Android apps for IT pros have been kicking around for years now. Thanks to the increased size and power of today's devices, these apps are more valuable than ever. Coupled with some of the latest updates to the Android operating system, such as split-screen multitasking, your smartphone or tablet can now stand in for your laptop in a wide range of circumstances.
Whether you need to do some remote service on the CEO's desktop, troubleshoot the Wi-Fi in the conference room or grab a file from your laptop, there's an Android solution.
Here are some useful apps for IT professionals that you should download today.
Microsoft Remote Desktop
As you would expect, Microsoft Remote Desktop allows you to securely connect to any remote PC and access all of its files, apps and network resources along with access to published Windows apps on Microsoft Azure.
Fing - Network Tools
To keep tabs on what's happening on your Wi-Fi network, Fing – Network Tools is one of those indispensable apps for IT technicians.
You can quickly view every device connected to your network with IP and Mac addresses displayed along with device name, vendor and manufacturer. Device names can be customized with a tap and additional notes added. It also offers DNS lookup, port scanning, network intruder detection and network quality measurement, but that's just scratching the surface.
PagerDuty
PagerDuty is one of the best apps for IT as it helps drive customer satisfaction by notifying you and your team of any application issues the moment they happen with custom alerts. This means faster response times and resolutions.
The app will save you from overlapping work with the ability to acknowledge and assign issues as well as manage on-call schedules. It will even enable solving some problems directly from your phone with custom actions like restarting servers or running diagnostics. PagerDuty requires an account, but you can try it out free for 14 days.
Wifi Analyzer
While versatile apps have their place in your toolbox, there's something to be said for apps that do one thing and do it well.
Wifi Analyzer is just such an app, and ensuring that your router is on the best possible channel in the optimal location is certainly a vital task. Wifi Analyzer will show all the channels in use around you and offer a star rating on all available channels.
Tasker
Listing all of the potential uses for Tasker could take days. The app can automate virtually any task on your device. You can set triggers for all sorts of things, such as connecting to a specific Bluetooth device or arriving at a location.
The app offers more than 200 built-in actions, with even more options available via plugins. For instance, you could change your device settings when you arrive at work, have texts read out loud while you drive or create your own voice commands with the AutoVoice plugin. For $3, it's a worthwhile investment and one of the best Android apps for IT pros.
Cloud Print
It's nice to think that we are living in the paperless future. But all too often, that just isn't the case. When you do need to print, use Google Cloud Print rather than a full PC.
Many printers now natively support Cloud Print, and older printers can be added using Chrome.To keep as many things paperless as possible, the app also offers the ability to save anything directly to Google Drive.
Evernote
Evernote is billed as the place to store and organize any information that you need to keep, but many people don't take full advantage of the app's power.
Basic notes can be handwritten, but they can also contain typed text, photos, attachments and more. There is a lot of flexibility with Evernote. A web clipping tool for Chrome allows you to capture any page that catches your interest. This data is sorted into notebooks that can be searched. Advanced features include the ability to snap a picture of a document and have it become automatically searchable. Premium subscribers can annotate PDFs or images with text, handwriting and arrows.
Evernote Plus and Premium cost $35 and $70 per year, respectively.
Termius
Termius is the best secure socket shell client available on Android today. The app allows you to manage UNIX and Linux systems locally or remotely, including Docker Container, VM, Raspberry Pi or an AWS instance. The app supports password, key and two-factor authentication for security. Hardware keyboard support can help you get more done, even when you just have your smartphone. When you aren’t on mobile, you can shift over to the desktop app available for Windows, Mac or Linux.
The free version will be enough for a lot of people, but for $60 a year, you can unlock the premium plan with cross-device sync, SSH key agent forwarding, SFTP client, AWS EC2 and Digital Ocean host import and more.
PingTools Pro
PingTools Pro offers a similar feature set to Fing - Network Tools but with a few different options and a vastly different user interface. The IP Calculator feature helps you calculate network parameters when you are setting up for the first time. The visual traceroute feature shows how data packages travel on a map. It also includes a full suite of network tools, including ping, port scanning, whois, UPnP scanning, Wi-Fi scanning, DNS and reverse DNS lookup, wake on LAN and more.
At $2, this app is one of the most useful apps for IT professionals who handle networking in the office ‒ it offers a great feature set and consistent updates.
Solid Explorer
Long considered one of the best file explorers on Android, Solid Explorer recently got a much-needed update and some great new features.<p>
The basic app is just $3, and includes vast customization options and an impressive feature set that includes dual-pane file management with the ability to drag and drop files between them, support for managing all major cloud storage solutions, archive file creation and extraction plus Chromecast support.
Additional plugins in Google Play can extend the functionality to connect to a Windows PC or remote server via FTP, SFTP, or WebDav to manage files remotely; add Chromecast support; and access to Amazon cloud services, such as S3 and Cloud Drive.
Dynatrace
Dynatrace is an excellent app for IT technicians who need to stay on top of their application performance. It will notify you the moment there are problems in your application environment. It provides real-time root-cause analysis, allowing you to solve issues as fast as possible.
Dynatrace uses AI to identify root causes of performance problems and establish baselines for application performance to help quickly identify performance issues. The Dynatrace mobile app requires a Dynatrace account, but it comes with a free trial to see if it will meet your needs.
Indeed Job Search
Indeed is among the largest job search sites and can help you find a new, better position when you've outgrown the one you're in.
You can search for a job title, location, company, or a phrase within the posting. You can even create a job alert to tell you when a position you want gets posted.
Microsoft Azure
It's the app you've been dreaming about: Microsoft Azure on your Android device.
With this app, you can manage your company's cloud from anywhere. Specifically, it can help you build, deploy and manage your company's applications. It can alert you of potential health issues, check the status of critical metrics and even let you take actions, such as starting and stopping virtual machines or web apps.