50 best apps for Windows Phone
Whether you’re a Windows Phone newbie or have owned a Lumia for a few years, be sure to get in on all the app action.
Whether you’re a Windows Phone newbie or have owned a Lumia for a few years, be sure to get in on all the app action.
With access to the Windows Phone Store, your Lumia 1020, Lumia 830, Lumia 735, Lumia 1520, or any other Windows Phone can be full of all the essential apps in no time.
How many apps do you need to get started? Well, we’ve gathered 50! Let’s start with a couple of preinstalled apps.
Microsoft Office
Stepping away from the desk doesn’t always mean we’re off the clock. It’s probably not unusual for a work document to land in your inbox just as you’re about to jump on the bus home.
Thankfully, with your Windows phone and Microsoft Office, you can review, edit, or even create new documents on the go.
OneNote
Preinstalled onto all Windows phones, OneNote is your digital notebook. You can add photos, videos, audio clips, as well as any text . Oh, it’s also great for creating to-do lists.
Transfer my Data
If you are new to Windows Phone and are coming from (almost) any other phone, this app is a must. It’ll copy all of your contacts from your old phone to your new one in no time.
Taking photos on your Windows Phone is only half the fun. Next, you’ll probably want to add a filter, maybe a frame, and share it with your friends. For that, there’s Instagram.
Everyone is on Facebook these days. If your friends are doing something interesting, you’ll learn about it on this social-media site. With Facebook on your Windows Phone, you can update your status, read what others are up to, and stay connected to the people who matter most to you.
Lumia Camera
Take charge of your camera to take photos like a pro. With Lumia Camera, you can alter exposure, shutter times, focus and create action shots with its advanced features.
Blue Skies
Is it going to rain today? How about in four minutes? Blue Skies shows hyper-local forecasts via a simple, clean interface.
Lumia Creative Studio
Use a range of filters to give a professional finish to your photos and blur the background to add depth–all without ever losing the original photo.
Twitter is often the place where news breaks first. Remain up-to-date with your favourite celebs, brands, friends or family, with short, easy to digest 140-character updates with this official app.
Tweetit
If you prefer to stray from the official Twitter app, TweetIt is a great-looking app with beautiful animations and a clean user interface.
Netflix
If you love streaming movies or TV shows, you’ll love Netflix. As a subscription service, you can catch up with your favorite shows whether you’re on the bus, the couch, or wherever you have an Internet connection.
News
Read the day’s top stories and breaking news from the best news media sources. Plus, easily stay up to date on any topic you care about, from global events to local news.
Bing Translator
How do you say, “Marry me?” in French? What’s that word on this foreign language menu? What did the tour guide just say? Bing Translator has all the answers.
Xbox One SmartGlass
If you own an Xbox One, you’ll absolutely need this. With this app, you can navigate your Xbox One using your Windows Phone’s keyboard and touch interface, search, browse and pin content to play on your console, share and post activity feed items and more.
Skype
Make free Skype-to-Skype video and voice calls as well as send instant messages to friends and family around the world.
OneDrive
OneDrive is your cloud storage service where you can save photos, videos, and files, all accessible from PC, Mac, tablet or smartphone.
Popular all over the world, WeChat helps connect people together via Instant Messaging. Whether you’re communicating one-to-one or to a group, you can send text-based, voice and video messages to all your friends.
Adobe Photoshop Express
Although this doesn’t have all features of Photoshop (it is a smartphone version, after all) this app is very useful nonetheless. Edit your photos on-the-go by cropping, rotating, or flipping, as well as removing red eye, adjusting shadows, contrast, vibrancy and much more.
Flipboard is your personal magazine and it’s the best way to catch up on news around the world or to dive deeply into specific topics. We even have our own Lumia Conversations magazine.
Vine
Create short, beautiful, looping videos in a simple and fun way then share them with your friends and family on Vine, Twitter and Facebook.
Afterlight
With 57 customizable filters and wide array of tools (such as “clarify,” “brightness,” “saturation,” “grain”), Afterlight is a powerful but easy-to-use photo editor that fits into the palm of your hand.
Spotify
Tune in to your favorite artists and albums or use your favorite songs to create your own playlists. Alternatively, you can listen to any one of ready-made playlists available.
miCoach Train & Run
If you’ve got a Lumia with new SensorCore technology, this app can collect personalized data such as GPS location, speed and even steps taken in a highly efficient, low-power way.
