Database Info

New to Android? Here are a few RECOMMENDED FREE Apps!!!

For those of you who are new to Android, I have decided to give a few recommended top FREE Apps which you may find very useful. Note that this is just a few apps from the top Apps category on the market. If this is your first time on the Android platform and you are lost or confused as to which apps to use then you may find this thread helpful.I have decided to just include a few of the category on the market so all the categories are not listed. Those are the most used category and with some many different variation of those apps it's good to having an understanding or some sense of direction in terms of the top apps to use.
Note: This was started with the intent to help new users of the Android family get acquainted with a few of the top FREE Apps
Note: This thread is ONLY free recommended Apps, I will be starting a thread soon with the Recommended paid Apps for new users.
Finally: Note that other can use this thread to also share and recommend some of their most love apps to other users.
communication
Dolphin Browser HD
This is one of the best browser for android in terms of features and customization. This is most certainly a heavy favorite on the market to replace your default stock browser.
About:
Dolphin Browser HD2 highlights twice the speed, powerful add-on and innovative user experience. V2.1: +On Demand option for Flash (Android 2.2) +Cache to SD +Keep Screen On +Orientation option +Private browsing without history +Delete All bookmarks +FC Recovery +Set as default browser option(Android 2.2)
Google voice
If you're looking for a visual voice mail apps to replace your stock one or just need a good alternate option to manage your voice-mail, SMS and phone calls then look no further. If you already have a Google voice number then this app would be even more useful to you. You can set it as an option and use it as your outgoing calls rather than your default phone number.
About:
Place calls and send SMS showing your Google number. Listen to voicemail and read transcripts. Google Voice account required, currently only available in the US. v0.3.4 fixes several bugs. See http://goo.gl/zTy7 for details. IMPORTANT: You must open Google Voice at least once after upgrading to route calls.
New Version (2.1) FREE mobile video calls -1st ever on Android! Now: new devices X10, Streak +fixes fring gives you FREE Video Calls, voice calls & chat to friends over 3G & WiFi (Video calls only on capable devices) Communicate with friends on fring network + other services: MSN®,GTalk™,Twitter,SIP,Yahoo!™,AIM®& ICQ®
Handcent SMS
This is a more refine SMS/MMS app than most stock messaging app. This has so much more customization over your stock app that once you try it you may not want to go back to your stock messaging app. Note that if you use this apps you will need to display the receive notification in the settings of your default/stock app.
About:
Handcent SMS is a free sms tools for android,unleash the full power of your phone: Full support SMS & MMS ,great customize options,different style and power function(search sms,sms popup,speak sms & T9) Send animated greeting by handcent greeting View news.handcent.com for release notes *Independence day greetings added
MuiltiMedia
DoubleTwist Player
Double Twist is a default upgrade from your stock music player. This app can play both your music in an Ipod like interface along with your videos. You can also sync and play audio with makes it even more desirable than the stock media player.
About:
Free for a limited time! The doubleTwist Player is a fully featured music and video app that seamlessly integrates with the free doubleTwist desktop client on Mac/PC. Import your iTunes playlists, ratings and playcounts; sync and play your audio and video podcasts and more! Changes: http://twist.to/androids
Last.fm - Personal Radio
Personal radio just got better with Last.fm for android. This is another great streaming radio you can use along side Pandora. Remember you only get 30 hours of radio per month on Pandora so this makes last.fm a worthy option.
About:
Your personal radio station on your phone: Choose an artist or genre and Last.fm builds the perfect playlist just for you! Contacts are only used if you enable syncing on certain Android 2.x devices, logs are used by our bug reporter, location is used to find nearby concerts. Changes: http://bit.ly/lastfm-android
Pandora Radio
The famous radio is also available on android so get it now, enjoy hours of non stop internet radio. Choose your own station be your own DJ. Remember you got 30 hours per month with a free account so enjoy.
About:
Pandora Radio is your own FREE personalized radio now available to stream music on your phone. Start with the name of one of your favorite artists, songs or classical composers and Pandora will create a "station" that plays their music and more music like it. Already a Pandora User? Just log in to enjoy your stations
Photoshop.com Mobile
Need no introduction, it PS for Android get more option for managing and touching up your photos with this useful apps
About:
