15+ Free Must-Have Apps for Android Phones in 2021

Android has millions of apps in the Google Play Store, and you can find almost any app you want. But there are few apps you must have on your Android phone for better productivity, functionality, security, entertainment, and a few other things to make your life easier. I have tested over 100 free popular apps on my smartphone in order to find the 15+ best Android apps in 2021 that everyone should have on their Android phones.

In case you are an iPhone or iPad user, then you can also check: Top Must-Have iPhone & iPad Apps

Note: I will keep updating this article whenever I find any new Android app that would fit right for this article.

Top 15+ Must-Have Android Apps (2021)

1. Your Phone Companion
2. Wallcraft
3. TunnelBear
4. PicsArt
5. LastPass
6. Transparent Clock & Weather
7. Files by Google
8. Microsoft Office
9. YouCut
10. TempMail
11. MX Player
12. Nova Launcher
13. Spotify
14. Google Keep
15. DuckDuckGo Browser
16. Google News

1. Your Phone Companion

If you own Windows 10 PC or laptop, then you must have this app on your Android phone. With the app, you can access most of your phone’s data from your Windows PC. All you have to do is just sign-in to your Microsoft account on this app and link it with Your Phone App on your Windows 10 PC.

Here are a few things you can access on Windows 10 PC after linking to an Android phone:

1. Notifications: You can see all your phone’s notifications on your Windows 10 PC and you can even reply to messages directly from the notification without even touching the phone.
2. Messages: Here you can check all your phone’s messages and you can even send or reply to messages. You can also add emojis, gifs, and photos to your messages.
3. Photos: In this tab, you will see all of your phone’s camera and screenshot photos, which you can directly save to your PC.
4. Calls: If your PC has Bluetooth, then you can easily make and receive calls from your PC.
5. Apps: If you own the latest Samsung mobile, then you can even use your phone’s apps on your Windows.

Overall, Your Phone Companion is one of the essential Android apps for all those people who have Windows 10 system.

Download Your Phone Companion

2. Wallcraft

Also featured in – Best Wallpaper Apps

Wallcraft is a freemium app that has over 10,000+ Full HD wallpapers; 5,000+ wallpapers for 2K screens and more than 1,000+ 4K wallpapers for Android phones.

And the best part is the app only shows wallpapers that are suitable for the size of your screen. Also, I have not seen a single wallpaper that is low in quality, which generally I have seen on many wallpaper apps.

Other than that it also features Parallax wallpapers, which simply look amazing and just for the parallax wallpapers I purchased their Pro version. Speaking of the Pro version, by subscribing to their Pro plans you get:

• No Ads
• Exclusive Wallpapers
• Double Wallpapers
• Parallax Wallpapers

If you are not able to purchase their pro plan, that’s ok. The app still has plenty of high-quality wallpapers that you can use for free.

Download Wallcraft Wallpapers

3. TunnelBear

TunnelBear is a free VPN app for Android that will protect your online privacy and helps you access your favorite websites and apps securely. There are many VPN apps in Play Store which offer completely free or paid VPN services, but with free service, you get only limited country access. Whereas TunnelBear offers a free 500 MB of data usage per month with access to many countries like the United States, United Kingdom, India, Australia, and many others along with fast internet speed.

And if you run out of usage limit, then you can either wait for next month’s renewal or upgrade to their unlimited plans where you get features like (depending on plans)

• Unlimited secure browsing
• 5 connected devices
• Priority customer service
• Dedicated account manager
• Centralized team billing and management

Download TunnelBear

4. PicsArt

Also featured in – Best Photo Editor Apps

PicsArt is one of the top free Android apps for photo editing. I have been using it for over 5 years since it offers all the necessary features that I want without having to install a separate photo editor app. The app has an easy-to-use interface and will not take much time to explore all the features.

You can find all the essential photo editing tools like rotate, crop, contrast, saturation, and much more. But for those who want to take their photo to a different level, the PicsArt has plenty of effects such as sketch, blur, artistic, glitch, and so on. You also get a dedicated tool “Beautify” to make minor changes on your face like face fix, remove wrinkles, changing skin tone or hair color, etc.

