Apps You Need to Download If You Own a Chromebook

The future of most tech seems to be heading the mobile route, but that doesn’t mean that a good old laptop is obsolete just because your smartphone has a 3GHz CPU speed. Even with that being said, Chromebooks have taken some of the bulk away from laptops yet still provide excellent amenities and capabilities.

You probably know about Google Chrome and use it as your main web browser (sorry, Firefox fans), and you probably know that Google has released a handy line of laptops running on the Chrome OS that work similar to a traditional laptop, only more mobile and often with more flexible features like a touchscreen. What you might not know is that there is a vast range of apps to use on these devices, so here are a few that you will want to download.

Yes, they’re technically three different apps, but the point is that everyone has a different kind of printer set up, and HP and Canon are the two heavyweights, while Google is the OS and service you’re using, so they all make sense. The benefit of having these apps is that they offer a lot of functionality, especially Google Print being connected to Chrome (which the others can do as well), but they aren’t the only ones. Simply put, they represent the largest share of printer ownership, so they make the most sense as the most useful for printing.

If you’re reading this, you’re either a nerd or you aren’t, but it doesn’t matter because everyone needs a good calculator. For those that are nerds and need a really robust calculator but don’t want to buy one separately, the Numerics Calculator and Converter app is a great choice that will allow you to get your math work on from your Chromebook. With the ability to program in graphing functions and use custom JavaScript code, this calculator app is an excellent choice. Especially useful for kids in school too.

The king of photo editing has arrived yet again but this time, in a smaller, sleeker package. The normal Adobe Photoshop Suite is a major installment, resource hog, and expense but frankly worth it, while Photoshop Express is a better alternative for Chromebooks with less power. The workflow ability is still present, tailored more for on the go work, and has the basic photo editing features you could find in Adobe’s Lightroom, making it more than enough. It’s not the full package, but it’s great for Chromebook users who need the most relevant editing functionality.

If you own a Chromebook, you probably also use Gmail for your email needs, which means you need access to it when you’re offline. Gmail Offline is an excellent app to download if you haven’t already. Caching your data for sending emails and files until you get online is an awesome way for those on the go or out and about to still get their important messages relayed without having to worry about being tethered to a connection. 

Much like Adobe Photoshop, AutoDesk’s sketching and drafting tools are among the best of the best, which makes SketchBook a hard to believe app to add to your Chromebooks repertoire. It’s free, which is crazy in itself, and you can take advantage of the functionality of your touchscreen for brushes, sidebar tools, layering, and customization, so there is nearly no limit to what art you can make. Art students will fall in love with this, not just because it’s free.

Workflow, workflow, workflow. You probably hear this a million times (and have already seen it once so far here), but it’s quite possibly one of your best assets in managing your time with tasks. To Do, along with being a nail-on-the-head name for an app, helps compile all of your to-do-lists into easy-to-use formats across multiple platforms. The incredibly simple to navigate UI should also excite those who are tired of clicking through endless screens to get to their relevant information. If you’re an office worker, student, artist, gamer, coder, parent, or literally anyone - you need this app for organizational capability.

Chromebooks feel like an excellent mix between the traditionalism of a laptop or computer and the ease of use of a mobile device, but they manage to do the jobs of both quite well. Still, you need the right tools to make it worth your while, and the apps listed here will help you achieve your work, play, or entertainment goals.