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 way to temporary block annoying apps, a fitness app that’s also a tamagotchi and a twist on the classic Solitaire.
Giffiti
For: iOS
Cost: Free
- Yes, things have become a little crazy on the GIF front, but they’re so commonplace now that there will be numerous apps designed around them.
- Giffiti is the latest GIF creation app to appear and it’s all about modifying your current photos.
- Simply choose a photo from your camera roll, superimpose an GIF on it and save it as a GIF or video on your phone or Instagram/Facebook.
- The only drawback is each GIF created places a #giffiti watermark on the bottom right-hand corner, but that’s not as bad as you would think.
- Still, it’s incredibly easy to get to grips with and as the selection of GIFs grow, so too will your editing possibilities.
Tep
For: iOS, Android, Windows Mobile
Cost: Free
- Fitness trackers are pretty much the same. Count steps, notify you when you’ve reached your goal and do the same thing all over again the next day.
- Tep takes this and takes some ideas from tamagotchi to create something a little different.
- To make sure your giraffe stays fit and healthy, you must go running, walking or cycling regularly. The more you do, the healthier your pet becomes.
- It syncs up with your other fitness apps and devices like Jawbone and Fitbit. The more you exercise, the more coins you earn that can be use to feed your giraffe or buy it new clothes.
- If you’re finding it difficult to motivate yourself, perhaps a cute animal will be enough to spur you on.
InstaSquarer
For: iOS, Android, Windows Mobile
Cost: Free
- We had Instablurrr last week and today we’ve InstaSquarer which is a feature-rich editing tool designed for Instagram.
- The new version of Instagram may have brought in landscape and portrait photos, but there is still a place for the classic square photos.
- This app allows you to post entire photos onto Instagram without cropping or adjusting it.
- On top of plentiful editing features, you can adjust the image ratio to 612 x 612, 1200 x 1200 or 2000 x 2000 pixels if you wish.
- Even with the landscape/portrait change, this is still a great editing tool for Instagram.
ClearLock
For: Android
Cost: Free
- Apps can be incredibly distracting at the best of times. You’re trying to focus on something, but you don’t want to turn them off indefinitely in case you miss something.
- That’s what ClearLock sets out to do. Instead of just turning off notifications entirely, it blocks selected apps for up to three hours.
- All you have to do is choose which ones you want to avoid, determine how much time you want to keep free and enjoy the peace and quiet.
- That’s it really. It’s straightforward and you can’t access your apps until the timer reaches zero.
- For those who are just a little too keen to check every new notification when they arrive.
Sage Solitaire
For: iOS
Cost: Free (€3 for full game)
- There’s no shortage of great pick up and play games on iOS. You have Dots, Threes and now there’s another one to add to the list (There’s an Android version in the works too so you’ll have to be patient).
- Sage Solitaire is a new spin on a familiar game. Your goal is to create pairs, straights and flushes with a limited amount of cards and get the highest score possible. The catch is you need to match two cards from two different rows at the very least.
- The premise is incredibly simple, but like the original Solitaire, it gets addictive very quickly
- The default game is free but you can pay €3 to unlock the entire game. It’s worth it though.
- A great and accessible game that you can play while listening to music/podcasts/radio.
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