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Introduction
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 Android apps (short for applications) are mobile software designed for running on the Android operating system, which is one of the most popular platforms used in cellphones, tablets and other mobile devices.
Since Android was introduced, more than 400,000 Android apps have been developed and most of them are available for download from Google Play—the online store hosted by Google—but not all are free. To help you get the best of the free ones, we have selected some gems in each category and added them here in a convenient list with clear and brief descriptions of each application item.
Like the apps and want to give them a try? Search them by tapping the default Play Store app, or use one of the following ways to install the apps on your mobile device, quick and easy.
Quick Access to Android apps on Google Play:
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Move your mouse over the program icons and scan the QR Code images on this Android app list with your device’s barcode scanner; Or
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Click or tap the program titles on this Android app list in your PC's or Android's browser, then install the apps from Google Play.
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Page Index (or click here to view as one huge page) |
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This list of Best Free Android Apps now includes 168 apps in 102 categories. To view all the categories, click the show/hide button on the right. To read brief descriptions of the apps, click a page number.
To read an app item in more detail, click this Android icon  where available at the end of the item.
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Tags
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best, free, top, android, droid, mobile, smart phone, smartphone, tablet, app, apps, applications, software, freeware, program, list, google, play, market, store
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Back to Page Index
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Best Free Android Apps - Page Index
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 2. Best Free Home & Office for Android
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Documents To Go
(4.65 MB)
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View MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint files on the go, supports for doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt and pptx formats. Sadly features such as creating and editing are for paid-for full version unless they already came unlocked with your device.
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Google Drive
(4.6 MB)
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A new home for you to access, edit and share your Google Docs. You can create a document and spreadsheet, take a photo of printed text and convert to a Google document, make files available offline or upload an existing file to the cloud storage up to 5GB for free. Not all features of the Web version are included in this app so far.
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Kingsoft Office (English)
(4.5 MB)
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View and edit Microsoft office documents including Word, Excel and Powerpoint, with more complete editing and formatting features for Word but they're still lacking for Excel and Powerpoint. You can also use it to create a new Word or Excel file except for Powerpoint.
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Adobe Reader
(3.5 MB)
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View PDF files clearly on selectable viewing modes such as fit-to-screen, continuous scroll or reflow text, supports for multi-touch zoom and navigation, and sharing PDF files via bluetooth or email.
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Moon+ Reader
(2.3 MB)
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Read books in various formats such as ePub, txt, html, chm, fb2, umd or zip, with user settings for visuals, controls and themes. You can also bookmark, highlight, add notes and lookup words, and get free ebooks from online libraries.
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Jorte
(2.53 MB)
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A good calendar in a monthly or weekly view with a scheduler function and other useful features such as data import and export, acquire national holidays, sync events and tasks with Google calendar and more.
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Calendar Pad
(164 KB)
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Better than the default calendar that comes with your Android devices, it allows you to see your events with text in day, week or month views in addition to other features.
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StopWatch & Timer
(667 KB)
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Where to look for other than this well-designed stop watch and count down timer? It's clean and simple, with optional colors and alarm sounds. A reliable tool to get ready for use.
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AlarmDroid
(1.3 MB)
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Besides most basic features, it has flip-and-snooze allowing you to turn the alarm clock back into snooze mode by turning over the phone, speaking clock announcing the time and local weather conditions, music or an Internet radio stream for alarm tone, and more.
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ZDclock
(2.5 MB)
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It's not just a simple wake-up alarm clock, but also a reminder for all what matters in life such as birthdays, anniversaries, conferences or any important events that you don't want to miss. Settings such as notification, ringtone and others are a plus.
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Evernote
(3.68 MB)
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Take notes, ideas, pictures and recordings with your mobile device, and sync them instantly to your Web or PC version. Not only can it index all your notes, Evernote recognizes the actual text within the pictures so that you can search them easily.
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Springpad
(1.2 MB)
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Quick and easy to add and organize notes, tasks, reminders, bookmarks, clippings, media or anything you want to remember in one place. Better still, it's synchronized and accessible on your device and on the web.
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Catch Notes
(1.01 MB)
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Capture all notes including text, images, locations, ideas, reminders and snippets of information in one place, protect them with password and sync to Catch.com for backup and online access.
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Astrid Task /Todo List
(1.64 MB)
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Get stuff done with this easy-to-use reminder and to-do list, with an optional widget for your device's homescreen. You can also sync your list with Google Tasks and Producteev.com.
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ColorNote Notepad Notes
(535 KB)
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A handy note taking app in the form of text and checklist by color, with reminder, password, search and backup functions. You can easily schedule your notes and to-do lists in a calendar, pin a reminder on the status bar or stick a note on your homescreen via widgets.
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Financisto
(1.8 MB)
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An open-source personal finance manager lets you record and monitor your daily transactions with multiple accounts in any currency you choose. Useful features include scheduled and recurring transactions, budgets, reports, backup and restore database, export to CSV or QIF files.
