90 best free Android apps 2014
The open source nature of Google's OS means there are plenty of fantastic apps for Android to be found.
And most of the good stuff on Android is free, thanks to the work of developers who do it for love alone.
So here's our pick of the top free Android apps you should install.

1. Seesmic

There are many Twitter apps on Android - and Twitter itself shook up the scene with the launch of its own-brand app - but we're sticking withSeesmic. Offering support for multiple accounts, a home page widget showing latest tweets and an incredibly slick and professional design, it's one of the finest examples of app development out there today.
seesmic

2. Facebook for Android

Facebook for Android is lacking in features compared to Facebook itself, but a recent update added Inbox support to the Android app, finally allowing its users to communicate in almost real time. The app's fast and stable, with a simplicity that reminds you of the old days when using Facebook used to be bearable.
Facebook

3. National Rail Enquiries

After the original free, third-party National Rail apps went paid-for, National Rail has finally brought out its own free app. National Rail Enquiriesenables you to check live train times, plan your journeys, and get notifications of delays. On first use, the app prompts you to enter a home and work train station, and then you can use the 'Get me home' button to see the next available trains.
National Rail Android app

4. UK Jobs

Hey, times are hard and you've got to pay for your oppressive monthly mobile phone contract somehow. Offering a fully searchable database of current UK job vacancies, UK Jobs, which pulls in its data from independent employment site 1job.co.uk is, a slightly cumbersome but useful and non-governmental tool.
uk-jobs

5. Outlook

Microsoft has teamed up with developer SEVEN to offer an official Hotmail app for Android, which gives users a simple, clean interface, push notification support and even lets you manage multiple Hotmail accounts from within the app. If your email needs haven't yet been assimilated by Google, it's a useful option. It's since been rebranded as the Outlook app, in keeping with Microsoft's changes to its mail site.
Hotmail

6. Google Sky Map

A stunning app that uses your phone's orientation tools to give you an accurate representation of the stars and planets on your screen. Point your phone at the sky, then learn what constellations are visible and if that's a UFO or just Venus. Google Sky Map even works indoors, if you're not keen on getting cold.
Google sky map

7. Layar

The stunning augmented reality app Layar has recently gone commercial, adding an online shop that allows users to buy AR content such as travel guides, local house price apps and much more. But you're still able to use the numerous free Layers to pop data up over real-world locations, delivering a satisfying futuristic experience.
Layar

8. Foursquare

The social media darling Foursquare is represented in fine form on Android, with the Google app offering easy one-click check-ins, integrated Google Maps for a seamless Google-branded experience and home page shortcut options to all your favourite places.
FourSquare

9. WordPress for Android

WordPress for Android started out as independent creation wpToGo, before WordPress decided it liked it so much it bought it up - hiring the maker to develop it in-house. It's very feature-packed, with the latest version offering full integration with other apps, letting you spin content and send it directly to the app for easy updating. It could do with more image insertion tools, though.
WordPress for Android

10. Google Goggles

A bit of a novelty, in that Google Goggles lets you take photos and have Google analyse them and come back with a search results page for what it thinks you're looking at. However, the app's main use is as a QR code reader, which lets you scan barcodes for quick access to apps and whatever data people choose to embed in the odd little data squares.
Google goggles

11. Winamp

Yes, the same Winamp from a decade ago. It's had an Android app for some time, with recent updates adding support for iTunes, Mac syncing, plenty of music streaming options, new release lists and Shoutcast integration for radio support. It's a fine, free media player.
Winamp

12. Samsung ChatOn

There are plenty of messaging tools on Android, but Samsung's beats many of them by offering multi-platform support - with clients even available for older Samsung non-smart feature phones. It could be the ideal way to keep in touch with an out of touch relative. More "with it" users will be able to use its drawing, image sharing and social networking features.
Samsung

13. Skyfire 3.0

The USP of the Skyfire browser is that it supports Flash content, popping up a little window when it detects an embedded YouTube video or something similar. The actual Flash business is handled by Skyfire's server, which does all the computery stuff, then sends the file to your handset. A bit clunky on slower Android phones, but it works like a dream on models with faster processors.Despite the arrival of Flash with Android 2.2, this is still relevant for those on phones and Android versions not able to support Adobe's Flash Player.
Skyfire