Edit and transform photos easily. Touch to crop, rotate, blur, add photo effects. Upload/Share photos with free Photoshop.com account. Needs SD card. From Adobe, the makers of Photoshop. By downloading you agree to the Terms of Use at www.photoshop.com/misc/terms.html. Developers, see mobile.photoshop.com/android/developers
Scanner Radio
Listen to live broadcasts from around the world, broadcasts from police,fire and other emergency signal in your area and around the country
About:
Allows you to listen to live audio from over 2,200 police and fire scanners, railroad communications, and weather radio broadcasts from around the world (with more being added daily). Audio is provided by volunteers, see the menu in the app for information on how to get your area added. Follow ScannerRadio on Twitter
Productivity
Dropbox
Have files and apps on your computer? wish you could sync them on your android phone? Then dropbox would be your best option. This allows you to view your files share files with other drop box users and more..
About:
The Dropbox app syncs your files between your computers and your mobile device. Now you can browse the files in your Dropbox folder from anywhere! Share links to files with your friends, save photos and video from your camera to your computers, and open files using your favorite Android apps. Small bug fixes.
EStrongs File Explorer
Just another file explorer for your android device. manage files, edit file names, compress files delete files and much more.
About:
V1.4.3(appear soon) ES Security Manager Donate Entrance, Please donate if you like it Free,Featured File manager & Appmanager & taskkiller which explores the phone & PC. *copy/cut move *thumbnails *multiselect *edit text *manage apps *send as *search *(de)compress *media on ftp *access home PC *bluetooth
LauncherPro Beta
A favorite for many users, this is a much smoother and customizable launcher than the stock found on your phone. Customizer your luncher, home screen and animation with this great Apps
About:
Based on the stock Android Launcher (Home app) - Super-smooth scrolling - Animated screen previews (like Exposé or HTC Sense) - Up to 7 home screens - App drawer (2D and 3D!) with a fly-in effect and smooth scrolling - Scrollable shortcut dock You can see the change log at my website below. For support, visit our forums.
Tools
Speed Test
The Famous speedtest.net is now on android. This is certainly an app for you if you are always concern of speed or would just like to know what your speeds are from time to time. Are you getting the best out of your 3g or 4G connection? you can surely use this app to find the answer.
About:
Speedtest.net is now available as a free Android application with no advertising! Use it to measure the network speed of your Android device. With over a million tests performed every day, Speedtest.net is the ultimate resource for bandwidth testing and related information. Visit it on your computer today to find out why
Google translate
Your favorite language translation right at your finger tips, now includes more voice inputs..
About:
Use Google Translate to instantly translate text between \u003e 50 languages. Featuring: * Dictionary results * Text-to-speech * Voice input * Romanization (e.g. Pinyin, Romaji, etc) * History/star favorite translations New in v1.1.1: * New voice input languages: French, Italian, German, and Spanish
Reference
Kindle for Android
Kindle for android are more usefully on the bigger screen phones but nevertheless it's for us all, Sync, browser and purchase books right on your phone or android device.
About:
Read more than 620,000* Kindle books on your Android phone including thousands of free books. No Kindle required. Automatically synchronizes your last page read between devices with Amazon Whispersync. Adjust the text size, color mode, or brightness. * If you are a non-US customer, book availability may vary.
Dictionary.com, LLC
The name def.ly speaks for itself, just keep in mind you need a data connection to use this wonderful app.
About:
New: Bug fixes The Dictionary.com app delivers trusted reference content from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com. The app includes phonetic and audio pronunciations, spelling suggestions and our popular Word of the Day. 375,000 words & definitions 300,000 synonyms & antonyms Word of the Day home screen widget
Wikidroid for Wikipedia
Now you got Wiki on your phone, never be uninformed, features includes voice search. Great apps for doing your basic and quick research on your phone without opening up a browser.
About:
View all of Wikipedia's articles formatted perfectly for your device. Never be without the answer to an argument again! Features: - 64 languages - Jump to a random article - Share articles over email or SMS - Voice search - Search suggestions - Add bookmarks + home screen shortcuts to articles Keywords: wiki encyclopedia
Google sky map
Need to know more about the sky? The cosmos? Then Google sky map is for you.
About:
Google Sky Map turns your Android-powered mobile phone into a window on the night sky. New: 1.5.2: Move app to sdcard (Android 2.2 users) Find us elsewhere: http://www.google.com/sky/skymap http://twitter.com/googleskymap Keywords: planetarium, astronomy, skymap
Hope you find a few of these apps useful and again I will be starting a thread for recommended top PAID apps soon...