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Expense Manager
(222 KB)
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Easily manage your expense and income accounts by categories and scheduled transactions. Supported features include payment alerts, expense reports and charts, password protection, import and export of account activities, etc.
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Personal Finance
(601 KB)
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On top of Expense Manager, you can do more with stock portfolios, market overview, financial news, real-time stock quotes, market indexes and rates, currency converter, loan calculator and more.
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Merriam-Webster Dictionary
(19 MB)
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Type in or speak a word to look up its definitions, audio pronunciations, example sentences, synonyms and antonyms which are accessible offline. Most words including highlighted ones are hyperlinked for a tap to search deeper. Other features include Daily Word and Recent Searches. Ads supported.
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Arcus Dictionary
(6.19 MB)
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Fast and ad-free dictionary with more than 165,000 words, definitions and synonyms without requiring network access after install, supports for text-to-speech, word hyperlinks, favorites and other options.
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Dictionary.com
(1.3 MB)
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Includes 375,000 words and definitions, 300,000 synonyms and antonyms, audio pronunciation, example sentences, voice-to-text search, hyperlinked words, favorite words list, Word and Question of the Day, homescreen widget, etc. Network connection required and ads supported.
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Wikipedia
(558 KB)
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Search in your preset language for useful information from millions of articles written collaboratively by volunteers around the world with this official app optimized for your Android device, with today's featured article, save pages for offline viewing and other features such as optional font size, copy and share.
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Wikidroid (Wikipedia Browser)
(377 KB)
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A good alternative to the official Wikipedia app, Wikidroid allows you to view all Wikipedia articles formatted perfectly for your device in a fast and sleek interface with zoom, bookmark, copy, share and other features including save pages to SD card. Ads supported.
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Ancestry
(3.6 MB)
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An easy-to-use app to build and update a family tree of yours, or scour the research library by name to trace historical records with individual info, family, photos and evidence.
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Google Translate
(2.14 MB)
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Instantly translate text between more than 50 languages with voice input and text-to-speech supports, dictionary results and more.
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Cube Calculator
(132 KB)
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An excellent and easy-to-use calculator with math expressions, memory and history entries that can be edited for a recalculation without the need to enter them all over again. It comes with scientific functions and other useful features such as radix mode, time calculation and more.
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RealCalc
(126 KB)
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A scientific calculator that's fully featured and complete with unit conversions. Useful features include result history, digit grouping, 10 memories and more. Handy to use on a mobile device.
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handyCalc Calculator
(1.4 MB)
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It's powerful enough to solve equations with variables and functions, draw graphs for math expressions, and with unit and currency converters built-in, though it didn't respond well to a long expression when tried. (If the keypad doesn't work, please try the previous version from the developer's site.)
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Unit Converter
(461 KB)
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Wopnersoft's Unit Converter converts most common units of measure and currency in a simple and clean design. It's easy to use and allows for saving commonly used conversions to a favorites list.
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Exchange Rates
(750 KB)
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Set a base currency you like, add other currencies to the conversion list and long press one of them to view charts in a time range you choose. Overall, it's an elegant currency converter that's easy to use, rich in features, integrated with a calculator, supporting online or offline mode and has no ads.
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Compass
(491 KB)
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Use this handy tool to check for direction, navigate from one place to another and for everything that is location-based. You can also easily make a quick note about the location using Catch Notes.
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Back to Page Index
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Best Free Android Apps - Page Index
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 3. Best Free Image Tools for Android
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QuickPic
(299 KB)
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Light and fast, gives you a high-resolution thumbnail preview fit into your screen, touch or pinch to zoom, rotate and other additional features including slideshow, crop, share, set wallpaper and more.
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JustPictures!
(731 KB)
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Not only can you view pictures from your SD card, but also browse photos from Picasa, Flickr, Facebook, Smugmug, Photobucket, Windows Live, Tumblr and Deviant Art in a unified and clean user interface, with slideshow and other features.
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Photoshop Express
(1.29 MB)
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Edit photos on your mobile device easily—touch to crop, rotate, adjust color and add artistic effects, then save them or upload to Facebook, Photoshop.com or TwitPic. Nice interface but no resizer is included.
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PicSay - Photo Editor
(933 KB)
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Get a picture to add titles, balloons, stickers and special effects, or to resize, crop and straighten, flip or rotate. More special effects and some advanced features are for the paid-for Pro version.
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Pixlr-o-matic
(6.6 MB)
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Adding special effects to your photos is as easy as you count one, two, three—snap a photo from your camera or select one from your gallery, then choose a color filter, a lighting effect and a good frame from the many choices included, and save or share your cool-looking photo with friends.
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PhotoFunia
(1.2 MB)
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Enjoy your fun-filled experience by adding more effects to your photos easily—select a scene from more than 150 choices such as billboards or magazines from the app, then take your picture or get one from your gallery for it to integrate with the scene and download to your mobile for sharing or saving.
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Photaf Panorama (Free)
(5.2 MB)
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Easily create 360-degree panoramas from your Android device—just aim and move your device's camera around, then press Stitch Images and it does the rest for you automatically. You can export your panoramas to a folder, send to your friends or upload to Photaf Panoramas Gallery for sharing.
