3 apps that make my Pixel way more enjoyable to make use of

The Google Play Store is house to an enormous library of cell functions, masking each style below the solar. Some apps are designed with productiveness in thoughts, whereas others goal creativity, leisure, and extra.

Personally, I like apps which can be fulfilling to make use of, whether or not it’s on account of offering an ingenious utility, providing a visually pleasing user interface, or some mixture of each components. Listed below are three Android apps that make my Pixel cellphone a way more enjoyable expertise from the second I get up, to the second I name it an evening.

Groovy – Music Participant

The native music participant of my goals

I like a great offline music participant — a lot so, that I’ve beforehand compiled a list of my favorite options obtainable on the Google Play Retailer. One entry that did not make that lower, however that completely deserves its second within the highlight, is an app referred to as Groovy.

Groovy is a pleasure to make use of. Its embrace of Materials 3 Expressive design rules, along with Materials You dynamic shade theming, make it an ideal match for the Pixel. Actually, I might describe Groovy as a quintessential instance of an app that is so good, I’d have thought Google made it if I did not know higher.

A slick person interface, silky-smooth animations, straightforward choices for adjusting audio monitor metadata, and built-in assist for tune lyrics all come collectively to kind an app bundle that feels refined and intuitive. Listening to tunes is an fulfilling time by itself, however with Groovy, it is in some way much more enjoyable than standard.

Groovy is obtainable to obtain and set up at no cost from the Google Play Retailer. Optionally, Groovy Premium could be bought for a one-time price, unlocking further controls throughout the mini participant, a music tag editor, playback velocity and pitch management, and several other different quality-of-life perks.

FlashDim – Dim your flashlight

A flashy little LED utility

On the iPhone, it is simple and handy to regulate the depth and even the sign beam of your rear-racing LED flash module. There’s some evidence to suggest that Google is engaged on incorporating an analogous operate into base-level Android, however, as of model 16, the function hasn’t appeared but for testing.

Fortunately, the third-party FlashDim app is right here to not solely graft LED flash depth management onto the Pixel, however to supercharge it with further performance. Along with surfacing the precise variety of mild ranges accessible on your cellphone mannequin, the app gives fast entry to an SOS mild sample, in addition to a devoted Morse code utility.

On my Pixel phone, FlashDim has confirmed to be a enjoyable app to mess around with. I’ve loved typing varied phrases into the Morse code textual content entry field, and having the handset flash its LED module accordingly. The addition of haptic suggestions makes for a pleasing person expertise, too.

FlashDim is a completely free and open-source software, and it may be discovered over on the Google Play Retailer. It is value noting that the app requires Android 13 and above to operate correctly, as earlier variations of the OS do not assist a number of brightness stage controls on the system stage.

BuzzKill Notification Supervisor

Make notifications for you rather than in opposition to you

Regardless of its title, BuzzKill is something however a joy-zapper. The app capabilities as a full-blown notification supervisor, including one other layer of flexibility on high of Android’s already glorious notification system.

BuzzKill offers an entire host of choices, together with a built-in notification cooldown operate, customized alerts, an undo button, secret notifications, auto-dismissal, and extra. Personally, my favourite operate throughout the app is the Batch device, which delivers non-urgent alerts in a single, scheduled notification à la Apple’s scheduled notification abstract function for iOS.

I’ve at all times loved scheduling my notifications to reach in bulk on iPhone, and BuzzKill gives the proper equal for Pixel. With little or no setup required, the app makes my Android person expertise a extra fulfilling one by chopping out anxiety-inducing beeps and vibrations that in any other case are inclined to distract me.

BuzzKill is obtainable on the Google Play Retailer, the place it may be bought for a small single-time price. As soon as bought, the app options no advertisements, no trackers, and no different data-sharing bits of code. Actually, in contrast to most trendy apps, BuzzKill does not entry your web connection at any time throughout use.