AppMonster

Summary

Sometimes an app update can do more harm than good: either something goes awry or the whole thing flakes out on you… and everything had been going so well up until the update! Then there are those days when the only solution is to wipe everything and reinstall all of your apps. Reason enough to start panicking? Are you afraid of monsters? Don’t worry, this monster is a real softie: AppMonster promises to help you out of these types of situations.

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Test device: HTC Wildfire
Android Version: 2.1
As of: 1.6
Permissions: Absolutely clean

I bet every Android user has had to go through the kind of scenario described in the teaser—either directly or indirectly. Are you prepared? AppMonster can’t help you avoid these types of situations, but it’s specialized in helping you muddle your way back out of said sorry state.

After starting AppMonster it lists all of the apps you’ve got installed. Displaying the list takes a few seconds as all system data has to be processed: which versions of which apps have been installed, how much space do they take up (including their data), when were they installed, etc. The list’s default arrangement is by installation date (newest apps at the top of the list), but you can change this via the menu if you want (arrange according to size, alphabetically). This gives you a good overview of what you’ll be dealing with.

You can access actions via the context menu of each app-entry, which means you can start, uninstall, and save apps, as well as search for them in the Market, display additional information, or recommend them to your friends (via calendar, mail/Gmail, SMS, Twitter… depending on which apps are installed on your phone). If you’ve installed an app it’s a good idea to save the *.apk file to your SD card.

If you haven’t yet backed your apps up make use of the Save function when you first start using this app, and tap on More in order to read up on the app itself (English only).

You probably noticed the Install option in the menu, right? Well, you probably won’t need to make use of it just yet: it is to be used in sticky situations such as the ones described in the teaser. Whether you’ve just installed an older version of the app that got scr*wed up when you updated it or wiped everything clean—AppMonster has saved everything for you (including *.apk), provided you made backups. This means you won’t have to comb through the Market, but can reinstall apps at your leisure. This can only work if you saved the files, not just the Market links, because otherwise you can only reinstall via the Market, which means you can’t install the previous version.

When you press the Install button the app switches to install-mode: AppMonster scans the SD card for available *.apk files / Market links and then asks you if you’d like to install them.

The screenshots were taken from the pro version, seeing as I recently upgraded.

Bottom line: AppMonster really is an app in shining armor in a lot of annoying situations.

BTW: If you like AppMonster check out the pro version which comes with a few very interesting extra features, including an automatic backup after each installation, batch-mode installation (which means less clicking), and easy search mode.
 

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You won’t have any trouble getting used to AppMonster. It’s designed in a logical and straightforward way that makes it easy to access all relevant function.

The configuration was also designed intelligently: you choose if the app should keep the same sorting mode for the next time you use it, if app/installer icons should be displayed or hidden (hiding them makes the process a bit faster)…
 

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It does take a bit of time for the list to appear—but you can’t blame AppMonster for that, it simply takes time for the information to gather. Aside from this the app runs really smoothly. The current version didn’t crash, expect for one time when I was using the test version a few days ago, but that’s it and I’ve been using AppMonster for months.

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You can download AppMonster for free from the Market. The app is updated regularly and the support is great—five star rating in this department!