Best unkown indie apps in 2023
Android offers millions of apps, and while the Play Store makes it easy to find them if you know their name, yet discovery is still a pain point. This can result in plenty of thebest Android appsnever getting noticed simply because the market is flooded. Since we here at AP are immersed in everything Android every single day, we gathered some of the lesser-known apps to highlight standouts you may have otherwise missed onyour favorite Android phone. So if you are sick of using the same old apps and are itching for something fresh or out of left field, then today’s roundup of the best indie apps you’ve never heard of should cover your needs and then some.
There are tons of note apps available on the Play Store, many of which nobody has ever heard of. While UpNote may not be a household name, it’s an incredibly useful place to keep notes, especially if your household dual-wields Android and iOS. The app seamlessly syncs between Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. It also serves as a perfect place to keep a running diary, and there’s a focus mode that does away with distractions for those times you need to go head down and write a ton.
UpNote is free to use, though it’s limited to 50 notes on free accounts, and syncing works out of the box, which is appreciated. This way, everyone can install the app to take it for a spin to see if it tickles their fancy. If you like what you see, you can subscribe to unlock unlimited note-taking for $0.99 a month, which is about as cheap as a subscription gets.
Sharing files through Bluetooth or USB can be cumbersome. If you’re looking for a local file-sharing solution that’s a little less unwieldy, Snapdrop is an excellent option that’s flown under the radar since its release in 2021. It’s a free and open-source client, and you could send files between your devices that have the client installed.
Think of Snapdrop as an Airdrop solution that works across Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, and macOS. So the next time you need to transfer some files locally, perhaps Snapdrop can fill that niche for you.
3TrailLink
If you happen to bike, longboard, skate, or walk a bunch, then you know full well it can be challenging to find all the trails in your area. Sure, Google Maps offers some excellent routes, but this misses the smaller trails and the unknowns. In comes crowdsourcing to the rescue, which is precisely how TrailLink operates. People using the app in your community can detail the trails in their area, and so can you, which builds up a database of trails for everyone involved. This way, everyone is free to use this app to find and document trails so the entire community can join in on the fun of being outdoors.
There are many note-taking apps available on the Play Store, and there are even a few that offer handwritten notes, but Squid is a standout, thanks to its fantastic vector-based text that remains readable at all zoom levels. It’s a great tool for students or those who often take handwritten notes. Although the basic app is free, paid subscribers get additional like PDF importing and color backgrounds.
While subscriptions are rarely the best way to pay for an app, Squid comes in at under a dollar. Plus, Squid is great even if you don’t subscribe, and best of all, it works on tablets and Chromebooks alike.
5MarinDeck for TweetDeck
This one is for all of you Twitter users out there. An enterprising developer brought TweetDeckback on Android to life with MarinDeck. At first the app wasonly available in Japanese, but after some attention, the developer eventually released an English patch. Sure, MarinDeck isn’t actually a revival of TweetDeck, but a clone that gets close, and it offers an excellent gallery view to boot. So if you’ve been missing TweetDeck all these years, perhaps MarinDeck will fill that void.
Here’s one all you Linux users should recognize. Yep, it’s Caffeine, an app that keeps your screen on for as long as you want. Android doesn’t offer an easy way to keep the screen on past 10 minutes, so if you’d like to use a tablet as a display, tossing Caffeine on there will ensure it’s possible to keep the screen on as long as you want without the need to tap the screen to keep it awake. It’s a simple purpose-built utility, and just like on Linux, it’s pretty useful on Android.
Just keep in mind the app shows up as a tile for your status bar pulldown, so you won’t see it in your app drawer once it’s installed.
7Dream by WOMBO
Have you ever wondered what a picture of a pug may have looked like if Salvador Dalí had painted it? Wonder no longer. Dream by WOMBO is an incredibly slick app where you can input keywords, pick a famous artist, and then let the app’s AI generate a painting from your selections.
Dream by WOMBO is an incredibly fun app to mess around with, and if you like a picture, like you really like it, then you can get it printed for real to hang in your home, directly through the app. Playing around with Dream by WOMBO is a great way to pass the time when you have a few seconds to spare, plus the results are often suitable for a laugh with a few friends.
People hate the ads on YouTube so much there’s a YouTube fork out there that also delivers an ad-free experience.It’s called NewPipe, and you can find it on F-Droid, a free and open-source app store for Android apps. This YouTube fork is the go-to for those not using any Google framework libraries, like if you’re running a de-Googled Android ROM. This way, you can still install a YouTube app even if you don’t want Google having access to your information.
NewPipe is open-source, which means it’s free for anyone and everyone. You can sideload the APK that’s available on F-Droid, or you can use F-Droid’s client if you’d like to keep the app updated without having to manually install new versions each time. You can also find NewPipe APKs on itsGitHub page.
Download NewPipe
9Flowx: Weather Map Forecast
Weather apps are a dime a dozen on mobile, with tons of options to choose from. Single screen radar apps are certainly standouts amongst the crowd, and Flowx is one such app that offers an intuitive layout that contains all the info you would need on a single screen. Plus, you can micromanage your data layers so that you’ll see exactly what you want to see, whether that’s wind speeds, rain, heat, etc. You can easily drill down to the info you need to plan your day out. It’s a weather app for tinkerers or those into radar maps, but it’s also great for casual users.
The app is free to try, and if you like what you see, you can unlock new data sources through a few in-app purchases, with Gold, Silver, and Bronze data packs available, ranging in price from $5 a year to $20 a year.
10Offline Survival Manual
What with current events and all, I’m sure more than a few of you have started looking into prepping and survival techniques. Thankfully there are apps that can help with this, such as Offline Survival Manual, which offers an offline manual that covers subjects like building a fire, how to build shelter, where to find food, as well as medical techniques for emergencies.
No internet connection is needed, but you will need power for your phone. So as long as you have some juice left when disaster strikes, then you’ll have a handy guide at your disposal.
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