14. BBC News

While the BBC's Android iPlayer app is a bit on the disappointing side, the corporation's BBC News app is much more refined. There's a stylish grid-based front page, plus you're able to swipe from left to right to switch between stories in your chosen specialist category. A recent update also added a couple of Home screen widgets, too, plus the ability to submit your own news tips, as if the BBC was a small blog clamouring for content.
BBC news

15. RAC Traffic

An official production of the motoring organisation, RAC Traffic is dead simple - it guesstimates your location via the mobile signal, then pops up the current traffic alerts for your area. It's much better than having to listen to the radio for the odd update about arterial blockages.
RAC traffic

16. Swype

The odd line-drawing alternate keyboard Swype is a love-it or hate-it kind of thing, with the significant amount of re-learning required to make the most of it quite off-putting to some users.
Once you're familiar with the idea, though, it's genius - with advanced prediction options further speeding your line-typing.
After a long period of availability only through a beta test or having pre-loaded on your phone by the maker, Swype's now available on Google Play - in both free trial and paid options.
Swype

17. Evernote

After the Android version of Dropbox, the next best solution for keeping all your 'business' in one place is Evernote - which lets you stash and sync all your text notes, voice memos and files on your phone and access them through a desktop computer.
Evernote

18. Flickr

As well as supporting Flickr uploading, this app also lets you capture photos from within the app and comes complete with a set of filters, so you can hipsterise your life with ease. It supports sharing with Twitter and Facebook as well, so your other, non-photo-nerd friends can enjoy the results of today's snapping session.
Flickr

19. Last.fm

The subscription-based thrills of Last.fm open up a world of music streaming on your mobile. You have to 'buy in' to the odd Last.fm way of organising things and suggesting new music, but if you're easily led and not restricted by bandwidth it's a superb tool.
tune in radio

20. Google Maps Navigation

An absolute must-get. As long as you have Android 1.6 or above, the latest update to Google Maps introduces turn-by-turn voice navigation, simultaneously devastating the satnav industry while boosting the in-car dashboard dock/charger accessory scene. Route calculations are done at the outset of your trip, minimising data transfer en route and keeping you on target even when the GPS signal drops. It's amazing, it works, and it's free.
Google maps navigation

21. Any.do

A high quality note-taking and reminder app, Any.do is part calendar, part dictation tool and part to-do list creator.
There's a huge, resizable widget that provides quick access to its features and lets you dismiss completed tasks, with the mic option pulling up a voice recorder to automatically add tasks to your schedule without typing.
It's free, although should you start a task with the word "buy" a green shopping trolley appears, tempting you to press it and buy things from Amazon instead of trudging to the shops.
Anydo

22. gvSIG Mini Maps

gvSIG Mini Maps is an incredibly comprehensive mapping tool which combines major online maps including Google, Bing, Open Street Map and more, which will win UK fans for one huge reason alone - it supports the official and recently open-sourced Ordnance Survey data. This means you're never more than a post code search away from seeing where you are in OS-level detail, which offers much more in the way of accurate local data than other map tools provide.
gvsig

23. Google Keep

Google Keep is the Android maker's own attempt at muscling in on the clipboard and to-do list app, presenting a versatile corkboard tool that lets users record audio notes, capture photos, create checklists and more.
The star of the show is the resizable Home screen widget, from which you can access all the features and hit buttons to record clips and take images. Google's so proud of Keep that it's become canon - and comes pre-loaded as part of Android 4.3's app set.
Google Keep

24. Shareprice

Shareprice uses your login from financial site www.iii.co.uk to offer live share price updates on your Android phone. Watch your nest-egg lose 50 per cent in value every three weeks during the latest trans-global financial crisis, live!
It's ideal for users with share values so low they have to be checked in private, to ensure their partner doesn't see exactly how much money has disappeared into some notional financial black hole.
shareprice

