Hey Android Central, what's on your phone?

Here at Android Central, we go through a lot of phones. Our amazing staff of writers has used just about every phone under the sun (even iPhones!), and most of us eventually settled on one device that meets our needs best. The same goes for apps and services, too — they're arguably more important than the phone itself, and everyone has a different setup that works for them.

Whether you're looking for some inspiration for your setup or just curious as to what the Android Central team uses, here are the different ways we all use our phones!

Author:

Alex Dobie

Alex is global Executive Editor for Android Central, and is usually found in the UK. He has been blogging since before it was called that, and currently most of his time is spent leading video for AC, which involves pointing a camera at phones and speaking words at a microphone. Find him on Twitter at @alexdobie.

There's nothing all that unusual on my home screen, but there are a couple of favorite apps I want to call out. First is Snapseed (opens in new tab). I have a few photo editing apps on the go, but Snapseed is my favorite because of its balance of feature set and simplicity. It's super easy to just load up an image and immediately tweak levels or even remove blemishes or even entire buildings from photos. It's a nice step above the basic feature set of Google Photos, and it's generally my go-to app when I'm editing a photo for Instagram or whatever.

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Next is TripIt (opens in new tab). I do a lot of traveling, and so TripIt does a great job of scooping up all that info from my Gmail account and arranging it in a way that makes sense. You've got flight tracking and delay information here if it's available. Same deal for hotel bookings if you have them. And if you have a particularly complex trip coming up with lots of hotels, Airbnbs, flights, trains, whatever, it's a really useful little app -- though you do have to pay a yearly subscription of $49 to get some of the fancier features

Author:

Andrew Martonik

Andrew is the Executive Editor, U.S., for Android Central and has been writing for the site since 2012. He uses every Android phone he can get his hands on, between breaks for coffee and soccer matches, of course. You can follow him on Twitter at @andrewmartonik.

No matter what phone I use, the setup is basically the same. I typically stick with the stock launcher that comes with the phone, and only use a single home screen. The screen is dominated by a scrolling Google calendar widget, and I mostly stick with single apps for quick access. I use just a couple of folders, and really try to keep things simple.

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I use Gboard (opens in new tab) on all of my phones because the muscle memory for all of its functions is so strong at this point. I get my usual set of apps, dominated by big cloud services that let me switch quickly between phones without worrying about losing local data. Google Photos, TripIt, Pocket Casts, YouTube Music, WhatsApp and so many more are must-installs on every phone.

Author:

Ara Wagoner

Ara is a Writer at Android Central. She themes phones and pokes YouTube Music with a stick. When she's not writing help and how-to's, she's off dreaming about Disney and singing show tunes. If you see her without headphones, RUN. You can follow her on Twitter at @arawagco.

I've been fine-tuning my theming system in an effort to make themes easier for me to share with you and easier for you to actually use, and to that point, I've hit on a theming trinity that's served me quite well for the last several months:

  • KLWP Kustom Live Wallpaper (opens in new tab) for the interactive, adaptive live wallpapers that help me avoid hassling with tons of widgets you may or may not have room for
  • Icon Pack Studio (opens in new tab) for custom, color-matched icons that won't leave gaps in the app drawer and are easy to export, import, and apply
  • Smart Launcher 5 (opens in new tab) for the direct integration with Icon Pack Studio, the simplified home screen layouts and categorized app drawer tabs
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This system has allowed me to hit a system that lets me swap themes in as little as 30 seconds once the files are imported and using the same instructions every time. I hope to get that single instruction set finished soon so that in the future, I can focus my per-theme instructions on more fine-tuning and customizing the KLWP presets to your tastes.

Author:

Daniel Bader

Daniel is Android Central's Managing Editor, which means he's constantly on his phone both working and "working." Right now he's switching between a Galaxy S10e and a Huawei P30 Pro, which flitting between comfort and camera. He's got a dog and a daughter, which means his phones are basically full-time cameras. Find him on Twitter @journeydan.

I like to keep my homescreen clean and simple, which is why I minimize the number of folders and use Google's "At a Glance" widget. My most-used app is probably Slack or Spark, but it's actually probably Twitter or Instagram, because I'm addicted.

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I also rely on Google Photos for storing the countless (and I mean countless) baby and dog photos I've accumulated over the years, along with Maps and YouTube to keep me on track and entertained, respectively. For photo editing, though, I go between VSCO and Lightroom CC (opens in new tab), both of which have excellent granular tools that make my often-mediocre shots look much better.

I'm a long-time Spotify user, though I've dabbled with Apple Music and Deezer, and I love Pocket Casts for my podcasts, even if the recent update rocked that relationship a bit.

