Good news everyone: it’s the weekend! That means it’s time for another Apps of the Week roundup. This week we have some great picks for you, including a unique language teacher, an AI-infused birthday reminder, and a sharp-looking TV tracker. And as always, we’ve selected a fun new game for you to check out.
Five Phrases
How many times have you committed to learning a new language, only to open up the book or app, get overwhelmed, and immediately shut it forever? Five Phrases hopes to help remedy that issue by teaching you only…5 phrases. That’s right, the app will teach you 5 phrases, from 4 categories, in the language of your choice. Traveling to a new country? Quickly learn essential phrases like “hello,” “thank you,” and “oh my god, where is the bathroom, please hurry.” There are adjustable phrases to help you specify what you need, audio output with localized voice synthesizer, copy and paste for messaging apps, and much more.
BirthdayAI
Boy, they really missed an opportunity to call the app BirthdAI, but maybe it already exists. Anyway, this is of course an app dedicated to help you remember and celebrate your friends’ and family’s birthdays, with some AI jammed in. It’s much more than a reminder app — features include SMS reminders for all major holidays and events, thoughtful AI-generated messages (scary to think about), AI-generated greeting cards, and more. BRB, going to go have AI generate a bunch of random cards like “Happy Hamster Day to my third favorite neighbor.”
TV Forecast: Shows & Movies
There is just too much content these days. TV Forecast is another app that hopes to help you tame that content by tracking what you’ve already watched, and discovering new things to watch. It has all the features you’d want in something like this—TV show tracking and sharing, alerts for when new episodes and movies hit, wish lists for things you want to watch, and a search tool that lets you find where things are streaming. There’s also detailed info with actors, directors and composers, and links to IMDB. If you aren’t already committed to one of these apps, check it out!
MLB 9 Innings Rivals
With the All Star break coming up, fill the baseball-sized hole in your heart with MLB 9 Innings Rivals. It’s an officially licensed MLB game, with high-level graphics, all 30 rosters with custom team building, various gameplay modes, and much more. One of the complaints in the App Store reviews was that batting is exactly like in the game MLB The Show, which is notorious for it’s difficult hitting mechanics. But I’ll be honest, that sounds more like a feature than a bug. The point is, it sounds like this is a real-deal MLB simulator that could be fun to check out this weekend.