Android's built-in features finally replaced these 4 apps I've been using for years

Published Sep 5, 2026, 7:30 PM EDT A Computer Engineer turned tech-savvy. Sanya is part of the How to Geek team with experience in writing tech-related blogs. She transforms complex topics into simple, accessible guides. Her forte is in iOS, macOS, and Windows software. Writing is something she truly adores, and she seeks knowledge in everything she encounters. We’ve all come across those “must-have apps for Android” lists somewhere. But this article is a little different. Instead of telling you which apps you need to download, I’m telling you which ones you can finally delete. Android has matured a lot over time, and features that once required a separate app are now built right into your phone. So, before you hit that download button to scan a document, clean your RAM, share files, or edit your vacation photos, read through this article to learn that your Android phone is your Swiss Army knife. Photo editing apps are no longer part of my phone I still get picture-perfect results As a photo freak, I want my pictures to look aesthetically pleasing, so I used to rely on Snapseed, PicsArt, and Lightroom for that extra professional touch. If my vacation photo looked too dark, I’d brighten it. If someone photobombed our perfect shot, I’d remove them from the frame. Even for something as simple as cropping, I’d open a specialized editing app. Now, I rarely bother. That’s because the built-in photo editors on my phone and in Google Photos are good enough to replace them. I can open a photo from my Gallery, tap the edit button, and find plenty of editing options to make it look better. I can apply filters, rotate, crop, remove the background, tweak brightness, adjust contrast, and even use AI-powered editing tools on supported phones. Whether I’m sending my photos to our family group or uploading them to Instagram, I can make the necessary changes in seconds and move on. My brother still ignores the built-in editor because he is a professional and continues using those complex editing apps. My camera replaced two apps Scanning is now just a click away Credit: Bertel King / How-To Geek You can't escape QR codes—they’re everywhere in this digital world. I can’t remember the last time I typed a website address from scratch. A quick QR scan usually gets me where I need to go, whether I’m opening a restaurant menu, checking my ticket, or making a payment. It’s funny how a tiny square of black-and-white pixels has become a shortcut to almost everything. Instead of opening a third-party app, I just point my camera at the QR code, tap the notification that pops up, and I’m done. So, if you have a QR scanner app taking up your phone’s storage, it’s probably time to let it go. Your camera does that job for you. I’ve made the same mistake with document scanning. Remember CamScanner? I used to open it every single day at work when I needed to turn a paper document into a PDF. Now I use my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6’s camera for quick document scans. For non-Galaxy users, Google Drive can be your best friend, thanks to its built-in document scanning feature. If your camera doesn’t automatically recognize QR codes, check your camera settings for a QR code scanning option. The exact settings can vary by phone. I deleted all my file-sharing apps Credit: Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek Are you still using EasyShare, Xender, or Zapya? I was too, and honestly, I don’t know why I kept them around. I used to go through a whole process of finding other devices and waiting for the transfer to happen just to share a few photos or videos. Then I discovered Quick Share, and those apps quickly became pointless. Quick Share really means quick. I just select what I want to send, tap Quick Share, choose a nearby device, and I’m done. No extra app, no extra effort. It becomes even more useful when I need to send multiple files at once. I can select multiple vacation photos or my medical certificates together instead of sharing them one by one. Since Quick Share is built into modern Android phones, keeping another app around just for file transfers feels unnecessary. My phone already knows how to share files, so why should I give another app the storage? RAM cleaner apps don’t do justice My phone is smarter than that I know you’ve felt productive after cleaning your phone’s RAM with one of those RAM cleaner apps. Watching that number drop and seeing all that “freed” memory can make you feel like you’ve just given your phone a fresh start. But today, Android manages memory much more efficiently than it used to. Your device automatically optimizes everything behind the scenes. It automatically manages memory and background processes, so apps can get the resources they need. And when it comes to “junk files,” you can always use the Files app to clean them up. Just open Files by Google and head to the Clean tab to see options for clearing unnecessary files from your phone. So, instead of downloading one more app, I’d rather let Android do the job. Before you download, check your phone I sometimes think Google, Samsung, and other Android phone makers secretly know exactly why we keep downloading those third-party apps. That's why they keep building more useful features right into their phones. Third-party apps once helped fill those gaps, but many of them simply take up space on your phone and can drain your battery. Take a minute to search through your phone before downloading an app for a task. Are you ready to save storage, reduce the clutter, and make your device do more?