About Us

An app changes, and the button you need is suddenly hard to find. I’m Aaron Hale, and I write Past The First Look for people who want a useful answer before spending another minute hunting through settings. I focus on what an app helps you do, which changes deserve attention and the next screen to check. Read the quick verdict, then follow the detail if it matters to you.

Shopping & Deals, Work & Productivity, Electronics & Smart Home and Going Out anchor my coverage. I also cover Android tools for weather, photos, learning and listening when there is a practical reason to look closer. Shopping coverage can include price comparison, coupons and delivery tracking, with attention to the steps involved. I never cover apps for lending or investing money, dating apps or games of chance.

Advertising funds Past The First Look; it is not an official app support desk or a developer publication. I write independently of app developers, and I make the editorial judgments here. An ad is not my recommendation to use an app. I want the surrounding copy to help you decide what to open, what to check and when leaving your current setup alone makes more sense.

What you will find here

• A weekly issue that lists the Android apps we looked at, with a short verdict on each one.
• One page per app: what it does, what to check before you rely on it, the facts shown on its Google Play listing and a button that opens that official listing.
• Guides: step-by-step how-tos, tips, side-by-side comparisons and shortlists for one job at a time.
• Shelves that group the apps by what you use them for, from travel to work.

How we put a page together

Store facts on an app page, such as the developer, rating, installs and update date, come from the app's Google Play listing. The reviews and guides are the reviewer's own opinion. Updates often reach phones in stages, so the version you are offered may differ from the one we list for a few days; the listing has the final word.

Independence and funding

Past The First Look is not affiliated with Google or with any developer we write about. The site is paid for by the advertising shown on its pages; advertisers do not choose the apps we cover or influence what we say about them. We do not host app files, and nothing is installed from this site.

Write to the editors at editors@pastthefirstlook.com with questions, corrections or ideas for a future issue.