25. Skifta

Skifta is the first software tool to be granted DLNA certification, meaning it turns your Android phone into an official DLNA device. This in turn means streaming all of your household media to your phone, and beaming your phone videos to your TV. Seems a little buggy at the moment, but there are plenty of updates arriving all the time. Requires Android 2.2 or higher.
skifta

26. Dropbox

The Android version of the insanely popular stuff-syncing app has arrived, and while Dropbox is a little lacking in the sort of fancy auto-syncing options many were hoping for, it still works as expected. Files have to be specifically downloaded to your phone to be edited or shared, which is not quite the automated dream offered by the desktop tools, but it's still Dropbox on Android. Six months ago that was a distant, crazy fantasy.
dropbox

27. London Tube Status

Reduce the misery of being told you've just missed a train and it's a 14-minute wait until the next one with London Tube Status, which combines travel status updates and live departure times. It also includes a home screen widget that shows your favourite (or at least your most used) platform departures, making it easy to check how much you've just missed the next one by while tearing down the escalators.
London tube status

28. Amazon UK

Amazon recently launched an official Android app, replacing its reliance on a mobile web store. The app's very simple and fast to use, and even includes full shopping cart features with Amazon's one-click system once you've signed in with your usual account details.
amazon-uk

29. Meebo IM

If you like to pass the time exchanging smiley faces and abbreviations with your friends through instant messaging apps, you ought to get a copy ofMeebo IM. It's an instant messaging aggregator, incorporating AIM, MSN, Yahoo, MySpace, Facebook, good old ICQ and more, serving everything up in one convenient interface. Typing in all your logins and passwords for everything is the only, very temporary, inconvenience.
Meebo im

30. Beelicious

If you're into the slightly last-generation social networking site Delicious, you ought to get yourself organised with one of the many third-party Android apps out there that support the bookmarking tool. Such as Beelicious, which, once you've got through the slightly cumbersome initial set-up process, lets you simply send website links to your Delicious account via the Android browser's 'Share Page' sub menu.
Beelicious

31. Carbon for Twitter

Carbon replaces another deceased entry on this list, filling in for Tweetdeck - which used to be a smart way of managing Twitter and Facebook feeds within one simple app. Twitter bought it and killed it. Hooray for that.
In terms of unofficial replacements, one of the hottest new Android Twitter apps is Carbon, which offers stacks of features inside a very flashy, animated skin, with heaps of gesture shortcuts for quickly refreshing feeds, jumping about the timeline and managing multiple accounts. It's a million miles ahead of the official Twitter app.
Carbon

32. iPlayer

The BBC came in for quite a lot of stick over its Android iPlayer app, with the code lacking some basic features and requiring Adobe's discontinued Flash Player in order to work properly. Happily, most of the issues have now been fixed in a recent update, while the BBC's standalone Media Playerremoves the need for Flash. It also works while minimised and with the screen turned off, so is actually usable as a radio player. Much better.
bbc iplayer

33. Feedly

33rd position in our list used to belong to Google's fantastic cross-platform RSS Reader app, but... it killed it. Which was a big shame. There are plenty of replacement options on Android, though, with Feedly one of the best both in terms of desktop sync functionality and general look and feel on mobile.
You sign in, import your Google Reader backup (you did remember, right?) and away you. Just like Reader, only prettier and more versatile. Like a younger wife.
Feedly

34. BT FON

BT's incredibly clever FON network is often a lifesaver, letting you legally borrow Wi-Fi for free in many public places. And while standing outside strangers' houses. The BT FON Android app (recently renamed BT Wi-Fi) lets you automate the sign-in process, so you can walk around towns and housing estates safe in the knowledge that your phone's always seeking out available Wi-Fi. You need a BT FON username, though, so sort that out before you venture out into the scary internet-free world.
BT fon

35. Amazon Kindle

Amazon's Kindle app is a great e-reader, which is seamlessly linked with your Amazon account. Support for magazines and newspapers is limited at the moment, with only a handful of niche publications in Android-friendly format. But for books it's great, with plenty of screen and text display options to get it looking a way that hurts your eyes the least. Another exciting new way to collect classic novels you'll probably never get around to reading because there's the internet now.
Amazon kindle

