Key steps for building an adventure game for Android smartphone devices
According to recent data, over 70,000 mobile applications are released every month. With the innovation in high-quality graphics, interactive environments, and exciting storylines, there has never been a better time to create your own gaming application. As an app enthusiast, there are a few important processes to build core game functionality in a simulated 2D or 3D world. This way, you can deliver unique services, get ahead of the competition, and maximize downloads. Read on to learn about building an adventure game for Android smartphone devices.
Create Main Characters
First and foremost, create the main characters to feature in your Android adventure application. Start off by getting a general idea of your main characters. This typically involves deciding what type of characters your storyline needs. During this process, think about what they will look like and how they will dress. Once you have done so, establish a strong backstory to support your characters. Then, define core character traits, relationships, and qualities. Following these critical processes, you can effectively construct likable, responsive characters for your adventure game storyline. Surely, character development is an important step to building an adventure game for quick Android phones.
Write A Storyline
Once you have defined your main players, write an exciting, fun storyline for your Android adventure game. Start by scripting the major storyline. This includes all the different milestones, plot points, and alternate outcomes within your game. Then, start developing your simulated game world. During this phase, you want to carefully think about the environment’s culture, setting, scenery, and lore. Keep in mind that the world will be experienced from your character’s perspective. Therefore, you need to ensure everything makes logical sense. With all of these core elements in place, you can begin creating a organized flowchart of your storyline. This will help you better visualize any deviations, side quests, and achievements. Certainly, write a storyline to build a successful adventure game for Android devices.
Set Up Your Technology Stack
Next, you need to set up your tech stack with the latest tools, resources, and solutions for Android app development. There are several essential technologies to help you design, develop, deploy, and distribute a powerful mobile app. For example, many teams utilize 3D audio APIs to effectively render three-dimensional, multichannel positional audio. One of the most popular solutions for this is openal, which is a cross-platform tool for use on powerful gaming applications and other audio resources. Leveraging these advanced solutions, you can seamlessly integrate high-quality audio into your Android games. Indeed, set up your tech stack with the best tools and resources to build an adventure game for Android phones.
Code Your Game
Now, you are ready to begin coding your Android adventure game. Writing code and preparing scripts is ultimately what makes your games responsive. Essentially, scripting will help dictate player interactions, sequential flow, and supportive actions. Then, your written code will bind all of these components together. To improve your game’s maintainability, utilize a popular coding language, such as C++, Python, or JavaScript. In addition, Kotlin is another extremely popular option for Android game development. With these core frameworks, you can effectively build superior applications and better visualize your data. Absolutely, coding your game is a critical step to building an adventure game for Android devices.
Conduct Application Testing
At this point, it is time to conduct in-depth, comprehensive testing on your mobile application. Start off with thorough documentation inspections. During this preparatory stage, you need to clearly evaluate requirements and supporting attributes for any discrepancies. Then, you can move on to functionality testing. Essentially, this will help you better inspect installation processes, distribution channels, and operational functionality. During these processes, you can also check for interruptions, updates, and smartphone resources. Definitely, conducting testing is the perfect final stage to build an adventure game for Android devices.
There are a few key steps to successfully building an adventure game for Android smartphone devices. First off, create the main characters and villains to feature in your smartphone game. Next, set up your tech stack with the latest tools, resources, and technologies. Once you have done so, write a followable, exciting, and fun storyline. Now, you are ready to begin coding your application with the best software programming languages. At this point, it is time to conduct in-depth application testing. This way, you can prevent catastrophic corporate emergencies and inspire stakeholder confidence. Follow the points highlighted above to learn about building an adventure game for Android smartphone devices.
Fan of Kratos and his Son? Luckily, these games will let you enjoy God of War likes gameplay on Android
When the PS4-exclusive God of War reboot came out last year, it quickly gained attention from dedicated console gamers around the world. With many mobile players weeping due to such a fantastic game not being available on Android. Well, we have prepared a list of God of War like games on Android that are quick to gain the sympathies of all Kratos fans. Mobile gaming is growing in popularity, and this is a great opportunity to explore an extensive list of games that can give a desktop-like experience even on a mobile phone.
God of War, which follows Kratos and his son as they embark on various adventures was not only embraced by the fans of the action. The game has received sympathies by critics too and even won three Game of The Year awards, at Game Awards in December, DICE in February, and GDC recently.
Top 10 God of War-like games for Android
I, Gladiator
Price: Free with ads
I, Gladiator is quick to catch your attention if you’ve already played God of War. It combines an excellent combat system, mythology, and ladies of guts and blood. It’s a multi-award-winning action RPG game that perfectly reflects how bloody and vicious gladiator fights used to be in ancient Rome.
It is not a typical hack and slash game. It offers an advanced combat system but also opens room for a strategy that exposes your enemy’s weaknesses and allows you to defeat them effortlessly. Beating various enemies enables you to win the hearts of the spoiled crowd, but watch out, being reckless could mean losing them pretty fast, and your head too. The game offers an extensive inventory, where you can choose different armors, weapons, and much more.
While Iron Blade: Medieval Legends doesn’t follow the Greek, Roman, or Nordic mythology of ancient times. the game is set in the dark, war-surrounding medieval times and sports fantasy and action no matter where you go. Your character lives in Europe, surrounded by discord, magic creatures, and countries at war.
The game is not only known to be full of action; it features a console-level graphic with mesmerizing visuals that are quick to take you in. As you embark on a journey of a monster hunter, you’re allowed to explore the fantasy world in detail and pick up useful loot. Keep weapons and armor, while visiting different strongholds, dark dungeons, and participating in exciting PvP battles.
