The year is drawing to a close, and that means it's time for our best Android apps of 2024 breakdown. It's been an incredible year for tech in general, but we've also seen some notable Android app developments from companies big and small. And yes, while generative AI-influenced apps heavily influence this list, those genuinely practical apps that make smaller digital tasks much easier will still get their time to shine here.

We picked our favorite apps based on their impact on us over the past year, their functionality and effectiveness, and their novelty. Our main list below details the best Android apps released in 2024. However, because we've used various tools across the year, we've also included another section for older apps that stole our hearts. Without further ado, here are the best Android apps of 2024.

Focus Go is a simple Android gallery app, but don't let that modest description fool you. The app puts your photos front and center, and that's wonderfully refreshing in the age of AI and feature creep.

So, yes, you won't find any AI gimmicks, editing tools, or additional features here. This app was made to showcase your photos and nothing more. This acute focus makes Focus Go incredibly swift, regularly loading mountains of photos in little to no time.

I was skeptical when Gemini launched and promised to overthrow Assistant as Google's chief virtual helper. But since the app launched in February, we've seen countless new additions to the platform.

Mozilla Thunderbird finally launched the stable version of its long-awaited Android email app, and it's an excellent debut. It borrows heavily from K-9 Mail, but using this legendary app's functional bones as a base is good.

Modern smartphones are powerful pocket video recorders, capable of sucking up 8K moving images without fuss. While native camera apps are great, professionals and enthusiasts require something more serious. That's where Blackmagic Camera fills a niche.

Originally an iOS exclusive, Blackmagic Camera arrived on Android in 2024 to offer users manual controls, quick access to frame rate, a lens picker, and another image adjustment. Users can view a histogram and other status indicators from the main recording screen. More serious users can benefit from DaVinci Resolve support, and there's also an option to save clips to Blackmagic's cloud storage service for paying customers.

Arc Search is a browser on the surface but functions more like an answer engine on Android. Its nifty Browse For Me feature supercharges this facet, directly answering search queries (think Perplexity) with bullet point answers and a list of sources. Users can also use it as a traditional browser, roping in Google and co. for general searches.

ElevenLabs isn't getting a Christmas card from me this year, at least not after it killed Omnivore, one of the best read-it-later apps I discovered far too late. Nevertheless, its innovative Reader app does earn it a gold star in my book.

As its name suggests, Reader makes various document formats audible, transforming them into audiobooks. Its trump card is its ability to vocalize this content using various AI voices, including celebrities. Practical features, like playback speed, the ability to import simple text documents, and an easily navigable UI, add to the app's appeal as a study guide or a hands-off article reader.

This year, the Pixel 9 series received some tremendous exclusive features, and Pixel Screenshots is the most ingenious. It aims to bring some semblance of order and use to your masses of screenshots. Thankfully, non-Pixel owners can rely on a third-party Android app called PixelShot to bring a similar feature to their devices.

PixelShot unashamedly dupes Pixel Screenshots, organizing your screenshots folder and summarizing the information using AI. Users can also leave notes on specific screenshots and search for specific snippets, making it a useful archival tool.

I've always found it challenging to keep up with more mundane chores that are imperative but easy to forget. Clean As Duck helped me record these and reminded me to tackle them when required.

The app offers users a long set of templates detailing some common chores, but you can add practically anything to the app that you need a reminder for. For instance, I like to add a reminder to water specific plants more often than others.

Google had several hits in 2024, and the revamped Weather app is one of them. First debuting on the Pixel 9 series (hence the name I'm using), the app adopted a fresher modern design with movable widgets and even more weather metrics. These details now include pollen notifications, multi-day forecasts, and an AI Weather Report feature that decodes and summarizes the day's data in a sentence.

Finally, AInput rounds out our list thanks to its helpful AI-fueled text suggestions. Like Google's Magic Compose, AInput offers users a list of alternative suggestions to lines of text replies. The app can be used in social media apps, when constructing a review on Google Maps or a comment on YouTube. It also integrates an AI web search feature for those who prefer guided web tours.