aldiko is better than kindle and adw launcher is better than launcherpro but besides that great list

Arcus Dictionary i think is better then Dictionary.com, it doesnt require a Data plan to do look ups and is very fast

launcherpro is ok, zeam is better imho.

themapleboy said:
adw launcher is better than launcherpro but besides that great list
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having tried both, and several others (Zeam, Sweeter Home, and touchwiz) I stuck with Launcher Pro. Personal preference.

E_man5112 said:
Having tried both, and several others (Zeam, Sweeter Home, and touchwiz) I stuck with Launcher Pro. Personal preference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True. Launchers are completely down to personnal preference

Thanks for the list! I'll have my first Android phone (Captivate) coming in the next day or two so this will be very handy to refer to!

Thanks for the list! I just got a notice from VZ that I'm eligible for an upgrade (over a year early, so I guess they're really trying to sell those already unavailable Droid X and Incredibles...), and I'm planning on getting a new Android phone to replace my HTC Touch Pro2. Now I'll have a list of a few apps to try out!

Besides Dolphin browser, I would reccomend xscope. It is a free alternative to the regular browser and is pretty much just like Google chrome. Even set up to look like it. Not as much in the customization area as dolphin, buy definitely very easy to use, and most definitely faster.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

I can't find Pandora Radio. Does it still exist?

Pandora radio is still on the market, if you can find it then use the link provided below to install it. You will need to use a barcode scanner app to scan the barcode. Once this is done it will take you directly to the app on the market and you'll be able to install it.
http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/multimedia/pandora-radio_bcmb.html
Sent from my EVO using XDA App

themapleboy said:
adw launcher is better than launcherpro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it's the other way around. LauncherPro is WAAAAY better. IMO

HTC Legion said:
I believe it's the other way around. LauncherPro is WAAAAY better. IMO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, but Federico's work needs some work before its perfect.

Xiialive a lot better streaming music app than pandora, last.fm, or slacker. Pick from over 100 channels on shoutcast. So, less repetitive than the previous mentioned apps.

good list!

I like Gmote for streaming music from my home PC to my phone. You can do it over data connection (3g and 4g) or LAN. The only shortcoming is that it won't stream remotely via wifi, only LAN.
It also works as a remote control for your PC. Great for media servers!

jahnile said:
Pandora radio is still on the market, if you can find it then use the link provided below to install it. You will need to use a barcode scanner app to scan the barcode. Once this is done it will take you directly to the app on the market and you'll be able to install it.
http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/multimedia/pandora-radio_bcmb.html
Sent from my EVO using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they can't find it on the market, another link to the market won't help. Could be Pandora is protected and their phone isn't showing protected (and likely paid) apps.

Do try out my free apps here:
http://slideme.org/user/mlbl

[APP][2.2+] Simple lists app: Lists!

Update: 7/13 - added free version (ad supported) to market.
I've always wanted a very simple app to let me have lists on my phone - shopping lists, to-do lists, etc, but it seems like the ones on the market have too many features that get in the way of easily creating lists, adding items, marking items as complete, and that's about it. So, I went ahead and wrote my own.
As of now, I'm happy with the app, and I've been using it for a couple of months now with no problems. But, being my first Android app (I am a professional programmer, but work in the web & desktop worlds), I'm sure there are opportunities to add features/functionality that would enhance the pure list-making experience. I had though about drag-and-drop reordering of the lists, but that seems to be more difficult to implement than I anticipated. Aside from that, I'm all ears about how to make the app better, prettier, more efficient, and more useful.
See attached for screenshots:
1) Main Screen - add/delete/backup/restore lists here
2) Back up is a simple SQLite DB file copy to the SDCard
3) Here are items in one list. Notice that some are gray - these have been "cleared" or "marked" as being complete by the user, via a simple click/toggle. An item's "cleared" status persists in the database
4) Once you're done clearing items, you can remove them from the list and database. Or, alternatively, you can unmark all of them.
See attached for APK file...
As I said, any suggestions or criticisms would be welcomed - but keep in mind that this app has a narrow focus, and I want it be very good with regard to that focus.

EDIT: Forgot also that now the app has a minimum SDK version of 8, so this app will run on Froyo (2.2) and above
I've done quite a bit more work, and now this app is available in the Google Play store. Since I don't have 10 posts yet, it won't let me include a hyperlink but here's the URL:
Code:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kozzer.lists&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5rb3p6ZXIubGlzdHMiXQ..
You can also find it easily by searching on my Google Play developer name: WebKozzer.
The additions include:
* drag and drop reordering
* 2 themes (light and dark)
* Optional numbering of list items
* Edit list name, or item text
* Delete contents of list without deleting list itself
* Configurable backup path
and more!
Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated!

Added free, ad supported version to the market. Any feedback or feature requests would be welcomed. I was contemplating attempting to integrate voice commands. Like, once the app is open, you can use voice commands to do everything the app lets you do via touchscreen. It appears that this would require a fairly significant coding effort, and I'm not sure how useful that'd be either.