Other features of PicsArt are

• You can find almost any stickers you want.
• Royalty free images.
• Video Editing
• Collage maker
• Change image ratio to fit on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest.
• Minor features like drawing, adding lens flare, shape mask, frame, and so on.

PicsArt also has paid subscriptions known as PicsArt Gold through which you will get access to all the features like unlimited brushes, 100+ filters, video editor, tools, no ads, and many more.

Download PicsArt

5. LastPass

LastPass is a very useful Android app if you’re having trouble remembering passwords for each different site/apps. It can securely store your passwords and personal information in a secure vault. So whenever you will open sites and apps, LastPass will autofill your login credentials. Your data is encrypted at the device level with AES-256 encryption.

So all you have to do is remember your LastPass master password and LastPass will autofill logins for you. You can also use LastPass for generating a strong password which you can use when signing up on apps or sites to further reduce the risk of guessing the password by your friends or hackers.

The free plan already offers so many security features, but if you want to get more, then you can subscribe to its premium plan. The premium plan offers:

• 1 GB encrypted file storage
• Desktop fingerprint authentication
• Unlimited sharing of passwords, items, and notes
• Premium multi-factor authentication like YubiKey
• Priority tech support

Download LastPass

6. Transparent Clock & Weather

Also featured in – Best Android Weather Apps & Widgets

Transparent Clock & Weather app is one of my favorite Android apps, not only it provides detailed weather forecast but also cool looking widgets. The widget of this app comes in multiple sizes and they all look simply gorgeous on the Android home screen.

Furthermore, the widget has a wide variety of customization available such as widget skins, weather icon skins, time fonts, font sizes, font colors, and many more. You can also display things like location, next alarm, wind speed, humidity, next event, system information, and so on.

As for the weather information, well the app provides Local weather forecasts for your current location and it automatically detects your location as you travel and displays accurate, real-time weather reports. You can also check detailed weather forecasts for today, tomorrow, or the next 10 days and stay prepared for good or bad weather.

So you can either use this app just to check the weather or use its widgets to customize your phone’s home screen, it’s up to you.

Download Transparent Clock & Weather

7. Files by Google

Files is a free file manager app from Google. It helps you to find and manage files easily. The app can also display hidden files and few cleanup suggestions, which will help you to clean many of your junk files in well-organized tabs.

And rather than installing separate apps like ShareIt, Xender, and so on for file sharing, you can use this app since it has a built-in file sharing feature which also saves a few spaces on your phone. Furthermore, the Files app is from Google itself, so you will have better user experience with no annoying ads.

Download Files by Google

8. Microsoft Office

If you want to create a word document, PowerPoint, excel sheet or you want to use any other productivity-related feature, then Microsoft Office is one of the must-have apps for your Android phone. You can easily create, edit, and share Office documents with others. On top of that, you can also transfer or receive files from nearby phones or computers. The app is not only limited to editing documents but also has many other handy features like:

• Create, edit, and share notes.
• Extract text from images.
• Extract a table from your images into excel.
• Convert a document into PDF and vice versa.
• Scan QR code to open files or links.

Download Microsoft Office

9. YouCut

Also featured in – Best Video Editing Apps

YouCut is one of the best free Android App for video editing. The interface of the app is clean and easy to use. You will find all the basic editing tools such as trim, split, crop, filters, effects, stickers, and more. You can also change the video’s ratio to 1:1 for Instagram posts, 16:9 for YouTube videos, or 9:16 for TikTok videos.

Furthermore, you can also edit and render videos in 4K resolution. And YouCut is one of the few free video editing apps that comes with no watermarks. There are many powerful video editing apps in the Play Store, but most of them are not as easier to use as YouCut and they also add a watermark to the video.

Download YouCut

10. TempMail

TempMail is another free Android app you must have on your smartphone. If you are asking, why? Well, first of all, the app provides a disposable temporary email address and what you can do is if you find any website or app that is asking for an email id and you have security or privacy concern then you can use this temporary email and you will able to receive emails including photos or any other attachments.