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CamCard Lite
(8.35 MB)
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Capture business card images and save card details such as name, contact numbers and email addresses into your contacts automatically. Basic editing tools and multi-languages are supported, but more advanced features are only available to the full commercial version.
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Barcode Scanner
(477 KB)
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A small yet efficient tool by ZXing Team to scan data matrix and QR codes containing URLs, contacts, products info, etc. If you've not installed it on your Android device, this is the right one to use for scanning the QR code for an Android app.
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QR Droid
(983 KB)
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More than a scanner, it's also a reader and generator—scan QR codes from camera, decode them from saved images or from URLs of images, create QR codes from your contacts, installed applications, bookmarks, SMS and more.
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CamScanner -Phone PDF Creator
(7.9 MB)
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Scan multi-page documents and save into PDFs with tags for sharing with others by email, SMS or upload to cloud storage. Auto crop and auto enhance images but exported PDFs come with watermarks. Ads supported.
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Back to Page Index
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Best Free Android Apps - Page Index
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 4. Best Free Multimedia for Android
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MX Video Player
(4.6 MB)
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A powerful video player supports for multi gestures such as pinch and unpinch to zoom in and out videos to fit your screen, left scroll to adjust brightness and right scroll to adjust volume, multi-core decoding, CPU optimization and better subtitle readability.
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MoboPlayer
(3.58 MB)
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Playback videos in various formats with features including thumbnail displays, subtitles, slide up/down on the left/right side to adjust volume and brightness, long press a file to add to playlist, view properties and more.
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QQPlayer
(2.57 MB)
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A video player supports for most popular formats including avi, flv, mp4, 3gp, mkv, mov and more, with added features such as on-screen volume adjuster and a zoom button.
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mVideoPlayer
(1.4 MB)
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Offers three modes of video zoom, supports for subtitle, playlist and a video library browser with thumbnails, video info, search and other optional tweaks. A good replacement of Android's built-in video player.
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RealPlayer
(2.6 MB)
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Enjoy your favorite multimedia content all in one app—either watch a video, listen to music or view a slideshow of photoes. Features include select music by artists, albums, genres or ratings, photo thumbnail previews and various settings.
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MyMusicOn Music Player
(450 KB)
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A good directory music player with supports for album art and lyric displays, via either online searching for synced lyrics, LRC files or lyric ID3 tags saved in your music files.
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3 (Cubed)
(895 KB)
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Enhance your experience in playing music with this creative player viewable in Cubed, Wall, Boring or Morph Flow mode, with other useful features inclusive of playlists, a graphical equalizer, widgets, fetching missing art covers and preference settings.
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Audiogalaxy Music
(1.0 MB)
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Play your PC-based music files on your mobile device everywhere you go, without the need to copy or upload the files as the Audiogalaxy Helper on your PC streams them to your mobile via the Internet connection. (Review)
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YouTube
(362 KB)
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Search and view videos from the popular video sharing site YouTube with a better user interface or upload a video to YouTube right away from your mobile device.
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IMDb Movies & TV
(1.4 MB)
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Watch trailers, browse photos, find latest releases, explore popular charts, rate movies and share movie info from a huge resource of more than 1.5 million titles, and 3.2 million celebrities, actors and actresses, directors and crew members.
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TuneIn Radio
(1.26 MB)
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Listen to local or worldwide ratio station streams on the web, find an extensive selection of local radio, music, talk, sports and podcasts from over 50,000 stations, and preset your favorite channels at ease.
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A Online Radio
(1.71 MB)
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A complete online radio player for your device to play any channel including mp3, m3u, pls, aac, aacp channels, shoutcast and icecast directories. You can search for channels and save them into your favorite list, plus other useful features including sleep timer.
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Zedge
(960 KB)
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Search and preview ringtones by categories, download any you like and set it as your default or contact ringtones, replacing the Android System ringtone which has fewer options. Searching wallpapers for your home screens is included. See also Wallpaper Changer.
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Ringdroid
(365 KB)
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Incorporates an audio player with a volume unit (VU) meter—easy to use, just slide the start and end markers to make a ringtone by cutting an audio file down to size or recording a new one directly on your device. Supported file formats include MP3, Wav, AAC and AMR.
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Pimp My Music
(1.2 MB)
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Auto fetch missing lyrics and album art covers in various sizes and edit most common tag fields including artist, title, album, genre, lyrics, track, year, composer and comment. It comes with a built-in player and supports formats including mp3, ogg, flac, aac, mp4, m4a and wma.
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Gmote 2.0
(236 KB)
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Turn your mobile device into a remote control unit to browse and play music and video files on your computer—install this app on your device and Gmote Server on your PC, once it's set up, just sit back in a sofa and enjoy.
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Back to Page Index
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Best Free Android Apps - Page Index
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 5. Best Free Disk and File Tools for Android
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ES File Explorer
(1.56 MB)
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Explore files on your device, LAN shared and FTP servers in a list or icon view with settings such as theme and layout, search files by type or name, plus app manager, SD Card Analyst and other optional modules.