Both the pay and free versions have been updated. Some UI changes, undo functionality, and ability to add items using voice.
Play links:
Pay version
Free (ad) version

Update: 12/12 - Removed ads from Lists! Free.
Also/including:
More general cleanup
Removed network state / access permissions (since they were used for ads only)
APK size reduced by about 100kB (removed AdMob library)
Improved error handling

nice job keep working on it

imputazz said:
nice job keep working on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I'm always open to criticism and feature requests! And giving a rating and/or review on the Play Store would be much appreciated.

[APP][5.0][ROOT] PrefEdit 2.0 | View & edit Shared Preferences of other apps!

PrefEdit, which started off as an app to help you view and edit Shared Preferences of other apps, has now slowly evolved into a full fledged application info and management app. With the additional capabilities of Shared Preference viewing and editing, it is now one of the most powerful app of its kind.
Features
1. Search - Helps you in searching the app you are looking, and also helps you in searching the preference key that you want to edit.
2. App details - Shows detailed information of an application.
3. Powerful shared preference editor - Lets you view and edit Shared Preferences of other apps.
4. Backup/restore - Local backups of the preference files are made before you save changes, which can later be restored in case something goes wrong.
5. Great UI - Makes use of Google's material design to provide a great user interface and most importantly, a great experience!
OK, so what is this Shared Preference actually?
Shared Preference is an Android framework, that many apps use to persist app specific settings/toggles/data. This data is stored in /data/data/<app package name>/shared_prefs folder in an XML file, which is why root access is needed to access them. Being able to explore them can give a decent idea of what data an app stores, and being able to change them can often enable the users to tweak various features of app (which may not be possible from within the app), and also often let users unlock features that are in testing. Have fun tinkering!
Companion app
Starting Android 11, a companion app is necessary to do the Shared Preference related functions, as in this version, there is a platform restriction that prevents apps from accessing /data/dara/<app package name> of other apps. Which is why the companion app is present to help workaround this restriction. Since the companion app has to target Android 10, it will not be available via Play Store, but it will be available for download from here. PrefEdit app will also prompt you to install it if necessary, but will never install it automatically.
Requirements
1. Root access - Root access is necessary to read and edit preference files. Without root access the app cannot work.
Link - Play Store (Screenshots can be found there)
Official site - PrefEdit
User manual - Link

Finally, an app that does this with good UI. Good job!

Not working, the application is not requist super user permissions

Qutayba Khader said:
Not working, the application is not requist super user permissions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should ask when you tap an app for the first time.
It may be possible that it asked but you missed out for some reason. Could you check your superuser/Magisk app and see if root is granted for PrefEdit?

corphish said:
It should ask when you tap an app for the first time.
It may be possible that it asked but you missed out for some reason. Could you check your superuser/Magisk app and see if root is granted for PrefEdit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it's not in the list
Update: it works after uninstall the app and reboot and installing it again.
Thanks alot, and sorry

PrefEdit v1.0 is here!
PrefEdit 1.0 brings a brand new UI, cool new features and critical bug fixes.
Detailed changelog
New UI - UI of PrefEdit has been re-designed from scratch, keeping a high quality user experience in mind.
Default layout is updated, which will now present useful actions in the form of cards instead of showing all applications by default.
Accessing apps is now only possible through searching. This is done to greatly improve speed of operations as listing all applications took a lot of time.
Since the search functionality is going to be used more than ever, it has been moved to the bottom of the screen for easier access.
To speed things up even more, the app keeps track of recently searched apps and presents them to you in subsequent uses of the app.
In-app update functionality also gets its own card and is much more responsive.
Updated the UI of showing preference keys and values. Preference keys and their corresponding values are now grouped by their types and displayed.
Updated alert dialog button styles.
Preference key searching in all shared preference files of an app - It is now possible to search preference keys across all the preference files of an app, and the search is fast! Simply search the key you want in the section which lists all the preference files of the app, and it will show preference key results as well.
Improved performance in loading preference keys of a file of an app.
Pro features - Introducing pro features, which can be unlocked by an in-app purchase.
Shapes - This unique UI customization lets you choose the shape of various UI elements of the app. Choose from 4 different shapes to suit your taste.
Colorful icons - Lets you choose whether or not to use colorful icons.
Bug fixes -
Fixed searching of newly added preference keys.
Fixed a critical bug which would save only preference keys and values which would be present in search results.
Fixed a crash which would occur after “Remove Ads” was purchased.
Fixed a bug which would show ads even when “Remove Ads” was purchased.
Library updates.
Update is rolling out in stable channels of XDA Labs and Play store.

Thanks!But what this app actually does?

