3 apps that make my Pixel much more fun to use

The Google Play Store is home to a massive library of mobile applications, covering every genre under the sun. Some apps are designed with productivity in mind, while others target creativity, entertainment, and more.

Personally, I love apps that are enjoyable to use, whether it be due to providing an ingenious utility, offering a visually pleasing user interface, or some combination of both factors. Here are three Android apps that make my Pixel phone a much more fun experience from the moment I wake up, to the moment I call it a night.

Groovy – Music Player

The local music player of my dreams

I love a good offline music player — so much so, that I’ve previously compiled a list of my favorite options available on the Google Play Store. One entry that didn’t make that cut, but that absolutely deserves its moment in the spotlight, is an app called Groovy.

Groovy is a joy to use. Its embrace of Material 3 Expressive design principles, in addition to Material You dynamic color theming, make it a perfect fit for the Pixel. In fact, I’d describe Groovy as a quintessential example of an app that’s so good, I’d have thought Google made it if I didn’t know better.

A slick user interface, silky-smooth animations, easy options for adjusting audio track metadata, and built-in support for song lyrics all come together to form an app package that feels refined and intuitive. Listening to tunes is an enjoyable time on its own, but with Groovy, it’s somehow even more fun than usual.

Groovy is available to download and install for free from the Google Play Store. Optionally, Groovy Premium can be purchased for a one-time fee, unlocking extra controls within the mini player, a music tag editor, playback speed and pitch control, and several other quality-of-life perks.

FlashDim – Dim your flashlight

A flashy little LED utility

On the iPhone, it’s easy and convenient to adjust the intensity and even the signal beam of your rear-racing LED flash module. There’s some evidence to suggest that Google is working on incorporating a similar function into base-level Android, but, as of version 16, the feature hasn’t appeared yet for testing.

Thankfully, the third-party FlashDim app is here to not only graft LED flash intensity control onto the Pixel, but to supercharge it with additional functionality. In addition to surfacing the exact number of light levels accessible for your phone model, the app offers quick access to an SOS light pattern, as well as a dedicated Morse code utility.

On my Pixel phone, FlashDim has proven to be a fun app to play around with. I’ve enjoyed typing various phrases into the Morse code text entry box, and having the handset flash its LED module accordingly. The addition of haptic feedback makes for a pleasant user experience, too.

FlashDim is an entirely free and open-source application, and it can be found over on the Google Play Store. It’s worth noting that the app requires Android 13 and above to function properly, as previous versions of the OS don’t support multiple brightness level controls at the system level.

BuzzKill Notification Manager

Make notifications for you instead of against you

Despite its name, BuzzKill is anything but a joy-zapper. The app functions as a full-blown notification manager, adding another layer of flexibility on top of Android’s already excellent notification system.

BuzzKill provides a whole host of options, including a built-in notification cooldown function, custom alerts, an undo button, secret notifications, auto-dismissal, and more. Personally, my favorite function within the app is the Batch tool, which delivers non-urgent alerts in a single, scheduled notification à la Apple’s scheduled notification summary feature for iOS.

I’ve always enjoyed scheduling my notifications to arrive in bulk on iPhone, and BuzzKill offers the perfect equivalent for Pixel. With very little setup required, the app makes my Android user experience a more enjoyable one by cutting out anxiety-inducing beeps and vibrations that otherwise tend to distract me.

BuzzKill is available on the Google Play Store, where it can be purchased for a small single-time fee. Once purchased, the app features no ads, no trackers, and no other data-sharing bits of code. In fact, unlike most modern apps, BuzzKill doesn’t access your internet connection at any time during use.