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ASTRO File Manager
(2.19 MB)
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Manage your files in Icon or List view with sorting, bookmarks, searching and other common features, plus some useful tools like checking SD card usage by folders. On the downside, the free version comes with a small ad.
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File Expert
(1.03 MB)
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A powerful file manager with all basic file operations and supports for bookmarks, sharing files via network, backup or uninstall programs, zip or unzip files, media file detection and more. Better still, it's lightweight with no ads.
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App 2 SD Free
(153 KB)
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Take a glance where the apps are installed and move them from internal storage to the SD Card to save limited space on your device. Also clear the cache to make more space. The free version is supported by a small unobtrusive ad.
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Dropbox
(3.0 MB)
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Upload and access files from your Android, and sync them between your computers and mobile devices on the go. Easy to use—tap a file to view or press and hold it to access the menu for managing files and sharing links. (Review)
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App Backup & Restore
(157 KB)
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Easily backup your installed apps to your SD cards, send apps to friends via email, or upload to Dropbox if already installed. Others features include restore or uninstall apps, auto backup, share market links, check app details and more.
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File Locker
(200 KB)
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Protect your files from unauthorized access by encoding the content and file names as well. Smart searching through folders for documents, locked and unlocked files is a plus but it can't unlock a file that has been renamed.
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1Tap Cleaner
(268 KB)
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A handy tool to free up more internal storage space on your device by clearing cache files, data files, search and navigation history records. Also includes a default cleaner to list default apps and clear their settings.
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Back to Page Index
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Best Free Android Apps - Page Index
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 6. Best Free Desktop and System for Android
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GO Launcher EX
(2.56 MB)
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Support multiple home screens with a pinch to quick jump to any of them, enhanced with themes, resizable widgets and a more powerful app drawer, where you can choose to close all running programs at one go, clear history, hide apps or add a folder to group apps. User preferences can be set for display, dock, app drawer, operation and more.
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LauncherPro
(2.34 MB)
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Increase number of home screens up to 7 and set which one to be the default, with animated screen previews, app launcher with fly-in effect and enhanced scrolling, shortcut dock and smooth scrolling between home screens with no lagging.
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Apps Organizer
(613 KB)
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Allows you to access your apps more quickly via labels or widgets like Internet, Multimedia, Games, Tools or other groups you create. Smart, easy to use, and your home screens are no more cluttered with too many program shortcuts.
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GO Keyboard
(4.9 MB)
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A popular onscreen keyboard with support for multiple languages and keyboard layouts, correct words as you type, suggest words from the dictionary, sms and contacts, Emoji and fantasy text output, touch-and-slide to select a key variation, keypress sound varieties, voice recognition, themes and plugins.
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Gesture Search
(842 KB)
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Find a contact, a bookmark, an application, or even a music track on your device by drawing alphabets and/or numbers on the screen, and instantly launch the app associated with the search result.
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Flikie Wallpapers HD
(1.75 MB)
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Auto change wallpapers from a selected folder or online from Flikie at time intervals you set, and allow you to search, save and share high quality wallpapers from a great resource.
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Backgrounds
(120 KB)
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Search popular wallpapers and tap one you like to set as wallpaper or add to your favorites list. You can also enable slideshow to auto rotate wallpapers from the list at fixed time intervals.
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Advanced Task Killer
(97 KB)
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Just one tap to instantly conserve memory or stop your selected apps from running without the need to wait until the system does it for you. You can also touch and hold a running task from the list, then from the context menu select 'ignore' to move it to an ignore list, or force stop that particular running app or service.
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Task Switcher
(116 KB)
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Press the Home button to reveal the open apps, tap one of them to jump to it or tap and hold to close it. Press the Home button again and you are back to the Home page. You can also use this tool to select your preferred Home app and show widgets.
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Default App Manager
(304 KB)
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Which is your default browser or music player? Try this app which gives you a list of apps whether they are set to run by default and allows you to set or reset any of them easily, saving you the trouble of going through multiple steps to change a default app.
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Easy Installer
(93 KB)
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Search and install applications (.apk files) from your SD card, with batch install, filtering and sorting. What's more? long press an apk file to do more, for instance, sending an app to friends by email.
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Easy Uninstaller
(62 KB)
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Search and sort the apps by name, size or date and multi-select those you wish to uninstall from your device. It makes the process easier and quicker.
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JuiceDefender - battery saver
(828 KB)
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Extend the battery life of your Android device easily with just one tap, as it equips with preset profiles and automatically manages battery draining components for you. Some advanced features are limited to the paid version.
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Battery Dr saver
(1.0 MB)
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View battery usage by display, cell standby, Wi-Fi, phone idle and the system; check battery temperature, level and health; turn off unused services, kill tasks and adjust screen and volume to save battery life. See also Task Manager.
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AirDroid
(3.8 MB)
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Easy to use with a clean and excellent interface—just run it and press Start on your mobile to get an address, enter it into a web browser on your PC, log in with a default password, you can then interact with your Android device wirelessly over a local Wi-Fi by clicking some pretty icons from your PC browser.
