9 excellent iOS apps I wish would come to Android (but probably never will)

There was a time when the best apps and games were mostly exclusive to the iPhone and iPad family, but that has been less true over the last few years. Nowadays, many of the most popular games and apps end up on Android, even if they often appear much later than on iOS. Unfortunately, many apps have held off on adding Android support for so long that it is pretty much guaranteed they will never make the move.

Below are some of the best iOS apps out there, and ones I would highly recommend if only they would come to Android. While most on this list likely never will, let’s look at nine apps that I wish would come to Google Play.

Recently, my daughter asked me about getting her an iPad for Christmas this year. There was really only one reason why: digital drawing on the go. While she had considered an Android tablet, Procreate was one of the main reasons she decided against it.

Procreate is a bitmap graphics editor that offers a desktop-class experience. The app is fast, fluid, and fully supports the Apple Pencil. There are certainly plenty of similar apps like HiPaint and Infinite Painter, but neither can fill its shoes entirely.

Procreate has a massive, customizable library of brushes that mimic pencils, ink, paint, and more. It also allows time-lapse recordings of the drawing process, 3D painting capabilities, and so much more. For those concerned about AI art flooding the world, it is also great to know that Procreate takes a traditional approach here and is completely free of AI tools.

The app is available for iPad and iPhone, requiring only a one-time purchase of around $12.99 for the iPad version or just $5.99 for the iPhone version. As much as I would love to see this one come to Android tablets and phones, its creators are a small team and have shown no interest in making an Android version. Android’s larger range of stylus standards also likely plays a role here, as supporting Android would be a much more expensive endeavor for the company.

GarageBand needs no introduction, as it is one of Apple’s most well-known tools. Designed with musicians in mind, the app allows users to create music, podcasts, and more with relative ease. This isn’t just a tool for professionals, as it has enough flexibility for even casual beginners.

There is multi-track support and a wide range of instrument synthesizers, including a host of drum variants. The app also supports real instruments, such as a guitar or keyboard. What really makes GarageBand so impressive isn’t just how many great features it packs, but also the fact that it is entirely free for Apple users.

Those in the Android world have a few alternatives like BandLab and Walk Band, but neither is quite as feature-packed as GarageBand, and the GarageBand layout is hard to beat. As much as I would love to see GarageBand come to Android, these apps are probably as close as we will ever get. Apple is the owner behind it and has no incentive to release this elsewhere.

Overcast is a privacy-focused podcast player exclusively for the Apple ecosystem. The creator guarantees it is free from third-party analytics, tracking codes, or any shady advertising networks.

Overcast stands out for several reasons aside from privacy, including an easy-to-use, clean UI. There are also robust custom playlists with extensive filters and the ability to automatically prioritize your favorite shows. Overcast keeps your library organized across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and even Apple Watch with iCloud syncing.

The app also offers an audio engine with tools designed to make every podcast sound better and finish faster by shrinking dead air without distorting existing speech. There is even a Voice Boost feature that normalizes audio so every host is perfectly audible over background noise.

Overcast is free to download, though an ad-free version costs $29.99 per year. Marco Arment is the sole developer here. A one-man team is unlikely to ever bring the app to Android, which is a shame. If you are looking for a close alternative, Pocket Casts is the best fit.

Flighty is the ultimate app for tracking information on preflight, preboarding, and post-landing. It also provides weather info, check-in alerts, and details of any departure changes. This isn’t just passive low-level data like many of its alternatives. Flighty offers aviation-grade detail like aircraft age tracking, proximity radar, and detailed flight paths. There is even an excellent offline mode here that is great for tracking long-haul flights without a web connection.

What really helps Flighty stand out the most is its live prediction capabilities. This helps you quickly learn about schedule changes or gate updates and gives you reasons they are likely to be delayed. This information often comes much faster than the airlines would provide it. Beyond this, you will also find a few gamification features, like a tally of your flight miles and even a live share feature that your friends and family can access.

Honestly, I am a bit surprised this one has never made the jump. While I understand Procreate’s hurdles, surely an app like this would be much easier to bring to Android. Ultimately, there are other flight-tracking apps in the Android world, but none are quite as compelling as Flighty.