36. Endomondo

The free version of Endomodo is essential if you're sporty, or even if you just like using a GPS tool to stalk yourself walking around. You select an activity, initiate GPS mode and it'll keep track of you, time you and even whisper robotic words of encouragement at you, before generating a stylish map charting your achievements. A map which you can spam out to social networks to show off the fact that you can ride a bike.
Endomondo

37. Androidify

Let your hair down by creating a realistic interpretation of what you hair looks like with Androidify. It's an avatar creator that uses the Android mascot as its base, letting you swap trousers and hats with the swipe of a finger. Results are then sharable via Twitter and the usual social tools. There aren't enough types of beard, though. Please release a Beard Expansion Pack.
Androidify

38. Kongregate Arcade

Thanks to Android's Flash Player powers, casual gaming portalKongregate is able to bring a huge number of its internet games to Android. They run in the browser so resolutions can be a bit all over the place, but with over 300 games to choose from there's bound to be something there for you.
Kongregate

39. Blogger

The Google-owned Blogger platform now has a presence in the current decade, thanks to the official Blogger app. It's remarkably simple, supports image uploads and geo-tagging and imports the settings of all blogs associated with your Gmail account. There's no fancy editing the positions of your photos, which just get chucked in at the bottom, but it works.
blogger

40. RD Mute

RD Mute serves one purpose – to turn off all phone sounds when the Android accelerometer tells it you've picked it up and turned it over. It's a 'silent mode' shortcut for when you can't even be bothered to press a button. Put your phone on its front to shut it up – and add any very important numbers to the app's exceptions list, so people you don't mind talking to can get through.

41. OnLive

The technically astounding streaming video gaming service has now arrived on Android, with an official OnLive app letting Android users play console titles on their phones and tablets via wi-fi. It's best played on devices with big screens, but it'll still run on something as relatively modest as an HTC Desire. On-screen controls are the big trade-off, here - but it will work with OnLive's Bluetooth wireless controller, if you've seriously bought in to the OnLive dream.
OnLive

42. MailOnline

Quite a few official news apps have launched on Android since we last updated this list. The Guardian has one, The Times has one, Channel 4 News has one and so does the country's guiltiest pleasure, the MailOnline. It features offline caching and lets users specify a time for it to sync pages with the main site, so you're in complete control of how and when you get your faux scandal.
MailOnline

43. Sky+

The Sky+ app has been on Android for quite some time, but it's recently been given a superb visual refresh and a new custom interface for those doing their telly research on an Android tablet. The feature set has been expanding, too, now including a nice Showcase front section, more programme details, plus, of course, the Remote Record features to set your Sky+ box recording through 3G or wi-fi.
Sky+

44. eBay

Another app that's been out there for a while on Android, the eBay tool has also been updated so much that it's now a credible alternative to the desktop site. A recent update bought the ability to list items direct from the app, while there's a simple PIN system that makes paying for your winnings via PayPal much simpler and less convoluted than it is on the full blown web site.
eBay

45. Lovefilm By Post

There's now an official Android Lovefilm app, which lets you manage your account through your phone. You also get all the peripheral nonsense like reviews and trailers, but the key feature is the ability to manage your rental list, shuffling the order of your requests and filtering out categories you never trouble.
Lovefilm

46. Tesco Groceries

This isn't an advert or a casual game featuring Jamie Oliver. Tesco Groceries is a fully mobile home delivery shopping experience, covering everything from booking your delivery slot to amending orders already placed. It uses voice input for easily searching for items, plus there's barcode scanner support for identifying and ordering stuff direct from your cupboard. Makes buying toilet rolls fun.
Tesco

47. Path

Path is an alternate social network, designed to make sharing things with friends easier and more... personal. It does simple stuff like share your music listening history, then it does weird stuff like track how many hours you've slept for. It's also location aware, so if you'd like it to broadcast your every movement, that's possible. And if you can't pull yourself away from Facebook, stuff from here can be posted up there, too, although posts can also be locked so they never leave Path if you'd prefer.
Path

