It’s the weekend again, and that means it’s time for another one of our Apps of the Week roundups! This week we have some great picks for you, including an Apple Watch fitness test, a different kind of weather app, and an app that wants to save you time. And as always, we’ve selected a fun game for you to check out.
Beep Test Watch
Today I learned what a beep test is — it’s a fitness test that involves you running back and forth between two markers, set 20m apart. Every minute or so, the next level commences — the time between beeps gets shorter, and you must run faster. If you fail to reach a marker before the beep, you get cautioned, and a second caution ends the test. Apparently this is considered to be the ultimate fitness test, and it’s used by everyone from the military, to police and fire departments. Anyway, this app for Apple Watch helps you run the beep test, tracks your time and calculates your VO2 max level. I don’t love the price, but I LOVE the idea.
Please Don’t Rain
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a new weather app worth mentioning. Please Don’t Rain provides a fun and convenient way to track the weather at a specific time and place. So when you have an important event coming up, instead of just looking at a general forecast, you tell PDR the day and place your event will be happening, and you’ll get details about the weather specific to that day and place. Will it rain on us at 6 Flags next Saturday? Is it supposed to snow the weekend we are going camping? Unfortunately, some features — such as automatic updates — are hidden behind a Pro paywall, but I still love the idea of targeted weather reports like this.
Shortify Saves Time
This one’s pretty impressive. Shortify summarizes anything you read, and it even works for YouTube videos. So when a friend sends you a 10-minute YoTube video saying, “you have to watch this,” boom, Shortify! Or you have a lengthy article saved, but just can’t find the time to get to it — boom, Shortify! It works in all apps, and it’s privacy-focused. It says ‘get started free,’ so I guess at some point they start charging you, but nevertheless, this app is worth checking out.
Window Wiggle
Window Wiggle is a fun, and sometimes weird, skill-based, auto-runner. The mechanics are super unique here — you essentially control a car window, which obviously just moves up and down, and you just use the window to move your game piece up and down through the obstacle course. There are over 100 game pieces to collect, including hot dogs and bananas, relaxing LoFi music, interesting fun-facts sprinkled throughout, and more. This seems like the perfect game to check out this weekend.
App-related news from this week
- The Landmarks app showcases all 3D models currently available on Apple Maps
- How to create unique iPhone wallpapers from your personalized Memoji
- Even Carrot Weather now has a ChatGPT-based AI chatbot
- Mac image editor Pixelmator Pro now lets you create stunning Apple device mockups
- Waze now shows you relevant EV charging stations along your route