This NEXON-powered game is much more than just a simplistic mobile game. It combines breath-taking graphics, an innovative battle system, and a lot of action to bring a PC- or console-quality to your mobile device. Similar to God of War, it has an extensive battle system, which allows you to explore beautiful locations while fighting vicious and powerful bosses.
There are also different heroes at your disposal. You can pick between Berserker and even powerful wizards. Darkness Rises allows unique character creation, while customization allows you to create the warrior who can represent you or anyone else you want.
Heroes Infinity: Fantasy Legend Online Offline RPG
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
The good news about this game is that it can be played both online and offline depending are your friends available or not.
It may not boast as prestigious graphics effects like the previous games, but it offers a large selection of creatures and bosses to fight. The game offers advanced strategic features that allow you to come up with different ways to fight the fiends, and a battle system that allows you to get creative with different moves to achieve victory. It sports large maps, cities where you can form a powerful team and play different game modes.
Unlike God of War, this game comes with a futuristic setting, thousands of years away from God of War. However, when it comes to battle dynamics and the entire fighting system, this game doesn’t go much further from it.
It is like an AAA title got brought to a mobile phone, with professional-grade audio, outstanding visuals, and great voice-acting to introduce the player into the depth of this game’s world. It’s worth checking if you’re looking for a God of War-styled game, but with a future-proof setup.
Blade Bound is an extremely action-focused game with a rich combat system with thousands of combinations. You can explore an immersive world, hunt in the dungeons and unlock powerful loots, fighting against the scary creatures of the underworld.
The game is rich in magic, different diverse creatures, and it sees a true warrior looking for survival and adventure in an anarchy-surrounded world. Despite being a mobile game, it’s equipped with great visuals you’re going to love.
Gods of Rome is another game that brings beautiful historical information and mythology to your small screen. It boasts a great combat system, surrounded by myths and legends of ancient Rome.
Additionally, the game is powered by mesmerizing graphics and stellar audio to awaken your adventurous spirit. There are various PvP events that you can participate in to restore peace to ancient Rome, but also win great prizes that will help you advance through your adventures.
This game goes to the far East to demonstrate the world of an epic war. Embark on a journey with the dynasties and a powerful military tribe, the Legion which aims to eliminate dangerous energy which brings discord to the world. Explore unique fighting systems, win fights against the enemies and be rewarded worthy.
The game sports mesmerizing graphics experience, empowering audio and a great variety of quests you can complete improving your style. Players are offered to combine three fighting styles to their own uniqueness which they can use to fight their foes. If you’re a fan of Japanese mythology and culture, but loved God of War, there’s no doubt you’ll fall in love with Shadow Fight 3.
Mysterious NPC Sarah accompanies your character to different scenarios as you emerge into the beautifully-designed 3D world and learn different skills. The game supports both hard and easy modes to allow you to have an easier time getting used to the game. As you complete your mission, you’ll be introduced to even more new skills and items which accompany you on your further adventure.
The game offers a total of 145 different stages that you can explore and use to defeat foes. Additionally, you won’t be alone; you can pick among 20 different types of pets that will accompany you and help you reach your goals.
Lastly, the console-graphics experience in-game allows you to experience three different challenge modes – Time Attack, Boss Raid, and Explore Mode. All three of these features offer diverse, adventurous experiences. Depending on which mode do you play, you’ll be able to get new equipment and weapons which you can use in the harder missions. The only downside is that dual-core processors will have some trouble processing the mesmerizing visuals that this game can offer.
Our last game on the list is a Fighting and Strategy Game. It features a historically-rich gameplay revolving around Gladiators who live under challenging conditions and fight for their survival against vicious enemies. What makes this worldwide favorite game different compared to God of War is that instead of traveling alone with your son, you can lead a clan of heroes and compete against other player-led clans.
It also has many strategic elements that make it similar to Clash of Clans. You can build a gladiator village and recruit new gladiators and warriors to go into battle against other kingdoms. You can train your troops and use mythological heroes and gods of Rome to defeat enemies who threaten your empire.
Lastly, there’s a fight in the arena where you can prove your skill and dominate as the victorious gladiator who fought out his freedom, gaining various useful rewards through the game.
God of War was a popular game for a long time, but its last title broke all the records. That said, it’s extremely difficult to find a game as good to match its quality. Aside from extremely detailed textures, beautiful and stellar audio, and a unique combat system, the game is flattered by a beautiful and empowering story that drags you into playing more and more.
Finding a list of games on Android that can match these criteria was more than challenging. However, we did our best in finding details- and texture-rich graphics, interesting lore, and combat system, which is relatively acceptable for a mobile device.
Have you played some games on the list? Which ones are your favorite?
How To Build a Low Cost and High-Quality Mobile Application
There are several key steps to building a powerful, high-quality mobile application for Android devices. The demand for sophisticated mobile applications is at an all-time high. Of course, there is an organized procedure to properly design, develop, and deploy a mobile application. As a software developer, this enables you to challenge yourself with a constant learning curve, inspire stakeholder confidence, and deliver a great user experience (UX). Plus, you can showcase your creativity and maximize your earning potential.
To help you get started, read on to learn about how to build a high-quality mobile application for Android devices.
