Trying to keep track of every app that comes to the ay Store would be a complete impossibility. There are so many apps being uploaded every day that it can be easy to miss the good stuff hidden by all the mediocrity. pay close attention to the ay Store, so here’s your chance to catch up on all the best apps to hit Android in 2016. Every app on this list is worth trying—they’re the best of the best.

These apps are presented in no particular order, note that to qualify, they had to be either released in 2016, or at least completely overhauled updated in 2016. Many apps released in prior years are still some of the best around, but that’s not what this list is about.

Android phones take better, more true-to-life photos than ever before, but sometimes you don’t want the truth. Maybe you want something stylish fun. That’s what isma gives you. This isn’t just another photo filter app—it uses AI to deconstruct your photo rebuild it with a cool style. There are more than 30 styles available right now, many of which are absolutely stunning. You can share photos directly from isma or save them to your device.

isma (free)

Nearby is a criminally underappreciated feature that lets two devices intelligently quickly determine they are physically close to each other using a combination of Bluetooth ultrasound pulses. There are various way this can be used by developers, Radon uses it to share content. You don’t need to worry about accounts or usernames. Simply share a link to Radon, anyone nearby with Radon running on their device will receive it. You still have to get people to install the app, but the barrier of entry is much lower otherwise.

Radon (free)

So many wallpaper apps are little more than ugly, ad-infused wrappers around a bunch of low-resolution stock images. Backdrops is the first dedicated wallpaper app to come along that gets things right.

The app is dead-on material design, the developers are constantly churning out original images for the app. There are also user submitted images that are curated to filter out the junk. Backdrops is free if you don’t mind a few ads, but a small in-app purchase unlocks several premium collections the option to save wallpapers offline.

Backdrops (free, $1.49 in-app upgrade)

Maps is great at getting you from point A to point B, but how fast are you supposed to be going on the way there? ‘s navigation interface still lacks speed limits alerts, but Velociraptor can hle that all on its own. It actually works in any app of your choosing—it’s a floating icon that lists your current speed the posted speed limit in supported areas.

It pulls the speed limit data from OpenStreetMap, so most metro areas even some more rural ones are covered. Velociraptor can also alert you if you exceed the speed limit. Not many free apps can save you from a big speeding ticket.

Velociraptor (free)

There’s so much news out there, some real some fake. Newsfold is a slick news reader app that lets you keep track of the news sources you care about with a clean interface gesture-based controls. You can sign into Newsfold with your existing Feedly or Inoreader account, it supports adding more subscriptions as well.

The swipe controls let you advance to the next article in your feed, go back, mark as read. You can also toggle on full-screen a stripped down readability mode with a single double-tap, respectively. The free version has ads, but upgrading gets rid of those enables all the gestures.

Newsfold (free, $2.49 upgrade)

Samsung’s edge displays look pretty, but there are precious few software features tied to it, the most prominent of which is the ge nel. This swipe-out interface includes app, news, more, but it’s not very configurable. Ivy is a better version of this same idea that runs on all Android devices.

After installing Ivy, you get a translucent hle at the edge of the screen, allowing you to launch the Ivy interface at any time with a swipe. It can show shortcuts to apps contacts, as well as a live RSS feed full home screen widgets. The theme is also completely customizable. The only annoyance is a persistent hidden notification that keeps the app alive in the background. If you’re okay with that, Ivy is super-useful.

Ivy (free)

Anyone who has tried to talk a relative through fixing a technology issue over the phone knows the importance of remote support apps. However, setting those up on Android is a pain, not all devices are supported. Inkwire is a simple support app that anyone can get up running in a few seconds. l you need is a 12-digit code generated by the device to connect. It’s easy because you don’t actually control the other device—you draw on top of the screen in order to tell the other party what they need to tap. It also has integrated VoIcalls so you can talk them through the process as you point out what’s what.

Inkwire (free)

Even with Nougat’s multitasking, Android is restrictive in the ways that apps can be placed on the screen. Flyperlink frees your browser so you can resize it however you want. Flyperlink has multiple ways to render webpages, but they are all centered around floating bubbles, sort of like Facebook chat heads. There’s the full screen bubble, a Chrome custom tab, the resizable popup.

You can also choose certain link types (eg. YouTube) that Flyperlink won’t try to open. You can leave a page in the bubble, easily accessible at the edge of the screen while you do something else. It also includes a button to instantly send a link to your chosen backup browser in the event you need something more powerful. Flyperlink is free to try, but there are ads unless you upgrade to pro. That also enables popup mode.

Flyperlink (free, $0.99 in-app upgrade)

The entire purpose of this app is to make your other apps easier to access, which becomes rather important as your phone gets cluttered with more more stuff the longer you have it. Contextual App Folder creates a widget on your home screen that looks behaves like a regular folder. The contents change, though. Contextual App Folder updates automatically based on the triggers you set in the app. For example, you can have a folder with all your media apps appear when you plug in headphones. Or you could turn that into a folder of all your work-related tools when you get to the office.

Contextual App Folder (free)

ople don’t take many photos with film anymore (hipsters not withsting), but many of us have heaps of old photos in physical albums that won’t last forever. ‘s otoScan app lets you turn them into high-quality digital images in a few seconds.

This isn’t just another app that takes a photo of a photo, though. otoScan has you capture a snapshot of the whole photo, then it places four points in the viewfinder near each corner of the image. Simply hover the viewfinder over each of those points, the app captures image data. It then slices up the image into segments puts them back together as a digital image, minus the glare distortion. Your images are automatically backed up to otos, too. 

otoScan (free)