it has now been over 6 months since I last created a best apps not found on the Play Store video, and so with the halfway mark of 2024 fast approaching, I figured it was as good a time as ever to make a new one. And team, I scoured the web searching high and low to make sure every single app in this video was well and truly worthy of a spot. Though it should be noted that you may want to approach some of these apps with caution, which you should do really for any app that is not found on the Google Play Store. But that being said, here are not five, not 10, 15 incredible applications that you cannot find on the Google Play Store. You ready? Let's dive in. And to kick off the list today, we have a new version of possibly my favorite third-party launcher of all time, LaunchAir 14. And we've now actually got two flavors of LaunchAir 14 to choose from: the official version just recently released by the LaunchAir team themselves, or there's also a forked

version, which is the one that I've been using, and I'll get on to why that is the case in a moment. But whichever way you go, you'll get yourself a launcher that takes all the best parts from the Google Pixel launcher, but then gives you way more customizations to go with. Now, the official version actually also comes with support for what's called the gesture nav contract API, which means it works surprisingly well in conjunction with gestures on supported devices. It does also supposedly support quick switch for rooted devices running Android 14, but a lot of users have had difficulty getting this set up. And so, that's where the fork version comes in, as it works perfectly with quick switch. In fact, it's what I've been using for the past few months on my rooted Pixel 8 Pro. The fluidity when using it in conjunction with quick switch is just so, so nice, and it makes it really hard to go back to anything else. I just wish there was a way to use quick switch without needing to unlock.

rout access but regardless, whether your phone is rooted or not, Launch A14 is seriously worth checking out. Second up today is ad-free, a super simple app for those who don't use Spotify Premium but who want some sort of a solution that deals with those super annoying ads. Essentially, you grant the app notification access, meaning it will be able to detect anytime a Spotify ad starts playing, and whenever it does so, the app will either automatically mute the audio, or what's really cool is that it also gives you the option of playing a local audio file from your phone instead, meaning you don't have to be left with long periods of awkward silence anytime an ad starts playing. It also supports a bunch of other apps as well like SoundCloud, ACQ Radio, and D, which is pretty handy. Oh, and while we're on the topic of music player apps, another one I stumbled upon recently that is well worth checking out is Nita. At its heart, Nita is an offline music player app, and it has one of the nicest

designs to go with, including this really cool pulsating album artwork, as well as a heap of really fluid animations throughout the interface. But if that wasn't enough, then the app also features this video playing functionality, which allows you to stream videos directly from YouTube. I'll just leave that feature there, and you can explore it more yourself if you like. But seriously, even without that feature, the app is still absolutely worth giving a go. Following that is Wman, which is this beautifully designed wallpaper app that lets any phone access those incredible dynamic and static wallpapers, normally exclusive to Google Pixel phones. There are a stack of categories to choose from, and as I said, you can select between using dynamic or static versions of the wallpapers. Most wallpapers also have a range of different color options to choose from as well. And whilst it might not be something that anyone else really cares about, I did want to give credit to the developer for all of these beautifully fluid animations that we get when switching between the various color options or even just moving this preview.

around the top here, that's the sort of stuff that I love seeing in apps these days. The only thing to keep in mind is that you do need to download each wallpaper pack separately to get the dynamic wallpapers to work, and some of the dynamic variants don't seem to work on some phones. 
Then we have Batarang, which is a niche but really handy app that I actually now use all the time. It lets you sync battery information across different devices. So let's say you have a tablet or a secondary mobile device that you use somewhat regularly but not all the time. Well, instead of forgetting to charge them and then always finding that they're dead the next time that you actually want to use them, you can instead use Batarang to notify you when they're low on charge. So on the device that you want to track battery information about, you just set up your parameters like setting a specific charge level so that you don't accidentally overcharge it. You can also enable this battery low notification option as well, and then once complete.

you tap on PIR receiver. Then you navigate to the website b. addison.com and use either the browser notification or telegram bot options. The latter of which you should use if you want to set up multiple devices. And with that, your selected device will now be ready and you'll be notified via whichever method you chose according to the parameters that you set up. And as I said, I actually use this app all the time now, specifically for my nothing phone 2 and my Galaxy zold 3, both of which are devices that I use for filming purposes once a week or so. And so with B rang, I'm able to make sure that they're both always charged every single time that I need to use them. And while we're on the topic of battery-related apps, bat is a very simple application that devices running Android 14 can use to see battery health information. You just grant the app permissions using shizuku, and from there, you'll be able to see your phone's battery health, or in other words, how much battery capacity it can still hold.

compared to its original state, as well as how many charge cycles the phone has had since you first started using it. Just keep in mind, it doesn't work on all devices for some reason. Like, I couldn't get it to work on my nothing phone 2A, but it's definitely a super handy tool for the phones that it does work on. Then we have Breakdown Timer, which, as the name implies, is a nifty little app that lets you set specific breaks whenever you have a timer running. So let's say you're cooking something in an air fryer for 20 minutes, but the instructions tell you that you need to shake the tray every 5 minutes until complete. Well, you can use Breakdown Timer to set that up, and you'll be notified accordingly until the timer is up. Or let's say you want to go for a 30-minute run, but you just want to see how far you can run without having to do a specific route. Well, set a break for the 15-minute mark so you know to turn around and head back.

