This week’s edition of our Apps of the Week roundup features an auto-translating chat app, AI software that can help you decide where to eat and an educational app that uses AR to help demonstrate complex topics. And as always, we’ve selected two great new games for you to check out.
EarthChat
EarthChat is an instant messaging and social media app that offers real-time translation in over 100 languages. The neat thing is, the translations occur automatically—no need for you to copy, paste or tap. Regardless of what language the other person is talking in, all you will ever see is English (or whatever language you set it to). Now I’m not sure how good the app’s translations are compared to, say a Google Translate, but at the very least it should allow you to communicate in real time with folks you wouldn’t normally understand at all.
Veni
Veni eliminates the “where to eat” conundrum among you and your friends. Using artificial intelligence, the app suggests 3 restaurants based on everyone’s preferences. Then you can make your pick out of the 3 with a simple tap. You can browse restaurants, sorted by price and location, view photos and even chat with your friends, all within the app. I know it seems silly to add another app to your Home screen for something as niche as dining out with friends, but I think the weekend is the perfect time to check it out.
Hologo
This is one of the more interesting uses of AR I’ve seen to date. Hologo meshes education with immersive experiences to help you better learn and understand complex concepts. Imagine exploring a volcano in mixed and augmented reality, or an animal cell, or human systems like digestive and respiratory. The app appears to be geared towards teachers and students, but honestly I think anyone looking to learn new things will find it useful. You do have to register (for some reason) to use the app, but it doesn’t look too complicated.
Zero/Sum
On the eve of discovering a mathematical cure for cancer, your mentor, Professor Claire Liddy, is murdered. Fortunately, before she died, the Professor was able to erase a lot of her formula, saving the cure from falling into the wrong hands. But now it’s up to you to fill back in the missing parts of the equation. As you can probably guess, there’s a comedic angle here that might not suit everyone. But with an 80s action movie-inspired storyline, a green screen with real actors, and a variety of puzzle types and mechanics, this is easily one of the most unique puzzlers I’ve ever come across.
Rotten Escape
If you prefer something that requires a little less time/though, check out Rotten Escape. You must help Little Tom and his friends—tomatoes that have been deemed too rotten to stay in the supermarket—escape the garbage dump. Naturally, the only way to do that is travel up, so you find yourself in an endless arcade game in which you must tap 3 areas of your screen to help Tom and his friends navigate various levels. There are over 20 characters to play with, one-handed gameplay and Game Center achievements.
Other app news to check out
- Flitter, Thirty, Flache, and other apps to check out this weekend
- How to add the 2018 World Cup schedule to your calendar
- You can now connect Waze for iPhone with any Ford vehicle running SYNC 3
- Facebook rolling out Voice Posts, Stories archive and cloud storage for your media
- How to watch sports and get live scores in Apple’s TV app
- Tweetbot 3 for Mac offers cleaner UI, Dark mode & other perks, but requires an upgrade fee
- The best Google apps for iPhone you should be using