Unlike Apple, Google hasn't shown much of an interest in tablets since the days of Honeycomb. This creates a situation where it is difficult to find the best Android apps that are optimized for tablets (and Chromebooks) on the Play Store. We here at AP aim to help, and so we've compiled a hand-picked roundup of our favorite tablet-optimized apps, freshly updated with new listings to continually grow the list (changelog at the bottom of the page), ensuring Android users will have the ability to find the worthwhile apps that are indeed optimized for large screens. So instead of testing an excessive amount of apps to find the ones that properly fit your tablets and Chromebooks, let AP do the heavy lifting for you.
Amazon for Tablets
It's right there in the name. This is the Amazon shopping app exclusively designed for tablets. Much like how the phone app displays the site on phones, this tablet app fills the entire screen of tablets with shopping goodness. There are even a few exclusive features in this version, such as a press and hold option to fling items to the bottom of your screen, saving them to an always accessible tray, like a fancy bookmark for all of your favorite items.
Seven to ten-inch tablets are recommended, and even though the app is pretty old, Amazon is still updating it diligently. One thing's for sure; it's nice to see other companies support tablets on Android even when Google doesn't feel it's necessary.
Monetization: free / contains ads / no IAPs
Microsoft Office
Microsoft's Office applications are some of the best examples of tablet-optimized Android apps that I've ever come across. Sure, you might not need to edit an Excel spreadsheet on the go very often, but the apps have the same 'Ribbon' interface as the desktop equivalents. There is also extensive support for keyboard shortcuts if you regularly use a keyboard with your tablet.
In 2020, Microsoft released a new combined Office app that included PowerPoint, Word, and Excel in a single package. The app initially didn't properly support tablets, but that has since been fixed. Microsoft has also integrated the Office Lens scanner and notes that sync with Windows 10, but I don't use those features.
The only downside is that creating and editing documents requires a paid subscription to Microsoft 365, formerly known as Office 365. The cheapest plan is $70/year (or $7/mo) and includes the web, mobile, and native desktop versions of the most popular Office applications, plus 1TB of OneDrive storage.
Monetization: free / no ads / IAPs from $6.99 - $99.99
VLC for Android
VLC is the cross-platform media player that can open just about any video or audio file ever created, and the Android app functions very well. It has an integrated file browser (with the ability to view network drives!), Picture-in-Picture support, and other nice features.
The interface only has minor tweaks for tablets, like additional columns in the file viewer, but you're going to spend most of your time watching media anyway. VLC is also one of the few media applications I've tried where tapping the spacebar on the keyboard actually pauses the content.
Monetization: free / no ads / IAPs from $0.99 - $11.99
Gmail
Gmail is one of the few remaining Google apps that have a dedicated tablet interface. On large screens, Gmail has a two-column design, with your inbox shown on the left and the current message on the right. There are also a few keyboard shortcuts available for quickly managing messages.
Monetization: free / contains ads / no IAPs
Microsoft Outlook
If you're not a fan of Gmail, or you're just looking to try something new, Microsoft Outlook is another great email application for Android tablets. It works with third-party email services in addition to Microsoft's own Outlook.com, so you can use it without switching email addresses.
Outlook has a similar layout to Gmail on tablets, with columns for both your inbox and the currently-selected message, but there are a few differences. The list of accounts is always pinned to the left side, and a third column for inboxes/folders can be toggled by pressing the hamburger menu at the top-left.
Monetization: free / contains ads / no IAPs
MyScript Nebo
MyScript Nebo is one of the best note-taking applications I've tried on Android. It can convert your hand-written sentences into text, and just like Evernote and OneNote, you can embed images, drawings, and other resources into your notes. The full list of features is honestly staggering.
There's one catch to Nebo: to use all the features, you need an Android device with an active stylus pen, like a Galaxy Tab S6 or S6 Lite. Nebo has a list of some compatible models here.
Monetization: $11.99 / no ads / no IAPs
Twitter Lite
The regular Twitter app looks absolutely terrible on tablets, with tweets taking up the full width of the screen. You're better off with Twitter Lite, a repackaged version of the Twitter web app. It's not a native Android application, which is a bit annoying, but it looks significantly better on tablets.
Twitter Lite is only available from the Play Store in select regions, so if you can't download it, just open twitter.com in your mobile browser of choice and find the option to install it to your home screen (in Chrome, tap the menu button at the top-right and pick 'Add to Home Screen'). It's the same exact experience — just remember to enable notifications from Twitter's settings for full functionality.
Monetization: free / contains ads / no IAPs
Feedly - Smarter News Reader
Feedly is one of the most popular feed reader apps on Android, and I'd like to think that has a little to do with the fact the app properly supports large screens. The tablet layout is fairly similar to a magazine layout, which should be familiar to most, making for a comfy app to peruse as you digest your daily news.
Monetization: free / contains ads / IAPs from $7.99 - $69.99
Google Duo
Google Duo is probably the best video chat application on Android, and it works just as well on tablets as it does on phones. In fact, you no longer need a phone number paired with your Google account when using it on tablets, which comes in handy for young children and other people without a phone.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Solid Explorer File Manager
Solid Explorer is an excellent file manager application, and it's one of the few options with a clean tablet interface. It has a dual-panel mode for viewing (and moving files between) two directories at once, support for network drives, batch operations, integration with various cloud storage services, and much more.
I don't often have to deal with moving files around on my Android devices, but if that's something you regularly do, give Solid Explorer a try. You can use it for 14 days before you have to pay the $1.99 in-app purchase for full access.
