This week’s edition of our Apps of the Week roundup features a cool new rocket launch AR experience, an app for ordering good food to go, and a photo editor with a unique twist. And as always, we’ve selected two great new games for you to check out.
321 Launch
USA Today delivers a best-in-class AR hologram rocket launch experience in its new 321 Launch app. During a live launch, watch an AR rocket liftoff from any flat surface, as an animated hologram shows you what the actual rocket is doing in real time. You can watch live video coverage of a launch with commentary, or you can build your own rocket and launch it into space. I know my interest in space travel has been reinvigorated by the recent SpaceX activity, so this app is very timely for me.
ChowNow
The best restaurants, tastiest food, and most talented chefs — wherever you are, whenever you’re hungry. Order food for takeout or delivery with ChowNow and bring the restaurant experience to you. I know there are several apps out there that do this already, but what stuck out to me about this one is its intuitive UI, the helpful ‘Browse Top Cuisines’ section, Apple Pay support, and the fact that its available in most major US cities.
Insta Toon
Now I know what you’re thinking, oh great, another photo editor. But check out those screenshots! Insta Toon features some very unique sketch, comic and watercolor filters to give your snapshots a distinctive look. Load photos from your Camera roll, or take pictures in the app in real-time. There are different resolutions to choose from and you can save your work as a video, GIF or Live Photo. The app itself is free, but there is a $4 IAP that unlocks all filters and premium features.
Kingpin Bowling
The scene: 1979 Iowa State Bowling Championship. Prime-time is your middle name, and the pressure is right up your alley. It’s down to this: Munson, McCracken, The Jesus, and you. Let’s do this. Kingpin Bowling is an endless arcade bowling game with a bevy of cute and clever characters to keep you dancing on the tips of your bowling shoes. Avoid giant hotdogs, gargantuan soda pops, oversized clipboards, massive pencils, flying popcorn, and a few surprises, all while knocking down as many pins as possible. The game itself is free, but a single $2 IAP removes the annoying ads.
Slashy Chords: Guitar Warriors
Protect the world of Harmony from the monstrous hordes of dissonance with the power of music! Play a real guitar or strum a screen guitar to defeat the forces of discord. There is a world woven from music, whose very air stirs alive with melody: Harmony. Beautiful and wondrous is this world, yet its very existence is imperiled as monsters of dissonance have come to conquer and engulf everything in house and cacophony. A lonely hero, armed only with a guitar and his courage, fights a desperate battle to save the world from this dissonant horde. Again, the game is free here, but there are IAPs.
Other app news to check out
- Under Armour announces MyFitnessPal data breach of 150 million accounts
- 1Password 7.0 for Mac brings enhanced sidebar, drag and drop, pop-out items & more
- Twitterrific picks up support for tweeting videos, muted accounts, new muffling options & more
- iWork apps updated with Apple Pencil support, book creation, Smart Annotations & much more
- GarageBand for iOS gains TrueDepth camera control over musical effects & more
- Apple updates Clips app with new selfie scenes, animated stickers & much more