After over a decade with Android, these are the 6 apps I’ve used the longest

I’ve been an Android user since pretty much the beginning, and in that time I’ve used a lot of different apps. While some of these apps come and go out of my life, there are some staples I’ve consistently kept around for a decade or more.

To be honest, this list would likely reach into the two dozen mark if I included every older app I still use. That said, many of these apps are well-known staples like Spotify, YouTube, Google Keep, and the list goes on. Below are just six apps that I’ve used for about as long as I’ve had Android that aren’t necessarily as mainstream. 

I first signed up for Just Watch nearly a decade ago. It was originally primarily for work-related reasons, but I soon found I liked it well enough to keep it around.

The app not only makes it easy to find new content, but it also works great for finding specific shows or movies. From there, it gives you a list of where you can stream it and whether it’s free or an add-on cost. There are even ways for Just Watch to immediately launch you into the correct streaming service once you pick an option. The recommendations are also pretty spot on for Just Watch, especially if you spend enough time feeding it data on your viewing habits in the first place.

While I personally think it’s at its best if you have a Pro subscription, not everyone wants to pay the roughly $4 per month for the service. The good news is that the free tier is still super useful; you just don’t get the same granular search capabilities, and you’ll have to put up with ads.

As someone with ADHD, I’ve long used Notion as a sort of “second brain” solution for keeping track of some of my thoughts, journaling, keeping important reminders, and much more. While I tend to use Google Keep for quicker notes and one-off lists, Notion is something I repeatedly come back to at least every few weeks or so to review old reminders and add new things to my personal organization databases.

I use Notion for planning out my daily goals, keeping track of important reminders, tracking my exercise progress, recipe organization, and so much more. It’s only gotten better over the years as it has added new AI features to the mix. I don’t use it just for personal administration and organization either. As someone who writes fiction and non-fiction work as a hobby, it’s also great for writing organization and creating a worldbuilding database.

If you’re looking for an app that can help you better organize your personal and professional life, I highly recommend this one. While there is a free tier that’s more than good enough for many users, the Plus tier is even better if you need more space and like the idea of opening up your organization system to someone else, like a spouse.

Every time I am planning a trip where I know I’ll encounter a foreign language more regularly, I get excited and spend a few months or so leading up to it brushing up on basic travel phrases and everything else I’ll need to get around a bit more comfortably. This is less crucial in today’s environment, as you can often find a translation app that more or less does the same on the fly, but I still enjoy doing it.

I have used many tools to brush up on my rudimentary Spanish or German, but Duolingo is the one I always come back to. Gamification is great for an ADHD brain like mine, as it makes learning feel more rewarding. I also like that I can put it down for a long time and come back to it relatively easily.

Of course, Duolingo has had its fair share of controversy over the years, and it’s true that the approach can result in some pretty flawed learning. It doesn’t explain grammar rules very well and is never enough to truly master a new language on its own. But it’s an easy way to get started that’s better than never bothering in the first place.

Something to understand about this one: I don’t necessarily recommend it. While the other two apps are genuinely easy to recommend to almost anyone, there are plenty of better messaging apps out there than Facebook Messenger. Still, it’s the one messaging app I’ve been stuck with since as long as I’ve had smartphones, essentially.

This started for a few reasons, but mostly when I was a bit of a flake in my early 20s. I’d often change my mind about services and shift phone numbers. Anyone who mattered would get my new number, but eventually, I just sort of used Facebook Messenger for 90% of all my texting needs. I even went a while without phone service and found this got me through.

I no longer rely on Facebook Messenger the way I once did, but it’s still a great way to keep track of some of my extended family and old friends. For what it’s worth, the app also works well for what it is. I wish you didn’t need Facebook to use it anymore, but the feature set here is robust, and it’s every bit as capable as some of the other major messaging platforms out there.

For most of us, Yelp is pretty much synonymous with finding good restaurants and other businesses just because it’s been around so long. While Yelp might have a lot more competition these days, it is still one of the very first apps I open when I’m in an unfamiliar location looking to figure out what businesses are worth checking out.

I feel like Yelp users tend to be more honest and accurate than Google reviews, at least in my experience. If a restaurant on Yelp says the experience is regularly good or bad, I usually find this holds up in my own experiences. That’s not always true for Google, at least in my area.

The app itself is easy to use as well, which is why it continues to be my favorite app for finding entertainment, food, and shopping. The only real downside is that its automatic filters can be a bit aggressive, and so it might hide or black legitimately useful reviews from time to time.

I’ve been using Snapseed for as long as I can remember. This Google-made tool is relatively easy to learn and use for newbies, but it actually holds a ton of powerful editing capabilities underneath. Whether you need to tweak an overexposed sky or boost contrast, you’ll find Snapseed is more than up for the job and only takes seconds to accomplish it.

Some of this is indeed less necessary with today’s phones thanks to evolving camera app features, many of which are powered by AI. Still, Snapseed strikes a nice balance between automation and manual tweaks, making it a highly versatile tool.

Beyond its editing prowess, Snapseed also stands out as one of the best photo editing apps that doesn’t charge you anything. Not only is it subscription-free, but there are also no watermarks, no invasive data collection, and the entire app is ad-free.