I imagine that in sunny Southern California, our resident app enthusiast Lory is enjoying a well-deserved break at Disneyland over the Memorial Day weekend. In her absence, I have volunteered to take over our weekly apps of the week column. I certainly picked a good time to fill in, because if you’ve been following my daily App Recap roundup, you’ll know that Thursday was an action-packed day with over a half-dozen noteworthy new apps. See which apps top our list this week…Â
Ruzzle Adventure
Take your puzzle solving abilities to the next level with Ruzzle Adventure, a new game where you must escape rising water by solving mind-boggling word puzzles across hundreds of fun and unique game modes. The game features leaderboards for you to compete with friends, boosters to help with challenging levels, several different worlds and more. Ruzzle Adventure is free on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, with in-app purchases available.
Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past
To coincide with the release of the X-Men: Days of Future Past movie in theaters this weekend, comic book publisher Marvel has released Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past for iPhone and iPad. The game features all of your favorite X-Men characters, allowing you to play as Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Cyclops or Scarlet Witch as you fight for the future of mutant and human kind. Uncanny X-Men is $2.99 for iPhone and iPad, with no in-app purchases.
Notifyr
Notifyr allows you to receive iOS notifications directly on your Mac. Apple already offers this functionality on OS X Mavericks, but it is limited to Messages and a small number of other stock apps. With this app, you can get notifications pushed to your Mac for Instagram, WhatsApp and any other app. Since the app makes use of Bluetooth LE, you will need at least an iPhone 4S and one of the Macs outlined in the screenshot below. Notifyr is $3.99 for iPhone.
Dragons: Rise of Berk
Dragons: Rise of Berk is quietly rising up the App Store charts, ranking number one in over 60 countries and getting featured by Apple this week. In the game, you rescue, hatch and train your favorite DreamWorks dragons, and then explore unchartered lands in a vast viking world. There are over 25 unique islands to explore and several missions to be completed. Dragons: Rise of Berk is free on the App Store and is a universal app for iPhone and iPad.
Elevate
Elevate is another app that Apple has promoted on the App Store this week, and for good reason. The brain training app helps you to improve your focus, speaking skills, processing speed, precision, comprehension and more. The app provides detailed performance tracking, personalized daily workouts, adaptive difficulty progression, a workout calendar and several other features. Put your brain to work with Elevate, a free download for iPhone.
Globosome: Path of the Swarm
Shifting back to new games, Globosome: Path of the Swarm gets a well-deserved spot in this roundup. The exploratory action-adventure game sets you as a little spherical being that has lost its swarm; however, feeding on the natural environment surrounding you allows you to replicate into your own swarm and accomplish things that would be impossible alone. Globosome: Path of the Swarm is $2.99 on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
Fresco News
There is no denying that we live in the information age, with every different brand and platform constantly vying for our attention. It can get overwhelming sometimes to keep up on basic things like news, but that’s where a new app called Fresco News helps. By condensing the news into bite-sized captions with descriptive imagery, it makes it easier for readers to stay informed with the latest happenings. Fresco News is free on the App Store for iPhone.
Bounden
I don’t consider myself to be a very good dancer by any means, outside of when I’ve maybe had a bit too much to drink. If you’re in the same boat, here is a new app worth looking at. Bounden is a two-player dancing game in which you tilt your device around a virtual sphere and follow a path of rings. As you swing your arms and twist your body, you’ll quickly realize that you’re actually dancing to choreography by the Dutch National Ballet. Bounden is $3.99 for iPhone.
Want more apps? Check these out
- Fun Golf GPS 3D goes free as Apple’s App of the Week
- Thomas Was Alone review: making friends in a pixelated existence
- Infinity Blade III goes on sale as ‘Blade Masters’ update arrives
- Gameloft posts new screenshots of Modern Combat 5: Blackout
- Apple pulls popular ‘Weed Firm’ game from the App Store
- Bricks – Arcade Game review: a brick breaking game with a twist
- Codemasters publishes new official F1 racing game for iPhone and iPad, F1 Race Stars
- Panzer Tactics DS has been remade for iPad
- Exploratory action adventure Globosome: Path of the Swarm hits iOS
These apps have been updated
- TeeVee 3 premiers: native iPad UI, iCloud/Trakt.tv sync, fullscreen iOS 7 layout and more
- Medium app updated with iPad support, user following, and more
- Pixelmator 3.2 is out: all-new Repair tool, Lock Layers feature, 16-bit channels and more
- You can now create mixes from Spotify tracks in Algoriddim’s djay for iPhone and iPad
- Fantastical 2 for iPhone and iPad gains improved week view layout and bug fixes
- Facebook launches new audio recognition feature
- Apple updates WWDC app with 2014 conference schedule, confirms June 2 keynote
- Day One for Mac updated with search and tag refinements, more
- Google Maps gains faster Street View transitions
- Southwest Airlines app now supports mobile boarding passes in 28 airports
- Amazon Cloud Drive Photos updated with new album view, photo sorting and more
- Kik messenger app gains handy new ‘new people’ section
- Adobe Photoshop Touch updated with new brushes, Quick Selection tool and more
- Mailbox picks up support for Facebook App Links
App Recap
- Monday:Â 12 apps for iOS on the docket
- Tuesday:Â 17 apps to check out today
- Wednesday:Â 5 awesome new iOS apps and more
- Thursday: 13 apps you don’t want to miss
- Friday:Â 10 apps for the Memorial Day weekend