The 6 best Android app changes I made this year

I’m very much a creature of habit, which means that I’ve used the same apps for years, even as more alternatives entered the market. However, this year, I decided to switch things up a bit.

While not every shift I’ve made has stuck, here are some of the changes that I’m most happy I’ve made.

1. Ditching Chrome

While I was happy with Chrome as my default browser for years, I started growing more frustrated with Google’s decisions — especially when it came to hampering the capabilities of certain extensions.

However, my initial switch to a new browser on Android was due to needing a mobile browser that supported a forced dark mode. It’s one of the changes I had to make to get my smartphone to stop giving me migraines.

But I grew to appreciate the features that other browsers were offering, including ad blocking (especially on sites that were unusable due to intrusive popups) and better search engines.

I was so happy with the switch that I eventually made the transition on my PC and laptop as well. I now use Brave on my smartphone, while I use Brave and Firefox on my computers.

2. Switching to a standalone password manager

I had put off switching to a standalone password manager for years. But when I switched browsers, I decided that it was the perfect time to try out a separate password manager too.

Switching to Proton Pass went smoothly, and there were far fewer hiccups than expected. It also had a few benefits, like the ability to easily generate a strong password in the app or use the browser extension.

The main drawback is that the free plan doesn’t allow you to save payment information, but this is a minor inconvenience. I also feel better knowing that my passwords are stored using end-to-end encryption.

3. Starting self-hosting

I started self-hosting earlier this year as a way to try out a few services and ended up discovering some of my new favorite apps.

One of the benefits of self-hosting is finding niche services that suit your needs, while also maintaining your privacy. Because these services are hosted on your own hardware, they’re usually free and don’t fall into the same monetization pitfalls as other free apps. I never feel like a self-hosted app is just a free app trying to bully me into a paid plan.

I’ve tried out some well-known self-hosted apps like Home Assistant and Immich, but some of my favorites are newer apps like Donetick and Jotty Page. Even if the service doesn’t have a native Android app (as is the case with Jotty), I’ve been able to make it easily accessible by saving it as a progressive web app on my phone.

4. Quitting apps that no longer worked for me

There are quite a few apps I’ve stuck with even when I was no longer enjoying the experience, though this year I decided to part ways with a few. While I worried that I would miss them, I actually feel better now that I’ve left them behind.

CapCut was one of the first apps that I quit this year. Rather than just quietly falling off my radar, I actively uninstalled the app. I was no longer using it due to the decision to put previously free features behind a paywall, but the ads I was getting through my notifications were the final straw.

I also quit Duolingo after the app changed to the energy system for free users. I had already had diminishing returns in my language learning journey, and this was the final push for me. It was a relief to no longer feel a responsibility to check in for a lesson daily.

I gave up on trying to use Meta’s Threads, but this was more of a quiet withdrawal than a defiant break. Overall, I just stopped bothering with apps I felt like I should be using and spent my time on apps that I actually enjoyed using.

5. Ridding myself of app streaks

I was 555 days into my Duolingo streak when I really started questioning it, but I was around 720 days in when I finally broke it. For a long time, I was hooked on app streaks, and this wasn’t limited to the language-learning app.

I had managed a year-long streak in a mobile game I had played, and was just short of a 300-day streak on Reddit. It has been a tough year, so as hollow as I knew app streaks were, I struggled to let them go because it felt like I was failing at something else.

The game I played was the first streak to fall. I had been at a press event, got back to the hotel exhausted, and remembered a few minutes after midnight to log in. Something similar happened with my Reddit streak. I remember my stomach dropping when I missed my streak continuation by a few minutes.

The Duolingo streak lasted the longest because it had streak freezes. There were days I was exhausted and forgot my lesson, but a freeze would save me. I had tried deliberately letting the streak end, but had a nagging feeling that it was another thing I’d messed up. Eventually, I uninstalled the app and quit my streak.

Since then, I’ve noticed more apps trying to get me into a daily streak. These include learning apps, social media, exercise apps, and even shopping apps. But I’ve sworn off these streaks for good because I don’t want to be stuck in an engagement cycle that just gives me one more thing to be anxious about.

6. Switching to more focused apps

I tried a few productivity apps to try to get my life under control, but often found them too overwhelming. While I’d used TickTick for years, I save its reminders for important tasks rather than things like chores or general tasks I need to complete.

However, as my health got worse this year and my medication increased the brain fog and fatigue I already experience, so much was slipping through the cracks. I struggled to remember what chores needed to be done, what appointments needed to be made, and what expenses to expect.

Eventually, I realized that using a series of simple, focused apps made things a whole lot easier. Rather than trying to add every task to TickTick (and getting anxious over everything that needed to be done), or trying to create yet another Notion template, I chose simplicity instead.

I ended up with a series of lesser-known apps that make my life easier. This includes a recipe app for when I’m doing meal prep and grocery shopping, an app dedicated to chores, an app specifically for plant watering reminders, and a simple recurring payment app.

Using these smaller apps felt so much less overwhelming than the convoluted setup involved in personal knowledge management  systems. While some people definitely benefit from these comprehensive apps, focused apps have been more useful for me.

Not every change I made this year was a success. There were definitely apps I tried that turned out to be duds, or that fell away from my daily routine.

And I’m sure there will be more duds in my future. But ultimately, I’m glad that I got out of my routine and found apps and solutions that worked for me, rather than sticking to what I was familiar with.