Choose A Programming Language
First and foremost, choose the programming language you will use to write your mobile application for Android. Mastering a programming language is an essential step in the Android development career path. When it comes to mobile app development, some of the most popular frameworks to learn are Kotlin and Java. Of course, both of these languages are compatible with Android and Google. While both options are supported, they have several notable distinctions. For example, Java is one of the most heavily-demanded coding frameworks in the world. At the same time, Java has been supported by Google longer than options like Kotlin. Certainly, select a programming language to build a high-quality mobile application for Android.
Serialize Your Data
Next, serialize the data for your Android mobile application. Data serialization is vital to successfully exchange information with different processors, machines, and architectures. To help you streamline these processes, you should use an advanced tool, such as Protobuf Buffers. This advanced open-source project can extend to a sophisticated platform for serialization. This language-neutral, extensible platform supports many coding languages, such as Dart, Go, C++, and Python. Leveraging these tools, you can model messages in a professional, structured format. Surely, serialize your data to build a high-quality mobile application for Android smartphone devices.
Create Design Mockups
At this point, it is time to begin creating designing mockups for your Android application. Ideally, you will design a solution that is fairly easy to navigate and use. At the same time, your product should be fairly intuitive for stakeholders and prospective users. By generating these sophisticated mockups, you can better visualize how users will interact with your application’s eventual features. Start off by sketching your application out on paper. Include visual breakdowns of screens, layouts, and core functionality. Then, you can move on to building more functional prototypes and wireframes. This way, you can discover potential bugs, errors, issues, or defects early on. Plus, these techniques help you better estimate tech stack requirements, production costs, and development time. Absolutely, create design mockups to effectively build a high-quality mobile application for Android phones.
Establish A Monetization Structure
In addition, choose a monetization structure and strategy for your Android mobile application. You should think about how your application will make money from a very early stage. In many cases, businesses drive profits from in-app upgrades or purchases. These can be to remove advertisements or gain additional functionality. Plus, you can charge users just to download your product from the app store. Otherwise, you can run a complete eCommerce application. By carefully thinking about these steps, you can incorporate these concepts into your brainstorming and interface design. Indeed, establish a monetization structure to build a top-quality Android product from scratch.
Conduct System Testing
Now, you are ready to conduct thorough testing on your Android application. Start off with comprehensive, functional forms of testing. Generally speaking, this includes system integration, regression, and beta acceptance inspection. In addition, you should perform sanity and smoke analyses. Afterward, move on to non-functional system testing procedures. Typically, this involves performance, reliability, and security testing. At the same time, you should also conduct usability, installation, and localization tests. These will help you prevent catastrophic corporate emergencies, inspire stakeholder confidence, and uphold a strong UX. Plus, this will help to preserve organization, efficiency, and productivity.
There are several key steps to building a high-quality mobile application for Android. First off, choose a programming language to write your Android application in. Next, serialize your data with advanced, language-neutral platforms. Then, create some mockups to visually understand your system. This way, you can better conceptualize how your product will look and feel. Plus, this will help you better make the case for design to stakeholders. In addition, establish an effective monetization structure for your application. Now, you are ready to perform in-depth system testing. Follow the points highlighted above to learn about how to build a high-quality mobile application for Android devices.
Best tools and platforms to build a great mobile app
In 2020, global mobile app spending on both Google Play and the App Store reached $111 billion and is expected to reach $270 billion by 2025, according to a State of Mobile App Market report. This rapid growth can be attributed to the surging smartphone market.
Businesses are increasingly developing robust, secure, and innovative cross-platform and hybrid mobile apps to reach their target customers and attune to their customer’s needs. And the good news is that developing a mobile app today doesn’t require years of training, programming experience, or even a huge investment.
What are the best mobile app development tools for business or other use?
Ionic is a free, open-source mobile development framework that allows teams to build fast, high-performing, and appealing hybrid and progressive web and cross-platform apps using HTML5, CSS, and SASS. If you’re looking to automate your workflow and deploy bug fixes and features without requiring Mobile Device Management approval, this tool is for you.
Not only is Ionic a powerful and stable platform that allows for faster mobile app development time but it also features intuitive UI components that allow you to create highly interactive apps that run smoothly on several OSs.
For dev teams or organizations looking to drive continuous mobile application releases from any source to any destination, JFrog’s universal, end-to-end DevOps pipeline is a great solution to have. The multi-cloud DevOps platform allows you to streamline your portfolio and deploy mobile app updates and content changes into devices, automatically and continuously. It’s probably one of the best platforms out there for integrating everything in your organization into a seamless experience.
If you’re a non-technical professional looking to build and launch high-performance mobile apps in less than an hour, BuildFire could just be the application development solution you need.
With its high-end custom development capabilities and simple drag-and-drop UI, BuildFire is a powerful and flexible platform that you can use to create professional-grade Android and iOS mobile applications for your business.
If you’re developers looking to create data-intensive HTML5 mobile applications with a high level of responsiveness, Sencha’s comprehensive JavaScript framework, Ext JS is for you.
With over 140 high-performance UI components and hundreds of user extensions, this tool offers everything you need to easily create aesthetically pleasing native mobile and web apps via front-end web technologies like JavaScript, CSS, and HTML.
The cross-platform development tool allows for visual data representation, supports WebKit browsers, and offers extensive support for enhanced touch events. With this tool, the cost and complexity of creating fast and intuitive mobile apps across multiple device types is greatly reduced.
Known for its mono framework that completely exposes the mobile devices’ native APIs, Xamarin is by far one of the most preferred platforms when it comes to building native apps. It’s an open-source, cross-platform app development platform that uses C# and supports iOS, Android, and Windows platforms.
