Handy Android Apps

Please note: I no longer use an Android phone and have no idea if these apps still exist or work as expected — I advise caution when following any of these links!

Short list of handy Android Apps I use (almost) everyday. Put together for the nice people at www.dorsetdigital.co.uk @dorsetdigital  a local pubmeet/social group in Dorset for anybody interested in creative, web, digital and technologyl.


AirDroid is a free and fast app that helps you manage your Android from a desk web browser.
I always have this running in a separate browser window when I’m at my desk. It’s a quick and easy way to respond to text messages and convenient for adding/downloading music and pictures to my phone.

AirDroid on Google Play


FTP, FTPS, SCP, SFTP client that can open (local/remote), rename, delete, update permissions (chmod), run custom commands and more. SSH RSA/DSA keys support.

Handy FTP App on your phone — what more do you want?

AndFTP on Google Play


SMB (Samba/CIFS) client for Android devices. Allows connecting to shared folders hosted on Windows or Samba servers over Wifi/3G/4G.
Handy for testing shared folders or checking if things are secure! I use it with Fing (below).

AndSMB on Google Play


AppMonster is an application manager for Android smartphones and tablets.
Great for backing up all your Apps to the SD Card. Can be setup to auto-backup. Handy if you update an App only to find it now crap or broken — you can just restore the previous version from the backup!

AppMonster on Google Play


Enable 2-step verification to protect your account from hijacking!

Use this with LaspPass (below) and a host of other online services. Also works great with WordPress sites via the Google Authenticator Plugin.

Authenticator on Google Play


Business Calendar is a complete calendar application that is synchronising with your Google calendars!
The default calendar is ok, but this is probably the best app that works the way I expect a calendar to work! The free version does everything I need and syncs several calendars with Google.

Business Calendar on Google Play


CallTrack logs your phone activity to your Google Calendar. Logs (incoming, outgoing, and missed).
This is such a great app, saves all my calls and syncs via Google to my desktop. Allowing me to track/bill call times with clients. Once setup it quietly runs in the background — recommend this for anybody using their phone for business calls.

CallTrack on Google Play


DNS Lookup tool with support for all major DNS record types and WHOIS lookups. Supported types are A, AAAA, AXFR, CNAME, NS, MX, PTR, SOA, SRV, TXT and WHOIS.

Umm, it looks up DNS stuff — quick, simple and does what it says on the tin 🙂

DNS Lookup on Google Play


Fing is the ultimate toolkit for network management: network discovery, service scan (TCP port scan), ping, traceroute, DNS lookup, Wake on LAN, TCP connection tester, MAC address and vendor gathering, customizable host names and icons, connectivity detection, geolocation. Integrated launch of third-party Apps for SSH, Telnet, FTP, FTPS, SFTP, SCP, HTTP, HTTPS, SAMBA.

This is great for testing/exploring networks. Use this almost every day while helping clients with their internal (wifi/lan) networks. Really useful App. Also desktop and Raspberry Pi versions!

Fing on Google Play | Fing Website


GTasks is a simple and efficient task management app with both local and Google account mode.

Use this simple app everyday to manage my Google todo list(s).

GTasks on Google Play


Mobile version of LastPass password manager. Fast, easy and simple; securely syncs your passwords across all your browsers and devices.
Simple app for access my LastPass account — you need a premium account ($12 a year!) to use this on your phone/tablet.

LastPass on Google Play


Keep an eye on your webservers (or any other TCP-enabled server) right from your phone home screen.
Great way to keep an eye on your servers/sites — I have a screen full of widgets monitoring my own servers and client sites. Can customise the refresh rate and failover checking server. Made by the same people as Fing (above).

Overlook Whiz on Google Play


Automatically backup SMS, MMS and call log entries using a separate label in Gmail / Google Calendar. It is also possible to restore SMS and call log entries back to the phone. Another no-brainer app that backs up my SMS texts to a Google calendar.
It can also backup call logs, but I prefer CallTrack (above). Has a nice restore feature, handy if upgrading your phone. There are lots of other similar apps, but been using it ever since I got my first Android phone — the old faithful G1 🙂

SMS Backup on Google Play



Turns your android phone into a Wi-Fi analyzer!!
Shows the Wi-Fi channels around you. Helps you to find a less crowded channel for your wireless router.
Another handy app that I use almost every day. Simple to use and great for demonstrating to clients why their WiFi is crap!

WiFi Analyzer on Google Play