We’ve reached the end of another year, so it’s time for some fun summaries of the whole year. Android apps don’t have as much appeal as they used to. After all, it’s hard to make a name for yourself when there are already so many good apps. Still, we think a lot of people did well this year, and we’ll talk about them. Here are the best apps for Android that came out in 2022.
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We looked through more than 200 apps to make this list, and many more were left off. This year, our deadline was December 10, so apps that came out around that time or after didn’t make it because we couldn’t test them well enough. Thank you for understanding.
Except for the last three apps, which we chose as the best Android apps of the year, this list is in alphabetical order. We hope you like reading it.
15 Best Apps for Android that came out in 2022
1. AetherSX2
The beta version of AetherSX2, which is a PlayStation 2 emulator, came out in late 2021. It came out in full for the first time in 2022. This is an app
Several things make it nice. First of all, it’s the first time a PlayStation 2 emulator has ever been made for Android. It also works well enough. Some of the features are typical of emulators, like the ability to save states and use hardware controllers. You’ll also get things like upscaling to 1080p, settings for each game, and widescreen patches for some games.
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You do need a BIOS file for the PlayStation 2, but the developer doesn’t give you one. Aside from that, it seems to work pretty well on most of today’s high-end phones. The developer says that Mali and PowerVR GPUs don’t work as well with the emulator as the more common Adreno GPUs, so your experience may be different. In any case, it’s great that the PlayStation 2 can now be used on Android.
2. Console Launcher
Console Launcher is a way for mobile gamers to start their games. It’s made to look like the user interface of a Nintendo Switch, where your games are shown as big tiles. The launcher has a few features that gamers will like, like the ability to use a controller to scroll through your games. It’s a cool little feature for people who play a lot of games with controllers, but it’s not very useful for most people.
There isn’t a lot of room for customization, and accessibility isn’t the best. It’s also less comfortable to use without a controller. This isn’t something we’d do every day, but it’s an interesting idea. After all, Kodi is for playing videos and music. Why shouldn’t video games have a launcher? Anyhow, the launcher costs $4.99 and doesn’t have any in-app purchases or ads.
3. Daily Diary
It seems strange to put a diary app on a list of the best apps of the year, but this one is really good. Daily Diary does everything a good diary app should do. This includes a biometric lock, the ability to add photos to your diary entries, a calendar, a mood tracker, reminders, and a clean but modern user interface. Most people like how the colors are soft and muted, and the controls are easy to use.
The price is one of the best things about the app. Most diary apps use a service that you pay for. This one costs just $2.99, and you can’t buy anything else or see ads inside the app. It does this by backing up your calendar on Google Drive in case you need to switch devices. It stands out from most other great diary apps because of this and how well it works. We know that diary apps aren’t the most popular type of app on mobile, but this is one of the best ones, so we’re going to write about it.
4. DanceFitme
DanceFitme is both a dance app and a fitness app. After you sign up and make an account, you can watch a variety of videos that teach you how to dance and help you lose weight. It has videos of different kinds of dances and workout plans to help you reach your fitness goals. You’ll learn the steps to the different dances as you do them, of course.
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The app can also do the usual things for fitness, like track your progress and make your workouts fit your level of experience. We wouldn’t recommend a paid fitness app that didn’t have those things if it didn’t have them. I’m not really into this kind of workout, but I can see why so many people signed up for it this year. The subscription is also not too bad, considering that many fitness apps cost $9.99 or more per month.
5. DeepL Translate
DeepL Translate is a way to translate between different languages. It currently works with 29 different languages. It could mean a few different things. You can type words, use your camera to look at a text, or even talk to the app to get direct translations. The user interface is simple, but it works well. It has a few modern touches so it doesn’t look old.
It can’t translate as many languages as Google Translate or Microsoft Translate. Those apps have been around for years, so the fact that this one supports more than two dozen languages is pretty impressive. During our tests, translations were done quickly and correctly. It’s great to have a translation option that isn’t made by Google or Microsoft.
6. Duolingo ABC
Duolingo ABC is an app for kids to learn a language. As the name says, this one helps teach reading and writing. It basically applies Duolingo’s successful method to reading. Kids can learn small lessons from the stories they read. The app has more than 700 reading lessons.
The app also lets you use it without an internet connection, has no ads, and has lessons for kids up to first grade. Older kids who have trouble reading can still use the app, of course. A lot of software for kids to learn is mostly the same thing shown in the same way. Duolingo does things a little bit differently. This is a great way to teach kids to read.
7. Dream by WOMBO
Google Play chose Dream by WOMBO as its app of the year. We also think it is pretty good. It’s a tool for making art with artificial intelligence that can make all kinds of cool pictures. It focuses on dreamscapes that look a little bit like the posters you could buy at Spencer’s in the 1990s. You can share these images on social media or use them as background images.
It’s kind of like how a search engine works. You type in the nouns you want to look at. The app then uses those nouns to draw a scene from a dream. I didn’t like how sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes it made the art exactly as it was described, and sometimes it skipped keywords. In either case, the Play Store has a lot of apps that are similar to this one, but despite its quirks, this one does the job better than the others.
