When it comes to the phone apps you rely on every day, from web browsing to email, you might not think too much about switching off the defaults that come with your phone. But the app stores on both Android and iOS are packed with a wealth of alternatives that are worth checking out. Spending some time looking at what else is out there is well worth the investment, and you might even find several apps that you prefer.
Even if you’re happy with what you’re currently using, there’s no harm in trying out some other options. You might not realise what you’ve been missing. You can often find extra features and functions in these alternative apps that aren’t available in the defaults that you’ve become accustomed to.
Web browser
Make your web browsing much more private with the free DuckDuckGo Private Browser (Android/iOS): It still gives you a fully functioning window on to the web, but it also does its utmost to stop sites, search engines and marketers from tracking your activities.
You get plenty of information about what’s been blocked and why as well, and we like the one-tap option for wiping all of your current tabs and cached data. There are also tools for enforcing website encryption and protecting access to your email address, too.
Email app
If you just want to change your email app rather than your email provider, Spark Mail (Android/iOS) is an excellent choice. It’s slick, intuitive, smart, and has a number of features to help you prioritise the most important emails in your inbox over the rest.
Emails can be snoozed, pinned, grouped and plenty more besides, and everything is wrapped in an appealing and modern interface. The app is free to get started with, but some features (including thread muting) require a paid subscription ($US5 ($7) a month and up).
Soor
With many of us now streaming our music, there isn’t really much choice in terms of alternative apps for the likes of Spotify or YouTube Music — you just have to stick with the native option. For Apple Music, however, Soor (iOS) is a third-party option worth a look.
It’s going to set you back $US7 ($10), but you certainly get a lot for your money: A fantastically polished and customisable interface, smart music discovery tools, a vast array of home screen widgets, integration with Last.fm and Musixmatch, and much more besides.
Video player
It’s the same with video as it is with music: There aren’t really any alternative options to watch Netflix or Hulu through, besides the official apps. For those times when you’re watching locally stored video though, we’d recommend the robust VLC (Android/iOS).
As on the desktop, the big appeal of the app is that it can handle a whole host of video (and audio) formats, and it also boasts a long list of features to make use of: a sleep timer, variable playback settings, an equaliser, subtitle support, cloud integration and more.
Social media
Third-party clients for the big social media accounts are few and far between now, so instead we’re going to highlight an alternative social media platform altogether: That platform is Mastodon (Android/iOS), which does allow third-party clients to exist.
We’ve already written a primer for joining Mastodon, and it gives you a very Twitter-like experience — but it’s decentralized, free of ads, and isn’t interested in your personal data. In short, it’s something of a throwback to the days when social media was actually fun.
Notes app
Apple Notes and Google Keep do a fine job as far as notes apps go, but there’s so much more out there in this category. Consider Notion (Android/iOS), for example, which has everything you need from a notes app, plus collaboration and task management tools.
Part of the appeal of the app lies in its sheer flexibility — your notes can be as simple or as complex as you like, and everything works intuitively, as well as syncing seamlessly across devices. A $US5 ($7)-per-month subscription unlocks a variety of advanced features in the app.
Weather app
There are many, many weather apps out there, but for something truly alternative in every sense of the word, try Carrot Weather (Android/iOS). Not only does it give you a wealth of useful weather information, it presents it all in a way that’s entertaining and engaging.
You get detailed forecasts for the coming days, together with a text commentary and visual guide, plus radar maps on iOS (in the pipeline for Android, apparently). Paying $US5 ($7) a month for a subscription gives you a bunch of extras, including decades of meteorological history.
Messaging app
The difficulty in switching messaging apps is getting everyone to switch along with you. Nevertheless, we want to plug Signal (Android/iOS) here, primarily because it’s not run by any of the giant tech companies, and deploys end-to-end encryption as standard.
Disappearing messages are also an option inside the app too, but there’s much more to Signal than privacy. It supports audio and video calling, image editing features, group chats, stickers and GIFs, and file sharing — and you can even use it to text yourself.
Calculator app
You might not use a calculator app much, but we have to take this opportunity to give a mention to PCalc (iOS): It features just about every tool and option you could possibly think of for a calculator app and then some, and it’s well worth the $US10 ($14) price of admission.
There’s a vast choice when it comes to layouts, inputs, outputs and numeric systems, and everyone from engineers to students is going to get a whole lot of use out of this. Sadly PCalc isn’t available for Android, but HiEdu Scientific Calculator (Android) is also great.