The best Android apps

Looking for a new app for your device? Here's Answer Express's pick of the best of the free Android apps available.

Creativity and photography

Sprayscape: This app lets you create abstract panoramic landscapes for others to experience in virtual reality. Use the phone's gyroscope to overlay images. [Android, free]

SketchAR: Art made easy. Sketchar helps anyone to draw and create stencils by placing a virtual image on a real-world surface. From here you can trace it. [Android, free]

Perch: If you've wondered what goes on in your house when you're not in it, Perch is the answer. Connect your phone with a strategically placed laptop, tablet or phone camera and watch live from anywhere. [Android, free]

Gifrecipes: Find something for dinner and learn to cook – using gifs. This app pairs recipes with videos that display ingredients and cooking times. Swiping displays new recipes, making it a more satisfying version of Tinder. [Android, free]

A walk through dementia: Alzheimer's Research UK simulates the experience of life with dementia with this VR app, designed for Google Cardboard. [Android, free]

Productivity and tools

Splitwise: Carving up bills has never been easier. The app lets your split bills in different categories and across different groups of people. Importantly, it lets you manage what needs to be paid and who owes what. [Android and iOS, free]

1Password: This free manager stops you from having terrible passwords. As well as storing your codes it also has a password generator that creates secure options. Paid tiers are available. [Android and iOS, free]

SmartPhone Lock: This app will change your phone’s PIN every minute – your loved ones will never hack your Facebook again. [Android, free]

Fluenty: With an AI engine trained on 700 million online public conversations, send relevant "smart replies" to messages with a single tap. [Android, free]

Pl@ntNet: The Shazam of gardening lets you take a photo of a plant and it tells you what it is. Connect with other gardeners for tips. [iOS and Android, free]

Mimicker Alarm: Snoozing is impossible with this sadistic alarm clock, which makes you play games to prove you are awake. The default puzzle is to take a selfie while pulling a face. Built by Microsoft's Garage Team – using APIs from UK-based Project Oxford – the app's facial recognition software detects your expression. [Android, free]

DreamLab: Donate your spare mobile processing power to the fight against cancer with this app, which downloads genetic sequencing profiles and processes them during the night when phones aren't in use. [Android, free]

MoodCast Diary: MoodCast Diary is an app that tracks your mood by allowing you to input diary entries throughout the day. Once it collects enough data on your day-to-day emotions, it can offer advice as to trends in your happiness or unhappiness. The ‘intelligent mood prediction’ might make it a bit easier to combat the bad-weather blues. [Android, free]

Nasa GLOBE Observer: Everyone can get involved in Nasa's scientific experiments. Collect cloud and temperature data through the app. [iOS and Android, free]

ReplyASAP: Overbearing parents can use this to contact kids by sending a stressed alarm tone with a message. Also works for couples. Android, free

Social and messaging

Peanut: Peanut helps new mothers connect with each other, using a tinder-like swipe and chat system. [iOS & Android, free]

On Second Thought: Ever sent a text and regretted it? This allows you to embargo messages with a delay allowing you to change your mind. [Android, free]

Sarahah: Receive anonymous feedback about yourself from family and friends. Perfect for self-growth - or if you need a good cry. [iOS and Android, free]

Games and distractions

Bean&Gone: This fully interactive story game let's your children create their own Bean character, who you then help along on a unique journey.[iOS & Android, free]

Egg, Inc: Join the chicken gold rush in this incremental clicker game, which asks you to sell eggs, build henhouses and commission farm research. [iOS and Android, free]

SpaceHub: SpaceHub uses real-time video feeds and GPS to keep amateur space-watchers up-to-date with astronauts and asteroids. It also aggregates tweets from industry insiders into a single feed. [Android, free]

Hungeremoji: Hungermoji turns the notifications system on Android phones' home screens into a game. Feed your character fruit or seafood while swiping away the bombs in this clever OS twist. [Android, free]

Look up: Nigerian-American artist Ekene Ijeoma wants New Yorkers to engage with their city instead of looking down at their phones. His app runs in the background and, once you reach a busy street intersection, alerts you to "look up" and allow something serendipitous to happen. [Android, free]

Gladiabots: Create AI for your robots! Refine a strategy and crush your rivals. This is a smart insight into character programming. [Android, free]

Entertainment

Cardboard Camera: Cardboard Camera converts panoramic photos into a format which can be viewed through Google Cardboard VR viewers. Send photos and audio to family and friends or keep an album to relive awe-inspiring moments. [Android, free]

Forest: Need time away from your phone? Plant a digital tree and it will grow – if you star off your device for an agreed time. If not, the tree dies. [iOS and Android, free]

Show Box: Need movies and tv series in your phone. Show box is solution for this. Show box is app which can download and stream your favourite tv shows and movies. It have lot of links for your favourite shows and movies including 720p and 1080p. [IOS & Android, free]