The best AI apps for your Android device
Artificial intelligence is changing the way we interact with the world around us. Whether you’re using AI to work smarter, have some fun, get creative, learn a language, or something else, there’s likely an app that fits the bill. The challenge lies in choosing the AI apps that best meet your needs while avoiding those with half-baked feature sets and aggressive paywall roadblocks. Fortunately, there are a few excellent Android AI apps in the Play Store, and we’re here to help you pick the best ones to meet your needs.
To begin, let’s face it: many AI apps are bad. Some pretend to be great specialized tools but just rely on the big, known models in the end. Others, often free tools, don’t work as expected. That’s why in this list, you won’t find some unknown, never-heard-of killer AI apps but instead an overview of the tools that actually do work, either coming to you for free or with a fee that’s worth it.
1. ChatGPT
If you know about AI, you know ChatGPT, the dominant AI chatbot on the market, and its underlying GPT engine that is used to power many other tools. Using natural language processing, ChatGPT provides human-like interaction and incredible depth of knowledge, making it an indispensable tool for a range of tasks such as researching topics, summarizing documents, and even composing music. In our experience, ChatGPT does occasionally return factually inaccurate information, and while your mileage may vary, it’s essential to validate any critical information.
Along with the desktop version, ChatGPT is available as a free Android app from the Google Play Store. The free app offers a full feature set and plenty of horsepower for casual use. However, power users can spend $20 per month to get the latest GPT-4 model and priority access during peak hours, when things tend to slow down for everyone else.
2. Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft has struggled for many years to find its footing in the battle for search engine supremacy, but its new Copilot Android app aims to change that by using the ChatGPT engine to power its AI chatbot functionality. Although you can be certain that Google is in hot pursuit with projects like Assistant with Bard, Microsoft’s early and extensive investment in ChatGPT’s parent, OpenAI, has given the company a first-mover advantage, at least for now.
In comparison to the free app version of ChatGPT, Copilot provides a few extras. For one thing, the Copilot app’s UI feels a little more polished, and you don’t have to pay extra to use the GPT-4 model. What’s more, you can use Dall-E 3’s best-in-class image generation capabilities directly within the app after signing in. We think the Copilot app is a must-have download for Android users because it offers a good user experience and a few extra features compared to the ChatGPT app. That said, we did occasionally experience slow and buggy behavior in the app during our testing period.
3. Google Bard
Google’s chatbot, Bard, offers the same baseline functionality as ChatGPT, but it’s based on Google’s very own model. It also takes a slightly different approach, aiming to be your centralized interface for all things Google. That means you can use it to more easily query things such as YouTube videos, hotels, flights, and maps using extensions. For example, when we asked Bard for “a list of flights from London to Cancun tomorrow,” it returned a list of flights with arrival and departure times as well as base pricing. Meanwhile, a query for the most popular cat video on YouTube yielded an embed of a cat plunging a toilet–well played, Bard! Bard has a business side too, as you can easily use it to retrieve and summarize your Drive documents and emails.
For now, Bard still can’t create original images, unlike ChatGPT or Copilot, both of which leverage Dall-E. It is currently only available as a web application, not as an Android app. However, if you’re looking for real-time access to and processing of data within the Google ecosystem, Bard is the top dog.
4. Replika
Source: Android Police
Replika is billed as an AI companion. It’s essentially an AI chatbot with an animated avatar component that you customize during the initial app setup. You can create your Replika’s physical characteristics by picking things like body shape, hair style, and eye color. Creating your Replika friend is enjoyable thanks to the good user interface and fun choices you get to make in the process. We named ours Wavi and set her up as a platonic friend, but if you opt into the paid plan for $8 per month, you can set up other experiences, such as an amorous relationship or a mentor.
Even the free tier of Replika provides a worthwhile feature set that’s unencumbered by bloat. Chats have continuity, meaning you can build on past conversations to develop your Replika’s personality and a relationship of sorts. Other features to enhance experience-sharing include playing games, sharing photos, and having video calls with your Replika. It’s well worth trying out the Android app for a little fun and amusement.
Promising contender: Duolingo Max
Duolingo is arguably the best language learning app on the market, with support for numerous excellent gamification features that keep you engaged. A new premium subscription tier, dubbed Duolingo Max leverages the GPT-4 engine to provide 1:1 roleplay conversations. Max is currently only available for iOS devices in limited regions, in English and French. It’s a cool implementation and one to watch for when it comes to Android.
How to avoid terrible AI apps and pick the good ones
In the final analysis, the best AI-enabled apps on the Play Store are from major players such as OpenAI, Google and Microsoft. Among smaller publishers, you will encounter quite a bit of unsavory clickbait that doesn’t deliver on its value proposition. We’re still in the early days of AI, and the app market has a distinct wild-west feel that will shake out over time. For this reason, we strongly suggest saving yourself some effort by reading roundups like this one to sort through the wheat and chaff before you download.