I can't forget security: I love 1Password (opens in new tab) and happily pay the annual subscription; I also use Authy (opens in new tab) as my two-factor authentication generator, because it's cross-platform and awesome.

Finally, Nest and Google's Home app work together to keep my smart home world in order. I have Nest cameras (opens in new tab), a doorbell (opens in new tab), and lock (opens in new tab), and everything gets administered in the same place. It's magic.

I switch up my wallpaper a lot, too, but the one I'm currently rocking on my Galaxy S10e (opens in new tab) looks outstanding on any phone I've tried it with. It's designed by the incredibly talented Marco Miranda, and you can find it right here.

Author:

Harish Jonnalagadda

Harish is Android Central's India Editor, and that means he gets to use a lot of interesting budget phones. He's currently juggling between the Huawei P30 Pro and Redmi Note 7 Pro, two phones that could not be more different. When he's not annoyed at Arsenal's league performance, he's found reading a book on his Kindle. Talk to him on Twitter at @chunkynerd.

I like to keep my home screen layout constant across devices, and I usually have ten or so of my most-used apps in there. I swear by Newton Mail as it has a robust set of features that help me manage both my work and personal inboxes. It costs $50 a year, but it's well worth the asking price.

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For communicating with friends and family, I rely on WhatsApp. With 250 million users just from India, the Facebook-owned platform is ubiquitous in the country. For texts, there's a particularly great app dubbed SMS Organizer that's made by Microsoft India. It does a brilliant job filtering spam messages and automatically cataloging texts into different categories. Oh, and it has a dark mode.

I use Google Photos to automatically back up photos on my phone, and rely on Drive to store photos taken with my DSLR. Google Pay also gets a lot of use, and the service is different from what you get in other markets. Google has integrated India's Unified Payments Interface into its payments service, making it ideal for transactions and paying bills.

Authy gets a notable mention for being the best two-author generator out there. I have a ton of accounts set up with two-factor authentication, and Authy offers the easiest way to access login codes from a single location.

I also end up buying a lot of sneakers over the course of a year, and I use GOAT to do it. The service has a great selection of shoes — including limited-edition options that sell out within minutes at retail — and there's a verification system that ensures I always get authentic products.

Spotify is my music streaming service of choice, but I also have my FLAC files stored on a Synology NAS that I access via DS Audio when I'm on the go. Finally, I get all my writing done in Simplenote — it syncs my notes across all the platforms I use and has a minimal interface that's conducive for writing.

Author:

Hayato Huseman

Hayato is a recovering trade show addict and video editor for Android Central. He uses his phone primarily for photography, social media, and music streaming, but also loves any app that can help improve his musicianship. Find him on Twitter at @hayatohuseman.

I used to spend more time tweaking my phones with custom launchers, icon pack, and so on, but these days I'm happy to stick with a mostly stock experience. When I'm not reviewing a phone, I use a Pixel 3 (opens in new tab) with a single homescreen on the default launcher. I keep all of my app shortcuts near the bottom of the screen for easy access, while the At A Glance widget fills out some space up top.

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1Password (opens in new tab) is my password manager of choice, mostly because I love the way it automatically copies 2FA codes into my clipboard. I have various smart home apps installed like Ring (opens in new tab) and LIFX (opens in new tab), and Fly Delta (opens in new tab) for booking and managing flights on the go, since I seem to travel a lot lately. I also keep VSCO handy for tweaking photos before posting them online.

My most commonly used app, though, is the Metronome by Soundbrenner (opens in new tab). Metronome apps are a dime a dozen, but this one gets it all right. Along with the tempo, you can adjust your time signature and subdivision, and even connect the app to Soundbrenner's metronome watches. I don't have one yet, but you'd better believe I've been drooling over the new Core model.

Author:

Jerry Hildenbrand

Jerry is Mobile Nation's resident nerd and proud of it. There's nothing he can't take apart, but many things he can't reassemble. You'll find him across the Mobile Nations network and you can hit him up on Twitter if you want to say hey.

I'm a simple man when it comes to my phone. I want a phone that can let me stay in touch with the people I want to stay in touch with, but more importantly, let me do it how I like. I tend to use the phone dialer and SMS apps more than any others on my phone.

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I do like to have a few games on hand, too, as well as some convenience apps like my bank's app or Amazon's app. Of course, a two-factor client and password manager have their place as well.

Henry's favorite app is Wonka's World of Candy (opens in new tab) because if you do well and chain together enough matches, the app exclaims "Unbelievable!" and he loves to say it over and over (and over and over) whenever he hears it. Stupid bird.

