6 hidden Google apps you aren’t using, but should be

Most Google apps don’t want an introduction. Search, Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Drive, Pictures, Maintain — even our dad and mom find out about these. However Google makes much more apps than that, and most of the people don’t know they exist, partly as a result of they don’t come pre-installed. That doesn’t make them any much less helpful, although. If something, a few of these are genuinely better than apps you might be paying for.

Should you love modifying movies in your cellphone, Google has a free cell video editor that’s value making an attempt out. And regardless of the title, it’s not only for YouTube Shorts. The app gives all the things you can ever have to create an Instagram Reel or a YouTube Brief — filters, results, stickers, transitions, a timeline view, royalty-free music, and even computerized captions. You don’t have to start out from scratch, both. There are ready-made templates that allow you to put collectively a nice-looking vertical video in seconds.

And because it’s 2026, there are a bunch of AI options too. You should use these to generate pictures and movies with a immediate. My favourite one is the “Edit with AI” choice that mechanically picks the most effective moments from a video you choose, then provides music and a voiceover on high. The app has solely not too long ago launched and remains to be in beta, so I gained’t blame you for not understanding about it. However sure, I’ve tried it on my Galaxy S26, and it appears to work flawlessly.

There aren’t many photo editing apps for Android which are genuinely good and in addition fully free. Snapseed is a uncommon exception, and it goes approach past that inbuilt photograph editor in your cellphone. There’s selective edit, masking, perspective, curves, and loads of different options you’d usually count on from one thing like Adobe Lightroom or the same paid app.

What makes Snapseed stand out is that it saves each edit as a stack, which means you may return and tweak any particular step with out beginning over. Its largest energy is actually simply how approachable it’s. The whole modifying expertise is split into three sections — Types, Instruments, and Export — so not like most different photograph editors, it by no means feels overwhelming. 

And if that wasn’t sufficient, Google not too long ago gave it a significant overhaul with Snapseed 4.0, which additionally added a digital camera mode for capturing immediately within the app utilizing customized kinds or movie seems.

This one is much less of a utility and extra of a quiet little money-maker. Google Opinion Rewards is Google’s personal survey app. The thought is easy — you reply quick surveys and Google pays you in Play Retailer credit score.

The surveys themselves are normally nothing concerned. More often than not, you’re answering a couple of questions on a spot you lately visited, an advert you could have seen, or simply your normal opinion on one thing. In any case, they barely take a minute to finish.

The app sends you a notification when a survey turns into obtainable, you reply it, and the credit score lands in your account. The quantities per survey are normally small — principally a couple of cents — however they do add up over time. Should you usually purchase apps, video games, and even books from the Play Retailer, it’s basically free cash. The one catch I’d say is that survey frequency varies lots relying on the place you reside and what number of Google apps you employ.

Motion Blocks is an easy app that permits you to create customizable buttons in your dwelling display. These buttons basically set off a particular motion with a single faucet. It might be making a name, sending a textual content, taking part in a video, beginning a playlist, controlling a sensible dwelling system, or mainly something you’d usually ask Gemini to do. As an alternative of claiming the identical phrase or command out loud each time, you simply faucet.

The built-in actions are fairly primary, however you may create a customized one which does one thing particular or pulls up precisely what you want. It’s primarily constructed for individuals who have a tough time utilizing a smartphone, however there’s no purpose others can’t profit from it too.

Google Pictures is nice, however it’s a bit a lot at instances. The backup prompts, the AI options, the storage warnings, the fixed nudge to strive one thing new — all of it might probably generally really feel like an excessive amount of for an app that’s simply there principally for viewing images and movies you took. Google’s Gallery app is the exact opposite. It’s a stripped-down, no-nonsense app that reveals your images and movies and nothing else.

There are primary modifying instruments for cropping, rotating, and auto-enhancing pictures, plus a darkish mode, a recycle bin, and a favorites folder. That’s about all you get — and actually, that’s the purpose. Should you miss these easy gallery apps from again within the day, that is precisely that.

Google Lens is already baked into Google Pictures and the Google Search bar, however it’s usually ignored. It’s additionally obtainable as a standalone app, and it’s completely value having round as a result of it might probably do extra than simply scan QR codes. Level it at a plant, and yow will discover out precisely what species it’s. Level it at a canine within the park, and it’ll establish the breed. Heck, you may even use it to complete your homework by merely pointing it at a math drawback or a diagram.

Past that, Lens is nice for grabbing textual content from handwritten notes, visiting playing cards, and billboards. It may well additionally translate textual content on street indicators and restaurant menus in actual time. Certainly one of its in style methods is the flexibility to establish merchandise and assist you to store. My favourite, although, is the Dwell tab, the place you may merely have a dialog and ask about something round you. It’s the closest factor to having a sensible pal who is aware of nearly all the things.

So these had been a few of the finest Google apps that don’t get sufficient love. They’re all free and nice at what they do. Which certainly one of these are you downloading first? Inform us within the feedback.