The Microsoft-powered platform offers a development ecosystem with versatile backend infrastructure, code editing tools, UI design components, diagnostic tools, cross-platform libraries, storyboard files, and more. It also allows application deep linking and indexing.
Launched in 2015 by social media giant, Facebook, React Native is one of the best open-source frameworks you can use to create rich mobile apps for iOS, Android, Web, and Universal Windows Platform (UWP).
This tool comes with a wide range of powerful features including shorter app development times, Node Package Manager for installation, declarative API for predictive UI, easy integration with third-party libraries, and dual-screen live reload development.
The best thing about React Native is that it uses JavaScript and gives you full access to the native platform. Plus, it has an extensive and tightly-knit community of supporters around the world. Walmart, Tesla, Bloomberg, and Skype are just some of the leading companies that use this tool for their applications.
If you’re looking for a powerful, enterprise-level tool that can build native, cross-platform applications that run on any OS with fewer lines of code, Appcelerator is for you.
Appcelerator uses JavaScript and offers over 5,000 APIs for Windows, Android, iOS, and browser-based HTML5 mobile apps. The best thing about this tool is that it allows for cross-platform code reusing, data testing, integration with continuous delivery tools, and more. It also offers real-time mobile analytics and provides support for any new operating system (OS) releases. It may not necessarily be the easiest mobile development tool to learn, but you can always expect fast development times and rich native mobile apps
If you already have some background knowledge or experience with AngularJS and Twitter Bootstrap, using Mobile Angular UI to create hybrid mobile and desktop apps is going to be easy. This is an open-source framework with cool UI mobile components such as toggle switch elements, sidebars, navbar, tabs, modals and overlays, accordions, and dropdowns. These are some of the components that you won’t find in Bootstrap 3, which means you can create responsive, mobile user-interface and amazing mobile parts using Mobile Angular UI.
This tool relies on fastclick.js and overthrow.js to build fully responsive interfaces and deliver a better mobile experience.
Another cross-platform app development tool that works effectively with Web APIs, HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript is Phone Gap. The Adobe-powered framework allows you to work with one code base and produce hybrid mobile applications that can’t be distinguished from native mobile apps.
The best thing about this open-source tool is that it gives you some flexibility with the way you design and engineer your mobile apps. Plus, it features a robust backend infrastructure which makes mobile app development faster.
jQuery mobile has been in the mobile app development scene longer than most of the tools in this list— and it still has a lot to offer to developers. The jQuery mobile framework allows developers to build their complete basic mobile app interfaces in HTML, with fewer lines of JavaScript code. Built on jQuery core, the jQuery Mobile framework uses functionalities of jQuery UI, jQuery, CSS3, and HTML5 to provide API features for apps.
Best apps for toddlers that focus on learning and exploration to help your child grow and learn stuff
It is not uncommon for parents to give toddlers their smartphones or tablets to play with. Of all the cool things that tandroid devices can do, letting toddlers learn with apps is arguably one of the best ways to let your little one learn things. Here are some of the best toddler apps that will keep your kid entertained and give them all the fun of interacting with the new technology with minimal supervision.
Here are the most popular android educational apps and games for little kids.
Endless Alphabet
Price: Free
The Endless Alphabet is an interactive kids game from Originator Inc. aimed at teaching the alphabet to your kid as well as how to read and write. This app is purely educative rather than competitive and thus does not have high scores or game over. The app will patiently teach your kid the alphabet through several words puzzles for free and many more in the paid version.
There is no time limit for completing tasks in the game and you will have all the time and motivation they need to ace every level on their own. This app may however not be ideal for younger toddlers who cannot tell what the alphabet is and may only work for preschool nerds who are ready to begin the alphabet.
Moo Baa La La La! is the digital interactive version of the classic board book by Sandra Boynton. This app targets toddler above the age of two years old. They should have the ability to listen and understand narration and better still have reading skills of their own.
In the book, there are tons of interactive hotspots for your kid to discover as they browse the eBook. This book has never come to life more with the accelerometer of the device causing some slight changes in the pages when you tilt the device. This and the creativity and imagination make the Moo Baa La La La! an excellent app to get your child to enhance their reading skills.
The kid’s doodle app is a drawing and coloring app that is quite enjoyable for most preschoolers, and they will most certainly fall in love with it. Featuring neon-style colors on a black background, it takes after the good old Light Brights kids played with back in the day. Nurture that drawing talent in your kid by introducing this app that gives them the to draw and color whatever they want without the need for drawing supplies that sometimes end up on their faces, clothes, your walls, doors, and floors.
Furthermore, they can save their various projects to continue drawing and coloring at a later time when it is not dinner time, so they never lose a creation of theirs. The app is entirely free with no in-app purchases but contains ads by the developer which may be a bit of a nuisance.
Toddler Learning Games is one of the better app for children two/three years old that will help them to develop their logical thinking and creativity. There are several themes, memory games, alphabet games, music games, and even coloring games. It is highly recommended for young kids. The app contains more than 40 games.
Have you been impatiently waiting for your kid to shout “Daddy”? Well, that may take a while but meanwhile here is a little something that can help you and your baby to learn their first words together. With interactive andeducative games there are over a hundred words for kids to learn new words as they start to speak. This app is available in over 15 languages so you don’t have to worry if English is not the first language.
Kids Brain Trainer can help in the processes of developing the memory functions of your children. They will learn to recognize objects and develop a good short-term memory, which is useful in the early stages of growth. This is one of the best brain training game appropriate for children at preschool stage.