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WiFi File Explorer
(1.1 MB)
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Access files on your mobile from a PC browser and copy files between two devices via a local WiFi connection without needing a cable. You can also drag-and-drop files and folders around your device. Some features such as create a new folder, zip and unzip files, transfer multiple files are only available for the paid-for Pro version.
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Browsix Lite
(844 KB)
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Browse the contents of your phone easily from a PC via wireless connection—just enter browsix.com in your browser and you can view pictures, play music and videos on your PC. You can also send and receive SMS from the PC too. Some features such as file operations didn't work well when tested.
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AutomateIt
(1.7 MB)
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Automate your device by the rules you set—if this is triggered then do that for me. Easy to use, just select a trigger and an action from the lists, tap Save and it does the jobs for you whenever the conditions are met.
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SystemPanel Lite
(647 KB)
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A good system monitor to show usage of CPU, memory and storage, network traffic, active applications and internal system processes. It also doubles up as a task manager to terminate applications. See also Task Manager.
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Elixir 2
(3.3 MB)
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Displays detailed info of your device: battery, internal and external storage, processor, memory, telephony, Wi-Fi, bluetooth, location, display, airplane mode, sync settings, ringing mode, camera, camcorder, installed applications, running processes, services and tasks.
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ZDbox
(2.0 MB)
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A handy and superb multi-purpose toolbox including Battery Info, 2G/3G Traffic, Silent Mode, App Lock, Task Killer, Uninstaller and App to SD all in one place. Clean and simple user interface with key status available at a glance and a quick tap to use any tools.
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Widgetsoid2.x
(1.9 MB)
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Making new widgets on your home screens has never been easier than this—long press a homescreen and tap Widget, select a size of Widgetsoid Switcher, tick the items you need from the various sections and click Apply. That's it and you can do more with many customization options.
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Clipper
(139 KB)
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A simple yet powerful clipboard and snippet manager for your mobile device to keep track of anything you copied to the clipboard and make it available right from the notification bar to view, edit and paste.
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Back to Page Index
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Best Free Android Apps - Page Index
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 7. Best Free Security and Privacy for Android
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Antivirus Free - Lookout
(2.6 MB)
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Protect your device and data easily by blocking viruses, spyware or other malware and scanning every app you installed with automatic antivirus updates, backup your contacts to the web or restore data to an existing phone, find your missing phone and more. Privacy Advisor is only available to the paid-for premium version.
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avast! Mobile Security
(2.0 MB)
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A feature-rich security app includes not only a virus scanner to scan all your installed apps and SD card content against viruses, but also other useful tools such as privacy advisor, app manager, web shield, SMS and call filter and anti-theft. It also adds a firewall which works only on rooted phones.
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Application Protection
(532 KB)
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Easily help protect applications and data on your device with a passcode to prevent unauthorized usage. Upon first running, press "?" to get the original code, add apps to the list then set your own unlock code.
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KeePassDroid
(1.1 MB)
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Too many passwords to remember? This app helps manage passwords easily—just remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock them. A good implementation of desktop software KeePass Password Safe or even KeePassX.
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Wheres My Droid
(403 KB)
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Finding your misplaced phone is made easy—use another phone to text "Where's my droid" to make your lost phone ring even if it's on silent mode, or text "GPS my droid" to know its whereabouts. Simple as that.
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Prey Anti-Theft
(312 KB)
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"Once the device has been instructed to go into missing mode, the app springs into action and does whatever you've told it to do. You can either trace your device, lock it or delete the files on it." (Review)
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Back to Page Index
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Best Free Android Apps - Page Index
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 8. Best Free Internet and eMail for Android
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Dolphin Browser HD
(2.8 MB)
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A powerful browser with multi-tab browsing, bookmarking and syncing, multi-touch zooming, back and forward navigation, better HTML5 support, versatile add-ons, optional mobile view and many more features. (Review)
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Opera Mini
(892 KB)
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A good alternative to Android's Web Browser to provide fast pageloads as it uses powerful servers to compress Web pages by up to 90% before sending them to your mobile device, with Speed Dial to get you to favorite sites quickly too.
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Skyfire
(1.57 MB)
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Gives you more features with tabbed browsing, loading pages as an Android user agent or desktop browser, support for HTML5 flash videos, easy access to Facebook and Twitter news feeds, various useful settings and more.
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Maxthon Browser
(2.0 MB)
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A fast and handy browser with supports for tab browsing, gesture commands, forward and backward navigations, full-screen browsing, favorites manager and sync, download manager, add-ons and many more features.
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Gmail
(2.5 MB)
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A dedicated Gmail application with email pushed automatically to your phone. Supports for multiple Gmail accounts, search and access synched messages when offline and other common features.
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GMX Mail
(2.8 MB)
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Access your GMX mails on the go using this official app optimized for your mobile device. The app also includes a Mail Collector for you to read and send emails from your multiple email accounts, such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and more, all in one place.
