Getting a new phone is one thing, transforming it into your personal assistant and ultimate buddy – you’ll need a slew of mobile apps for that. If you’re reading this you’re in luck. We’ve gone around to round up all the apps you’ll ever need to take your phone from bland and boring to intriguing and genuinely functional. Sit tight, it’s going to be worth the while.
Productivity
Reach
Saving money and staying on top your finances is hard, so it comes as no surprise that we start off with the Reach app. Designed Stanford MBA grad JR Kanu this app aims to make light work the otherwise complex job of staying on top your finances.
Reach allows you to actively track both your income and expenditure. What’s impressive about this is that it can do it automatically by listening in on debit and credit alerts sent to your phone. It also comes with a budget planner, a review based marketplace highlighting all the best deals available in your locality and wait for it … an in app loan application portal. It’s like having a personal account officer, auditor and financial planner in your palms.
WPS office
While Adobe reader stands out as the best PDF reader for PCs its mobile version leaves a lot to be desired. If you want that PC like reader experience complete with all the features, packed in a more intuitive interface and completely free of any charges the WPS reader is just what the software engineer ordered.
The app supports virtually all file formats so rest easy knowing it will open even the most archaic or complex files. Compared to the other competitors out there it is also relatively more stable. WPS office seamlessly handles large files without lag and is less prone to random application crashes. Add standout features like the ability to compress, convert or modify PDF files, support for presentations, Google Docs, spreadsheets etc. and you see why it has over 1.6 million downloads on the Playstore.
Tiny Scanner
Remember when you had to head over to the nearest business center to scan a document? Today thanks to your mobile phone and the Tiny Scanner app you don’t need to go through that stress to convert physical document into digital copies. Like the WPS reader Tiny Scanner comes loaded with intuitive functionalities. You can save scanned files in several formats (JPEG and PDF inclusive), share them with a single tap of a button, format and edit the scanned image and for extra privacy protect your documents from intrusion by setting up a password. Neat.
Jumia One
Publisher Jumia (yes, the largely popular Ecommerce giant Jumia) calls this app the best lifestyle app in Nigeria. Lofty claims yes, but there’s no arguing the fact that it does stand out from the crowd of lifestyle apps available today. With a couple clicks Jumia One allows you to pay for utilities, buy airtime or data, book an Uber drive, the list is endless. It really is a smart utility and bill payment solution but Jumia didn’t stop at that.
If you’re in the mood to throw some cash Jumia One also provides seamless access to the retail giant’s e commerce sites. Swipe right and you’re greeted with suggestions of the best (judged by value for money, customer reviews) hotels, travel destinations and shopping deals available. And as a cherry topping the cake Jumia operates a cashback feature that rewards users with cash bonuses usable in the app for all purchases.
Personalization
Atom launcher
With the many OEM skins and junk themes atop stock android, android smartphones can come out a little bit to clustery. Exactly why you need atom launcher in your life. Its sleek intuitive UI and minimalist interface gives your phone a distinctly unique and no less than refreshing vibe
Every other thing you’d expect from a launcher is also standard. There’s support for gesture control, icon customization, folder control and notification badges. It even has its own personal theme store and the best part is Atom is available for download for free. No extra charges to unlock extra features or In app limitations as is commonplace in other theme apps.
Flesky
This AI backed keyboard makes typing on your smartphone more fun and less stressful. Like Atom launcher Flesky is decluttered and minimalistic allowing you to focus more on what you’re doing rather than what you’re typing. It’s also highly capable, with in app support for gesture typing, gesture control, a gif engine and several themes to spice things up a bit.
As the perfect topping to the cake of awesomeness that is Flesky, its developers place a heightened emphasis on privacy. What this means is that the keyboard doesn’t store any of your personal and sensitive information as are credit card information, passwords or usernames.
Substratum
If you intend to take the personalization game a step further then say hello to Substratum. Paired with Andromeda this app grants you limitless control over how your device looks. You can practically customize everything, from your smartphone’s theme, your status bar, icons, navigation buttons, settings menu, home screen, lock screen, you name it.
The only downside is you need to get a little bit technical to operate and manage it. It’s not rocket science for sure, just a little bit of tinkering and you’re well on your way.
Infotainment and Entertainment
Puffin browser
What mobile browser bested the likes of chrome, Firefox and even opera on Jetstream’s renowned benchmark for speed test? You guessed it right Puffin browser. Unlike your typical browser, Puffin handles most of the processing and loading server side on its proprietary Cloud based architecture. Ultimately, not only does this translate to faster load times, you also get better battery performance, data savings without a drop in page quality and even more impressively a side serving of anonymous browsing. You get to keep your privacy and as an added perk gain entrance to geographic or demographic site restrictions.
Snapchat
When most people hear the name snapchat first thing that come to mind is photo sharing with all the wacky animojis and goofy stickers. While this is indeed its primary deposition, like a genie in a bottle snapchat has a lot more to offer if you rub it in the right places. By rubbing in the right places we mean checking out its other numerous features
Snapchat is home to a slew of world renowned publishers including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, National Geographic and The Telegraph. Together they bring you coverage of leading stories and incisive opinion pieces on issues bothering science, technology, politics, sports, gossip,etc. it’s a fledging hub for quality edutainment. The only downside is that the app burns through data like a hot knife through butter.
Flipboard brings that smooth relaxing and depending on how you see it, nostalgic feeling of swiping through a newspaper to your mobile phone. It’s a newsreader with class and distinction, very few other newsreader apps boast the level of fluidity and user friendliness Flipboard brings to the table.
As a Flipboard user you have the ability to specify to the minutest detail the kind of content that is shown on your newsfeed. And with support for virtually all the renowned news outlets, magazine, publishers and columns in existences rest assured that there is enough to fit every reader taste and preference.
Deezer
Very few people in Nigeria today consider music so much of an asset to commit north of 2500 NGN monthly to and that’s understandable. If you’re an audiophile however with a deep rooted lust for the best quality music (we are talking 1,411kbps, 16/44.1kHz) neatly presented in the glory of their album arts, meta titles and synced lyrics 2500 NGN shouldn’t be too much of a hassle. For that sum Deezer promises to give you all of this and then some.
Deezer currently catalogs a library of over 53 million songs, for context Apple music host only 25 million songs, all of which are presented in a fluid and intriguing interface that certainly beats what Apple music or Spotify is offering.
Miscellaneous
Snapseed
Gone are the days when editing your favorite selfie was a glorified task of resizing and adding layers of filters. Today, Apps like snapseed give you photoshop like editing power complete with all the neat tricks and tips right on your mobile phone.
On a scale of 1-10 with other generic phot editing apps like Prisma scoring 7, Snapseed comes out with a strong 9. And that’s being modest. For the best part guess how much it will cost you? Nothing! Certainly a must have for anyone serious with photography.
Xender
In the mobile tech world of today, Xender needs no introduction. It is in very palin terms the most ubiquitous file sharing app available on the market. And that says a lot. Xender owes its widespread promulgation to its seamless and intuitive application of all file sharing functionalities. Which is why we recommend it over any other file sharing app available on the market today.
It also has support for IOS devices and that’s pretty big considering Apples defiant lock on its file sharing ecosystem.
Which one of these apps do you already have and which did we miss?
