Love, Android Style: 12 Free Apps for Valentine’s Day

It’s that time of year again, when love gets an official holiday for couples to shower each other with gifts in the form of chocolates in heart-shaped boxes, sappy and cliché greeting cards and overpriced meals at dimly-lit restaurants, among other things.

Valentine’s Day can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a lot of work, especially for those who bear the bulk of Cupid’s burden. Here are 12 Android apps that ought to make things easier, whether you’re male or female; madly in love or deeply in like; part of a couple or single.

With the 1800flowers Mobile App for Android devices, you really have no excuse not to wow your significant other with a beautiful bouquet of red, long-stem roses or another equally romantic flower arrangement. The app lets you order flowers from wherever you have cellular data coverage, you can search the company’s full online catalog of flowers and gifts on the go and even access your phone’s contacts to pull saved address information for that special someone, so you don’t need to manually enter it.

Download the 1800flowers Mobile App for free from the Android Market

Are you full of love and adoration for your girlfriend or boyfriend, husband or wife, but can’t quite put those feelings into words? No worries, the Love Poems for Android app has you covered with more than 600 poems from “famous” poets. The poems’ text can be customized with different fonts and colors. With a little help from Love Poems for Android you’ll be reciting the perfect verse to your Sweetheart on Valentine’s Day (you can also e-mail or text that perfect prose).

Download Love Poems for free from the Android Market

A romantic dinner is a must for any successful Valentine’s Day, and just about everybody knows it. Unfortunately, that means all of the most romantic and best restaurants in your area could very well be packed with other Valentiners. Ensure that your romantic mood isn’t dampened by a long wait for a table with the OpenTable for Android app, which lets you make reservations at countless popular restaurants and even recommends restaurants based on your location.

Download OpenTable for free from the Android Market

Valentine’s Day is all about surprising and impressing your loved one. Sure, that often means springing flowers or a surprise dinner on him or her, but why not try something a little less traditional this year? The Valentine’s Day Fun Facts for Android app is packed with interesting facts and amusing tidbits about Valentine’s Day and its history. And you’re guaranteed to learn something about the romantic holiday that you can then share with your significant other, to spark a fresh conversation or just get a laugh.

Download Valentine’s Day Fun Facts for free from the Android Market

Mood music, mood music, mood music. It’s just as important as flowers or dinner, maybe even more so. And Amazon MP3 is the perfect mood music companion this Valentine’s Day. You can pick out some romantic tunes from your favorite artists before your big night to stream later from Amazon’s cloud. But perhaps your special someone has a certain song or album in mind. Amazon MP3 lets you instantly purchase and stream music to your Android device or an attached audio component, so you can find and listen to just about any song you desire in a matter of seconds without ever leaving the couch.

Download Amazon MP3 for free from the Android Market

Nothin’ says lovin’ like a corny…I mean romantic, Valentine’s-Day-themed photo frame! Snap a bunch of images while you’re at dinner, the movies or on a moon-lit stroll through the park. Then import them into the Love Frames for Valentine app, and let the good times roll. The software lets you pick from a variety of amusing, Valentine’s-Day-themed photo frames and helps create images you won’t soon forget—or likely share with anyone other than your Valentine.

Download Love Frames for Valentine for free from the Android Market

The Ambient Fireplace app is a fireplace simulator app that provides not only a glowing fire you can see on your Android device’s display, but also some ambient “fireplace audio” in the form or crackling and popping to help set the Valentine’s Day mood. Even if you’re lucky enough to live in an abode with a real fireplace, the Ambient Fireplace software is much easier to start up and “put out.” It’s also guaranteed not start a fire where it’s not supposed to, and it’s a lot less smoky.

Download Ambient Fireplace for free from the Android Market

A quality rom-com is always a safe bet for a good time on Valentine’s Day, and the Movies for Android (by Flixster) app can be an invaluable resource for finding information on the latest love flicks, the theatres they’re playing at and when, as well as reviews and ratings. You can purchase your tickets ahead of time using the app to help ensure the show you want isn’t sold out. And you can view and manage your Netflix Instant queue to ensure you’ve got another movie waiting for you at home, should you want one.

Download Movies for free from the Android Market

Valentine’s Day and chocolate go together like Christmas and gifts, Halloween and costumes. But running to the drug store to pick up one of those heart-shaped, cardboard boxes of candy just doesn’t cut it in anymore—Sorry, Mr. Stover. Thanks to the Find Chocolate! Android app, locating the best gourmet chocolates and chocolatiers in your area is as easy as firing up the app and letting it find your location. The software then delivers a list of the best nearby chocolate shops, along with addresses, Websites and other contact information. You can also find user ratings and photos to help you make the best possible choice. Mmmmm. Gourmet chocolate.

Download Find Chocolate! for free from the Android Market

The least useful of the applications included in this post, Valentine’s Scanner for Android, may also be the most fun. You and your loved one simply place an index finger on the app’s designated “scanner spots,” wait for it to “analyze” the reading, and then you receive a compatibility ranking and description. I tried this app with a few different people and got different results each time, though our compatibility was always relatively high. Something tells me the app doesn’t deliver too many low ratings, either. But that’s okay with me. The scanner is rather entertaining.

Download Valentine’s Scanner for free from the Android Market

If you’re lonely this Valentine’s Day or maybe just sick of your current Valentine, a number of Android apps may be able to help. You can find a pil of online dating apps for Android, but Match.com is one of the leading Web dating services, with the largest number of users, and its app is both simple and free. If you already have a Valentine, but are seeking a bit of variety and or mischief, you check out the Ashley Madison app which, well, is designed to help men and women cheat on their significant others. But be forewarned: Those who blatantly seek trouble very often find it.

Download the Match.com and Ashley Madison apps for free from the Android Market