BBM
BBM is another popular instant-messaging app where you can send messages, pictures, voice notes and more to other BBM users across different platforms.
#1 ToolKit
Here’s quick access to a ruler, compass, protractor, level, flashlight, unit converter and more–all in one very useful app.
Uber
With support in more than 40 countries, Uber can order your very own private driver at a press of a button. Payments are all handled electronically within the app, so there’s no need to carry cash.
Office Lens
Use you smartphone’s camera to capture receipts, whiteboards, business cards, and other documents in a readable and accessible way. Images are saved to OneNote and can be converted to Word or PowerPoint files.
Video Tuner
Once you’ve filmed your video, edit it right on your Lumia. Apply filters, add music, trim, crop, rotate, flip, mirror, change speed, and adjust exposure, contrast, saturation and volume to make stunning videos.
Health & Fitness
Find more than 1,000 exercise and workout videos, a nutritional and medical reference, and trackers for diet and exercise to help you meet your health goals. This app also makes use of SensorCore technology.
Amazon App
Everybody uses Amazon to buy something: books, console games, PCs, clothing, new smartphones. Whatever you buy from Amazon, this app makes the process quicker and easier.
PayPal
Many people, even businesses, use PayPal to send and receive payments. PayPal on your Windows Phone means you can send and request money on the go.
Mint
Mint pulls in all your personal finance accounts into one place, helping you manage your money from anywhere. Track your spending, create a budget, and save more.
HERE Drive +
HERE Drive offers turn-by-turn voice guided navigation with offline maps, meaning you’ll always get to your destination without an Internet connection.
Wikipedia
Love Wikipedia? Is it your go-to place for learning everything? Try the Wikipedia app with offline mode, Cortana support, social and NFC sharing.
Dictionary
With more than 100,000 words and definitions, Dictionary is an interactive English Dictionary.
Metrotube
If you like nothing more than watching cats play piano or dogs skateboard down a street, you’ll need Metrotube.
Weave News Reader
Exclusive to Windows Phone, Weave is an RSS newsreader that delivers news from any website or blog.
Nextgen Reader
A fast, clean and beautiful RSS reader for both Windows and Windows Phone, NextGen provides offline support for reading articles and documents later. You can also save to OneNote.
Baconit
As a social-networking service, Reddit connects millions of people around the world to share news and entertainment. If you love Reddit, you’ll love Baconit. Pin all your favourite sub-reddits to your Start screen for easy access.
Readit
Another great Reddit client is Readit. Beautifully presented, Readit features Live Tiles, Lock Screen backgrounds, toast notifications and the ability to pin sub-reddits to your Start Screen.
Evernote
Evernote is another note-taking app that makes saving your thoughts and then finding them again a doddle.
All Recipes
With AllRecipes, your Windows Phone becomes a mouth-watering cookbook by connecting you with thousands of allrecipes.com members from the world’s number one (their words) food site.
Audible – Audiobooks
If you have no time to read a book or if you simply prefer listening to stories, plug into Audible–the premier provider of digital audiobooks.
TrueCaller
One of the best ways to block unwanted calls and identify ‘spammy’ callers is to use Truecaller. Works worldwide.
CycleTracks GPS
One great way to keep fit is to cycle, and millions of us do it daily. CycleTracks GPS tracks your route and provides real-time stats while connecting you with Strava, a community of athletes.
Cloudoh
SoundCloud is a community of artists, bands, podcasters and creators of music and audio. Cloudoh is simply a SoundCloud client.
Plex
With Plex, you can easily stream your videos, music, photos and home movies to your Windows Phone from your home computers running Plex Media Server (available for free at https://plex.tv/downloads).
Files
Manage the files on your Windows Phone. Browse, search and launch files, or create folders to better organize your content.
Microsoft Pocket Magnifier
Developed in collaboration with the Royal National Institute of Blind People, this app can help people with poor eyesight read books, posters, public transport timetables, etc. Let’s face it, we’re all going to need something like this one day!
JobLens
Not only can JobLens help you create your CV, discover a local job and guide you to the right place for your interview, it also offers detailed location demographics and employment trends in your field.
There you have it, 50 essential Windows Phone apps to get started.