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K-9 Mail
(1.83 MB)
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A powerful and open-source email client for replacement of Android's default Email app, supporting standard protocols such as IMAP and POP3, with search, push email, multi-folder sync, flagging, signatures, bcc-self and more.
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Download All Files
(151 KB)
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Tried to download a file but greeted with the message Content not supported? This app helps you download all file types (except for streaming media) and save email attachments to your SD card.
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Pulse News
(1.9 MB)
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Manage your news sources in tabbed pages, browse stories by sliding visual mosaics and tap one to read in full. What's more? Add stories to your Pulse.me accessible on the Web, or share them with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or email.
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World Newspapers
(1.5 MB)
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Take a few you like from a directory of thousands of local and international newspapers, magazines and websites, and add them to your favorites for reading with optimized display. You can also download webpages for offline viewing, mark Pocket (formerly Read It later), etc.
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Google Reader
(1.66 MB)
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Follow all your favorite news, sites or blogs all in one place, share them with your friends, discover and search for feeds, and sync them with the Web version so all your reading lists are always up to date.
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Pocket -formerly Read It Later
(3.0 MB)
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Ever come across something on the web you'd like to view but can't at that time on a browser? Add it to your Pocket bookmark list from your PC or mobile for viewing at your leisure. This app downloads articles or web contents (except videos) in the list to your Android device for offline viewing too.
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Google Search
(608 KB)
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Search the Web, as well as the applications and contacts on your device, with this official Google Search app and get search results and suggestions instantly as you type.
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Google Goggles
(1.78 MB)
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Snap a picture and search the web for the info you want—either it's barcodes, print ads, landmarks, books and DVDs, contacts info, logos, some text to translate or even Sudoku puzzles to solve.
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Google Maps
(5.59 MB)
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An excellent mobile mapping app to get directions to go from one place to another, search for any business or place to find more info, or see where your friends are right now on the map and so on.
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GO Weather
(3.2 MB)
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Monitor live weather conditions and forecasts at your location or other places you selected from around the world, with a desktop widget, video or image background, alert notification and other features. No ads.
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Back to Page Index
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Best Free Android Apps - Page Index
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 9. Best Free Phone and Messaging for Android
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Dialer One
(681 KB)
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Better than the default Phone app, it comes with a smart T9 dialpad with speed dial, simultaneous search on calls and contacts, horizontal swiping to navigate between call log, contacts and favorites.
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aContacts
(602 KB)
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Speed up searching contacts by favorites, alphabets or groups, send email or SMS to groups, complete with T9 speed dials, advanced call log, setting for grid or list view and more. Ads free.
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Contact Group Manager (Free)
(558 KB)
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Easily search for a contact by group, organization or title, manage contact groups, send emails or SMS to a person or group, set group ringtones and icons, etc. The free version is supported by a small ad.
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GO SMS Pro
(2.38 MB)
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Easier to find a contact or group to send an SMS or MMS with useful features such as message popup, quick reply, messages and folders view, emoji support and more. A good replacement of the default Messaging app.
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MightyText - SMS from Computer
(206 KB)
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Enjoy receiving and sending SMS from your PC's browser using your phone number, just like you normally would on your phone but without touching it. Unlimited SMS, supported only on Chrome with the MightyText extension installed.
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Meebo IM
(291 KB)
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Chat with friends and family on multi-protocol IM networks including ICQ, AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo, MSN, MySpace, Jabber, Meebo and more. Small file size with clean and clear design, easy to use.
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Skype
(7.52 MB)
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Make free Skype-to-Skype calls over 3G or WiFi network on the move, or cheap calls to landlines or mobile phones at Skype rates. No video calls is available and some handsets may not be supported.
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Tango Voice & Video Calls
(4.03 MB)
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Make free voice and video calls over 3G, 4G and WiFi network on the move. From my contacts, it automatically finds the friends I can Tango. More mobile devices are supported but the desktop client has yet to be developed.
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Vlingo Virtual Assistant
(3.55 MB)
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Why type when you can say something like call Charlie mobile, text Katie message are you free, search best freeware, or find coffee shops in Cambridge...? Check out what this smart app can do the next for you.
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BlackList
(481 KB)
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Block unwanted calls and SMS easily and effectively by adding a call number to a black list from your contact, call logs, message logs or manually. Features include auto reply, logging and other various options. An exception list is limited to the paid version.
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Llama - Location Profiles
(946 KB)
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Annoyed at your phone going off at midnight? Use this handy app to switch your phone profile to silent or quiet mode automatically during preset time. You can also add more events such as turning off Wifi or taking other actions on the conditions you set.
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Back to Page Index
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Best Free Android Apps - Page Index
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 10. Best Free Network, Website and Server for Android
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Google+
(8.2 MB)
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Find and invite people to your circles of friends and family, share your profile, posts and photos with them, tap Stream to get their updates and see what people nearby are saying, or type instant messages using the app. A new arrival to rival Facebook.
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Facebook for Android
(2.53 MB)
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Share your personal profile, check out news feed, send messages, upload photos and chat with friends on Facebook using this app, a better interface optimized for use on a mobile device.