This is an educational and entertaining game dedicated to children aged 2 years and above. It allows kids to rearrange shapes corresponding to various objects. The game provides colorful scenarios and many levels to accomplish. Scientific research shows that this type of puzzle game is really helpful in improving children’s cognitive and motor skills.
This simple app for making music every time the toddler touches the screen. It will encourage your kid to touch the screen and keep them entertained for a while. The musical reward is accompanied by colorful bursts of stars so your baby will pay attention to the phone all the more. As they learn the app they will start to tap on specific squares on the screen to produce a specific sound. This app may not be ideal for your older kids as it is meant for the little ones.
The Fairy Tales ~ Children’s Books, Stories, and Games is one of the most popular Android apps for toddlers. It is also a decent audiobook app for kids featuring a beautiful professional narration and audio quality. The art in the storybooks will spark the imagination of your little ones and the character development is exceptional. This is where the art of children’s storytelling meets the genius programming of quality Android applications in harmony.
Furthermore, the Read to Me and Read it Myself modes are great and work as described. Children will love the narration while being able to interact with fully animated characters.
When your baby gets to two and above you can get them this humorous app where your child gets to play a funny game with animals. The gameplay is rather silly and will get your kid laughing their socks off with a monkey falling off the bed every time they touch it. The song starts just as stars twirl around the monkey’s head. This app may not be suitable for players under the age of two and may take longer for some to figure out (not a problem at all).
The Intellijoy pack is an all-in-one app from the renowned Intellijoy developer studios with several apps that can help your little ones get busy, learn and have some fun while at it. You will find within this app smaller apps for reading, counting, shapes, music, animals, and puzzles all perfect for preschoolers. The prices vary depending on the apps you need, but the most expensive ones are worth just about 2.99 so you do not have to break the bank to get your little clones busy and enjoying.
This master app is better for you because it will let you browse and get all the apps from the developer as you need them. The only downside to apps from this developer is that they are neither free nor without in-app purchases
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP *Editor’s Choice*
This app is for pure fun. The idea of Fruit Ninja is simple: fruits appear on the screen, and you have to cut them in half with your finger. But be careful, you have to avoid touching the bombs. This game will entertain children for hours as it is one of the most addictive android games that can also be a good way to feel interested in fruit and get used to eating.
First Baby Words is a simple flashcard-type app that aims to teach new words while playing, associating the image and the pronunciation of the word. We fall in love with the app and its concept and it seems a very useful learning App for Baby & Infants. In addition to the main English language, users can also add more languages.
A super simple and easy puzzle for toddlers and babies. Toddlers will discover friendly animals and everyday objects in a variety of puzzle games with drag and drop UI. It supports more than 30 languages and pronunciations so babies can learn and build their vocabulary in their mother tongue.
There is a little likeness of God in every kid evident in love for creating stuff. This app will allow you kid to explore this part of their brains by creating a virtual world o their own with trees and pools as well as mountains. This virtual world is in many ways similar to our real world and therefore this game will nurture the talent and passion for creating things forming the foundations for future careers in engineering and design. If you want your kid to be smart in the future it is simple; let them start to utilize and train that part of the brain that joins blocks to create a new shape.
This game will develop your kid’s creativity and imagination and ability to take responsibility for their actions as they create to ensure that their animals do not go hungry. Teach your kid how to be in charge with this amazing app from Toca Boca
Kid’s Numbers and Math app game is suitable for children in the pre-school stage. It will allow children to name the numbers, learn to count and compare numbers, in addition to basic operations of addition and subtraction.
This is a very simple app yet a lot of fun for toddlers. The app features a simple to connect and draw board. As your child becomes skillful in moving his fingers through the screen, the app allows kids to draw and connect objects.
This flashcard application shows your child all kinds of animals, so they will grow up falling in love with the fauna around them and be responsible citizens who mind animals. This app breaks down the entire kingdom Animalia into just three classes of animals to make it easier for your child to learn them. Every high achiever has humble beginnings, your kid could be the next great discoverer after Charles Darwin; it all starts with learning to know animals by name as a toddler. This app is ideal for you kid aged between 1 and 4 years old. Not only will your child learn many animals by look and name but also the sounds they make. Overall, it’s a great interactive app for toddlers.
Coloring Book app let kids play and learn colors, shapes, etc., and develop their imagination and creativity. It offers various illustrations to which the children will give life to fill the different parts with different shades. This app is an excellent option for all kids of different ages.
This app allows your babies to view pictures of animals to recognize and listen to realistic animal noises. A superb app for children, that teaches how to pronounce the name of the animal and to remember them; teases the curiosity even of any pets in your home (especially dogs and cats), increasing the harmony between dog/cat and child.
In conclusion, if you are going to let your kids play with your Android devices then you obviously need to consider age-appropriate games. The above toddler’s apps are simple yet delightful that can keep them interested and enjoy without any harm to their early childhood development.
Keep track of Car using smarpthone’s GPS, locate a Car and log milage to manage expenses
Is there an app to track a vehicle?
Android smartphone apps have become more useful than we could ever have imagined a few short years ago, and now they can be used for tracking cars. While at one time, it was necessary to purchase hardware for this purpose, now there are many apps available on the Google Play Store that will help you do this. They have a variety of uses, for example, if you’ve ever been to a vast parking lot you may have forgotten exactly where you parked your car.
Alternatively, maybe you want to keep a close eye on your kids if they haven’t been driving for long, or perhaps you’re a business owner who wants to use such an app to track a fleet of vehicles.