PrefEdit v2.0 changelog​PrefEdit began as an app that lets users view and edit shared preferences of other apps, but slowly it has evolved into a full fledged “Application information” app. With the v2 update, the evolution is complete, and with the original ability of shared preferences viewing/editing, it has now become one of the most powerful apps of its kind.
Changelog​
Detailed info of applications is shown - PrefEdit now shows detailed info about an application (example - information about Minimum SDK, Target SDK, version and more). It also lets you perform the following additional actions.
Visit the system settings page of an application.
Visit the Play Store page of an app (if applicable).
Launch the app (if at all it can be launched).
Launch one of the app's activities directly (needs root access).
Next generation Shared Preference editor - The shared preference editor has been re-written from scratch, which now makes it much easier to visualise the changes and view them.
Shared Preferences are now grouped and shown in different tabs with count.
Bigger view for editing a shared preference entry.
Ability to delete a shared preference entry (both user created and existing ones).
New visual clues for various operations - New entries that are not saved are now marked in green, updated entries are marked in blue, while the deleted entries are marked in red. Once the user saves the changes, these visual clues go away, as they only indicate changes that are not saved.
New revert option that cancels all the unsaved changes and reverts back to the original state.
Multiple methods of restoring backups.
Review option lets the user review the changes that would be brought by the backup. All the visual clues are highlighted for the changes that would be brought by the backup. Once the review is done, users can save the changes to complete the restore.
Direct copy method directly copies the backup file to the app’s shared preference file location. Use this method if you think that there are issues caused when saving preference files with the app.
Restoring backups will automatically revert all the current changes in the session and then proceed with the restore.
For devices running Android 11 and up, a companion app is needed to perform the SharedPreference related operations. PrefEdit will automatically prompt you to download the companion app if you are eligible.
A dedicated user manual has been created which can be accessed at https://avinabadalal.com/products/prefedit/manual.
Brand new user interface - The user interface has also been re-designed from ground up, which is now tile based and more colorful than ever, and is partially inline with the upcoming “Material You” design guidelines (pure coincidence).
Updated about section - About section is updated which now provides the following links.
Data usage which lets the user understand what data is used by the app and how it uses it.
Privacy policy.
User manual.
Option to contact our support handle.
Translations - PrefEdit is now available in Indoesian language.
Performance improvements - Various performance improvements were made to ensure smooth operations.
Long running operations like finding apps and parsing preference files are guaranteed to be running in background, which ensures that the main thread is not blocked and hence no ANRs.
Progress indicators are now placed wherever applicable to indicate a long running background operation.
Improved list rendering performance.
Improved list scrolling performance.
Improved animations for list manipulations. Changes to the list are now shown in a much smoother way with animations.
Improved stability - MVVM architecture which is the recommended approach as per Google is now adopted completely. End result should be much fewer crashes.
Bug fixes - As always, we have fixed some bugs.
Fixed crashes that would be caused when preference entry values would contain illegal characters (from XML point of view). We are now escaping those values as much as possible.
Privacy updates - In this release, we have made changes with regards to privacy to comply with the recommended privacy friendly practices that are recommended by Google.
Storage permission is no longer required to store and read backup files, as they are now stored in app specific directory in shared storage, which is as per best practices for Android.
As a result, we have also removed the “requestLegacyExternalStorage” flag which was earlier necessary to target SDK 29.
Library updates -
Updated AGP to 6.7.
Targets SDK 30 (Android 11). Is clear to target SDK 31 (Android 12) as soon as it is released to the public in Fall 2021.
Uses the latest Kotlin 1.5.0 release.
Uses the newer magisk libsu library for root operations.

Removed from the Play Store?

