EACH WEEK, WE highlight five apps that are worth downloading for your smartphone and tablet. There are a lot of apps released on a daily basis, but not all of them are worth paying attention to.
This week features a photo app that applies a ‘dream filter’ to your pictures, a smartphone therapy app, and the return of two infamous villains from your childhood.
Dreamify
For: Android
Cost: Free
- There are many apps out there that let you filter your photos, from basic Instagram to more complicated types. Dreamify uses Google’s Deep Dream visualisation tool to let users run their photos through its filters
- Deep Dream was initially commissioned to understand how neural networks operate. Feeding your standard gallery photos through it leads to some interesting (read: trippy) results
- Each photo takes about 30 seconds to process (you can fill in the time looking at other people’s bizarre creations) – then presto – incident LSD trip
- Available on Android, with an iOS version in the works
Moodnotes
For: iOS
Cost: €3.99
- Many of us use our little bundles of smartphone fun as handy diaries – both of what we’ve done and what we plan to do. Moodnotes is a little different in its aim – which is basically to act as a sort of therapist for the user
- At a basic level, the app will ask you how you’re feeling at a point in time which you can mark using an adjustable smiley face
- On foot of this it will ask you slightly deeper questions about how you’re doing and why you feel that way, and as time passes will aim to help you beat the mental trap of certain feelings that you may be prone to
- Designed by a team of healthcare professionals at Thriveport LLC, the app is professionally legitimate in the advice it dispenses (though obviously shouldn’t be taken as a pure substitute for human interaction!)
- At €3.99 it doesn’t come overly cheap but its aim is a noble one. May do the trick to help beat the occasional blues
Snowball – Smart Notifications
For: Android
Cost: Free
- Snowball has been around for a while on Android, but while its prior incarnation sought to sort out the mess that can be receiving multiple messages across instant messaging platforms, the new version is more focused on filtering out irritating notifications
- If you’ve ever suffered from rage at being told that “200+ apps have been updated” then Snowball could be ideal – hiding such spam is its specialty
- It also removes the need to enter an app individually to reply to a notification or message which is pretty handy
- You can customise what apps get priority when clamouring for your attention, so irritating pop-ups become a thing of the past
Roald Dahl’s Twit or Miss
For: iOS
Cost: Free
- This is one for those of us with extreme feelings of nostalgia when it comes to the fiction of Roald Dahl (which is probably most of us to be fair)
- Starring two of his most memorable creations, the foul Mr and Mrs Twit, the challenge set for you is to fling morsels of food back at Mr Twit (renowned for keeping his spare breakfast bits in his beard for elevenses) to avoid waking his even-more-ghastly wife
- Designed by Aardman (of Wallace & Gromit fame) Twit or Miss certainly has pedigree in its design
- With a well-tuned scoring system this one will suit kids, adults and casual gamers alike, not to mention those of us who have never quite managed to let go of Roald Dahl’s none-more-memorable creations
Find Your VS Shade
For: Android
Cost: Free
- Ever wanted to know what your ideal hair shade should be? Well wonder no more, this Vidal Sassoon branded app has the answer
- Basically the app gets you to take a selfie, then traces the outline of your hair and lets you experiment with new shades
- With 24 shades to choose from it may come in handy before letting the hairdresser colour your hair in a manner you might regret
- Obviously the end goal is to get the user to buy something branded in the end, but it could have its uses
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