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12 best personal assistant apps for Android
Personal Assistant apps have been around for a while. However, it wasn’t until Siri that they became a really big deal. We now have tons of options in the space, including offerings from Google, Microsoft, and SoundHound, among others. It’s an interesting space to be in right now. You can take advantage as well with the best personal assistant apps for Android. Let’s get started.
For the most part, we recommend Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, as they are the top of the pantheon along with Siri on iOS. You can also get Google Home and Amazon Alexa smart-home products for integration with your house. We also said goodbye to Cortana in 2019, so it obviously no longer on the list.
The best personal assistant apps for Android
Amazon Alexa
Price: Free
Amazon Alexa is a great personal assistant. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to get a hold of. It requires an Amazon Fire device or an Amazon Echo device. The app on Android is mostly just a controller for the devices. Alexa can do web searches, integrate with smart home stuff, and even order pizza! Its device restrictions are by far the worst part of it. Otherwise, this is right up there with Google Assistant as the best of the best. We recommend it for sure.
Bixby
Price: Free
Bixby is Samsung’s personal assistant app. It’s only available on Samsung devices. Otherwise, it’s surprisingly decent. It does web searches, downloads apps from Google Play, and has direct support for a variety of available apps. It also supports smart home tech as long as you get Samsung’s proprietary hub. It’s only about a year old. However, it’s still better than most other options. Those with Samsung devices should try this one for sure. We’re not sure if Samsung plans on opening this up to any other devices. It might be nice if they did.
DataBot
Price: Free / In-app purchases ($0.99 – $16.99 per item)
DataBot is a slightly above-average personal assistant app. It features cross-platform support. You also get some basic personal assistant stuff, some customization features, and even a chatbot. It doesn’t come close to the functionality of Google Assistant, Siri, or even Cortana or Bixby. However, it’s a simpler, entertaining solution for those who like that. It can even tell jokes, riddles, and other goofy stuff like that. The app isn’t bad, but it’s not mind-blowing either. The app is free with some optional in-app purchases.
Extreme Voice Assistant
Price: Free / In-app purchases ($0.99 – $4.49 per item)
Extreme is a reasonably okay personal assistant app. It can do basic stuff like Google searches, help you take selfies, search for directions, and find news. It also tries to protect your privacy. All of your conversations with Extreme take place on your phone and the data automatically deletes if you uninstall the app. There are some limitations and some commands require some manual input. In short, it’s not as good as Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. Hopefully, the developers keep working on it.
Google Assistant
Price: Free
Google Assistant is pretty much the undisputed champion of personal assistant apps on Android. It comes with a metric ton of features which includes the basics, more advanced stuff like anticipating your needs, activation from anywhere, Google Now on Tap, and a lot more. It even integrates with some smart home stuff like Philips Hue lights. It’s not enough that this app is solid as a brick wall but it’s also updated on an almost constant basis by Google which seems to only add to its stability and range of features. If your device has Google Play Services, you probably already have this installed which means you just have to turn it on. You can also get Google Now Launcher which puts Google Now at the forefront of your device interactions.
Hound
Price: Free / In-app purchases ($0.99 – $19.99 per item)
Hound is another one of the upcoming personal assistant apps alongside Cortana. SoundHound made this one a couple of years ago. It’s coming along okay. The basics are all covered here and the app includes some advanced stuff like a mortgage calculator, integrated Expedia support for hotel booking, and the SoundHound Now which opens a sing/hum music search. You can even play interactive games like Hangman. It’s only for United States residents right now, but it is out of beta and ready for public consumption. It is still a bit buggy though, so do beware of that.
ELSA
Price: Free / In-app purchases ($0.99 – $159.00 per item)
ELSA stands for English Learning Speech Assistant. It is a personal assistant app available for Android devices that helps you master the English language with the help of AI. Not only can this help you with your writing skills, but the main part it focuses on is speech, especially correct pronunciation. It supports more than 45 languages. It also helps you get a proficiency score if you want to take IELTS or TOEFL. There are over 7,000 AI-generated learning activities, so you know you’re getting the best.
Snpid
Price: Free / In-app purchases ($8.99 – $83.90 per item)
Snipd is a different kind of personal assistant; it differs from the rest on our list. This one is a podcast player that’s integrated with AI. This one helps you highlight, summarize, and even take notes from podcasts so that you can efficiently absorb and categorize all the knowledge that you’ve been provided. This app will help you get transcripts, summaries, and even the main takeaways of any podcast you listen to.
Socratic by Google
Price: Free
Have you ever wanted a personal assistant to help you with homework? Well, your search is over because Socratic by Google is now available. Socratic is a learning app that was developed by Google with the help of AI. It isn’t a cheat sheet; rather, it helps you clear up your concepts in the easiest way possible. You can take pictures of the questions you need help with, type them, or search the subjects for answers. Speech recognition is also supported. Currently, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, biology, chemistry, physics, history, and literature are available.
To do list apps
Price: Free
To-do list apps do many of the same things as personal assistant apps. They help you manage your time by giving you reminders and scheduling meetings, and they can even work as a calendar. You obviously won’t get smart home integration and some more complex features. However, you can pair these apps with other apps to suit your needs. Todoist, TickTick, and Gtasks are good options. We have our best list linked above if you want to see more!
Calendar apps
Price: Free
Calendar apps are the original personal assistants on mobile. You know how these work. You open the calendar, choose your dates, add reminders, schedule events, and then get to them later to see what’s on the agenda. Most calendar apps work the same way as to-do-list apps, with some extras around the edges. It’s also a good route to go if you just need something simple. We have our list of the best calendar apps linked to the button just below.
Other OEM AI assistant apps
Price: Free
Other OEMs are considering or actively developing AI assistants for their smartphones. Some examples include Huawei and Xiaomi. These are more or less like Bixby. They are personal assistant apps that should be baked into the smartphones these manufacturers make. We don’t know a ton about these apps right now other than their development. Some of them come with some unique features. For instance, Xiaomi’s assistant can find photos of you from a certain time in a certain place.
We thought these would be developed at a faster speed, but it’s more and more likely that most OEMs are just going to let Google Assistant be the go-to mobile phone assistant.
If we missed any great personal assistant apps for Android, tell us about them in the comments. You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists.
Thank you for reading.