Can I locate my car with GPS?
The latest and best car tracking apps for Android offer a high level of accuracy and are incredibly convenient. As long as the driver has their smartphone in the vehicle, it can be monitored with an app thanks to GPS functionality. Whether you want to watch locations to determine your own gas usage and expenses or find out how far an employee has got with their route, there are different apps for different needs.
What are the best Car GPS Tracking Apps?
Check out these free Car GPS tracking apps, all currently available from the Google Play Store. The majority of the apps are free, although some of these include in-app purchases (IAPs) for additional features or services.
Find My Car – GPS Navigation
Price: Free with ads
If you’ve ever been to an unfamiliar area and not paid attention to exactly where you parked your car, this app could be for you! Instead of aimlessly wandering around, Find My Car uses the GPS function of your smartphone to get you back to your vehicle. It works in four different ways. You can use a map that displays the route to your parked car or uses a compass that points to your destination so you can follow the arrow to the right spot.
Alternatively, there’s a pulse wavefront radar that illuminates the parking location, or GPS reflected pseudo-radar where you can see your position in the middle of a radar screen and uses a radar sweeper to find your car. It’s a neat user-friendly app that’s entirely free to download and use, and it worked well in our testing.
Auto Mileage Tracker by TripLog is aimed at those who want to keep track of their personal mileage or business gas expenses for tax purposes. It’s a popular app that has a MagicTrip autostart feature to detect the movement of your device once you’re driving at a speed of more than 5mph. It stops either when your device is disconnected or when the vehicle comes to a halt. The app offers real-time data syncing to TripLog Web, so it’s possible to manage a fleet of vehicles.
The abilty to view comprehensive reports is very useful for IRS tax returns. Further features include integration with Google Wear Watch, QuickBooks, and Concur. We found the app worked smoothly although some features require the use of in-app purchases.
Parkify is another good car tracking app that will show you where you parked your car. The app can work indepently wihout even the GPS enabled. Once you leave your car in the lot, it uses the Bluetooth connection to register the location and then will show you directions for walking back to it when you need them. If your car doesn’t have Bluetooth, the app can use motion detection to trace when you get out of a vehicle.
You can add as many cars as you like, with tracking synchronized across devices, change the setting from miles to kilometers, and more. This app is worth taking a look at, as it’s easy-to-use with a nice clean interface.
Most of us use Google Maps for navigation and traffic information, but interestingly it has basic car-finding capabilities whicih works really well. It uses the location services of your smartphone and the “Know where you parked” setting, and senses when you leave your car. The Saved parking tab of the app then saves the location of the car, lets you know how long you’ve been away from it, and shows where your parking spot is on the map. This feature isn’t exactly sophisticated, but it’s handy to know it’s there. You can read more about it here.
Businesses needing to manage a fleet of vehicles and track the workforce could benefit from this GPS Vehicle Tracker app. The GPS tracking system of the app offers a real-time map showing the location of vehicles and employees, and record vehicle routes. The app uses Intelligent Activity Recognition technology, and drivers need to have the app installed on their employee mobile.
The app can also calculate mileage (daily, last trip, and total) and track distances, and the software is compatible with numerous hard-wired trackers. It’s important to note that while the app itself is free, you will need to pay for either a Personal or Business plan depending on your requirements. This can be done on the CorvusGPS website although you can get a 14-day free trial.
SpotAngels has an extremely high user rating of 4.7/5 stars, and we can see why. It covers many major US cities, undoubtedly with more to come. The app uses your phone sensor and car’s Bluetooth to remember where you parked, and can even help you to avoid getting a ticket by sending notifications according to parking rules. On top of this, you can book parking deals through the app.
Additionally, there’s a crowdsourced map showing parking garages and street parking spots, with users able to report live available spots to other drivers.
This car tracking app is full of useful features to find parked car, with various views available, including augmented reality. When you turn off your vehicle, it will save the location, and further features include a parking timer, location sharing, parking meter alarm, home screen widget, shake to keep, and location history. You can also access directions to the closest car park, track your car from home with the GPS Auto Track/ Car recovery mode, and store logs on Google Calendar. Despite its simple look, we found that the app actually reliable and works precisely.
This car tracker app is free for up to 2 vehicles. For more than this, you’ll need a paid plan starting from $1.43 per month per vehicle. As the title suggests, it’s aimed at businesses and individuals such as Uber drivers, Lyft drivers, freelancers, sales reps, real estate agents, and others, and it abolishes the need for any traditional GPS hardware.
The automatic mileage tracker traces trips throughout the whole day and stores data to the Cloud on the MycarTracks website. It makes it much easier to claim business miles and tax deductions, and further benefits include a recorded tracks history, HUD Speedometer, downloadable Logbook or IRS-compatible report, and more.
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP *Editors’ Choice*
Drivvo tracks your car with GPS and displays nearby fuel stations with branded pins along with the respective prices. Once you choose which one you want to visit, you will then be guided to that station. Its one of the best car management app that allows you to record and track fuel mileage, efficiency, and averages each day, and to manage monthly expenses for your vehicle, including service and maintenance costs. Features include vehicle maintenance records with reminders, gas consumption charts, distance statistics, cost statistics, and much more.
There’s a nice touch of user engagement as well as you can report gas prices so other drivers can locate the lowest priced gas stations near them. The Pro version removes ads and provides further features. Among them is technical support, backing up data to the cloud, unlimited income registration, exporting vehicle data in CSV/Excel, data synchronization across devices, and more.
