Apps are the gift you give yourself, and that’s true whether you’re getting a new smartphone this holiday season, or riding out an aging clunker through 2014. The problem with this gift though, is that there are literally more than a million options. How can you be sure an app is right for you?

That’s how the team at TechnologyGuide proves its worth. All year long, we’ve been combing app stores for the most useful and interesting productivity and imaging apps, many of them free, and all of them helpful. These apps will help you get the most out of your smartphone.

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Android

cloudGOO
The cloudGOO Android app addresses a problem common by serving as a central hub for disparate cloud storage accounts from the likes of Dropbox, Amazon, Box, and others. That makes it one of the best Android apps.

Chrome Remote Desktop
Google’s official remote desktop solution has its faults, but it still provides a supremely smooth way to surf your home computer from an Android phone.

Agile Tasks
Agile Tasks is a simple, attractive and intuitive to-do list app that’ll work wonders for any forgetful or productivity-minded Android users.

Addappt
Addappt has come to Android, giving users a nifty, modern way to keep their friends filled in when they change their contact information.

VSee
VSee is a video chatting app that works well over even the crummiest of connections. If you’re fed up with Skype, it’s worth a look.

Unclouded
Unclouded is a stylish tool that locates and analyzes which files are taking up unnecessary gobs of space in your cloud storage lockers.

Convert Everything
Quickly, how does one convert a unit measured in Vickers Hardness to Brinell Hardness 10 mm C-Ball 3000 kgf with 7 decimal points precision? Believe it or not, there’s an app for that.

Call Recorder
Call Recorder by Clever Mobile does exactly what its name suggests, and is our preferred option for any referencing a particularly crucial call long after hanging up.

Speed Booster – Phone Cleaner
Speed Booster – Phone Cleaner, as its name would suggest, is an app that liven ups your phone’s performance by locating and reducing unnecessary background tasks.

Pushbullet
Pushbullet erases the middlemen that may exist between your phone and your desktop, and its most recent update has brought phone-free texting to the masses.

Mirror Photo: Editor & Collage
There’s virtually no limit to what you can get effects-wise with a basic camera-enabled smartphone and a little bit of bandwidth. A good example of this is Mirror Photo: Editor & Collage, a fun and easy to use app that can take your favorite things in the world and multiply them by two.

Photo Grid
With a current running total of 2.3 million downloads and an average rating of 4.5/5 stars, Photo Grid Collage Maker is among the most popular free apps that let you take all those individual snapshots from your camera roll and punch them up with an extra degree of “viewability.”

Camera ZOOM FX
When it comes to measuring the all-important bang-for-buck ratio, you may find Camera ZOOM FX by Androidslide is worth a lot more than the nominal download fee.

Fragment
Fragment (which was recently made available to Android users after having been an iOS exclusive), gives mobile users the power to unleash their hidden Picasso.

Google Camera
Android devotees who haven’t yet explored the photographic capabilities beyond their mobile devices’ native picture and video shooter should take note of Google Camera.

Photo Editor
Freebie photo editing apps are a dime a dozen, but few manage to achieve a good blend of fun and functionality the way Photo Editor by Axiem Systems does.

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