Monetization: free / contains ads / IAPs from $0.99 - $3.99
Samsung Internet Browser
Samsung Internet is one of the most popular web browsers on Android, and it seems to have one of the best tablet interfaces as well. That's hardly a surprise, given that Samsung is about the only company left producing high-end Android tablets, but you don't necessarily need a Galaxy Tab to use the browser — it's available on the Play Store for any device.
Samsung Internet is based on Chrome, but it does have a few features not present in Google's browser. You can move the buttons around to your liking, force a dark theme on all web pages, and install select add-ons. Tabs can either be displayed below the address bar (similar to Chrome) or hidden behind the tabs button for more vertical space.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Gboard Keyboard
Gboard is the default keyboard application on many Android devices, and it has one feature that is especially nice on tablets — one-handed mode. With Gboard open, tap the detached keyboard icon in the toolbar to move the keyboard to a floating window. It's much easier for me to type while holding a tablet in one-handed mode, especially when I swipe between letters instead of tapping keys individually.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Vivaldi Browser
Vivaldi is another web browser that works slightly better on Android tablets than Chrome. It shares the same core engine as Chrome but offers a tracker blocker, an option to always view desktop sites (super helpful for sites trying to load mobile layouts on tablets), a speed dial, and a built-in screenshot utility.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Comixology
Comixology is a comic/manga reader for Android and other platforms, featuring integration with Kindle libraries (if you login with your Amazon account) and offline support. The app works great on tablets, though comics won't look quite as crisp on lower-resolution devices. Still, the fact Comixology is one of the few comic readers out there that offers high-res imagery is why it's considered one of the best comic reading apps on Android, making it a perfect choice for high-end tablet users.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
SketchBook
SketchBook is one of the most feature-packed drawing applications on Android. It's designed for everything from industrial design sketches to digital art, and it works best with tablets and active stylus pens.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Amazon Kindle
Since Comixology is in today's roundup, it makes sense that the Amazon Kindle app should also get a mention. Not only can you read comics with the Amazon Kindle app, but you also have access to Amazon's entire e-book store, which ranges from books to magazines to newspapers. Of course, the app is optimized for tablets, making use of the entire screen, and you can even dial in your reading settings to ensure text fills as much of the screen as possible. There's a warm lighting option, and you can even dim your screen independently of the device's global settings, which is super convenient. All around, the Kindle app is one of the best e-reader apps on the platform, and since it offers tablet support, it's definitely a go-to for power readers who enjoy reading on large screens.
Monetization: free / contains ads / no IAPs
Adobe Lightroom - Photo Editor & Pro Camera
I'm always hesitant to recommend products from Adobe, especially given the company doesn't support Linux (my desktop OS of choice) and likes to charge monthly subscriptions for applications that have barely changed in a decade, but there really isn't any cross-platform competitor to Lightroom.
Lightroom is a fantastic image editor that I use for all work-related photos, and because Android lets me connect my Sony Alpha camera over USB to transfer files, I can do my entire image editing workflow from my Galaxy Tab. However, I still have to do a second round of importing/exporting with PhotoStack afterward because Lightroom for Android doesn't support image watermarks.
Monetization: free / no ads / IAPs from $1.99 - $119.99
Google Keep
Google Keep is another application in the elite "Google app that looks okay on tablets" club. It's a cross-platform note/list application with support for attaching files and creating reminders. There are definitely more capable note applications, but Keep strikes a great balance between features and simplicity.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Moon Reader
Moon Reader is an excellent way to read ebooks on Android tablets, whether they use ePub, PDF, Mobi, or another format. It's highly customizable, with different settings for line spacing, the UI, page turns, auto-scrolling, and much more. You can even sync your library across devices using Dropbox or a WebDAV server.
The free app is already great, but there's also a pro version available for $6.99. It removes all ads and includes a few extra features, like text-to-speech reading and enhanced PDF support.
Monetization: free / contains ads / IAPs $0.99 apiece
Krita
Krita is a popular (and open-source!) raster graphics editor with an advanced brush engine, non-destructive layers and masks, vector artwork support, and even tools for creating animations. It has been available on desktop platforms since 2005, but a beta version for Android was first released in 2020.
Krita is one of the few examples of a professional desktop application being ported to Android with almost no compromises. The interface is mostly unchanged compared to the desktop version, so while it might have a steeper learning curve than apps like Adobe Sketch or SketchBook, it's a great tool to have.
Monetization: free / no ads / IAPs $10.99 apiece
Boost for Reddit
Boost is a client application for Reddit.com with a clean interface, customizable viewing options, in-app media previews, filters, and much more. It uses a two-column interface on tablets, showing posts on the left and comment threads on the right, making better use of the available screen space than many other Reddit apps.
Boost for Reddit is free, but you can remove ads across all your devices with a one-time purchase ($2.49, as of the time of writing).
Monetization: free / contains ads / IAPs from $2.00 - $10.00
Microsoft OneNote
OneNote is a popular notebook application from Microsoft, and just like most of the company's apps, it looks and works great on Android tablets. You can organize your notes into sections and pages, sync data across different platforms, and easily integrate files from your Microsoft account. Notes can be combinations of typed text, images, files, and drawings.
The main catch is that the Android version of OneNote doesn't fully support everything in the native desktop app, so if you use complex formatting on your PC, some of those changes may not carry over to mobile.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
UPDATE: 2022/01/04 10:28am PST BY MATT SHOLTZ
More apps for 2022
We've added the following three apps for 2022 and edited the list a bit to make it easier to parse.
- Amazon for Tablets
- Feedly
- Amazon Kindle
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