Just delete them: 5 apps for Android that are completely redundant

Many Android phones quickly feel heavy. The storage space is almost full, and you scroll past app after app that you rarely open.

Yet they remain in the digital drawer because at first glance they seem necessary.

If you take a closer look at the regular Google app on your Android phone, you’ll realize that it already does many of the tasks that many people download extra apps for.

These include weather, QR codes, translation, passwords, artificial intelligence and music recognition.

The hidden features are in the same app that you use to search the web.

According to Chip.de, many people install separate apps for the same purpose, even though the functions are already on the phone.

You end up with duplicate tools for the same task. This costs both space and overview on the phone.

Weather, QR codes, translation and passwords in one package

The first type of app you can safely delete is your extra weather app. Google already has a built-in weather view.

You can search for the weather for a city and get the weather forecast instantly. If you place it on your home screen, you’ll get a weather icon that opens a full weather forecast when you tap the icon. So an extra weather app rarely adds anything new.

The next category is QR scanners and pure translation apps.

Google Lens is available as a standalone app in the Play Store, but the full functionality is already inside the Google app.

Tap the camera icon by the search bar to access Lens.

Here you can scan QR codes, recognize text in images and translate text in real time with the camera pointed at a sign or menu.

A separate QR app or a small “scan QR” helper is therefore only optional.

When it comes to passwords, you can also save an app as Android has a built-in Google password palette that asks if you want to save your login when you sign in to services.

The database is behind your Google login and can be accessed through your Google account settings.

It gives you a complete overview of your saved passwords and a security check that warns you when a password has been leaked.

The standalone password manager from the Play Store is therefore redundant for most people.

Gemini, music recognition and shortcuts to hidden features

Google’s AI service Gemini is also available as a separate app, but you can control it from the Google app.

Holding your finger on the home button or making a swipe gesture from the bottom corner opens the digital assistant when Google is selected by default.

Here you can ask questions, get explanations and get help with tasks without downloading another app.

When it comes to music, many people still use Shazam or similar apps. You no longer need to do that either.

In the Google app, you can start music recognition by tapping the microphone icon in the search bar and selecting “Music Recognition”.

The service can identify a song playing in the room, and it can even guess the track when you hum the melody. This makes a separate music recognition also a good candidate for deletion.

If you miss clear icons for the many functions, you can download the small tool Google Shortcuts Launcher.

It adds shortcuts to the Google features you use the most, so that they appear as separate icons in the app overview.

The tool takes up very little space and can even hide itself from the list of apps when you’re done setting up shortcuts.

If you stick to Google’s built-in features and use shortcuts to retrieve them, you can often delete five entire app categories on your Android phone.

The result is a phone with a better overview, more free storage space and fewer icons you never actually use.