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Twitter
(1.93 MB)
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A dedicated Twitter application for Android to post a tweet on the go super simple and to discover what's happening right now anywhere in the world.
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Instagram
(13 MB)
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Use this popular photo sharing app to add special effects such as filters and borders to your photos easily before you share them with your friends, or follow photos uploaded by other members on the network.
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Foursquare
(2.12 MB)
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Find the places around you, record the places you visit by 'checking in', invite friends and view their locations, broadcast your location by 'shouting' to friends, get their comments or insider tips and more.
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TweetDeck
(814 KB)
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Monitor and post status updates to your Twitter accounts, Facebook profile, Foursquare and Google Buzz, all from a single place simultaneously. You can also add links and photos, view and comment on news feeds, open links in a browser and more.
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Posterous Spaces
(2.5 MB)
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An easy way to create a space to share photos, video and thoughts with your friends and family, and automatically broadcast your public posts to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other destinations.
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aDownloader
(1.2 MB)
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Download files from torrents in your SD Card, or long press a link to torrents from websites and select Share link via this native BitTorrent downloader, with break and resume features. Better still, get the version with search engines from here and install it using an installer.
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TeamViewer Free
(1.5 MB)
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Access remote computers from everywhere, give spontaneous support and access to unattended computers. The free full version of Teamviewer is required on remote computers. Free for private use only. (Review)
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3G Watchdog
(632 KB)
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Set a quota for yourself and monitor your mobile Internet (3G, Edge or GPRS) data usage, with a status icon shown in the notification bar and a detailed report on your data usage for various durations of time.
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NetCounter
(214 KB)
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A great tool to keep track of your data usage over cellular and WiFi internet connections for the current day, week or month. Various options are available such as adding or removing a counter, setting duration and data alert. (Review)
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Speedtest.net Mobile
(2.6 MB)
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Speedtest.net is widely used for giving key measurements on ping, download and upload speed to determine the performance of your Internet connection. Try this app which is the native version to measure the network speed of your Android device.
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Wifi Analyzer
(452 KB)
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Find a more stable and stronger Wi-Fi channel around you by using this app that turns your device into a Wi-Fi analyzer, equipped with various views: a signal meter, channel graph, time graph and others. It's also quick and easy to change a view by swiping left or right.
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Back to Page Index
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Best Free Android Apps - Page Index
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 11. Best Free Education for Android
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A Word A Day
(555 KB)
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Learn today's English word from Merriam-Webster dictionary, or download the episode and listen to it, with good examples and meaningful word origins. You can also practice your English word pronunciation with Google voice.
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HowStuffWorks
(4.09 MB)
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Gives you instant access to over 30,000 articles, podcasts and videos with clear explanations of how things work. You can select Featured, Facts, Shows, Read or Quotes, or type your own question and search for the answers which are made simple and easy to understand.
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Google Sky Map
(2.2 MB)
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Point your device at the night sky or browse the skies in manual mode from anywhere at anytime and it helps you identify the stars, planets, constellations and other celestial objects with labels. You can also zoom and search the objects with this absolutely fun and good educational app.
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Back to Page Index
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Best Free Android Apps - Page Index
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 12. Best Free Games for Android
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My Tracks
(832 KB)
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Record your GPS tracks and view live statistics including time, speed, distance and elevation while hiking, cycling, running or participating in other outdoor activities. You can also share your tracks by sending them to Google My Maps and Google Docs.
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CardioTrainer
(5.45 MB)
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An excellent application to track and record your fitness activity with GPS and pedometer functions. Voice notifications, schedules and reminders, music integration and many more features are included.
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PapiJump
(375 KB)
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Tilt your device to move the Papi guy left and right for him to go up higher, game over if you let him drop. Three levels of gameplay in this simple yet addictive jumping action game.
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Fruit Slice
(3.76 MB)
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Swipe the screen to cut as many fruits as possible and get scores in this fast action game. It's game over if you slice a bomb or let more than 3 pieces of fruit fall off in the Classic mode. Fast enough? Try Pipeline and Time modes as well.
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Tank Hero
(6.2 MB)
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Destroy your enemies with cannons, heat seekers and howitzers, and become a tank hero with this fast paced 3D tank action game. Easy to maneuver and just tap to fire.
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Labyrinth Lite
(686 KB)
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Tilt a classic or 3D wooden labyrinth and move the steel ball to the goal while shunning the holes along the path. Limited to 10 levels but you can also edit your own levels in this lite version.
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NinJump
(7.73 MB)
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Tap to jump from one wall to the other, clear obstacles from the air but avoid them on walls, and rise to the top to become a ninja master. A game of fast action and precision, with original sound and music.
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X Construction Lite
(1.37 MB)
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Build a strong bridge with enough supporting girders to let the train safely cross the valley. Is it possible that your bridge collapses even before the train starts moving? Give it a try.
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Angry Birds
(14.14 MB)
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Use the unique powers of angry birds to destroy the fortresses of pigs who stole their eggs. A challenging physics-based gameplay in 195 levels needing logic, skill and force to solve.