48. Sky Sports Live Football Score Centre

The latest Sky Sports Live Football Score Centre app from BSkyB is an entirely sports-related option, giving access to live scores, league tables, match stats and results, also incorporating the new Sky Sports News Radio service for listening in, live, to the blokes in the studio guffawing away about free kick decisions.
Sky sports

49. Yelp

Yelp gives you a similar option to Google's wide range of social place reviews, only here you also get an augmented reality screen display, so you can point it at the skyline and see what five-star eating establishments are in the area. Places are backed up by user reviews, too, making it easy to get an up to date opinion on how generous a particular cafe is with the chips.
Yelp

50. Odeon Cinemas

The Odeon Android app is impressive on a couple of levels. Being able to buy tickets through your phone is still quite an exciting thing to do, but this one goes further by including a graphical tool that lets you book your specific seats. Plus you get all the scheduled film showing times and the trailers you'd expect from something that's trying to encourage you to endure another by-the-numbers Hollywood product.
Odeon

51. Sky Go

Access Sky's sports and film channels (and even Sky Arts if you're trying to impress a date) through wi-fi and 3G with Sky Go, which is free to download and use as long as you're a Sky subscriber. Those with Android phones that have been "rooted" and are running custom software are out of luck, though, with Sky limiting access on hacked models due to "security reasons." Apart from that annoying caveat, it's great.
Sky Go

52. Chrome

Everyone's new favourite browser is now represented on Android, with Google putting a full mobile version of Chrome up on the Play Store. It's a little limited in scope for users of older devices as Android 4.0 or higher is required to run it, but if your phone ticks that box Chrome on Android offers unlimited tabs in a nice pop-up list, desktop bookmark and open tab syncing, offline saving of pages and even that occasionally very useful incognito mode for covering your weirder tracks.
Chrome beta

53. Rightmove

After a massive period of iOS exclusivity and the previous disastrous launch of a rubbish web browser wrapper app, there's finally a proper nativeRightmove app for Android. It has a modern, Android 4.0 style layout (but works on anything with Android 2.1 or higher), offering simple property searches, a Google Maps visual results interface and Street View integration. It's fast and lovely to use.
Rightmove

54. TED

The series of tech talks by boffins, in which they try to explain high concepts in a way the likes of us can understand, is now represented on Android. TheTED app lets users browse its database of well over 1000 TED talks, all free to download and try to get through in one go without having your brain explode.
TED

55. ISSLive

Let's be honest - ISSLive looks awful. But beneath the clumsy interface and geeky layout sit all sorts of facts and coverage from the International Space Station, with plenty of live feeds, mission, crew and experiment data and even a 3D recreation of Mission Control down there in Houston to... look at. An oddball collection of the interesting and the mundane, like an episode of The Sky at Night.
ISSLive

56. London Bus Checker

London Bus Checker is a very well designed and attractive app, which pulls in live data for all London bus stop display boards. It's almost certainly of most use to people who live in London, who get full route maps, diversion and cancellation updates, GPS support for finding the nearest stop and an arrivals widget. All the fun of actually hanging out at a bus stop, basically.
London Bus Checker

57. Met Office Weather Application

Find out where there's likely to be any drinkable water left this summer with this one, the official weather checker from the Met Office. It's about as comprehensive as a weather app can be, offering Home screen widgets, a five-day forecast, severe weather warnings, maps just like on the telly and the "feels like" temperature so you know if a jacket is required.
Met Office

58. Netflix

As soon as the streaming service hit the UK, so did its accompanying Android app. And the Netflix app does it all, offering access to the full catalogue of digital film and TV rentals, presented in a clean and simple layout. The only fancy features are PC syncing so you can pick up where you left off on mobile if it's getting near bed time, plus Facebook sharing so everyone can keep up on how your Secret Diary of a Call Girl marathon is going.
netflix

