Not all of us can have an Apple Pencil or fancy S-Pen to go with our devices, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a stylus to use for work and play. In fact, capacitive styli are pretty cheap these days and are really quite good for highlighting stuff, playing games, handwriting notes and more. In this Top 10 list, we’ll take a look at some of the best apps and games that Android users can have fun with or get work done. With a little something for everyone, this should be a fun list for a lot of people, and if you don’t have a stylus, now’s as good a time as any to get one!
Fruit Ninja
Starting off with an absolute classic, Fruit Ninja has been around for years now, and it continues to feel fresh and unique, especially to those that haven’t played it before. Slicing fruit and dodging bombs is all good fun, but with a stylus the game becomes a hell of a lot more fun. A great pass-and-play game for kids and families, it’s good fun to get some seriously-high high scores playing Fruit Ninja. There’s a free version available, but it’s not an expensive game, and there’s a lot on offer to keep players occupied for a few minutes a day for a long time to come.
SketchBook Ink
Autodesk have been bringing more of their core apps to Android in the past few years, and SketchBook Ink is definitely one for the artists. If you’re a creative soul that’s looking to use a stylus and perhaps a tablet to get those creative juices flowing, then this is as good an app as any to try out. It’s got a lot of professional features, and it’s perfectly good enough for creating final versions of artwork, posters or you’re next masterpiece.
Scribble Racer
Scribble Racer is a good game for those that remember creating their own little worlds on pieces of paper. Advertized for the Galaxy Note devices, it will work on anything else out there – as well as work fine with a standard capacitive stylus. The idea is simple, just keep moving your finger or stylus as the game keeps moving on and on, avoiding obstacles and collecting power-ups and such. Good-natured fun, this is a fun game that all ages can easily enjoy.
INKredible – Handwriting Note
INKredible is the sort of app that can help plug the hole for those jealous of Galaxy Note and iPad Pro users. It features palm rejection as well as some very impressive recognition of handwriting. With lots of other settings and tweaks, INKredible is the sort of app that makes it easy to create your perfect experience, and it’s something a lot of people will really enjoy. Depending on how good a stylus you have INKredible can come very close to offering a similar experience to direct pen input.
Hungry Cat Picross
Picross puzzles can be a lot of fun and a great way of unwinding at the end of a long, long day. They’re also something that not a lot of people will have tried these days. These are easy enough to play through with your finger, but with a stylus the whole exercise is a lot more fun and a little more therapeutic, too. Happy Cat Picross is a good-looking picross game and one of the more light-hearted versions out there.
Word Search
While this Word Search app doesn’t actually let you write anything, dragging a line with a stylus of some sort is a lot better than smudging your screen silly. There are few thrills here, just a good-natured word search app that gets the job done regardless of whether or not you’re on a smartphone or tablet. While this might not be for everyone, for those that like a slower pace in life, this has a lot on offer.
Draw Rider
Draw Rider is another classic that some of our readers might remember playing on their PCs when they were supposed to be doing work. As a game, this works totally on its own and without the need for a stylus or anything like that, but when players want to create their own stages, they’ll need to bust out that stylus to draw some cool lines and create some fun jumps. A classic that should appeal to new users and old, Draw Rider is worth checking out.
Artecture Draw, Sketch, Paint
This is an app that will only really appeal to Galaxy Note users, but it’s one that we’re including here because of how powerful this free app from Samsung can be. This is the sort of app that will be perfect for budding artists, and it not only has all sorts of pens and brushes, but other tools to help simplify the process of creating a proper piece of art. All of this, and it’s free to download and use.
Draw a Stickman: EPIC 2
This is a game for those that always spent time drawing simple-looking stickman figures and imagining a whole world and personality behind a simple drawing. This is the new version of Draw a Stickman EPIC, and it has improved graphics with added charm and a lot more gameplay for people to get involved with. While there’s no need for a stylus here, drawing a stickman with a pen-type of object will feel a lot more familiar.
Bamboo Paper
Bamboo Paper is a free Android app that has come a long way since it was first launched to help Wacom sell some of their fairly decent stylus products. Since then, it’s become more than just a boring notepad, and can even be used to get a little work done in terms of notes and projects. Some of the extra features do require some sort of payment however, which can be a little annoying, but it’s not the end of the world, and the core app is totally free and will work on anything.