default music apps on your Android device probably do a fine job, if you want to crank up the bass or other aspects of your music, you'll need something more.

We recommend Poweramp. It’s a great way to enjoy your favorite music, with a ton of options and support for almost any type of file. You can’t go wrong with it.

With themes galore, Poweramp can be whatever you want it to be. Just grab a new skin ASAP. / © NextPit

Netflix

You cannot compile a list of the best apps for movies and TV without mentioning Netflix. The service is a social and cultural phenomenon, and the Netflix app is really rather decent. The selection is enormous and the streaming quality is excellent. The biggest advantage of it has over its rivals, however, is the ever-increasing selection of exclusive content and Netflix Originals movies and TV shows. You'll need a paid account to watch though, of course.

Hulu

Hulu is an excellent app for watching movies and TV shows for free on Android. It's a free service that relies on ads, but there are some great shows available. You need to pay a subscription fee to access all of the content, but there is a range of excellent shows available without a subscription, including classic comedies such as Family Guy, Seinfeld and South Park.

Crackle

Crackle is a hugely popular free app, which is updated monthly with new TV shows and movies. Created by Grouper but later bought by Sony, the app features ads which run at regular intervals throughout the content. The trade-off is that you get an excellent selection of media and a well-maintained app.

Crackle, like Netflix or Amazon, has picked up some original content that's getting more popular.

Sophos Free Antivirus and Security

Sophos consistently ranks high on watchdogs such as AV-Test. In addition to perfect protection, it offers a varied feature set. The highlight: the app is totally free, even from ads (Sophos makes its money from business customers). Malware protection is based on an online database that also checks the reputation of individual apps and recommends alternatives.

Sophos offers a range of features but doesn't overload your device. / © NextPit

The app also includes theft protection. It allows you to remotely control your smartphone by SMS from other phone numbers you specify. Child protection filters, call blockers and device encryption complete the package. Of all the antivirus apps out there, Sophos stands out as the best deal for most users.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Malwarebytes is a free app that does one job really well - protecting your phone from malware - and it does so with a bloat-free, minimalist interface and well-chosen options.

As well as offering malware detection, there's also a handy privacy audit feature that scans apps installed on your phone and breaks them down into different categories. This allows you to get a simple and quick overview of all the apps on your phone.

Malwarebytes focuses on doing one job well. / © NextPit

Action Launcher

Launchers offer a simple way to customize the look and feel of your Android phone. They often combine new icons, a new app drawer layout, a fresh homescreen and a change of wallpaper to make your device fit a certain style or theme.

You have to try them out to appreciate how fun they can be. The one we recommend right now is Action Launcher. This is a free and excellent introduction to launchers because it provides clear and intuitive interface changes without adding so many options that it becomes off-putting. The latest edition brings many of the best features of the Google Pixel launcher and Android Pie to any compatible (Android 5+) smartphone.