The Top Android Apps For Summer 2019

As summer begins and we focus our minds on relaxing on a beach or by the pool, the task of finding ways to keep ourselves entertained, stay organized or get around will likely go to our mobile devices. Just over a decade ago, things were quite different. Instead, you’d need several different items to help with this, perhaps a guidebook, map, MP3 player and maybe a good paperback or two.

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Although downloadable software for handheld devices has been around for a lot longer, mobile apps took off thanks to the launch of the Apple App Store, changing our lives forever. Quickly followed by Google’s Play Store, mobile apps have taken over our lives and now allow us to communicate, do our banking and play some table games like poker through your favourite mobile poker apps wherever you are.

Whether you’re using a productivity app to manage your packing to-do list, a navigation app to help you get around a foreign city or a review app to decide which restaurant to choose for lunch, there are mobile apps on hand to help. They’ll also have you covered for reading a book on the sand or watching a film as you fly 30,000ft in the air.

Here is a look at the top Android Apps for Summer 2019.

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Bouncer

Bouncer is a clever app, with its features rumored to be in the next version of Google’s mobile OS, Android Q. For those that can’t wait, Bouncer is available for 99 cents in the Google Play Store.

The premise of Bouncer is that it gives you more control of the permissions that you grant to apps. When you download a new game or a picture collage app for getting the best Instagram photo, it will ask you to grant it lots of permissions, which you will then most likely forget about and do nothing with again. Bouncer changes this. It lets you grant any app permission temporarily, say, giving Facebook access to your location for a few minutes to allow you to check in somewhere, and then revoking that permission when you close the app. That means that it does not sit in the background, continually checking your location.

Pocket Casts

Podcasts have been around for many years now, but they’ve become quite trendy in recent times. Many apps for listening to podcasts can be a little temperamental, crashing, and not having the podcast you want. Pocket Casts brings you stability, intuitive navigation and support for audio and video podcasts. You can sign in to let you sync your subscriptions across multiple devices, and it can even recommend new podcasts based on your listening history. For those that like to listen to podcasts at night, there is a dark mode that makes it much easier on the eye in low-light conditions.

NordVPN

When you’re travelling, you’ll likely connect to random Wi-Fi connections, not knowing who is able to access your data. VPNs have become quite popular in recent years, and for good reason. NordVPN has over five million downloads from the Google Play Store and has many of the features offered by its rivals. You use the app to set up a VPN connection and continue to use your device as normal, with the VPN encrypting your data so that the Wi-Fi network owner can’t intercept your passwords or other personal information.

These three apps will be great additions to the many others you’ll already have installed on your Android device. The built-in Google Maps app will also help get you around this summer, and its search engine is relatively unrivalled by third parties. But for security and podcasts while you’re away on holiday, consider these three to augment what your phone can already do.