The best and most iconic Android apps of the decade (2010-19)

The best and most iconic Android apps of the decade (2010-19)

The decade of 2010 was a major decade for mobile technology. Android and iOS were only one or two years old at that point, and both had developed a lot further. The smartphone went from a single-core processor to eight cores, less than 1GB of RAM to 12GB, and less than 4GB of storage up to 1TB. The software also evolved during the decade. New design standards became the norm, phones could handle heavy workloads, and people demanded more than just small computers in their pockets. Like hardware, software made a massive leap in the 2010s. Let us identify some of the big players who had a major influence during the last decade.

For the purposes of this list, we will omit some obvious options. Some of those options include Facebook, Gmail, YouTube, and Twitter. Those apps are already associated with popular services even before the decade started and they are going to be popular anyway. Additionally, we are going to close viral apps like Timely and Prisma because they were fun at the time but usually did not really leave a lasting impression. The list is in alphabetical order.

Adobe apps

In 2010, Android lacked many things. Among them were a decent photo editor, video editor, and other tools for artists and photographers. Many people protested the lack of Photoshop for Android until Adobe released Photoshop for Android. The software giant also released two other Photoshop apps, Illustrator Draw, a Lightroom mobile app, and closed for a decade with Adobe Premiere Rush. Adobe also has an excellent document scanner with Adobe Scan, one of the most recognizable PDF readers with Adobe Acrobat. It will be some time before mobile versions of these apps match the power and functionality of desktop counterparts, but the groundwork is set.

Adobe also took help from other developers at this location. Other major apps in the category include Snapshot, PowerDirector, ActionDirector, Kinemaster, Pixler, Airbrush, Sketchbook by Autodesk, PixArt and many more. It is indeed heartening to see that we have started the decade with practically nothing and ended up with a fairly strong set of options. Rest assured, manufacturer-specific devices will not be a problem for mobile phone owners over the next decade. We are all awaiting rectification at this point

Bluestacks

Bluestacks is not technically an app, but it is easily the most popular Android emulator for PCs. Bluestacks may not have been there before, but it is certainly the most impressive of the crop. The app started an entire industry for people who want to play mobile games or use mobile applications on their desktop PCs. Bluestacks was not only popular - it partnered with MSI to create an MSI App Player app for that company's laptop. By the end of the decade, the popularity of the platform even encouraged new mobile games such as PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty, the official emulator for mobile. Talking about it was never a big deal, but since its launch in 2009, it has had ten years of relative success.

Of course, there are other excellent emulators including Knox, Cosplayer and Gameloop. The industry was promoted by former great emulators such as Lepdroid and Andy, at least until Andy's shady practices made it impossible for people to recommend and Google bought Leader. The emulator market is not sexy, but it is popular and Bluestacks has basically been at the top for the entire decade.

Duolingo

Duolingo is arguably the most popular language-learning app on the Google Play Store. It hit every checkmark. It is completely free to use for all its languages. Additionally, it is fun, uses games and to keep people like that, and it is good for people of all ages. It hit a freight train like the Play Store and easily secured our pick for the 2013 top Android app. The app has at least 8 million reviews in the Play Store, 100 million downloads, and despite introducing a premium option, people still love it. The premium version adds some extras that are not necessary because the core app still functions in the same way.

There are other great learning apps. Khan Academy (Khan Academy Kids), Adami, Memorial, Monday, Rosetta Stone, edX, LinkedIn Learning, Courcera, Brantley, and many more. However, Duolingo struck a chord which helped to spur mobile education in the right way. Google Play has made it the app of the year in both 2013 and 2014. These days it is not so much in the eyes of the people, but the decade will not be the same without it.

Google Assistant vs Amazon Alexa vs Siri

Siri was launched to widespread acclaim in 2010. It produces meme, was well ahead of its time, and from that point on all new iPhones came in stock. Google's assistant began life modestly as Google Now in the early 2010s before becoming Google Assistant in 2016. Eventually, Amazon Alexa joined the chat in 2014. The three immediately began competing with each other for market share and attention. In addition, all three apps eventually moved to smart home gadgets such as Google Home, Amazon Echo, and Apple HomePod where the fight continues to this day. However, on the app side of things, the general consensus is that Google Assistant is the top dog in that fight.

All three services have their ups and downs, controversies and successes, and pros and cons. They all make memes, appear on TV shows, and have their own segments in your local Best Buy. In fact, if we were to choose just one, these three apps could be the biggest and most influential apps of the entire decade. However, in 2019 the three start sucking smart homes less to come together so that this fight will end later.