59. Wikipedia

A new way to look at the pleading face of Jimmy Wales. The officialWikipedia Android app is very nice to use, presenting a simplified version of the desktop site's content, plus an ever-useful offline saving option if you need access to pages when out of reception range. You also get location aware features, making it easy to randomly browse for interesting things in your vicinity.
Wikipedia

60. FitBit

If you're still struggling to lose the Christmas weight heading into Easter, you may benefit from having a bit of life coaching on your telephone. FitBit's main feature is a Food Plan that keeps track of how many chocolate Brazil nuts you've had today, plus a logging feature that tracks your claims of exercise and adjusts your eating allowance accordingly. You'll be like the woman off the Special K adverts inside a month.
Fitbit

61. Sky Cloud WiFi

This one's a great way of automating the process of signing into a Sky-managed mobile Wi-Fi spot, minimising stressful time spent NOT being connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot. The Sky Cloud WiFi app senses Sky-friendly hotspots, then signs you in automatically. So no more fiddling about with a crappy 3G signal when out and about or typing in passwords in a hurry to use a bit of internet.
Sky Cloud WiFi

62. Ticketmaster UK

After an age as a US-only exclusive, Ticketmaster UK is now live for Android users in the UK. It does what you might expect, offering a full database of events, complete with simple buying options from within the app. There's even a local search option for accessing a list of what's on near you, should you fancy taking a punt on some random artistic happening or gig.
Ticketmaster UK

63. Gumtree

The popular sofa-ditching site has finally joined the mobile age, with a very flashy Gumtree app. It's presented in the Ice Cream Sandwich design style, with a nice tab bar and clever floating and segmented item listings, and it looks even better when used in landscape orientation. Trawling for an executive massage in the local area has never been easier.
Gumtree

64. The Guardian

The Guardian's had an Android app out for a while, but it was significantly "first generation" in look and feel. A recent update took care of that, thankfully, boosting the layout to modern Android standards, adding in support for live blogs, enhanced section navigation, swipe navigation through photo galleries and much more. Nice. And free.
The Guardian

65. HotUKDeals

The amazing bargain portal, which has actually defied its purpose and cost us millions through encouraging unnecessary impulse purchases of discounted gear, is on Android, with a very posh and feature-packedHotUKDeals app now available.
You can search for local deals, submit ones you've spotted yourself, with the app including an easy category view and search facility for finding new ways to buy things you don't really need.
HotUKDeals

66. Amazon MP3

Amazon's MP3 service is surprisingly clever. Tracks bought from the retail giant are automatically stored within the company's "cloud" servers, from where you can instantly stream them back to your Android device.
Sadly you're a little limited in the number of existing MP3s you can upload from your own collection, but for building, managing and streaming a legit Amazon music catalogue the Amazon MP3 app is a great, stylish option.
Amazon MP3

67. TVCatchup

For those of you who still pore over listings and watch TV live, as it happens, and at the original time of broadcast, TVCatchup is for you. But it's not a "catch up" service at all. It's a simple re-broadcaster of the terrestrial Freeview channels, letting you watch everything, live, right there on a phone or tablet. A good test of how reliable your mobile data connection is, too.
TVCatchup

68. Barclays Mobile Banking

The big banks are gradually moving away from mobile web sites and embracing full power apps, with the Barclays Mobile Banking option a particularly fine example. Logging in is a simpler task than accessing the desktop site, with the app just requiring a PIN number to access your data. It also cleverly works as a PIN Sentry card reader, ideal for managing Barclays services that need its pain-in-the-arse card reader to grant access.
Barclays Mobile Banking

69. Amazon Appstore

There's only one reason to have the Amazon Appstore on your phone or tablet - free stuff. Amazon is enticing users to stick its alternate Android app store on their devices with the promise of a free app every day, with some classics like Sega's ChucChu Rocket and World of Goo featuring as previous daily freebies. The catch is these are unsupported releases, meaning no updates or fixes in the future, but you can't moan too much about getting some ace freebies every day.
Amazon Appstore