[APP][6.0+] App Finder: The most advanced search engine for Android apps

{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
App Finder
Innovative advanced search engine for Android apps and games​
2,300,000+ apps from Google Play are indexed, with data for all 200+ countries / regions.
Get in on Google Play, or download the latest version 1.0.10c here.
A web interface is coming soon.
Feature Overview​The features in italics require a Plus license for a small fee
The other features are always free, without ads
Powerful search language
Usual search operators like quotes, OR, and minus
Special operators, e.g. + to require words to occur in title or summary
The search terms are highlighted in the results (the app descriptions)
.
10+ filters and 6 sort options
Filter for apps without ads, for free / paid apps, for apps with / without in-app purchases
Category filter with multi-select
User rating filter (0.1 star steps) for country-specific or world-average rating
Filters for number of ratings and downloads
Filters for update date and release date
Filters for price range and in-app price range for local prices
Filter for the minimally required Android version
Age rating filter for local ratings
Sort by relevance, user rating, number of ratings up / down, and release date up / down
.
10+ essential data about every app directly in the result list
Average user rating with two decimals, country-specific or world-average or both
Number of ratings and downloads with two significant digits
Unique visual representation of the rating distribution
Update date and release date
With or without ads
Local price and price range of in-app purchases
Category
Age rating from the local rating authority
Required Android version
Short description
Result list can be customized
.
Details view and links to Play Store and Google Play website
In the details view, all information is shown also without Plus license
It can be swiped sideways for the next / previous app
The apps can be opened in the Play Store app, directly from the result list
There are also links to the Google Play website so that language or country can be changed to see more reviews
.
Scalable screenshots in the result list
The feature graphics are displayed along with the screenshots
.
Flexible user interface
The UI scale can be adjusted independent from the system settings
The interface adapts to screen-size and -orientation, and selected UI size
Many options, 1-, 2-, or 3-pane layout
Optimized for tablets also
.
Easy to use, with integrated documentation
Also available here
Notice: There was a feature to export the results as a spreadsheet, which has been removed temporarily. If you need it, please let me know.
Major Upcoming Features
A web interface
Indexing of other app stores, later also iOS apps
Support for other languages
Recommendations of apps based on apps the user has installed
Possibility to save apps to custom lists from the search results
Search history
Search language improvements, e.g.
search for exact words
automatic inclusion of synonyms
later semantic (AI) search as alternative
Spoiler: Smaller Upcoming Features
Lists of all country specific ratings
Display of reviews, search in reviews
Display of ratings calculated from most-helpful reviews (the average rating of the first reviews sorted by relevance by Google Play. This often differs significantly from the rating calculated by Google Play, and may be a much better indicator for the quality of the app, especially for apps with many fake reviews)
Display of app size*
Display of permissions, filters for important permission groups*
Display of and filters for trackers integrated in the apps*
Possibility to set arbitrary values for the filters
A dark theme
Comprehensive documentation
Interactive tutorials
* These features will require scanning of APKs. It is currently not clear if this can be done for all apps.
Further ideas are welcome!
User Guide​Click here for the user guide, it is available in the app also
App Finder was designed to be as intuitive and self-explanatory as possible. However, some things still require explanation. To make the best use of App Finder, please read this guide.
Spoiler: Changelog
Note: Only notable changes are listed. For the time before App Finder, only the milestones are listed.
AppQuery 1.0 - Sep 21, 2022
App Finder was first published under the name AppQuery
.
It was released in the United States with data for the US only. 1.5+ million apps were indexed
AppQuery 1.2 - Dec 22, 2022
AppQuery was now available worldwide with local data for all countries/regions supported by Google Play. 2.2+ million apps were now indexed
App Finder 1.0 - Mar 31, 2023
The privacy of users was greatly improved by dropping the requirement for sign-in.
.
1.0.1 – 1.0.2: Results can now be exported as spreadsheet with clickable links to Google Play.
.
1.0.3: Feature graphics are now included with the screenshots (these are advertising graphics from the developers that are shown on Google Play only sometimes).
.
1.0.4: Result list layout has been improved.
.
1.0.5: New display options: Allow screen rotation, hide status / navigation bar, disable images effects.
.
1.0.6: The privacy policy was updated to explain the collection and usage of user data in greater detail. No substantial changes were made. No personal data is collected.
.
1.0.7: There is now a filter available for the minimally required Android version, and it is shown in the details pages and optionally the result list.
.
1.0.8: For more clarity, the less important filters are now hidden by default.
.
1.0.9: World average user rating is now shown for apps without country specific rating, and can be shown instead of or in addition to country specific rating. World average rating can also be used for filter and sort.
For high ratings, two decimals can now be shown.
The number of downloads is now shown with two significant digits.
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1.0.10: There are now links available to show the apps on the Google Play website, which makes it possible to change the language to see reviews in another language
Spoiler: Credits
The Google Play scraper is partially based on google-play-scraper
The database is powered by PostgreSQL
The app uses the following open source libraries
Fresco by Facebook
Gson by Google
Kotlin Coroutines by Jetbrains
The APK you find attached to this post is always the latest and probably most stable version.
New versions appear on Google Play about 1 hour to 1 day later.
Minor improvement and bug fix updates may not be published on Google Play at all.

The expected feature is a minimum version of android on which to install the application.
That is not available here.

ze7zez said:
The expected feature is a minimum version of android on which to install the application.
That is not available here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the next update, the minimum required Android version will be shown in the details pages and there will be an option to show it in the result list.
Would you also like a filter for minimum required Android version?

Just filtering the minimum version is important.
I now use apkmirror for this.
Application features are a secondary concern. They can be found easily in other ways.

