Software & AI

Gives complete lock screen control but is still in beta, so some things don't work properly.

Handpicked high-quality wallpapers with no rubbish, including landscapes and drone shots.

Adds virtual 3D surround and volume boost, but works better on phones with more capable speakers.

A quirky watercolour-style Pixel icon pack that looks beautiful in person.

An abstract photo editor he rates as probably the coolest way to build a custom wallpaper.

A neat swipe-in volume slider that helps on phones where your fingers don't rest on the buttons.

A keyboard that changes colour to match the app, packed with gestures and with improved autocorrect.

Improved pixel-style live wallpapers with a hexagonal grid that he finds artistic, though the look divides people.

A good-looking KWLP preset that needed one quick animation tweak to scroll properly.

Complex but powerful wallpaper maker that is worth the effort, especially if you start from presets.

A colourful, fun keyboard with very accurate prediction and lots of personalisation.

Reads notifications aloud and is handy for short WhatsApp messages, though less good with long email receipts.

His favourite battery indicator, adding a notch-style percentage display that shows over any app.

A customisable Facebook client with dark mode that strips out sponsored posts and downloads videos.

A powerful theming tool that can give a system-wide dark mode, and works without root via Andromeda.

A neat reachable control bar inspired by the MacBook Pro Touch Bar, but it only worked on about half the phones he tried.

Remaps the Google Assistant action to things like the flashlight or opening any app.

A small bar that adjusts all volumes at once, which he finds better than Android's default handling.

Lets you hold the home button to turn the screen off, with no root needed.

Lets you speed up or slow down WhatsApp voice messages and skip silences, which he really appreciated.

A global equaliser that works with Spotify and is one of his favourites on the list.

Collects messages from social apps so you can read them without the sender seeing.

A no-brainer for Samsung edge panel users, giving separate volume sliders with a swipe from the right.

Jaw-dropping high-res visuals and real-time shadows, with a 60fps option if your phone can handle it.