Our top 5 Android and iOS apps of the week
Every weekend, we meet at NextPit to review and discuss my selection of 5 free or paid mobile apps and games that caught my eye on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
Every week, I try my best to bring you the greatest fresh apps that are not data sniffers or endless microtransaction hells. In addition to my own discoveries, I have also included gems unearthed by the NextPit community which was shared with us on the forum of which I gladly invite you to check out when you have the time.
From mobile games to productivity apps, here are the 5 free and paid Android/iOS apps recommended by NextPit this week.
Focused Work
Focused Work is a productivity app for iOS with a Pomodoro-like timer feature. You can create sessions with a custom length and interval to remain focused on a particular task.
For each session, you can set a series of breaks and the app offers a series of presets based on your productivity needs. The app is ad-free and doesn't require an account. However, there are in-app purchases in order to subscribe to the Pro version either via a monthly fee of $4.99 or an annual fee of $39.99. Alternatively, you can always go for broke with a one-time purchase of $49.99.
- Price: Free / Ads: None / In-app purchases: Yes / Account: Not required
- You can buy the Focused Work application from the Apple App Store.
Ad Silence
Ad Silence is an app that lets you block ads in Spotify or Accuradio. The developer said he is working on adding other streaming music services.
The application is extremely lightweight (it weighs in at less than 160kb) so it won't affect your smartphone's battery life too much. The ultra-minimalist menu is very easy to understand at a glance. And the app works well by literally "muting" ads on Spotify (I haven't tested it on Accuradio).
Ad Silence is open source, and does not feature any ads or in-app purchases. You will have to sideload it by installing the APK via the developer's GitHub page.
- Price: Free / Ads: None / In-app purchases: None / Account: Not required
- You can download the Ad Silence app from GitHub.
Math Control
I'm not a big fan of apps that allow parents to control their kids, nor apps that target kids in any way. But Math Control's premise aroused my curiosity to have me discuss it here.
Basically, after installing it on your child's device, Math Control will "lock" said device several times at more or less regular intervals. Your child must then answer a series of 6 questions and solve mathematical operations in order to unlock it. The level is rather basic but what I find interesting is that you can adapt the timer to the response speed of the child. The faster he/she answers and the more correct his/her answers are, the more time he/she "gains" to postpone the next lock.
On the other hand, I find the free version to be rather unsuitable for a young audience insofar as the application displays a lot of banner ads but also pop up ads. You are also limited to 3 sets of questions per day. The Pro version will cost you $2.99/month and only allows 6 questions per day.
- Price: Free / Ads: None / In-app purchases: Yes / Account: Not required
- You can download the Math Control app from the Google Play Store.
Punkt
Punkt or "point" in German is a diary and emotional tracking app that gets straight to the point. The idea is to encourage you to summarize your day in just one sentence, then associate an emotion with it as well as the reason for that emotion (you may attribute it to work, family, etc.).
Like any app of this kind, Punkt offers an analytics component to provide you statistics on your dominant emotions over a length of time. You can also return to your previous journal entries whenever you want. The app is free, it does not come with any ads, but there are in-app purchases to help you unlock the Pro version.
Expect to pay $13.99 for a lifetime license, settle for an annual subscription, or "the amount of your choice" to pay monthly. This is the first time I've seen this type of payment system and I find that to be rather original. This Pro mode allows you to add a photo to an entry, unlock an unlimited number of entries per day, and to edit your previous entries.
- Price: Free / Ads: None / In-app purchases: yes / Account: Not required
- You can download the Punkt app from the Apple App Store.
Peace, Death 2
Peace, Death 2 is an arcade simulator in which you play as a Reaper, working in an industrialized version of the underworld.
Your customers are dead and it's up to you to send them to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory, depending on their sins. There seems to be a lot of pop culture references and inside jokes such as in the first act.
The game is paid and obviously contains no ads or in-app purchases.
- You can buy the mobile game Peace, Death! 2 from the Google Play Store.
What do you think of this selection? Have you already tried any of the apps on this list? What would be your apps of the week?