OK, I'll add a filter for minimum Android version like at apkmirror.

ze7zez said:
Just filtering the minimum version is important.
I now use apkmirror for this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suppose it would be enough to start the slider at Android 4.1?

jake n said:
View attachment 5896531
App Finder
Innovative advanced search engine for Android apps and games​
2,300,000+ apps from Google Play are indexed, with data for all 200+ countries/regions.
Available as an app, a web interface is coming soon.
Powerful search language
Usual search operators like quotes, OR, and minus
Special operators like + to require words to occur in title or summary
The search terms are highlighted in the results
.
10+ filters and 6 sort options
See the screenshots
More filters can be enabled
One or multiple categories can be selected
.
The essential data about every app directly in the result list
See the screenshots
The colorful stars are a visualisation of the rating distribution
The screenshots in the list can be resized
.
Flexible user interface
Adapts to screen-size, -zoom, and -orientation
Optimized for tablets also
Many options, 1-, 2-, or 3-pane layout
.
Easy to use, with integrated documentation
The essential features are free to use, without ads.
Some advanced features require a licence for a small fee.
Get in on Google Play
App Finder is under intensive further development, suggestions for improvements are highly welcome!
View attachment 5896583 View attachment 5896585
View attachment 5896587 View attachment 5896589
View attachment 5896593
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very interesting and unique. I'll check it out.

ze7zez said:
The expected feature is a minimum version of android on which to install the application.
That is not available here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Permission Pilot will give you a lot of useful information.

TheMystic said:
Permission Pilot will give you a lot of useful information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you are referring to another application?
Permission pilot is used to check the installed applications on the phone, not to search for applications to install from the google store.

jake n said:
I suppose it would be enough to start the slider at Android 4.1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know, Google has not ended support for android 4.0.3.

ze7zez said:
Maybe you are referring to another application?
Permission pilot is used to check the installed applications on the phone, not to search for applications to install from the google store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It gives you the minimum Android version details of apps installed on your device. True that it doesn't work for searching on Google Play Store. But you'll only be able to install apps that your current Android version/ device supports.
These apps too give that information:
AppChecker - App & System info - Apps on Google Play
Check, which of your installed apps are compatible to the latest Android APIs.
play.google.com
AppDash: App Manager & Backup - Apps on Google Play
Easily clean and organize your apps using a beautiful and modern UI
play.google.com

TheMystic said:
It gives you the minimum Android version details of apps installed on your device. True that it doesn't work for searching on Google Play Store. But you'll only be able to install apps that your current Android version/ device supports.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It makes no sense. In this thread we are discussing App Finder, not any other apps.

ze7zez said:
It makes no sense. In this thread we are discussing App Finder, not any other apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These apps are not competing with App Finder. App Finder appears to be a very unique app. I gave you the links because I thought it may help you. But you don't seem to appreciate it. I have taken note of this.

ze7zez said:
As far as I know, Google has not ended support for android 4.0.3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in which way does Google support it?
According to Google (new project dialog in Android studio) more than 99.3% of devices run on Android 5.0+, but since I have myself an old test phone with Android 4.1 that works quite well for some purposes I thought to start there (future versions of App Finder will also support Android 4.1+)
But I can start the slider at 4.0.3 also.

ze7zez said:
It makes no sense. In this thread we are discussing App Finder, not any other apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TheMystic said:
These apps are not competing with App Finder. App Finder appears to be a very unique app. I gave you the links because I thought it may help you. But you don't seem to appreciate it. I have taken note of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ze7zez, yes, since these 3 apps only show info about apps installed on the device they are no alternative to App Finder.
TheMystic, thanks anyway, interesting apps, didn't know them, future versions of App Finder will also show permissions.

App Finder 1.0.7 was just released and includes a filter for the minimally required Android version.
It can be enabled from Settings > Filter options.
Now that for some apps, the required Android cannot be shown, where it varies with the device. There is an option to include our exclude these apps.
Also, the required Android is now shown in the details pages and optionally in the result list.
The filter is free, only displaying the required Android in the result list requires a Plus license.
Please let me know if something does not work as expected.

jake n said:
includes a filter for the minimally required Android version.
It can be enabled from Settings > Filter options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google Play Store will show only apps that are supported on the device where search is done. Not sure how useful this is going to be.
jake n said:
TheMystic, thanks anyway, interesting apps, didn't know them, future versions of App Finder will also show permissions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Permissions shown on Google Play Store hardly say the full story. Anyway, I'll have a lot more feedback when I test it out later.