The most important app to me is Signal. It's a full-featured SMS app as well as a fully end-to-end encrypted messenger that doesn't have Facebook snooping in the backend. I like that it can use my phone number to get all of my texts, I just wish I could do it on multiple phones at the same time. Using the Pixel 3 (opens in new tab) to test Android Q makes me miss my BlackBerry KEY2 so much.

Author:

Joe Maring

Joe is Android Central's News Editor and has had a love for anything with a screen and CPU since he can remember. Right now he's rocking the drop-dead gorgeous Flamingo Pink Galaxy S10 and uses it to keep up with breaking Android news, memes, and dog pictures. Find him on Twitter at @JoeMaring1.

On the Galaxy S10 (opens in new tab), my current Android phone of choice, it all starts with the launcher. I'm currently using Lawnchair which is essentially a highly-customizable version of the Pixel Launcher you'll find on Google's phones. It's fast, has a great feature set, and is completely free to use.

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In regards to the apps I use, there's the usual suspects of Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, etc. My email app of choice for the past few years has been Newton, and I can't imagine myself going back to anything else. It costs $50/year, but if you rely on email for work as I do, it's more than worth the asking price.

A couple of other apps worth mentioning are Backdrops (opens in new tab) and Must (opens in new tab). The former is a fantastic wallpaper app and the latter is a hub for logging movies/TV shows you've watched.

Author:

Marc Lagace

Marc is the Apps and Games Editor at Android Central. He's been a gamer for most of his life and actually took a university course on Video Game Theory — which he aced! You can reach out to him on Twitter @spacelagace.

As the Android gaming guy around these parts, the most notable apps on my phone are typically the latest games I've checked out for my weekly gaming column — and the best ones end up sticking around for months later.

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The game that still steals most of my time is PUBG Mobile (opens in new tab), which is still the absolute best Android game in my opinion. I've gone so far as to join an eSports club that focuses on PUBG Mobile, with weekly team scrimmages where we practice to prepare for major tournaments and battle in custom matches against other competing squads. If you want, you can add me in-game; my user ID is OGmousemachine.

Other games I definitely recommend that have become mainstays on my phone include:

  • Death Road to Canada (opens in new tab) — Randomly generated zombie survival game with a wacky cast of characters.
  • JYDGE (opens in new tab) — A gritty top-down shooter with a deep upgrade system.
  • Stardew Valley (opens in new tab) — The legendary farming RPG is now available on Android in its (mostly) full glory!
  • Teslagrad (opens in new tab) — A challenging 2D puzzle-platformer that looks absolutely gorgeous.

What's on YOUR phone?

Now it's your turn! Give us some new ideas and shout out some of the apps that make your life easier. If you want, you can even send us your own walkthrough videos on Twitter! We love getting to see the unique and creative setups that different kinds of people use.