70. Flipboard

Flipboard is pretty much just a posh RSS reader, which does a superb job of pulling text and images from pages, sites and social networks, and presenting it in a gloriously sexy magazine-like manner. The Flipboard app has recently been updated with a full tablet interface style, for the ultimate in glossy media consumption.
Flipboard

71. BT Sport

The arrival of a new sporting season always brings with it a collection of new and exciting ways to keep up with action on your phone, with the BT Sport Android app one of the coolest to arrive this year.
It lets BT Internet users watch the company's new, live sport feeds on a phone or tablet. All you need are your BT login details and a bit of fuss to activate your account through the desktop site, and you're ready to go with live video on your mobile device of choice. More Claire Balding and rugby action than you can possibly handle awaits.
BT Sport

72. Google Play Games

Google and its many games developer friends have been adding its backend gaming services to apps for a few months now, meaning many Android games now have a unified, Google-backed method of matchmaking, monitoring achievements and keeping track of play sessions.
The Play Games app is a simple frontend for it all, giving gamers a central hub to keep an eye on their game collections, score leaderboards and lists of friends made through the system.
google play games

73. YouView

The new interactive digital TV system has finally launched its YouView controller app on Google Play, letting Android users join their iOS cousins in having fun with their new YouView boxes on phones and tablets.
The app features boring stuff like seven-day programme listings and information, but it's the remote record feature that's the main reason to have it. Once setup via a paired code input system, up to five devices can be granted the power to make the box record shows while you're out.
youview

74. BBC Weather

A substantial percentage of Google's 1,000,000+ Android apps are based around guesstimating what the weather's likely to be a bit like later today or tomorrow. But for a forecast that's perhaps slightly more locally aware and believable than others, head to the BBC.
The BBC Weather Android app's beautiful, featuring hourly breakdowns, a selection of smart Home screen widgets and UV/pollen forecasts thrown in too. Plus it uses the lovely old BBC weather icons, which add a touch of style to any overcast situation.
BBC weather

75. Vine

The madly popular social video phenomenon eventually hit Android earlier this year after an infuriating period of exclusivity on Apple devices, with Android fans now able to see for themselves what all the fuss is about.
Vine is about one thing - a simple interface that lets you start and stop recording by touching the screen, and a six-second time limit. Clips are then reviewed, processed and uploaded to the Vine servers, for others to rate.
You might become star. Or just clog up the world's internet pipes with a trillion clips of your cat not doing anything out of its normal behaviour range.
Vine

76. BBC iPlayer Radio

The BBC's iPlayer app was always a little poor when it came to representing the corporation's radio channels, a situation that's been fixed by this stunning little app.
It's designed well, with a strange little wheel system letting users navigate through the available listings, plus the Beeb allows streaming to be conducted over both Wi-Fi and mobile data networks.
There's also a catch-up selection of past shows, plus a nice little clock radio tool to have it wake you up with the station of your choice.
BBC iplayer radio

77. Guardian Witness

Witness is the Guardian's attempt at getting its users to generate endless list features on its behalf for free, with the accompanying Android app letting the paper's readers contribute photos and stories through a phone or tablet.
The app lets you sign in with a Guardian, Twitter or Facebook account, although don't go expecting to "troll" the world with your UFO photographs - every submission's vetted before being made live. There are some special missions reserved only for users of the app, so it's worth trying if you're into the whole crowd-sourcing thing.
Guardian Witness

78. Rando

Rando is sort of a social network, only with the social stuff removed. Its USP is that you share photos, which must be taken live, with random strangers around the world.
You have to take and send one in order to receive one back, making it into a weird form of photo-sharing tennis.
You might get something interesting from Japan, or a boring photo of a man's PC keyboard from closer to home. It's addictive. You can't help pinging them off and wondering what's going to come back in payment.
Rando

79. Runkeeper

Offers similar functionality to popular sports tracker Endomondo, only withRunkeeper you get a more Android-like design, integrated support for music playback and audio coaching, a camera option so you can include images with your workout details and much, much more.
There are also goals to set, customisable routes for tracking your favourite runs, plus it's compatible with physical heart-rate monitors if you take it all very, very seriously indeed.
RunKeeper