Google Drive vs Microsoft Office

Google Drive and Microsoft Office are the two major office suites on Android. Google Drive is the more popular option, but Microsoft Office has a good share of its professionals. Google Drive entered the swing with its 15GB of free storage and a completely free office suite. It quickly became a favourite for college students, high school students, and other highly valued demographics. Meanwhile, Microsoft adapted beautifully to modern times with an inexpensive subscription package for its mobile and desktop apps.

The fight was not as public as a virtual assistant, but it helped shape the mobile office landscape. To date, there are few options with as much power as these two and most people and websites alike ring as these first and second choices. Like Adobe's apps, mobile does not have a solid office experience at the beginning of the decade. Now it has two.

IFTTT and Tasker

Unlike most multi-entrants on this list, IFTTT and Tasker are not really competitive. They do similar things, but they never felt or acted like contestants. IFTTT is simpler and Tasker is more hardcore, but they both serve to help people automate tasks. Tasker began the decade at the top by allowing Android users to automate various tasks. It was long considered one of the best power user Android apps of all time. IFTTT, on the other hand, tackles more modern problems and supports more recent technology such as smart home stuff and handy stuff like downloading images from Instagram.

Apparently, IFTTT is the automation app to beat these days as Google Play's constant privacy policy updates hinder the progress of Taskers. You can use it to do a ton of things automatically and it has support for virtual assistant apps like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. In fact, it claims direct support for over 600 apps and a wide variety of hardware, including Fitbit, Sonos speakers and Honeywell. Like many on this list, it may not be a power hitter in terms of name recognition, but unless something changes soon, IFTTT is going to play a bigger role in the next decade.

Instagram and Snapchat

We left Facebook and Twitter because both were already popular when the decade began. However, Instagram launched in 2010 and Snapchat launched in 2011. Both apps launched a seismic shift from standard, old-school social media to a more mobile-centric one. Both apps have skyrocketed in popularity over the decade and both have similar views with varying execution. Instagram is a photo-first social app in which people keep telling about what they are doing. Snapchat is a photo-first messenger service with other messaging features and its own stories feature.

These apps hit the internet in a tremendous way. Many existing social media apps have borrowed Snapchat's Stories feature, including Instagram. Facebook competed by buying Instagram outright. Both apps had massive redesigns, feature additions, and sometimes even problems during the decade. However, both are now nearly as strong as they possibly can be. Both apps made mobile photography a thing and it helped shape the mobile landscape for the rest of the decade. Why do you think reviewers pay so much attention to cameras? This is because 1.2 billion people use both these apps.

Nova launcher

Nova Launcher is one of the most obvious options on this list and many people are going to leave this paragraph right because of it. Let's get the basics right. The Nova Launcher has launched almost a decade ago and has been one of the easiest recommendations in the entire Play Store. It is one of the most popular launchers on Android, it manages to stay modern with each passing year, and is customizable enough to meet the needs of most people.

If I got a nickel every time I saw someone saying that someone else should just use the Nova Launcher, I could retire on my own private island. There are some other amazing launchers including Action Launcher 3, Lawnchair Launcher and some young upstarts like Hyperion Launcher and AV Launcher. However, aside from the raw download numbers (Hola Launcher and GO Launcher have more), Nova is the top dog and has spent nearly a full decade there. It has some excellent longevity.

Sling TV

Sling TV is a live TV app that has started the practice of live TV apps on mobile. It was not like before and history goes back a few years. However, Sling TV is the first that saw enough success to become a thing. The industry expanded before Humi TV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV (formerly DirecTV Now), and PlayStation Vue landed in 2019. However, Sling TV is still the leader in this field, even though some competitors have better features.

Sling TV has a good share of good features, though. Its a-la-carte style is such a difference from standard cable TV and even other live TV streaming apps that it is one of the most unique options in the segment. Of course, the contestants get partial credit for making it, for which people have options and if cable TV providers do not modernize their options then cable TV subscriptions will continue to be abandoned, then we will not be shocked.

Swap keyboard

The swap keyboard was easily the most iconic app of the first half of the decade. Gboard and SwiftKey eventually introduced the iconic dream, along with Flexi and others, but most of them had to mimic the hallmark feature of Sweep to do so. Swipe was the first keyboard to have gesture typing and was back in early 2010 and that gesture typing was outstanding. It captured the Guinness World Record for fastest text messaging in 2010 and maybe the best marketing boost that cannot be dreamed of. The app spent years as a pre-installed app before the Play Store release and it was a good day when it did.

However, like all products, Sweepy fell prey to imitators. Gboard and Swiftkey typed the gesture for a short time to maintain their spots at the top of the keyboard ladder. Other keyboards like Flexi also use gestures, but in more unique ways. Swype was earlier, but now almost every Android keyboard has this feature. Unfortunately, all those keyboards, as well as a slowdown in development, pushed Sweep out of the market and it officially closed its doors in 2018.