X

Find apps for Android tablets (screenshots)

Learn some tips and tricks for quickly locating tablet-optimized apps for your Android tablet.

Donald Bell
Donald Bell has spent more than five years as a CNET senior editor, reviewing everything from MP3 players to the first three generations of the Apple iPad. He currently devotes his time to producing How To content for CNET, as well as weekly episodes of CNET's Top 5 video series.
Donald Bell
Screenshot_2012-05-23-17-31-26.png
1 of 9 Donald Bell/CNET

Not all apps are created equal

Finding great apps for an Android tablet can be a little hit or miss. With any luck you'll get a game or app that's clearly optimized for a large screen. But there's an equally good chance you'll end up with an awkwardly stretched out app (Yelp's app shown here as an example) that was clearly designed for the smaller screen of a smartphone.

So, how do you find just the cool tablet-optimized apps? Here are a few tricks to help.
Screenshot_2012-05-23-16-26-40.png
2 of 9 Donald Bell/CNET

Check the Google Play/Market app

First stop, open up the Google Play store and head over to Apps. On some tablets, this app is still referred to as Market. In many cases, Google will recognize that you're using an Android tablet to browse the store and will offer you an option for "Staff Picks for Tablets" (shown here in the upper-right corner).
Screenshot_2012-05-23-16-26-57.png
3 of 9 Donald Bell/CNET

Staff Picks for tablets

This Staff Picks section offers a long list of apps and games, and you're bound to find a few show-off apps worth downloading. It would be great if you could perform searches within the list, or filter by category, but you can't.
Screenshot_2012-05-23-16-31-06.png
4 of 9 Donald Bell/CNET

Append searches

It's also worth noting that if you're searching the app store for something specific, like, say, a photo editor, including the word "tablet" in your search tends to help narrow the results to something more useful.

To distinguish between phone and tablet apps, many software developers include the word "tablet" in the title of their tablet-optimized apps. In the example shown here, the BeFunky Photo Editor has both a tablet version (shown here), and a phone-optimized version referenced in the lower-left corner.
Screenshot_2012-05-23-16-34-15.png
5 of 9 Donald Bell/CNET

Try the Web store

Another trick is to use the tablet's browser to access the Web-based version of the Play store, which offers some more-advanced search and sort functionality.
Screenshot_2012-05-23-16-36-02.png
6 of 9 Donald Bell/CNET

Search filters

The same search for photo editor can be filtered by device compatibility and ordered by popularity or relevance.
Screenshot_2012-05-23-16-49-59.png
7 of 9 Donald Bell/CNET

User reviews

Once you get to an app page within the Web store, you can look at user reviews and filter them down to just reviews by those using your specific tablet.
Screenshot_2012-05-23-17-24-12.png
8 of 9 Donald Bell/CNET

Tablified Market HD

A more elegant way to search for and discover apps designed for tablets is to use a different front end for Google's store.

One of the best we've seen is called Tablified Market HD.

You can browse new content or sort by category, but everything you see has been hand-picked for how well it performs on a tablet. The Google Play store still handles the purchase and download; this app just manages the shopping experience much better.
Screenshot_2012-05-23-17-33-07.png
9 of 9 Donald Bell/CNET

Tegra Zone

If your tablet runs on a Nvidia Tegra processor, there's a similar app out there called Tegra Zone that does a great job tracking all the latest tablet-optimized games. It's a free app, and there's a good chance that it's already on your tablet.

More Galleries

My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera
A houseplant

My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera

20 Photos
Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra
magic-v2-2024-foldable-1383

Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra

10 Photos
The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum
Samsung Galaxy S24

The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum

23 Photos
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design
The Galaxy S24 Ultra in multiple colors

Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design

23 Photos
I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites
img-0368.jpg

I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites

34 Photos
17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About
Invitation for the Apple September iPhone 15 event

17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About

18 Photos
AI or Not AI: Can You Spot the Real Photos?
img-1599-2.jpg

AI or Not AI: Can You Spot the Real Photos?

17 Photos