In Summary
- Google Play store has a huge catalog of Android apps ranging from simple games to useful tools.
- While most of these apps are useful and fun, sometimes it is hard to find the perfect app, which we need to solve a particular purpose.
- In which case here is a list of the top 10 Android apps not on Play Store. These apps will help you perform various tasks ranging from downloading from social media to reading your favorite manga and much more.
The Google Play Store offers a wide range of apps, games and tools that provide great functionality or entertainment. But what if we told you that there’s a world of great Android apps outside of the Google Play Store that you’re missing out on if you don’t go beyond the standard Android app store?
Not only do these apps save you time, but they also help you with tasks like downloading content from social media, maintaining your device’s battery level, and even provide entertainment.
These apps are not available on the Play Store for a variety of reasons, including bypassing Google’s strict policies, choosing better monetization models, bypassing geographic restrictions, beta or experimental versions, and more.
Table of Contents
10 Best Android Apps Not on Play Store
Sl. No. | App Name | Description | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Seal | Download content from social media platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. User-friendly interface and customization options. | Social Media Downloader |
2 | Amarok | Hide apps and files with a single click. Simple interface, effective hiding, and supports root or Shizuku mode for app hiding. | Privacy & Security |
3 | Battery Guru | Monitor and optimize smartphone battery health. Provides insights, charging monitoring, and battery level information. | Battery Optimization |
4 | Memory Guardian | Clear clipboard manually and set automatic clearing times. Protect sensitive data copied to the clipboard. | Clipboard Management |
5 | Nothing Weather App | Weather app with an aesthetically pleasing design, compatible with Nothing devices. Enhances the look and feel of the device's interface. | Weather |
6 | Cache Cleaner | Clears the cache of all installed apps, simplifying storage management. User-friendly interface for clearing app cache. | Storage Management |
7 | Smart Dock | Enhances multitasking with a dock at the bottom of the screen. Switch between apps seamlessly and access an app drawer. | Productivity |
8 | Kotatsu | Free and open-source manga reader with online tracking and webtoon support. Ideal for manga enthusiasts and offers synchronization across devices. | Entertainment |
9 | Wall You | Customize your home and lock screens with wallpapers from various sources. Change wallpapers on a time basis and apply various customization options. | Personalization |
10 | Easter Eggs | Contains Easter eggs from past Android versions. Enjoy Android Easter eggs without using older versions. Compatible with various Android versions. | Entertainment |
Seal: Download anything from anywhere
Simply put, Seal is an Android app that lets you download content from any social media platform to your phone. It is considered one of the best Android apps not available on the Play Store. With Seal, you can download videos or audios from apps like YouTube, Instagram, or X (Twitter). Using the Seal app is also very user-friendly.
- Start by opening the app you want to download something from.
- Open the video/audio you want to download and click the “Share” button.
- Select the Seal app and configure how you want to download the video. (We prefer to select the default options).
- Seal will start downloading the video/ audio you want to download.
Once you’re done, you can see your Seal downloads in your Gallery app. The best part is that this app is free and you can customize and configure the formats in which you want to download your audio and video files.
Amarok: Hide private files and apps
Next on our list of the 10 best Android apps not available in the Play Store is Amarok. It’s a free open-source Android app that lets you hide apps and files with a single click. Amarok’s interface is easy to use, and it does not encrypt apps, files, or folders. It simply hides them. We also need to keep in mind that Amarok uses either root or Shizuku to hide apps. The good thing is that it is very effective because files, folders or apps are not visible even through a file manager. This is how you hide a file, folder or app in Amarok:
- Open the Amarok app.
- To hide files and folders, click Set Hidden Files, and then click Add Hidden Folder, and select a specific folder you want to hide.
- To hide apps, click More Settings, go to Switch app hiding mode, and select Shizuku (Sui) mode. Then click OK to apply the changes.
- Now go back and click on Set hidden apps and select the apps you want to hide. They will then not be visible in the app drawer.
- Then go back to the Amarok home screen and click the Hide button.
Amarok is the perfect example of a no nonsense app. True, it’s not available in the Play Store. It’s really worth it.
Battery Guru
If you’re someone who is always looking to get the most out of your smartphone’s battery life, Battery Guru is the perfect app for you. Battery Guru is a helpful tool that gives you insights into the state of your smartphone’s battery. It helps you make sure that your Android phone’s battery health stays in a good condition and guides you to take serious steps to extend your phone’s battery life.
Some useful features Battery Guru offers are monitoring the battery while charging, useful tips on how to extend the battery life and battery level of your phone, monitoring the charging speed, etc.
Battery Guru is one of the best apps on this list and it’s such a shame that such a useful app is not available on the Play Store.
Memory Guardian: Take control of your Clipboard
One of the most handy tools on our list of the best Android apps not on the Play Store is Memory Guardian. Whenever you copy something to the clipboard, whether it’s text or an image, Android will hold onto it for an hour before automatically deleting it. While this is convenient, often when we copy passwords or important data, we have to remember that many apps might read it since they have access to your keyboard. To change this behavior, Memory Guardian comes into play With Memory Guardian we can:
- Clear the clipboard manually.
- Also, we can set the time to clear the clipboard history automatically.
Nothing Weather App
This is an unexpected addition to this list of ours. Although the app is available on the Play Store, it is only compatible with Nothing devices. Even though it looks like just another weather app, it has an esthetically pleasing design. If you appreciate the look and feel of Nothing OS, this app is a good starting point to give your Android device the Nothing experience.
