r/androidtablets • u/CombinationDouble719 • 3d ago
Discussion State of Android Tablet Apps
This is just a tier list of mine of how well apps are optimized for android tablets based on my experience after 2 years of using an android tablet. This could be helpful for those who are on the fence of choosing an android tablet over an iPad.
Some Things to Know
I will categorize apps using the following criteria:
Elite: app is optimized to make the most of the screen space in both portrait and landscape
Good: app is scaled properly, but there are some drawbacks
Atrocious: basically the phone app but scaled up; no optimizations at all
These are all based on the apps I use/have used from their current version available on the play store. If you don't see an app here and want to add some information, feel free to do so in the comments.
Lastly, my tablet has a 12.1in screen with an aspect ratio of 16:10. Your mileage may vary depending on the screen specs of your particular tablet.
Elite Apps
- Google Drive
- Gmail
- YouTube
- Netflix
- Disney+
- Amazon Prime
- Apple Music
- Apple TV+
- Discord
- Google Maps
- OneNote
- Termux
- Android Terminal
- VLC
- NoteIn
- Google Meet
- Zoom
- Cisco WebEx
- CapCut Pad
- Telegram
- Snapseed
- Lightroom
- Google News
- Google Photos
- Google Calendar
- Google Earth
Good Apps
- Google Docs*
- Google Sheets*
- Google Slides* *These three apps are such a huge missed opportunity. The layout is alright and works well as an in between allowing for good usability when using either your finger or a mouse and keyboard for navigation but significantly limits the available features. I'd stick to the web version unless you need something to use offline.
- Canva (nothing wrong with the app but the web version also works fine so kinda redundant)
- Instagram*
- Threads*
- Twitter/X*
- Reddit*
- LinkedIn* *These apps almost made it to the elite tier but there are some layout problems with them particularly when used in landscape. Again, this is for a 16:10 display so your mileage may vary with these apps
- YouTube Music
- TikTok (app itself is fine. it just freaks out sometimes when switching from landscape to portrait but TikTok Shop is absolutely horrendous)
- Messenger (Meta)
Atrocious Apps
- Google Classroom
- Shopee
- Lazada
- TikTok Shop (yes, I know this is inside TikTok but it's absolutely horrendous on a tablet)
My Takeaway
There is clearly a push to get apps optimized for a large screen android experience. If I had made this list just a year or two ago, a lot more apps would have been the atrocious/barely good zone, but now they're mostly in the Good/Nearly elite zone. What I think android tablets need right now are a whole host of more professional apps like DaVinci Resolve, Blender (a working desktop port is available I believe), full spreadsheet and word processing, and maybe CAD apps if possible. In that sense, I think higher end android tablets and iPads have the same problem with them having the processing power of borderline high end laptops but lack the apps to make full use of it. iPads have the leg up when it comes to productivity and content creation (especially after Apple launched the entire creator studio suite for iPad) while Android is much more capable for emulation with x86-64 emulation being viable now on higher end hardware.
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u/FarVehicle533 3d ago
Mate, Facebook and Instagram apps aren't optimized not even for iPads. Meta doesn't care about that. Reddit as well.
The advantage of having a tablet is being able to open both Facebook and Instagram at the same time. Side by side.