8. Linktree
Linktree is a site for biographies. You can use it to make a page for your profile. The website then gives you a short link that you can put in your social media bio. You’ve likely seen Linktree links on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter profiles. The app is a part of the website, and you can make the same things you can on the website with it.
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It’s not very interesting, and it reminds me of a MySpace profile. You can write your name, some things about you, what you like and don’t like, and other typical things. You can also link things like music, playlists, videos, and podcasts, which makes me think of MySpace. It was made for sites with short bios in mind, and people use them all the time.
9. NoteIt Widget
NoteIt Widget has been downloaded so many times that it really surprises us. As of this writing, more than ten million people have downloaded the app. It’s an interesting idea. The app puts a widget on your phone and puts you in touch with someone else. Once that’s done, you can write or draw a message to the other person right from the widget.
It won’t replace regular messaging apps, but it’s a nice little app for couples or best friends. Like Snapchat, the app keeps track of streaks, and if you break your streak, you can buy it back through the app. This one has a few more bugs than we’d like for a best of the year list, but those download numbers can’t be argued with. This one is popular.
10. Recover Athletics
Recover Athletics is a fitness app that is different from the rest. The main idea isn’t to get you in shape. Instead, it helps you heal in a healthy way after your fitness training. The app has a lot of tutorials, tips, and tricks to help with aches and pains and keep you from getting hurt. Integration with Strava, a digital coach with personalized recovery suggestions, and the ability to make your own routines so you can plan your recovery are some of the other features.
The app is pretty good in terms of how it works. It takes a little while to get used to, but that’s true of most fitness apps. There is a cost for signing up for this. It’s cheaper than most fitness apps, but since it’s meant to work with your main fitness app, we think it could’ve been a little cheaper.
11. Symfonium
Symphonium is a music player for music that is stored in the cloud. You can connect to Plex, Subsonic, Jellyfin, Emby, Kodi, and other services with this app. It works by linking to your computer’s music library and letting you play it like any other music app. There aren’t any other apps on Google Play that are like this one, which is why it’s on this list. From what we know, the app does what it does better than any of its competitors.
Song ratings, smart filters, smart playlists, support for Android Auto, offline playback, lyrics support, and an equalizer are some of the other features. After you set everything up, it looks and works like any other music player. This one is great, and we think it will end up on some of our best lists in the next year.
12. Ukulele by Yousician
Yousician has already made successful apps for singing, playing guitar, and playing bass. This app is like that, but it is only for ukuleles. We’re not sure why the ukulele has its own app instead of just being part of the main Yousician app, but we don’t decide these things. The app does the same things as the main one. You sign in, look for lessons, and then you can learn how to play the ukulele. There are lessons for picking patterns, chords, tuning, reading sheet music, and more.
The price is the only real bad thing about it. It costs $14.99 per month, which is a lot more than the free Yousician app. The free trial is also not very full-featured. We think it’s because it’s for a smaller group of people, but we think it should be a little less expensive. The app works well otherwise.
13. Second runner-up: Mastodon
In April of 2022, Mastodon put out its official app. Months later, Elon Musk bought Twitter, which brought a huge number of new users to Mastodon. This release couldn’t have come at a better time. The app works well enough. You can sign in to your instance, make posts, and see what your followers are doing. It has a clean look and isn’t too hard to use once you’ve set it up.
Most of the bugs that users report happen when they are setting up. From there on out, things are pretty easy. The app could use a little polishing to keep up with modern social media apps, but it works fine without it.
14. Runner-up: BeReal
Google Play’s app of the year is BeReal. It’s a social network that tries to get rid of fake posts by only letting people post for a few minutes per day. You can’t really plan when to post because the app decides when to do it. You just take a picture of what you’re doing and leave. This platform is hard for influencers to get into, which makes me happy.
It’s pretty easy to use the app. You just follow your friends and look at their posts when they make them. Since there isn’t a steady flow, you have to leave when you’re done because there’s nothing else to do. That’s kind of what makes BeReal so interesting. Most of the time, the app works fine, but there are some network bugs and annoying notifications that make it less useful.
15. App of the year: DynamicSpot
We’re going out on a limb to say that DynamicSpot is the best app of the year for Android Authority. It’s an app that lets you change things like the Dynamic Island on the iPhone. You can set it up to work in a number of ways and with a number of apps. We like it because most Android phones already have a notch or pinhole camera, and this is a way to play with it. It also works very well, and as far as we know, it’s the only Dynamic Island app on the Play Store that doesn’t have a lot of bugs.
DynamicSpot can be customized in many ways, such as with music controls like on iOS, a countdown timer, charging the battery, and sending replies to notifications from the pop-up. You can also set up your own custom interactions. Also, unlike BeReal, this app came out in 2022 and is a response to a 2022 trend. It’s fun to use. Congrats, DynamicSpot.