80. DashClock

DashClock is an extremely clever widget that completely replaces the lock screen on any devices running Android 4.2 or higher.
The clever thing about it is its support for additional plugins that are available on Google Play, so you can further adapt your phone or tablet's lock screen to include weather data, a shortcut to a torch, advanced battery data and more. An incredibly versatile system that adds loads more fun toys to Android's standby modes.
DashClock

81. Delicious

Social bookmarking site Delicious now has its own official app, letting users sign in with their existing account then manage their saved and shared bookmarks on Android. It integrates seamlessly with the Android sharing menu auto-filling submission pages with article headlines, making it super-easy to add stuff and your own comments and tags from a phone or tablet.
Delicious

82. Snapchat

Snapchat is the messaging app that's taken the world by storm, or at least taken the teen market by storm. The USP is empowering users to send photo messages that "self destruct" after being viewed, leaving no evidence of the crime you may have just committed. Of course, images can be screen-grabbed should someone send you a particularly well-lit image of their little chap, but that's considered cheating and rather poor form.
Snapchat

83. Facebook Messenger

If you take a more old school approach to harassing people over the internet, give this one a whirl. Facebook has busted its messaging tools out into a standalone app - called Facebook Messenger. So if your main use of the social site is chatting with people, this helps avoid the cat and baby photo laden traditional Facebook interface. It also rifles through your contacts too, letting you message people not on Facebook via SMS -- much like popular chat app Whatsapp - while "chat heads" place pervasive icons on the Home screen for instant access to message threads.
Facebook

84. BBM

The best thing about the old BlackBerry ecosystem has been pulled out and stuck on Android, with BBM providing access to the majority of the chat and messaging tools that BB users have enjoyed for years. The key differentiator here is the use of a PIN system, plus users must pre-approve contacts before receiving their incoming messages. It's a bit more secure, so they say, and it has delivery notifications so people can't lie about not getting your important communiques.
BBM

85. VSCO Cam

VSCO Cam is not just a collection of filters, but an entire replacement camera and gallery app for Android. It claims that "innovative processing technology" creates better photographs than the stock imaging systems on other phones, which we've not really noticed, but it does have some clever editing tools and is generally quite a slick experience.
VSCO Cam

86. uTorrent

If you regularly download entirely legitimate and wholly legal work and learning torrents, then uTorrent is for you. It can open the magnet links provided by some of the internet's largest torrent sites, then away you go, queuing and managing torrents and download/upload speeds just like you might on the desktop client. Ideal for stealing things using other people's connections.
uTorrent

87. PlayStation App

The future is finally taking shape. The official PlayStation App from Sony lets you manage and view your Trophies, chat with friends and so on, but the killer feature is the ability to browse the PlayStation Store on your phone or tablet and initiate game downloads to your PS4 from within the app, so they're all installed and ready to play when you get home.
PlayStation App

88. Xbox One SmartGlass

Or, if you do your next-gen gaming through Microsoft's larger box, there's this. The Xbox One SmartGlass app does much the same as the PlayStation App, only it brings in full navigation of the Xbox One dashboard itself, making it function like more of a Wi-Fi media remote. Plus it can work as a browser interface, making it easy to display web pages via the Xbox One on a TV.
Smartglass

89. Tumblr

Tumblr, the next-gen blogging format has arrived on Android, with its custom app coming with support for the multiple blogs of prolific internet kings, built-in messaging, the usual range of text, image and video sharing, plus there's a really nice landscape layout when using it on a tablet. All you need to provide is an idea. Photos of biscuits on cats? Fish fingers on a gerbil? Depressing lines of dialogue from your favorite soap?
Tumblr

90. Bitstrips

The interminably tedious animated image generator Bitstrips has been blowing up big time of late, with the entire world seemingly in love with the concept of cartoon representations of themselves doing mundane things with their friends. If you are yet to experience it, that's probably for the best. And if you really, really must try it, it's available on Android. Just don't overdo it, or everyone will end up hating you.
Bitstrips
  • Now that you're all loaded up with Android apps, why not see which is the best Android phone for you.