Second, you will be able to keep your primary or main email id safe from spam mails, advertising mails, email hacking, and phishing attempts.

Third, you can also generate a new email address instantly without any limitations.

All these features you are getting for free with no registration needed. But if you want, you can also subscribe to their premium plan, which features:

• Custom email names
• Multiple mailboxes
• In-app email view
• Premium domains
• Extended email storage
• Premium support
• Ad-free

Download TempMail

11. MX Player

MX Player has been in the Google Play Store for many years and is one of the best video player app for Android devices. Your phone has a built-in video player app, but it generally comes with limited features and video format support, but with MX player you can play almost all types of videos. In addition to that, you can directly download subtitles while watching a movie.

You can also use the app to listen to music and watch online web series, movies, tv shows, sports, and so on for free with few ads. There is also a separate tab for games where you can earn coins while playing games and use them to watch premium movies or redeem exclusive coupons.

Download MX Player

12. Nova Launcher

Also featured in – Best Android Launchers

Nowadays many Android manufacturers are launching their phones with custom UI, some are good while some bad. But the best thing is you can customize your home screen with Android launchers as per your style, and Nova Launcher is one of them.

Nova Launcher is one of the most popular Android Launcher apps. It has a wide variety of customization features available that most of the launchers lack. Not only can you customize your home screen and app drawer but also folders, icons, animation speed, and so on.

You can also enable night mode in the launcher that has the option to change the search bar, app drawer, drawer icon, and folders to a dark theme. And if you want to access the full features of the nova launcher, you can also download their paid version that has features like double-tap to lock, hide apps, notification badges, and so on.

I have been using Nova Launcher for many years, even now, and I would definitely recommend you try this app.

Download Nova Launcher

Download Nova Launcher Prime

13. Spotify

Also featured in – Best Free Music Apps

Spotify is one of the most popular and top android apps for free music. The app comes with a clean and simple UI along with well-organized playlists. In the app, you will find all your favorite artist’s songs and even create a playlist that suits your mood.

In addition, the app also shows the lyrics of the song you are playing. So now you don’t have to search on the internet or download the Android app for the song’s lyrics. Other than that, you can also stream radio stations and play the podcast from all over the world.

While you will be listening to music for free, but it will come with Ads and limited features. So you have to subscribe to their premium plan that comes with:

• Ad-free music
• Download music for free and listen offline
• Extreme audio quality and so on.

Download Spotify

14. Google Keep

If you are a person who generally forgets everything or maybe likes to keep important notes in organized ways, then Google Keep will help you to manage all these across all devices. You can easily create notes or shopping lists and option to add things like pictures, voice notes, and drawings.

The app interface is simple, easy-to-use, and will sync across all of your devices so you don’t have to worry whether you are accessing Google Keep on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop.

There is another cool feature that most of you guys will love. You can set reminders on notes based on time and location so that you don’t miss important things.

Download Google Keep

15. DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser

Also featured in – Best Android Browsers

If you want a browser that protects your privacy, then DuckDuckGo is one of the top browsers for Android. It has features like automatic clear data, one tap to clear all tabs & data, dark mode, and block Ads & trackers.

The unique feature of the DuckDuckGo browser is it shows you a Privacy Grade rating (A-F) in the Address Bar when you visit a website so you can see how protected you are. The only thing most of the users might not like would be no option to change the default search engine. So you have to use DuckDuckGo as your search engine.

Download DuckDuckGo Browser

16. Google News

Also featured in – Best News Apps

Google News is a free Android app for News that has a wide range of topics like the stock market, technology, sports, politics, and more. Also, based on your interest and usage, the app will try to learn more about your taste and start recommending you the best & latest articles.

You can also follow your favorite publishers or add more topics. And if you don’t want to see news from certain sources, you can simply mute them. You can also save important articles to read later.

Download Google News

Conclusion

Well, that’s the end of our list of 15+ must-have apps for Android in 2021. All the apps are in random order and you can choose any app that you think might be useful for you. Now comment down below which app you are going to install from this list. Also, if you know any app that might be a good fit for this list, then let me know in the comments.