Family locator from Life360 is a little different from most of the apps above, as its aim is to enable users to stay connected to other members of their families, tracking children when they are communting or other private groups dubbed “Circles.” However, it has many useful features for driving using GPS technology. For instance, you can see the whereabouts of your Circle Members in real-time on a single map, or opt to receive alerts when members arrive or leave different places. Of course, those in your Circle have to accept an invitation before you can trace their locations. It’s a great idea if you have new or elderly drivers you want to keep an eye on, or perhaps want to see if someone is going to arrive on time.
Another excellent feature for drivers, dubbed Driver Care Support, enables swift connection to a representative over the phone. This person can see precisely where you are and send assistance if you have a breakdown or lockout, or if you are unfortunately involved in a car crash can send emergency services. Do note that some features require in-app purchases.
These are the best car tracking apps for Android covers a variety of bases for different needs, so we hope you find one to suit you. It’s worth mentioning that the speed and accuracy of these apps depend on the built-in GPS capability of the smartphone being used. Therefore, many apps will work better on higher-end handsets, so that’s something worth bearing in mind.
Your comments are always welcome, so do let us know if you find any of the above apps particularly useful. Alternatively, if you use a different car tracking Android app that you’d like to recommend to other readers, you can tell us about that too!
Browse the lists top movies with ratings and read movie reviews
The film industry is getting more advanced and plenty of movie apps now offer streaming movies right from your smartphone or tablet making it very easy to watch films anywhere, anytime. With hundreds of new titles being released each week, it is a daunting task to discover the best movies to watch. By knowing the best of the film review app and sites, we can find out the synopsis and storyline, and it’s really a good idea to watch the trailer first and understand what the story is going to be. In order to get a glimpse of the film, we can find out bits of information through the film review websites and applications.
Note: You may find the top movies to binge on these apps and sites. However, geo-restrictions are still troubling issues. In order to watch all kinds of entertainment through streaming platforms, you need to have a dependable VPN service. So, we recommend you have top-quality Netflix VPNs to bypass geo-restrictions to get the best entertainment experience.
What are the best movie rating app?
Unattractive graphics, poor acting, and bad storyline may ruin the overall viewing experience. The solution is a reliable movie rating app that can give us an idea about what kind of film we are going to watch, read comments from other users and be able to watch trailers.
MoviesFad
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
MoviesFad is a newer movie rating app that is actually a movie manager for collecting the titles you wish to watch. However, it has a decent rating system contributed by the user community that helps to discover binge worth movies. The app offers the details of titles, explore related information, watch trailers, view images, get start and insights of your watching habit, custom filter, and more. The UI is specially optimized to make movie discover easier and use it as an all-in-one app to manage your movie lists.
Letterboxd is one of the best movie review apps to help movie lovers to discover the right movies according to their taste. The app features reviews only from those who have watched that movie, so the movie ratings are usually pretty trustable and worth watching. We also liked the ability to comment on existing reviews so others can have a deeper understanding of how good it would be or have a good discussion. Letterboxd includes movies from all genres like horror, fantasy, action movie, and many more.
Taste comes with an interesting approach to find out good movies that you would love to watch. The app lets you connect with people who have a similar taste in movies and provide lists of movies based on the recommendation from people in your group. In addition to reading movie reviews from others, we also like the feature that allows building a taste profile and start collecting movies.
We recently started using Friendspire and it surprisingly works well finding what to watch and add to the watching list. The app combines an AI-based algorithm along with reviews from real people to provide trending movie recommendations. One of the useful things is that it also shows where a particular title is available to stream. Furthermore, it has many interesting movie lists such as “Top Netflix Originals”, “Best rom coms for the summer” and “Shows like Game of Thrones”. You can also get suggestions on TV shows, Books, Podcasts, and more.
The Movies by Flixster in conjunction with Rotten Tomatoes makes the process of finding interesting movies a lot more fun. Once you download the app and start rating the movies you like, the app starts learning from your experience pattern and starts recommending movie reviews you might be interested to read analyzing your behavior. Watching the latest trailer is also the main focus and if you are interested to watch in the theater you can find showtimes and buy tickets directly for cinemas.
Roger Ebert is a film critic who writes reviews about various films through his website, rogerebert.com. As a senior critic, he provides detailed and in-depth reviews for each movie so that you can get a little idea of how good the film that received the review was.
The Guardian is actually a well-known newspaper site in the UK, but this site is known to have a section devoted to films. In the film discussion section, this site is also quite good at providing reviews about Hollywood movies that have been aired and, of course, accompanied by the news about the particular films.
The review system on this site uses Gold Stars (1 to 5), where the more stars you get, the better the quality of the film.
IMDB is a site that contains complete information about various popular films and tv series from around the world, complete with synopsis, cast lists, reviews, and much more. You can see the ratings of this site’s users regarding a film that uses a 1-10 number system (voting system), where usually when the film has reached 6/10 (the number of votes is tens of thousands,) then the film is classified as pretty good.
If the film reaches 7/10 (the number of votes is tens of thousands), then the film is classified as good, while if it reaches 8/10 and above (the number of votes is tens to hundreds of thousands), then the film can be considered excellent.
Rotten Tomatoes is a well-known film review site because most of the films that get good reviews from this site are really good. This site itself is classified as very selective when compared to IMDB in discussing a movie, where sometimes there are films that IMDB thinks are good, but not here.
