WPS Officefor Android

WPS Office by Kingsoft is a mobile toolset for all things business. The acronym stands for writer, presentation, and spreadsheet, perfectly encapsulating the purpose of this program. It is a free alternative to mainstream software packages across smartphone and desktop operating systems.

A reliable alternative

Microsoft Office is a handy suite, but it only runs on Windows devices and sits behind a paywall. As a result, many free options emerged, including WPS, which consists of three primary components:

• WPS Writer
• WPS Presentation
• WPS Spreadsheet

As such, it replaces Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, providing a similar document-creation environment. It introduces drag-and-drop tools for resizing and reshaping paragraphs and also supports several tabs to keep multiple documents open at once.

Intuitive user interface

Kingsoft went for a slick, minimalist look for the suite interface, letting you quickly type and make edits with your fingers.

The controls are intuitive and familiar for most users. You’ll pinch to zoom, tap to select, and drag to move. You can use your finger or the pen tool to draw and highlight portions of the document.

Beyond standard functions such as adding slides to presentations and building spreadsheet formulas, the program also features advanced tools. You’ll find wireless printing, file encryption, a WPS PDF viewer, and tracking for changes within a document.

The Spreadsheet section comes with built-in formulas and chart support, while the Presentation section supports a laser pointer for on-screen drawing. Unfortunately, there are no pre-made templates to create documents more easily.

Free vs. premium

Like LibreOffice, this program is available free of charge. However, purchasing a premium membership removes on-screen ads and adds extra features. For example, you can:

• Extract from and merge files
• Turn pictures to various formats
• Recover and repair files
• Share document bookmarks

The functions are still comprehensive in the free version, and the ads are relatively unobtrusive, but paying for premium takes the functionality one step further.

Our take

Overall, WPS Office packs quite a punch for a mobile app. Everything looks great and runs smoothly, and the program combines well with other tools to make up for the relative lack of features.

Should you download it?

Yes. Its versatility and functionality make it an indispensable tool on your smartphone.