...it's full of apps!

[TaRix]

I've been around a bit, but I'm very new to the smartphone scene. I originally intended it to be a glorified MP3 player, but there's plenty of extra room left.

However, there's lots lots lots more apps, games, app-like games, game-like apps, and genuine trash all over, each with their own wretched F2P ad time. I'm pretty sure Sturgeon's Law applies in the Android App store, but I really don't have the time to sift through it all. So, Playgrounders, what's worthwhile?

Some red flags:
Friendwalls. I don't know if they're a thing anymore, but I'm not touching one again.
Incessant microtransactions. I'll never be a whale. Buying something outright is great, but being coaxed to nickel-and-dime repeatedly through a week's pay is just going to make me angry.
Personal info. Nobody's got any business knowing where I am at all times, especially because I have a budget data plan. They don't need my life story to sell me a game. (No subscriptions, either.)
Playing with others. Nope. No multiplayer on my phone. People are all too often jerks online, and there's enough guff in reality without having to deal with it in my free time. I'm not interested in being a whale's lunch.

Warning flags:
Excessive inanity. It's probably hard to really get interesting controls on a phone, but if all I have to think is "Which number is larger than the other?" I'll probably get early-onset senility.
Reliance on RNG. Especially gacha things, but I suppose one of those apps -can- be fun. I just know that a lot of RNG isn't, well, honest anymore.
Skinner boxes. I've already got way too many of those. It'd better be fun to poke that lever forever.
Precision tapping. I've apparently got fat fingers. It often takes a stylus to reliably 'x' out the ads without opening windows that they know I don't want.

I don't really know what makes a good phone game, though. I do like puzzles: word puzzles, block-puzzles, number puzzles, abstract puzzles, the works. I've gone a bit casual, too, so there's some quick-but-repeatable twitch games that might work. A grind can be nice if an ending is attainable (without premiums, ideally.) Rhythm might be a doable genre.

So, where's the fun stuff?

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I personally like racing games for mobile. The device is basically its own steering wheel accessory. I'd particularly recommend Jakyl's Ground Effect* and Vector Unit's Riptide GP Renegade. That first one is a bit more of a small team labor of love kinda project, the second one is more of a legit full size PC game also available for phones. Both are regular buy to play.

I'm pretty sure they fall under at least one of your flags though. You've got a lot of those.

*=There used to be a "free" version of this game (with microtransactions to unlock more tracks) as well as an in the end much cheaper paid version called "Ground Effect Pro HD", which is the one I have. The current Android store seems to have only one version anymore, but it's a paid version, so that's good.

[warty goblin]

Full ports of old PC games can be good. I've got Titan Quest on my phone, and it works fine, though I'd stay away from character builds that require precise targeting, because it's a phone, and phone controls suck. There's DLC, but no micro transactions or ads. Excellent for long plane trips.

You can get XCOM as well, though it's not updated for recent versions of Android, so you get some weird errors with account log in and cloud saves, but nothing that actuallystops you from playing. And it plays ok, the camera was annoying on pc, and mobile controls definitely don't help, but it works.

[TaRix]

I guess I did have a lot of harsh in the OP. As far as paying for stuff goes, I'm totally fine with paying up-to-console-game prices for an app that's comparably fun. Unlocking stuff/"Premium" edition? Not so bad. Loot boxes being the only way to get useful stuff? Not gonna happen.

The 'warning' stuff are things I can tolerate if there's good content to balance it out.