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Pinball Deluxe
(7.75 MB)
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A nicely designed pinball game with three different tables and unique play styles—Carnival, Space and Underwater—with precise physics, gorgeous graphics, optional sound and vibration effects.
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Alchemy Classic
(5.6 MB)
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Start with four basic elements—Air, Earth, Water and Fire—and combine them to create new elements. How do you make Stone and Alcohol, or can you get a total of 238 elements?
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Smurfs' Village
(47 MB)
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Combining elements of FarmVilla and Sim City, this app allows you to grow crops and build a new village with your own creativity for the Smurfs to call home. A popular and addictive farming simulation game to engage you for days and months without paying a cent unless you opt for speed-up credits.
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Air Control Lite
(2.9 MB)
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Draw lines to direct airplanes to runways and helicopters to helipads but avoid any mid-air collisions. A simple yet addictive ATC (Air Traffic Control) simulation game with classic and puzzle modes that can engage your interest and attention for hours.
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Defender
(11 MB)
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Defend your castle and shoot arrows to kill your enemies before they reach your stronghold. It's never an easy battle as your enemies become fiercer while you try to add more power to your weapons. Definitely a challenging and addictive shooting game.
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Jewels
(1.92 MB)
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Like Bejeweled match-3 puzzle, it's an addictive game good to play for hours in three challenging modes—normal, timed and infinite, with nice graphics and sounds, supports for resuming games, saving local and global scores.
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Bubble Blast 2
(4.08 MB)
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Touch and burst bubbles to trigger a chain reaction in order to eliminate them, complete at least 20 levels in the Puzzle mode before you're allowed to enter the Arcade mode. A good game of guess and check with plenty of addictive levels.
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Puzzle Blox Arcade!
(729 KB)
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Enjoy this award-winning match-3 game inspired by Tetris, Bubble Breaker and Bejeweled. It comes with a different twist with unique tilt-and-touch game play and endless play modes for all ages.
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Jigsaroid
(500 KB)
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Select a favorite image or photo either from your Gallery or the Internet, and create a digital jigsaw puzzle for solving. You can set the number of pieces depending on your Android device, with useful features such as thumbnail, background image, tray control and saving games.
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Wordfeud FREE
(679 KB)
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Play up to 30 separate word games simultaneously with your friends or against random opponents at your own pace using English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian or Danish dictionaries, with shuffle, swap, scoring tiles, chats and other features. Ads supported.
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wordoid!
(783 KB)
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Hone your linguistic skills and form words on the letter grid within seconds in this simple yet challenging game, featuring wildcards, bonus tiles and high scores.
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Bebbled
(2.39 MB)
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Pop the bubbles in this easy-to-play and entertaining game, featuring dynamic difficulty levels and different types of gameplay in three modes—Campaigns, Freestyle and Online.
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250+ Solitaire Collection
(1.61 MB)
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More than 250 Solitaire card games including Freecell, Klondike, Canfield and others in one place, with undo and redo moves, help for rules and demo for each game.
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Hearts Deluxe
(2.1 MB)
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Embrace the Queen and shoot the moon by winning all 13 Hearts and the Queen of Spades in this well-designed Hearts game with sound and animation effects. The Omnibus variant for winning the Jack of Diamonds is optional.
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Chess
(490 KB)
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Play chess against the computer in 10 levels or Internet chess by connecting to the FICS servers. Useful features include save and load games, import and export games in pgn format, set up the board, puzzles, and support UCI engines including Robbolito, Stockfish and Bikjump. Better still, no annoying ads.
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OpenSudoku
(220 KB)
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A simple open-source sudoku game with clean and clear design. In addition to the preloaded 90 puzzles in 3 difficulty levels, you can also get more free puzzles of higher levels online to import into OpenSudoku easily. See also Google Goggles.
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Talking Tom Cat Free
(14.19 MB)
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A popular fun game to cheer you up for a good moment—talk to Tom and he will repeat everything you say with a funny voice, pet his body to make him purr, or otherwise he will yawn or sneeze... Definitely a good try and other variations are available, mind the file size though.
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Paper Toss
(5.92 MB)
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Getting bored at work? Try this casual game to toss a ball of crumpled paper into a metal trash basket, bearing in mind that paper can be blown by the wind to the left or right from a fan spinning at varying speed. Six levels of difficulty, easy to play and oddly satisfying.
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Reversi Free
(1.69 MB)
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Flip your way to victory by challenging the CPU engine with 10 difficulty levels or going for a 2-player game, plus features like hint, save and resume, animation and sound effects, optional piece sets and boards.
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2 Player Reactor
(1.3 MB)
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Challenge your friends to a battle of reflexes, basic wits and knowledge, and determine who wins in this fast reaction game, with supports for configurable game modes and multiple languages.
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Androidify
(1.45 MB)
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Dress up the little green Android, customize and stretch or shrink it, then save and share it with your friends, set it as a photo in your contact book or use it as an avatar. It's fun and more than a game.
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