You’ll find a lot of great apps on the Play Store home page, but realistically there are a few types of apps you can always count on. Mobile gaming dominates much of the real estate, and there will inevitably be some health and productivity apps too. Depending on the day, you might even see educational apps like Duolingo.
While other types of apps occasionally make breakthroughs in the recommended lists, there are a large number of great apps with more niche features like the ones we have at Android Headlines. Below are some of the most interesting categories of apps that a regular Play Store browser would really miss.
garden apps
Have you always wanted to try your hand at gardening, but just didn’t have a way to get started or keep track of it? Thankfully, there are plenty of great gardening apps out there, whether you’re a complete novice with a single cactus or a seasoned gardener tending dozens of plants at once.
Certainly one of the most comprehensive options on the market is the iNaturalist app, which transfers the large project from the website to your phone. You can share photos and notes with other gardeners, track and manage your plants’ growth cycles, and even access an entire plant encyclopedia with entries on virtually every plant around the world.
If you’re just starting out, we also recommend Leafsnap, an app that can help you differentiate the plants in your garden and let you know if there are weeds that should be removed. It works by identifying leaf shapes from a photo, and its own library of plant images covers everything you might find in a regular garden.
radio apps
While streaming apps like Spotify offer exactly the songs you want on demand, there’s something inherently delightful about being surprised by songs that show up on the radio. There’s also the added benefit of being able to pick up new songs that you may not have heard before, especially if you can listen to stations outside of your own country.
There are numerous global radio apps for exactly this experience. For example, the My Radio app covers over 50,000 radio stations worldwide in any language you want. It is primarily suitable for music and news apps and can even be set up as an alarm clock for your favorite station.
For a wider range of content, the MyTuner Radio app is a popular choice, as it not only covers music and news, but also has an extensive podcast collection on all sorts of topics.
gaming apps
You may have seen several mobile games at the top of the Play Store, from mobile-focused shooters to everyday puzzlers like Wordle. The mobile gaming industry has boomed in recent years and as the technology underlying these games evolves, it is clear that more advanced games will become available.
It’s very likely that in the near future mobile games will be able to match the level of immersive gameplay and graphics capabilities of console hits like God of War or The Last Of Us, but usually these are just regular casual games that use card games or slots as a game mechanic.
One of the more difficult game categories to find on the Play Store is online casinos, although sites like Vegas Slots Online work well as libraries of the biggest casino sites out there. Many of these providers then have apps that can be downloaded directly, linked to the casino account and used as a slimmer version. Native game quality is usually higher on mobile, and deposits and withdrawals are often easier thanks to instant wallet app integration.
art apps
There is an old saying that there has never been a single person who cannot make art, and while some people may say “I can’t draw”, the reality usually just depends on the times and the exercise. With a large collection of apps now available on the Play Store, there are now even fewer excuses.
The list includes popular apps like Sketchbook, which is completely free, has most of the features of professional art software, and works just as well on a smartphone as it does on a tablet. For those specifically looking for a comic creation platform, there’s also MediBang, which comes with a library of ready-made comic assets like text boxes and panels. While this does incur a subscription fee, it is far lower than any other professional tool you would find.
Make sure to keep these in mind the next time you’re poking around the Play Store, and remember that there’s always something awesome to be found just by looking beneath the surface.
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May 25, 2023
