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20+ Best Android Apps [December 2016]

It’s the time of year to be thankful for the good things in life. Some of the things we’re most thankful for are Android apps! Turkey and copious amounts of mashed potatoes slowed down Android developers last month, but there were still a bunch of great new apps released. Here are the best apps you should check out!

New Android Apps

Adobe Photoshop Fix

Photoshop Fix is another branch of Photoshop for Android. It enables powerful, yet easy image retouching and restoration on your Android phone. Heal, smooth, liquify, lighten and make other edits and adjustments that give you the precise look you’re after.

Adobe Photoshop Sketch

Photoshop Fix is yet another one of those branches. You can draw with pencils, pens, markers, erasers, thick acrylic, ink brush, soft pastel and watercolor paint brushes to create artwork that can be sent as layered files to Adobe Photoshop CC or Adobe Illustrator CC.

Amazon Rapids

Amazon Rapids is a very unique approach to children’s stories. The illustrated and original short stories are written in chat style that appears one message at a time. Stories on Amazon Rapids are told through the lens of characters chatting with each other, from an alien texting about invading Earth to two chickens debating if they should cross the street.

Ambi-Turner

The Pixel phones have ambient display, but they lack the options that were present on the Nexus 6P. Ambi-Turner adds some of those options back. It can turn on your default ambient display or lock screen whenever you take your phone out of your pocket or turn it from face down to face up, and much more.

BBC Earth Colouring

DO you love BBC’s Planet Earth series? This is the coloring book app for you. The app features packs of 12 intricate line drawings based on iconic shots from the new series. The first picture in each pack is free, with the remainder available as an in-app purchase.

Christmas Free Live Wallpaper

Christmas is right around the corner, which means Christmas trees are going up. This live wallpaper puts a shiny Christmas tree on your phone. If you move the phone the gyroscope moves the camera. Unlock the full version for tons of cool effects.

Contextual App Folder

This is a nifty app that changes the contents of a folder based on a variety of factors, such as location, Bluetooth devices, Wi-Fi, and more. You can have activity trackers populate in the folder when you’re at the gym, or music apps when you plug in headphones.

Dingless

Dingless is an absurdly simple app that solves a problem you probably never realized existed. Notification sounds aren’t necessary when you are already looking at your screen. Dingless mutes notification sounds when the display is on and automatically unmutes when the display is off.

Fingerprint Gestures

One of the cool features on the Pixel phones is the ability to perform gestures on the fingerprint scanner. Fingerprint Gestures is an app that brings that functionality to all phones and adds extra features. You can single tap, double tap, or swipe the sensor to do actions.

Google PhotoScan

PhotoScan is an app by Google that aims to make it easy to scan and save all your printed photos. Instead of trying to use your phone to take a picture of a picture, PhotoScan uses some magic to make the process easier. Simply get the photo in frame and line up the dots.

Microsoft Selfie

Microsoft Selfie is a selfie (you guessed it) and photo-enhancement camera app backed by computer vision technology. The app intelligently considers age, gender, skin tone, lighting, and many other variables with just one tap.

Nexar

A dashcam can be a very handy thing to have if you ever get in an accident, but not everyone can afford one. Nexar is the world’s first AI dash cam app and It will help you stay protected on the road. Record all dangerous events while you drive and have proof to show for it.

NYTimes – Crossword

The famous New York Times crossword is now available as an app. The daily puzzle is released at 10 pm ET the night before appearing in the paper. The puzzles get much harder as the week progresses. Warm up with a Monday and try powering all the way through to the extra-large Sunday puzzle.

Open GApps

Flashing Google Apps can be a pain, but it’s necessary if you want to access Google services such as the Google Play Store when you flash certain custom ROMs.  The Open GApps website has released a new Android app that’ll help you find and flash the GApps you need right on your device.

Poundaweek – Calorie Counter

As the name implies, this is a health and fitness app with the goal of helping you lose just one pound per week. With weekly nutrition goals rather than daily diet restrictions, this smart calorie counter never lets one bad day stop you from getting lean and becoming body confident.

Pulse

Pulse is another app from the mind of Luke Klinker. The headlining feature here is the ability to text through your personal phone number on your tablet, Android TV, Google Chrome app/extension, Firefox extension, or any device connected to the internet.

Twitter for Android TV

Why do you need a Twitter app on your TV? This app is primarily for watching live sports, which Twitter kicked off this year with NFL football on Thursday nights. There is also a lot of other video content that you can now enjoy on your TV.

WB Movies All Access

This app gives you access to Warner Brothers’ library of movies. When you buy a movie with UltraViolet access, you can unlock it and bring it with you everywhere in this app. You can also get exclusive content that you won’t find on Blu-ray discs.

Apps of the Week

Updated Android Apps

Android Auto

Finally, after over a year, the Android Auto app works on phones. You no longer need a fancy head unit in your car to use Android Auto. Just open up the app and put your phone in a car mount. It does everything that the built-in car displays can do, but on a smaller device.

Instagram

The Instagram app has seen a lot of big changes in the past few months. Live video is a big trend right now and Instagram is jumping on the hype train. You can start a live video from the Stories viewfinder. Just swipe over to “Live” and start streaming.

Best of the Best

The Google Play Store has hundreds of thousands of apps to choose from. This list only scratches the surface. We’ve published numerous “Best Apps” lists for everything from dating to education. Check out the lists below to explore even more!

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