The short list for a new phone: what actually earns a place, nothing added to pad it out.
Most app stores show thousands of options for one job. Essential APKs picks the one that does the job well, so setting up a new phone takes an afternoon instead of a week of trial installs.
An app is listed only if it does something a new phone genuinely needs and asks for no more than the job requires. Being useful is not enough on its own; the phone has to actually need it.
Every page here is already finished when it opens, because someone setting up a phone does not want one more thing to load before it is done.
If a new phone needs something that is not listed yet, say so through the contact form. A short list only works if it has the right apps in it.
Anything copied from another developer, unlocked through a patched installer, or asking for permissions its job does not require. A phone does not need any of those, on day one or ever.
Essential APKs is kept by a small group who have each set up more new phones than they can count, and got tired of installing the same handful of apps from memory every time.
An app comes off the list the moment something else does its job better, not when it becomes convenient to make the change.
A new phone does not need everything on it. It needs the few things you will actually open again.