TheMystic said:
Google Play Store will show only apps that are supported on the device where search is done. Not sure how useful this is going to be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course the required Android will not tell for sure if it'll work on a device, but the info is clearly useful to some people.
TheMystic said:
Permissions shown on Google Play Store hardly say the full story.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True. And I think filters for permissions don't make sense. However my idea is to show warnings for potentially dangerous permissions in the details pages, and also for suspicious data collection practices.
But this will not come that soon.

jake n said:
Of course the required Android will not tell for sure if it'll work on a device, but the info is clearly useful to some people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Information is good to have. But sometimes people fall for what is considered 'eye candy'.
Your app searches the Google Play Store for information. What use is knowing about the minimum supported version number when Google Play Store simply won't show it if the app isn't supported on the device. In either case, user just needs to know whether the app would work on his device or not. And that is all that matters.
jake n said:
However my idea is to show warnings for potentially dangerous permissions in the details pages, and also for suspicious data collection practices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This feature will be severely limited as your source (Google Play Store) itself contains too little information. This can be useful if you create your own database, but that would be not only too complex, but also a very dynamic process that will require a lot of resources to keep it up-to-date.

TheMystic said:
Information is good to have. But sometimes people fall for what is considered 'eye candy'.
Your app searches the Google Play Store for information. What use is knowing about the minimum supported version number when Google Play Store simply won't show it if the app isn't supported on the device. In either case, user just needs to know whether the app would work on his device or not. And that is all that matters.
This feature will be severely limited as your source (Google Play Store) itself contains too little information. This can be useful if you create your own database, but that would be not only too complex, but also a very dynamic process that will require a lot of resources to keep it up-to-date.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We'll see.

[CLOSED] Desirable Features in Apps

INTRODUCTION​
Google Play Store boasts of hosting over 3.5 million apps today. One can safely say that more than 95% of these are pure garbage.
When you make something with love, passion, dedication: it shows on the end product.
Most apps on Google Play Store are copy cats where some popular apps are reverse engineered, given cosmetic changes and published as new apps to generate ad revenue, with absolutely zero value addition.
You'll often find the same developer publishing pretty much identical apps under different app names, or uses different developer accounts to publish the same app (of course with a different name).
Although all these are against Google Play Store policies, they nevertheless get accepted and published because Google too gets revenue out of these.
In this series called Desirable Features, I'll post what makes apps in a certain category good. Hopefully, a developer who is interested will take it up and incorporate the ideas in his/ her own app to make it unique and stand out.
Some basic things to keep in mind can be found here:
3 very important tips for developers
If you are an app/ software developer, here are three very important UI related tips for you: 1. Design for least number of taps: Users should be able to access/ use a feature with the least number of taps. I often find that frequently used...
forum.xda-developers.com

File Managers.
I'll post the desirable features here.

GALLERY APPS​
01. Support for TABS: All Media, Videos, Photos, Favourites, Private, Folders (user should be able to reorder them, and also choose which ones would be visible).
02. Support for SWIPE GESTURES to switch between tabs.
03. Support for FILTERS: Within every folder/ album, option to quickly filter files of a certain type with least number of taps: for example, if inside camera folder, ability to quickly filter only the videos! Or if in the All Media tab, support for quickly filter only the GIFs.
04. Support for ACTION BAR: If a file is chosen, then actions like copy, move, delete, etc. Otherwise, the bar would contain filters, view type, etc.
05. Ability to choose which folders to INCLUDE, and which folders to EXCLUDE: both options must be present.
06. Ability to choose whether to include SUB-FOLDERS.
07. Support for HIDDEN FILES AND FOLDERS.
08. Ability to SHOW FILES FROM FOLDERS WITH .NOMEDIA FILE in them.
09. Support for SEARCH feature, with option to choose whether to limit search to current folder, parent folder or entire storage.
10. Support for RECYCLE BIN.
11. Support for BIOMETRICS: with options to lock specific folders/ albums only.
12. Support for FAVOURITES.
13. Support to PIN FOLDERS/ ALBUMS on top.
14. Support for all types of SORTING.
15. Support for HIDING folders.
16. Support for DIFFERENT VIEWS within an album (e.g. Videos): folder view, timeline view, grid view, etc.
17. Support for SMART ALBUMS: Ability to create an album using a combination of specific criteria: for example, a smart album would be all videos in the Camera folder.
18. Support for editing TAGS.
19.

Music Players.
I'll post the desirable features here.

Video Players.
I'll post the desirable features here.

Browsers.
I'll post the desirable features here.

Downloader apps.
I'll post the desirable features here.

Reserved for other apps.

TheMystic said:
Most apps on Google Play Store are copy cats where some popular apps are reverse engineered, given cosmetic changes and published as new apps to generate ad revenue, with absolutely zero value addition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1

@TheMystic Thread closed as you've already created a subject matter related thread:
Best Android Apps...
The list presented here is a collection of excellent apps (at the time of writing this) that excel in what they do (and supposed to do). They may or may not fit into the requirements of everyone perfectly. So choose whatever works best for you...
forum.xda-developers.com
Even if the threads' titles are different you can easily amend your existing thread.
Regards
Oswald Boelcke
Senior Moderator