In the past, I used VLC and Kodi to watch local media across a wide variety of formats. Despite this, Infuse is one of the best I have ever used. Not only does it support the most common file types, but it also readily accepts less common standards. Unlike some of its Android-capable rivals, Infuse also offers automatic organization features that fetch movie posters, artwork, cast details, and more.

Infuse not only connects to local drives but also supports cloud storage and media servers like Plex. The app can even use iCloud to sync playback progress, settings, and more across a wide variety of Apple devices. As you would expect, the AirPlay integration here is also seamless.

While I would love to see Infuse come to Android, it is unlikely to happen. The developer prioritizes Apple standards like iCloud and has optimized heavily for Apple’s hardware. Translating all of that to Android would certainly be possible, but after thirteen years of exclusivity, it is clear the developers aren’t in a hurry to do so.

Darkroom is a photo and video editor in a similar vein to Adobe Lightroom, though it’s exclusively an Apple experience best served on an iPad. Darkroom is built on top of Apple Photos, though its edits are saved as copies alongside your original assets in iCloud Photos.

Lightroom is the more powerful tool with deeper precision tools, better exposure handling, advanced AI masking, and integration with Photoshop. Darkroom is a much more restrained experience, though it still offers a solid set of tools focused on more natural, subtle color science and recovery. I will say, however, that Darkroom is much more optimized for the small screen.

What really makes Darkroom stand out is its free tier, which lets you make basic adjustments, add filters, and perform other core photo editing functions. Those interested in more features will find a more powerful Pro tier with pricing starting at $9.99 a month, $39.99 a year, or $99.99 for a lifetime license. That is a pretty great deal, considering Adobe Lightroom charges $18 per month for a month-to-month plan, $11.99 per month if you commit to a year, or $119.88 if you pay for your annual plan upfront.

Bear Notes is a note-taking app that feels somewhat similar to Notion. It offers a much more structured approach here with nested tags and icon assignments to help keep it more organized.

This app also features Markdown support, image injection, PDF attachments, and even the ability to add drawings or doodles to your personal journal. This makes Bear Notes the best choice for those who want a notebook to keep track of important information, recipes, and photos, or to use as a companion for projects they are working on.

Bear Notes not only has cross-device Apple support but also a web app available via a public beta test. While this still requires an Apple ID, it means you can at least use it on non-Apple devices. That said, you will need a Bear Pro subscription to use it. It is also billed more as a companion than a replacement, though you can still technically use it that way.

Halide is one of the best camera apps for iOS thanks to its comprehensive controls and an extensive suite of features, including focus peaking and the ability to take long exposures up to 15 seconds. There is also RAW support for select devices, and you can even select the image processing level. Likewise, you will find a macro mode with AI upscaling tech baked in.

This app is all about photos, as it doesn’t directly support video. In fact, it isn’t even about editing. This is an app designed to take the best possible photos on an iPhone, and it excels in that arena. You will even find that it offers excellent gesture-based controls, making the app a breeze to use.

One major downside here is that this is not a free app. You will pay $2.99 per month, $19.99 per year, or $59.99 for a lifetime license. While it is possible the development team could extend its target someday, there is no sign that this is happening. Let’s be frank: that is pretty much the case with every Apple exclusive that’s been around for more than a few years. If you are looking for an Android alternative, ProShot is probably one of the closest options.

Sofa is a unique app designed to replace notes and bookmark folders with a portal for organizing books, games, movies, and podcasts for tracking purposes. The idea behind this app is that in our busy lives, it is hard to manage our downtime effectively. You might have some entertainment you want to catch up on, but when you finally have time to spare, you aren’t sure where to begin.

This app is strictly an organizational hub. It doesn’t stream content, and it isn’t focused on social media sharing, either. Think of it as a private database you can log in to see where you are and track your progress with an easy, highly organized, visually based system. There are three elements: The Pile, the Shelf, and Enjoying. The first is where you stuff anything that interests you, while the shelf is where you pull things out and place them into a higher priority level. Lastly, enjoying tracks active consumption with progress rings that show how many levels are left in a game, chapters in a book, or even episodes in a show.

While the core tool is free, some of its best features are hidden behind a $3.99/month subscription wall, though you can also pay $35.99 to unlock a year of access. There are no signs this one will come to Android, though Listy is probably about as close as it gets.