AC Staff
14 Comments
  • The most important thing I have on my phone is Slack so that I can talk to the folks at AC on a daily basis <3
  • AC is getting away from Slack
  • most use: chrome, youtube web, feedly, g maps, waze, g docs, fb messenger, g voice for calling, stock camera, g photos, ingress - go Res!, telegram is our area's chat, g play music, simplisafe, alfred cameras, outlook for work email
  • Smart Launcher 5.2 (allows me to keep my home page clean, yet still find apps easily), Icon Pack Studio (see Ara Wagoner's comments), Smart Drawer (for those times when I choose to use the default launcher), Chomp SMS (for the customization and the popup reply window), Yahoo Mail (allows you to call up all the photos and documents attached to your emails), Podcast Addict (can't drive to work without it), Car Dashdroid, Cx File Explorer, Evernote, Reddit, Swipe Pro, Dictionary, Tripit, Neo Bookmark, Express VPN, Android Central, Rinsuke (favorite phone nos. app), Feedly
  • I really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing everyone! While I'm aware that everyone is different, it was nice to see the difference in apps that are important to each person and even the style of their home screens. For me, like some of the team here, my most important app is my email app which is Nine. The true dark mode, along with how it can update, and hold contacts, tasks, reminders, and calendar events connected to my Microsoft accounts is just great. For school, Duo Mobile is just as important to log into all that I do for school for required 2-factor authentication. Aside from that, cross platform apps are what I use daily, like Spotify, Pocket Casts, Slack, GroupMe, Tapatalk (just for the forums), OverDrive, Kindle, and Instagram too.
  • Nova Launcher Prime with Tigad Icon Pack for my UI. To manage my files I rely on ES File Explorer. There are two apps that are excellent and I depend on them daily but are no longer being developed and have no suitable/equivalent replacement are SmartAmount and Power Toggles. SmartAmount is my financial forecasting app that allows me to see what I will have in my bank account and credit card account several months down the road. Power Toggles puts a widget on my home screen to easily access the system settings that I use most. Very customizable in a small footprint. If there is anyone out there who have used these apps and have found an equivalent replacement please let me know. These apps are still working, but because the developers abandoned them they will eventually stop working. For navigation it's Waze, PocketBible for Bible study, Kindle for reading, BikeComputer for all my cycling, Quick Edit Pro for my coding and text editing. Floating Apps is a must to access apps that need to stay on top of other apps. It's also my goto app for YouTube.
  • Simple homepage with only Qobuz and a folder for other audio, video, and VR apps. Second page with News, nav, weather, and news feeds, the office and email stuff. Third page is for both kinds of engineering stuff and databases and CAD, plus my games folder ;)
    I have 153 apps installed, but since it still flies and I get good battery life (It's after 1 pm and I'm still at 84%), I'm fine with it this way. I usually hammer it hard, starting the day with news and weather, then Google Maps on the way to work, then databases, email, scheduling, and conference calls at work. Lunchtime is when I break out the holder and binge watch YouTube or movies or Crunchyroll. Then it's back to normal work stuff. Google Maps on the way home, then more video when I get home and relax... Then I start part two when game-girl shows up and we hit Subway Surfer, Riptide GP2, Asphalt 9, Leo's Fortune, Machinarium, Looper, etc. After we get sick of games she watches movies and I'll read a book in Kindle, or don headphones and listen to music to give my poor eyes a rest! My AVERAGE SOT is 5.5 hours a day, peak was 9 hours 48 minutes, but don't look at me that way! SHE often takes my phone and I'll do nothing, so it not all my screen time, per se. She's got the same games and most of the apps on her phone, but she likes to use mine because it make her iPhone feel cheap, and it doesn't overheat. This does make for a pretty hard day though, and I'm sometimes left with only about 15 to 20% battery.
  • Would have loved to have seen some pictures of your home screens Android Central.
  • Watch the videos. They do show their setups.
  • I must be an odd ball. I can't stand seeing app icons on my home screen. Just HD Widgets and the Google search bar, no dock, notification and navigation bars hidden. Nova Launcher Prime's gestures gets me to my most used apps, and I've been using basically the same set up over the past 6 years.
  • The question was what's on your phone, not what's on your home screen.
  • Hey Joe, you mentioned Newton but you forgot one major feature, it has an alexa skill where it will read your emails for you. as far as my phone, I have newton, smart launcher and lastpass as apps I cannot live without. Might as well add pizza hut for delivery too :-)
  • My main apps are Spark, hangouts and petzbe. I use twitter, instagram and ac forums apps. I also use Huawei Health and Day One diary apps to monitor and record my sleep patterns. I use g photos and simple gallery several times a day, I hate Whatsapp but use it to talk to my mother several times a day. My camera app is the most important. I have 4 cats with me that I constantly photo and upload to instagram, or most recently petzbe app. I also use mei messaging for my sms. I used to use textra but got bored with it and mei is quite fun. I am using Lucid Launcher Pro because I like the way it works and I keep just a sesame search widget and the google app on my main homescreen. No other apps as I have my most used apps in the favourites slide out bar. I read news apps throughout the day and am using The Telegraph app a lot (I subscribe for £9 a month) and google news app. I am now using Android News aggregator app to read my tech news as it links to all the most popular sites. I use chrome beta but have started to use Opera Touch and I like it because it is fast. Since Android Q when I try to download apks from APK Mirror and other documents through chrome they won't download properly. I have to download them through opera in order to be able to open them. Not sure if other people using Q have had this issue or not. The other app that is prominent on my phones is Medical ID. I have a LOT of health issues and allergies so they are contained within the app and can be accessed by double tapping a notification box on the lock screen. I feel this could be a lifesaver for me. I also use medisafe app to remind me to take my 25 pills a day and when. It is an excellent app that even has video clips on various medications I take with the warnings and side effects. I have about 200 apps on my phones. I have a P2Xl and a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
  • Nova prime, LineX icon pack, g voice mostly for visual voicemail, tasker, tuya/ring/ecobee/alexa for home automation, stock samsung camera (and gcam for night shot/stickers), Pulse sms and fb messenger, teams (for work), samsung internet beta (beta allows special s-pen controls) and sometimes Kiwi browser, dark google now (thanks to nova companion), Today weather with on going notification.