What Are Some Android Apps Worth Paying for?
January 3, 2015 5:27 AM   Subscribe

I've been using android phones for the past three years. I haven't bought a single app from Google Play store. I'm interested in knowing if there are any paid android apps that would make my life easier.
posted by Carius to Computers & Internet (19 answers total) 27 users marked this as a favorite
 
Any clues as to what you might find would make your life easier? Where do you live? Do you use public transport? Birdspotting?
posted by asok at 5:51 AM on January 3, 2015


Well, of course, apps that I considered definitely worth paying for might not be of use to you, but here goes:
  • Car Home Ultra
  • Evernote
  • Smart AudioBook Player
  • SyncMe (to get a couple extra features)
  • EDS (the GUI is awful, but the functionality IMO was worth it)
  • Photo Editor

    posted by forthright at 5:53 AM on January 3, 2015


    This is a bit like saying "I haven't bought a book for three years. Is there a book I might enjoy?"

    I use Zombies, Run!, LassPass, Lockwatch, SMS Backup +, Twilight Pro, and Wolfram Alpha among others.
    posted by katrielalex at 5:56 AM on January 3, 2015


    tasker
    posted by gryftir at 6:07 AM on January 3, 2015


    Owncloud and TT-RSS are the two paid apps that I can think of on my phone. Of course, they are only useful to you if you host your own cloud storage server and RSS Reader. So another vote for more detail would be useful.
    posted by COD at 6:27 AM on January 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


    Moon+ Reader, if you read non-Kindle ebooks.
    posted by vogon_poet at 6:31 AM on January 3, 2015


    Response by poster: Sorry for vague question. I do like to read. I like fitness apps. I like finance apps. I like productivity apps. More importantly, I want to know what other apps people paid for that I didn't know exist. For example, gryftir's tasker is something I have never heard of but I would definitely interested in buying. Feel free to recommend favorite paid apps you found them useful, whether is useful to my life is of secondary importance. Thanks everyone!
    posted by Carius at 7:32 AM on January 3, 2015


    Pocket Casts ($4) is my favorite Android app for listening to podcasts.
    posted by mbrubeck at 8:03 AM on January 3, 2015


    Torque is a useful app that will let you see what's going on with your car internals (you may need a cheap OBII adapter). Whatgas Pro is also useful for finding out the cheapest gas in the area.
    posted by Solomon at 8:56 AM on January 3, 2015


    Moon+ reader is definitely awesome and I'm just using the free version. Sketchbook pro is my go-to art app (galaxy note user).
    A great thing about the paid apps is that u can download them onto future devices too.
    posted by sexyrobot at 9:40 AM on January 3, 2015


    Two I paid for that I like include a git client cleverly named "agit" and a scientific calculator called "RealCalc".
    posted by Poldo at 10:31 AM on January 3, 2015


    My two favorites:

    Weatherbug Elite
    Tunein Pro
    posted by spinifex23 at 10:34 AM on January 3, 2015


    open gps tracker is kind of rad
    posted by eustatic at 10:58 AM on January 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


    My list of apps that I paid for and continue to use:
    LastPass - I have completely bought into this password manager but have not managed to convert many people. This is a yearly subscription. I even picked up a yubikey with NFC for 2-factor for my PC and Android phone.

    CamScanner (great for taking a picture of documents and biz cards to save or send)
    Dropsync (syncs folders in dropbox automatically)
    Evernote
    FlightTrack (Somewhat duplicated by Google Now, but I occasionally use the terminal map feature)
    MediaMonkey (b/c I use the desktop version extensively)
    Monument Valley (a visually unique game)
    Moon+ Reader
    Plex
    PocketCasts (podcasts automatically download/sync on my iPad and Android phone)
    Titanium Backup (syncs w/ dropbox backup/restore apps)

    Automation: Most of these you may not need, and I have been reducing the number of automated actions as system features or other applications replicate the scripts.
    Autovoice (voice commands that can pass into Tasker)
    Tasker (With IFTTT, pushbullet and other new entrants, I only keep this since my scripts are saved)
    Trigger (NFC tags w/ Tasker)
    posted by palionex at 10:59 AM on January 3, 2015


    WeatherBug Elite, iBird Pro, games by Mangobile if you like Fire Emblem type SRPGs.
    posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:27 AM on January 3, 2015


    I probably spent way too much icon packs but I say Nova Launcher was worth it as I don't like the default one.

    Moon+Reader: Reads a variety of ebooks. IIRC the free one cannot read some formats but it goes on sale often enough.

    Spotify: I have a monthly sub and sometimes I will stream music from my playlists. The free one has many, many ads which you may or may not tolerate.

    Amazon Appstore: People are divided on whether this is a good or bad choice but it does give away a lot of nice apps often during promotions. I have this because sometimes they'll gift free coins which can be used on other apps.

    Twilight Pro: I wonder if this is a placebo effect or not but it saves me eyestrain for reading at night.

    Pocket: It lets me clip long form and news articles to read later. They have a monthly sub to store more articles but the free one is fine for me.

    80 Days: It's a traveling game based off Inklewriter and it's similar to IF games. Basically you plan your journey starting in London to go around the world in 80 days. Features multiple endings and characters to interact with during your trips. Warning: It does drain battery extremely fast for some reason.

    Also, there are emulators for PSP, DSL, and older game consoles too but I found the touchscreen controls to be awkward not to mention the storage issues.
    posted by chrono_rabbit at 11:58 AM on January 3, 2015


    I paid for an app that allowed me to remove unremovable factory-installed apps that annoyed me. You have to root your phone to do that -- go to towelroot.com or google how to root your phone. The app I paid for was called Titanium Backup. (Root Checker is free and can let you know if your phone has been rooted properly before using Titanium Backup.

    I paid for Swift Key X to make it my default keyboard because the stock Android one and/or Swype suck.

    I bought Cut The Rope when I think it cost money, or to remove the ads. It was a fun game with a lot of levels. Also I bought a game called Nano Panda that I liked.

    I also got an app to add a custom watermark to my phone's photos called, you guessed it, Add Watermark.
    posted by AppleTurnover at 3:31 PM on January 3, 2015


    BeyondPod is wonderful for podcasts. Mine combs through my list every night using my WiFi while I sleep and downloads the latest episodes. It deletes older episodes as needed and keeps me with a preset number of each on hand. It's also Chromecast capable.

    Spotify will change your life. Seriously.

    BubbleUPnP is great. Have a smart TV that picks up UPnP? Or a Chromecast? Or some other smart tv appliance? You can use your phone to bounce shows to it off your network, off an XBMC installation, or a lot of other things.

    If you're a baseball fan, MLB's At Bat app is great. You can get updates and scores as push notifications, you can stream the home or away radio broadcasts of any game.

    Sleep As Android is a mindboggingly feature rich sleep tracking/white noise/alarm app.

    Themer will let you skin the holy heck out of your phone. Sooooo many designs.

    And, it's a free app, but Textra is a fantastic app that replaces your default text messaging app. It has about a dozen really nice features, but the one that sold me was the ability to mute notifications from group texts. So now when my cousin sends out a picture of her cat to eight people and they all respond with a bunch of inane comments, it doesn't blow up my phone all goddamned day.
    posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:49 PM on January 4, 2015


    On the off chance you're using a tablet to do, y'know, office-type work, OfficeSuite 8 (by Mobile Systems) is pretty good. Way more stable than the Google drive/docs/sheets option, especially if you need to work offline, support for Dropbox/Google drive, and solid save-as options so you can use your work on other machines later.
    posted by Tara-dactyl at 4:12 AM on January 5, 2015


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