5 Discontinued Android Apps That Users Really Miss – BGR

We’re getting close to the twenty-year mark for Android, and over the last two decades, plenty of apps have come and gone. Many have completely disappeared unnoticed thanks to things like GDPR and rapidly changing API requirements, and yet there are certainly more than a handful of discontinued apps that are still missed by users to this day.

Google, in particular, has killed plenty of beloved apps, but thanks to a constantly changing tech landscape filled with buyouts and ever-shifting API changes, there is also no shortage of discontinued third-party Android applications users still pine for.

So strap in and prepare yourself for a trip down memory lane; it’s time to explore some of Android’s most missed apps. From adored RSS readers to cherished app launchers, many would agree that Android is worse for wear, thanks to the wholesale disappearance of many of its best apps and their untimely (and often unwarranted) deaths.

If you were to ask any random Android user which app they miss the most, you’re likely to hear one of two answers. It’ll either be Google Reader or Inbox (more on Inbox below), and Google Reader has been gone since 2013, so it is easily in the lead for most missed just by how long it’s been gone.

In case you are unfamiliar with Google Reader, it was a popular RSS feed aggregator run by Google. It launched in 2005, and the Android app hit the Play Store in 2010 (then called the Android Market). But like many Google products that don’t prove to be an instant hit, it withered on the vine with a lack of updates until the doors were shuttered 5 years later, unceremoniously so, which served to further enrage dedicated users (a classic Google move, something the company is now very well known for with its infamous Graveyard). Thus, Google Reader earned its place in our rose-tinted glasses and hearts as a maligned service that deserved better.

While there are still plenty of RSS feed aggregators out there in Android land, like Feedly and Inoreader, Google Reader had a reputation for offering a clean, easy-to-navigate feed backed by unlimited archiving and a killer search function. So it’s understandable why plenty of Android users still miss it. It worked, and it worked well.

It’s no secret that many users feel Gmail is pretty dated, thanks to a stagnant design that’s both cluttered and challenging to navigate (and we aren’t talking about when it’s not working right). Inversely, Inbox was the exact opposite of Gmail: a breath of fresh air with an intuitive and uncluttered UI, and it featured plenty of handy tools like smart bundles and a snooze function, giving users control to keep their email inbox tidy. It’s easy to see why it had a dedicated user base, which helps explain why it’s still held in high regard despite Google killing the service in 2019.

While many of Inbox’s features eventually found their way to Gmail, such as snooze and bundles (the latter now powered by AI), the magic combo of its modern UI and vast feature set that Google’s experimental team cooked up never fully translated to Gmail, which still suffers from a cumbersome and cluttered interface across its site and apps.

The good news is that Inbox was so popular that a handful of apps took on the challenge to take up the mantle. One such app, Spark, has found a good bit of success by offering “Smart. Focused. Email.” In fact, Spark launched its Android app on the same day Google killed Inbox, a smart move for an email app that was already gaining popularity on iOS as an Inbox alternative. So, at the very least, if you’re still nostalgic for the good old days of Inbox, there’s a solid alternative available that’s still standing.

Over two years ago, Reddit did the unthinkable and pulled up the ladder across its site by adding a charge to its API access, a feature that had previously been free. This locked most developers out. Up to that point, it was easy for third parties to create apps to access Reddit. But Reddit had spent a lot of time building its own app filled with ads, and most likely didn’t want users to avoid those ads by using third-party apps.

Once the API required payment, just about every third-party Reddit app died an untimely death, including Boost for Reddit, one of the more popular clients that was available on the Play Store. The reason Boost for Reddit was so popular was that it was highly customizable, allowing users to dial in their Reddit experience, rather than wait around for incomplete updates. It offered an intuitive design, included several layout options, from cards to galleries, and was easy to theme. It was also an ad-free experience, very fluidly animated, so it felt responsive to use.

While Boost for Reddit is officially dead, the good news is that the developer has created a new app. The catch is that it isn’t a Reddit app but a Lemmy feed reader. Lemmy is an open-source, decentralized Reddit clone with a much smaller user base. The main benefit is that no one entity is in control, but that’s also why there is much less moderation, a major downside. Still, if you’re a Lemmy user who missed Boost for Reddit, do yourself a favor and check out Boost for Lemmy.

YouTube Music has certainly come a long way since its launch, gradually adding more and more features. But before we had YouTube Music, we had a fully featured app called Google Play Music, and fans of the now-dead app still miss its inviting, intuitive UI, not to mention its superb handling of local and uploaded music within the library. For many, Google Play Music was the GOAT of music apps, thanks to user-focused features like personal play counts, as well as its ability to showcase your local collection of uploaded media alongside the licensed streaming selection. While you can upload your files to YouTube Music these days, they are stored in their own Uploads section, separate from the main library. Google Play Music simply did it better.

So even though YouTube Music has mostly caught up to Google Play Music, the slight differences add up, which ensures that Google Play Music will continue to be missed by fans. From AI recommendations that felt more diverse to the seamless caching that saved songs in advance, Google Play Music offered some incredible features that are still hard to find today with its replacement and competitors.

Of course, now that Google Play Music is gone, your best bet for a similar replacement is actually YouTube Music. Many of the beloved features of Google Play Music have made the transition to YouTube Music. So if you’re still missing Google Play Music, but have yet to try YouTube Music, perhaps it’s time to give its successor a proper spin.

While Nova Launcher is still available on the Play Store, it is a dead man walking. The launcher was purchased by Branch in 2022, and Branch recently laid off the very last developer of Nova, Kevin Barry, who was also the founder. So even though Nova is still kicking, and even received a recent update, that update was old code left over from before Barry was laid off. At the end of the day, Nova Launcher is still on its last legs and will likely never receive another update. It’s basically in maintenance mode, and the next step is death.

Still, it’s easy to see why Nova Launcher will be missed. Many consider it one of, if not the best, Android app launchers. This is thanks to its almost limitless customizability. In an age where you can’t even remove the search bar from Google’s Pixel Launcher, apps like Nova Launcher have provided the customization that users and themers alike crave. From dialing in your margins, icon grid size, dock, and scroll effects, to its robust app drawer organization and lightweight performance demands, the launcher is both performant and feature-rich.

Sadly, there doesn’t appear to be a path forward for Nova unless Branch decides to support it again, which seems unlikely when there’s new leadership in control of the company. Past commitments like open-sourcing the app upon its abandonment appear to be null and void, with all work on the project halted. Worse, since the founder was unable to complete the open-source process, there’s no code available to the community, making any hope of a revival or fork impossible. Thankfully, there are other launcher options out there, like Lawnchair, which already has a beta available for its Android 15 build.