Just make sure you download version 1.1.2 or lower, because only that version will work. The app is a real feast for the eyes. We recommend you install it if you want the Nothing look without spending a lot of money on a new Android device.
Cache Cleaner
Over time, most Android devices slow down and start limping. This problem cannot be fixed permanently because the hardware is outdated and the software is poorly optimized. However, a temporary solution is to clear the cache of all installed apps on your device. Clearing the cache for each app manually can be annoying. To solve this problem, we recommend Cache Cleaner, an app that is on our list of the 10 best Android apps that are not available on the Play Store. Cache Cleaner is a user-friendly app with a minimalist interface that effectively clears the cache of all apps. To clear the cache of all apps, follow these steps:
- Open the Cache Cleaner app.
- Grant all access permissions and usage access.
- Then click the Clean Cache Of User Apps button. (We recommend clearing the cache only for user-installed apps).
- Select all the apps for which you want to clear the cache.
- Then click the button in the bottom right corner.
This will clear all cache files and you may also be able to save some storage space.
Smart Dock: A user-friendly Desktop mode launcher
This is one of the most unique and coolest apps not available on the Play Store. Smart Dock essentially brings you the feature most iPad users are familiar with, “Enhanced multitasking.” At Google I/O 2023, Google announced the Pixel Fold, which has a floating dock that helps with multitasking. While it can’t be duplicated in terms of feel and look, the smart dock can do 90% of what the Pixel can do in terms of functionality. And it does it well.
It essentially makes a dock at the bottom of your screen that lets you multitask like a pro. You can also switch between multiple apps without having to keep going back to the home screen. There’s also an app drawer from which you can access almost any app.
To use Smartdock just follow these steps:
- Open the app and give it all the permissions it needs.
- Then you’ll see a small arrow in the lower right/left corner of your screen.
- From here you can access the smart dock and make it invisible again with the pin icon.
- This works in all apps installed on your smartphone.
Smartdock is one of the most powerful apps on our list. It can really increase your productivity and save you a lot of time.
Kotatsu: Manga Reader for Android
Kotatsu is a free and open source manga reader for Android. It is feature rich and includes all the popular manga like AOT and Naruto, while we use it to read manga, the app also includes some popular webtoons. Some of the best features Kotatsu offers are online manga tracking and integration with popular services like My Anime List. UI is also optimized for tablets and offers syncing across multiple devices.
But it’s not all sunshine and roses. The app is perfect for weebs and even people new to otaku culture. The app contains things that shouldn’t be known or visible everywhere. So take it as you should.
Anyway, if you’re someone who wants to read your favorite manga or webtoon, give it a try and let us know which one is your favorite. Ours is One Piece.
Wall You
Wall You is one of the best apps if you want to customize your homescreen and lock screen. It is the only wallpaper app on our list today. It’s such a great wallpaper app that it’s hard to believe it’s not on the Play Store. The best thing about Wall You is that it pulls wallpapers from various sources like Unsplash, OWalls, Reddit, etc. and puts them together in one app.
Wall You also offers features like changing wallpapers on a time basis, like every 15 minutes or so. However, we prefer to change wallpapers on a 12-hour basis. The app is handy if you want to customize your wallpapers, for example, by changing the blur percentage or greyscaling all the walls.
Easter Eggs
If you’re an Android fanboy, this is probably the best app for you in our list of the best Android apps not available on the Play Store. Easter Eggs is an app that contains all the Easter eggs from all past Android versions (Android 1.0 Base to Android 14 Upside Down Cake). You can still enjoy your favorite Easter egg without using the previous Android version. The app works well and has some nifty features, such as a completely dark mode for phones with an OLED display, and the animation of the apps is very well done.
The best part is that the app is compatible with almost all Android versions. So you can use it on a device from the KitKat era or even below.
All in all, Easter Eggs is a must-have app for all fanboys out there and I think you should give it a try. It’s probably the most fun app on our list of the 10 best Android apps not available on the Play Store. You can check out Easter Eggs here.
Look Beyond the Play Store
To sum up, while the Google Play Store offers a huge selection of Android apps, it can sometimes be difficult to find the perfect app for a specific purpose. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the 10 best Android apps that aren’t available on the Play Store. These apps offer unique features and cover different needs.
From Seal, which lets you download content from any social media platform, to Battery Guru, which lets you optimize your device’s battery life, each app offers something valuable. Whether you’re looking for a way to hide private files and apps with Amarok or clear the app cache with Cache Cleaner, these apps offer useful features that can improve your Android experience.
Even though these apps aren’t available on the Play Store, they offer valuable features and are worth discovering by Android users looking for unique and useful apps. We hope you enjoyed this curated list. Let’s know which app from the list is your favorite.
FAQs about Best Android Apps Not Available on Play Store
1. Are there similar apps avialble on Play Store?
There may be similar apps like Wall You and Nothing Weather, but apart from these two apps, each one offers unique features. Battery Guru provides extremely detailed information about your device’s battery, and Cache Cleaner helps you clear the cache for all apps at once. So you can expect that there are no apps on the Google Play Store that offer the same features as the apps on our list of the 10 best Android apps not available on the Play Store.
2. Do all apps require internet access?
Apps like Wall You, Kotatsu, and the Nothing Weather app require Internet access because they need to be connected to their respective servers to update information. The first apps on our list of the 10 best Android apps that are not found in the Play Store do not require Internet access and can be used offline without any problems.