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 app blocking, widget drawers and dangerous dungeons.
AppBlock
For: Android
Cost: Free
- Notifications can be annoying when you’re trying to focus on work or something important, but there are ways to temporarily silence them.
- With AppBlock, you can do just that by silencing or blocking certain apps during busy periods, and reactivating them when you’re finished.
- Think of it as a temporary ‘do not disturb’ feature for your apps. You can set specific days, weekends or moments for these apps to stay silent.
- If you try to open one when it’s blocked, it will keep a record and tell you how many times you tried opening it. Something to keep in mind if you want a little perspective.
- If you’re looking for peace and quiet but don’t want to turn off notifications entirely.
Riffstation
For: iOS
Cost: Free
- Do you play guitar and want to learn how to play a specific song? Riffstation could have a solution for you.
- It provides the chords for almost any song you can play, similar to Guitar Hero or Rock Band, and you can switch to piano and, um, ukulele (It works better if they’re songs with those instruments by the way).
- The app uses chord recognition technology to recognise which chords are being played and displays them so you can follow.
- You can slow down the tempo of the song if you’re finding it difficult and change to left-handed use if that’s how you play.
- A useful tool for those who know the basics but want to put their skills to good use.
Snap – Widget Drawer
For: Android
Cost: Free
- If you want your notifications drawer to be more useful or display some different, how about turning it into its own space for widgets?
- Snap takes a leaf out of iOS’s book by placing your widgets, usually confined to the home screen, on your notifications tray.
- Its aim is to free up space on your home screen, something that might already be full thanks to the number of apps already there.
- The drawback is that scrolling widgets aren’t supported yet, but a good number of apps can be placed here.
- If you want to declutter your home screen but don’t want to give up your current widgets.
Breathe
For: iOS
Cost: Free
- An app that reminds you to breathe might sound like a pointless idea, but bear with us here.
- Breathe is all about giving you breathers during your normal day. Things can be stressful during a normal day so a reminder (or four) telling you to take some time out is always helpful.
- All you do is set the number of times you want to take a breather in a day and the timeframe you want those reminders to take place.
- The app spaces them out over the course of the day, and it’s not asking you to take 20 minutes out of your day, just remind you to take a moment or two to relax and take some deep breaths.
- Some people might benefit more if it’s paired with another relaxation/meditation app, but it’s useful if you need a prompt.
Super Dangerous Dungeons
For: iOS
Cost: Free
- Super Dangerous Dungeons is a sequel of sorts to Tiny Dangerous Dungeons, but instead of exploration, you must make your way through different levels to find hidden treasure.
- It’s incredibly straightforward. You just avoid all obstacles, collect a key and make your way to the next area.
- The platforming, on the other hand, is pretty tough. The isn’t a whole lot of room for error and you will find yourself cursing at the screen. The controls are a little stiff too which doesn’t help matters.
- But you’ll blast through it pretty quickly. There are four main dungeons and secret areas that you need to find if you want to finish the game properly, but they’re not difficult to find. Completing them is another story.
- If you’re looking for an old-school platformer much like the NES/SNES, you’ve come to the right place.
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