5 Of The Most Overlooked Free Apps Actually Worth Installing

There is no paucity of excellent apps on modern mobile platforms. Whether you're looking for essentials to install on your new Android phone, searching for photography apps, or just need some tech to aid in your outdoor adventures, both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store have millions of free options that you can download in a matter of seconds. However, the sheer number of choices can make discovering new software a tricky task (unless you're actively following websites like ours that often put out roundups like "The best free Android apps you haven't heard of").

To further aid in your free app discovery journey, we have handpicked some gems that are available on both Android and iOS but often get overlooked because of their relatively niche categories. While these are not necessarily hidden apps, you are unlikely to spot them in commonly recommended lists of popular apps for a general audience. Here are five of the most overlooked free apps actually worth installing.

If you're someone who likes to eat healthy or is conscious about the cosmetics you're putting on your body, Yuka is an excellent app that's certainly worth considering. It can give you the positives and negatives of a product with just a simple scan. For example, if you spot a packet of cereal on a store shelf, you can scan it with Yuka and get details like which additives it uses, how much sugar it includes, and whether it has any fiber. Similarly, for cosmetics, Yuka can tell you about the ingredients and how much potential risk they pose to your body.

The app has a database of over 4 million food products and 2 million beauty products, making it pretty likely that you'll find the item you're thinking of purchasing on it. Yuka also recommends similar options that are better for your health than the one you're looking at, if available. The app also claims that it doesn't receive financing from brands or manufacturers. With that said, it's always a good idea to do a bit of independent research about things you're consuming or applying to your body, rather than blindly trusting the word of a single source. You can download Yuka for free on both Android and iOS.

Although Google Maps can provide information about various public transport options available in your area, the Transit app is much more focused on helping you travel around your city without relying on a vehicle. It's available in over 1,000 cities around the world, and it provides navigation information focused on using public buses, trains, bikes, and even your own two feet. When you open the app, the seamless interface puts relevant public transport information right in front of you, including local buses, subways, metros, and bike shares. This means you don't have to search for different navigation routes as you do on Google Maps. 

That said, you can search for transit options between locations if you want. Transit also claims to offer real-time information, rather than relying on supplied schedules. Much of this information is directly from the Transit community, which contributes real-time data as and when needed. The app is also privacy-friendly and doesn't sell your data or use ad tracking. While it's free to use, you can get a paid subscription for two extra features: browsing transit lines long distances from your location and accessing departure times much later into the future. You can download Transit on both Android and iOS.

If you're ready to look beyond Calm, MyNoise is an excellent app that creates an audio environment for focusing, sleeping, or relaxing. The highlight of the software is the 10-slider customization that you get with each of its included soundscapes, which allows you to have total control over exactly what you want to hear. For example, if you don't want the bird chirping too much in a forest soundscape, you can tone it down. At the same time, you can boost wind or river sounds.

The app comes with a calibration tool that automatically adjusts the soundscapes to your hearing levels. It also has some pretty weird and interesting audio (such as Calm Office and Irish Coast), support for offline playback, and an ad-free interface. Moreover, you don't need to pay for any subscriptions. However, while you get tons of soundscapes for free, you can pay a one-time fee to get the entire collection of over 300 soundscapes. You can get the MyNoise app for Android and iOS or listen to it on the web.

Listonic is a solid smart grocery list app that aims to make your supermarket runs a little less stressful by incorporating several helpful features. For example, it has built-in automatic aisle sorting that groups the listed groceries according to the store categories. So, when you're shopping and reach a specific aisle, you'll typically see all the listed items you'll find there in one group. This helps you avoid zigzagging back and forth across the store or going through the entire list in every aisle.

The app allows collaboration with family members or roommates in real time, allowing someone else to add new items or remove products while you're at the store. Listonic also suggests the more frequently used items based on your shopping history. You can also add prices for items while shopping to get a total before you even reach the register. Plus, as the app remembers previously added prices for the same items, it can tell whether a product has gotten more expensive or if you're actually getting a deal.

Listonic is available on both Android and iOS and offers the core features for free, with some ads. However, you can pay to remove ads and get some nice-to-have extras, like different themes.

Merlin Bird ID is a research tool from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and it's one of the most impressive birding apps. If you're into birdwatching or ornithology, it deserves a space in your phone's app drawer. The software packs several useful features that can help you identify the birds you encounter, such as Sound ID, which can listen to calls and songs from critters around you and offer suggestions for species you may have come across.

You can also take a picture of any bird and use the app's Photo ID feature to get a list of matching species. Moreover, the tech is helpful even when you don't have sounds or photos of the avians you're looking for. It offers a nifty wizard that uses bird size, color, location, and other data points to offer an identification.

Other highlights of Merlin Bird ID include a Life List to store the various birds you encounter and an Explore feature to get information about the various feathered friends in your location. It works on six continents and can identify over 6,000 bird species. You can download the official app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.

While picking the most overlooked free apps, we focused on well-rated mobile options that typically don't get recommended outside of the category-specific or niche roundups. We filtered our list to highlight programs that are available on both Android and iOS and are in active development. Moreover, we prioritized apps that are genuinely free to download, and even if they have a paid version, the free version offers all the essentials.