you go. I mean, there are countless examples of how you could use this app, and to be honest, I'm kind of surprised that more alarm and timer-based apps don't already include this really neat functionality. Okay, from there, let's move into some applications that unlock some neat system-level mods for your phone. First up, we have Galaxy Max Herz, which is an app for anyone using a Samsung device that actually lets you modify your display's refresh rate all without root access. Now, the most obvious way that you might want to use this app is to force your phone to maintain its maximum refresh rate all the time, even in apps that don't normally support doing that, like Google Maps, for example. But then, another way that you might want to use it is to save battery, which you could achieve by instead setting the refresh rate to Adaptive and then by limiting the range to between two lower refresh rate levels. Or you can strike a balance between the two by setting custom refresh rates on an app-by-app basis if you like. So, a bunch of options worth

checking out then we have link sheet which actually lets you bring back that classic URL app toose a bottom sheet that was removed with the release of Android 12 a few years back. When you open the app, it'll first ask you to set it as the default browser and from there on out, anytime you tap a URL in just about any application, you'll get this new URL app choose a bottom sheet interface that'll let you choose exactly where to open that link. There's also a bunch of settings that you can play around with as well, including sorting apps by usage or adding a copy and share URL button to the sheet. Plus, you can even completely disable all in-app browsers if you like, which is really handy. After that is NetGuard, which is a super useful application that lets you block specific apps on your phone from accessing the internet. So let's say you've got a game that you love playing that does not require the internet to play the game, but it does use the internet to serve you annoying ads every

5 minutes well, rather than setting your phone to airplane mode every time you want to play the game, which is an alternate solution to blocking the ads, you can just use NetGuard to block that app from accessing the internet altogether. The app does use a VPN to get this to work, so keep that in mind, but there's also a whole heap of advanced options and parameters that you can set up on top of the basics if you like, all of which just make this app such a handy tool for this specific purpose. And then finally, in our system-level mod section, we have LS patch. And for anyone who's heard of the exposed Frameworks, both of which require root access, well, LS patch essentially lets us use a bunch of exposed modules without having to root our phone. It just needs permission to be granted via Shizuku, and then you can go ahead and find any supported modules and install them as needed. Now, not all exposed modules will work, so keep that in mind, but to get you started, I've left

a link to some modules that do work down in the description below. The only thing to keep in mind is that to get the modules to work, you need to manually replace each application that you want to be affected with the ls patched version. So, it can be a hassle, but certainly worth it depending on the patch that you're trying to use. Okay, let's move into some modded social media apps. Now, the first of which is called Tik Tok mod. Now, I'm going to be honest, the steps to install this app are pretty complex where you essentially need to first uninstall the stock Tik Tok app, then navigate to this Tik Tok mod Cloud telegram group, then locate the latest Tik Tok mod, follow the links attached to download and install it, then come back into the telegram group and locate the latest Tik Tok plug-in, and again follow the links to download and install it. And by the way, what you're seeing on screen right now is like a simulated sped-up version of what you've actually got to do. There's really way

more links to click before you actually get to either of the files, so just keep that in mind. But once you've followed all of those steps and have everything installed, you should finally be able to open up the module to unlock a huge range of customizations and tweaks for the TikTok app itself. So you can remove watermarks, hide ads completely, you can filter videos by views or likes, or add a duration bar for every single video. You can even hide live streams or post captions or even videos longer than a certain length. Plus, there's a heap more on top of that. Then we've got Messenger Pro, which unlocks a nice collection of additional features for the Facebook Messenger app. To install it, you need to first uninstall the stock Facebook Messenger app, then download and install the latest Messenger APK. And just keep in mind, if you're using a phone running Android 9 or later, then you're looking for the file that has pi-root.apk in the title. Once complete, you then download and install the M pro.apk file.

and that's it. After you then log into the messenger app, you'll now be able to swipe in from the right to unlock this hidden menu. This gives you options such as message formatting. You can use it to hide read receipts and to disable typing indicators. You can also use it to send more advanced file formats, and you can even lock specific conversations behind biometrics. Just keep in mind that the app does require the Lis patched app to work, and you'll most likely need to disable navigation gestures; otherwise, that swipe-in gesture won't be detected. Second to last today is gtools, and whilst this is not your typical mod application in that it doesn't actually replace the main app itself like the previous two examples, it does offer a bunch of really handy Instagram-related tools that you might otherwise only expect to find in a modded version of Instagram but without any of the risks associated with using a modded app. So the app gives you the option to download posts, stories, and reels for offline playback. It also gives you some tools to

help curate your content like separating a single post into different grid types or generating hashtags for an image using AI. And then possibly my favorite feature is this walk-and-scroll one, which essentially places a transparent version of Instagram over the top of your camera feed. Which means you can then walk and scroll whilst making sure that you're aware of your surroundings. There's a bunch of other options available on top of those as well, but then finally if you are looking for a full-on actual modded version of the Instagram app, well then Hanist is one such option that you may want to look into. The app looks and behaves pretty much exactly how the stock app does. However, as you would predict, it packs in a huge amount of additional features that are really, really cool. So you can tweak the app's theme and UI, including setting it to a dynamic mode which matches your phone's material theming. You can enable a ghost mode, which essentially allows you to browse the entire app without being detected. Plus, there's an unearthly amount of tweaks and

customizations available under these special features and secret options menus too. And that's not to mention all the sort of in-app tweaks as well, like downloading any content across the app, disabling auto-playing for stories, or seeing which accounts do and don't follow you. Plus, a hate more. And what I love about it is that, unlike the TikTok and Messenger mods, Hanistar is dead simple to install. And so, there you have it, 15 incredible apps that, as of the making of this video, cannot be found on the Google Play Store. If you yourself have any other recommendations for apps that also can't be found on the Play Store, then let everyone know down in the comments below. And who knows, maybe they'll make it into a future episode. But aside from that, hopefully you enjoyed the video. Thank you all very much for watching, and I will catch you later. [Music]

15 SECRET Apps You CAN'T FIND on the Google Playstore!

My name is Sam Beckman. I’m a technology YouTuber and Video Producer with a passion for filmmaking.

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