The review on this site uses the Tomatometer system provided by critics. A 50% meter down indicates that the film is not good, a 50% meter above suggests the film is worth watching, and 70% and above is considered excellent.
Metacritic is considered a film review site that is classified as providing a balanced review where reviews for each film are carried out by critics regardless of whether the film is personally liked or not.
The review system on this site uses an index of 1-100, where films that have reached 60/100 are considered good films to watch, although some films with a value of 40-the 50s are also worth watching.
The final list for this article is Cinemablend. This site reviews movies and provides features such as the latest news about the world of cinema along with trailers, reviews of games, and TV shows. Unlike the list above, Cinemablend does not provide a score/rating in movie reviews.
With these websites, we will get an overview of reviews from various industries and users around the world about whether the film we are going to watch is good or not. But there are things to note. Everyone’s tastes are different. Although the reviews and scores are given by a website review of a particular film are not good, it does not mean the movie is not worth watching. It could be that the tastes of those who did the review are different from ours. So, aside from seeing critics’ perspectives, you as well check the users’ reviews, which could be more dependable.
Those were some of the best movie review sites; hopefully, you may find them useful and dependable to look for great movies to watch.
These Best Android Custom ROMs brings a great personalized experience on Android devices
The best thing about open-source software is that it allows users to customize almost every way one can imagine. All you need to root android device and take control of the core system. To get the full potential of your smartphone or tablet, you need to choose and installed the right Custom ROM.
What are the 10 best Custom ROMs?
There are many custom firmware available with their unique features and mods. Here we list the best of them.
PARANOID
Paranoid Android is the first ROM based on the Android JellyBean source and it has added tons of extra features that another ROM does not offer. Over the years the developer team has added a lot of modern and advanced features such as gesture controls, on-screen fingerprint support, a doze system for better battery management, a built-in screen recorder app, and screenshot-taking features similar to google pixel phones, and much more.
Its main advantages are the hybrid mode, which allows you to adjust the dimensions of an element without changing equipment configurations, you can change the colors, resolution, and layout of the application interface; Alternative navigation controls that do not take up screen space and are activated by gestures and a good android multitasking experience. The latest version of the ROM is Paranoid Android Quartz 5.
Lineage ROM formerly known as CyanogenMod is one of the most popular custom ROM for Android because of its support for a large number of devices and features with the enhancements not included in the stock versions of Android. You will get support for themes, lock screen gestures, DSP Equalizer, FLAC player support, web browser with security and true incognito mode, etc. CyanogenMod allows endless changes to the system as well as offering custom themes for the operating system interface. The native Lineage ROMs app makes it easy to find and get the most recent version of the ROM for your device.
MIUI is a ROM based on AOSP and is known to completely change the look of Android, from a personalized home screen, MIUI applications as the media player, a customizable notification bar, the file browser, to its own launcher and the firmware application – gallery, camera app with fullscreen mode, and other interesting applications. We particularly like the Super wallpapers that offer a terrific viewing across different screens.
MIUI is still one of the best ROMs available, with a beautiful interface and great possibilities for customization. Also, better privacy is another main aspect of this popular ROM. MIUI started in China as part of the Xiaomi phone but now has expanded to a lot of brands and models of phones like Samsung Galaxy S phones.
Bliss ROM is a newer custom ROM for Android smartphones and tablets. It is also available for Windows devices like Surface Pro. There is even an Android PC emulator available to download. The main focus of the ROM is a customized launcher and desktop mode that gives a unique user experience. Furthermore, it has the ability to customize almost every element of the user interface design. The tweak assist lets the user adjust the performance and other settings to tune the battery consumption level.
Revenge OS has gain popularity in a short time because it is based on the Android Open Source Project and always keeps up with the latest build. The ROM is extremely lightweight and bloat-free by keeping only the core part of the OS for a buttery smooth run. However, the developer still manages to offer enough customization options. You can enjoy new looks with unlimited color gradients and even apply the custom clock faces and widgets we saw on the latest android beta version. The revenge launcher app is super simple yet comes with support for icons packs, custom widgets, and supports Google Feed.
For those who want to get a stock android experience similar to the Google Pixel phones, EvolutionX is the ultimate custom ROM based on vanilla AOSP. It is one of the most customizable custom ROMs with an active development that quickly adopts the latest android OS. EvolutionX custom ROM is mainly known for its performance and stability that efficiently manages tasks to get the best out of CPU and GPU with better battery life.
OmniROM for Android, being developed by some ex-developers of CyanogenMod and some new developers, comes with almost the same features of CyanogenMod, but with the addition of being open source and there are more developers who are helping to make it more popular and has more features in each nightly or stable release, what turns out to be more than good option to install on your device, taking some of the compatibility with smartphones/tablets most famous scene.
Do not get fooled with the initial look of Havoc-OS. Once start you start using the OS for some time, you will be amazed to see how awesome it is with tons of little things that make the android experience better. We like the mods included for the Status bar, buttons, lights, gestures, etc. You can also tweak plenty of configurations based on your personal preference. It borrowed plenty from the Resurrection Remix OS and Paranoid ROM. But unlike them, it’s continuously getting updated to the latest version of Android OS. Overall, Havoc OS is a good choice in the long as the developer team is quite active to bring new features.
Pixel Experience is another stock-based ROM that brings Pixel-like features such as Google Assistant, built-in GCam support, Pixel live wallpapers, and more to other popular phones including Xiaomi, Realme, and Samsung phones. It has a great list of features and the ability to create shortcuts on the home screen, shortcuts to specific applications, gesture controls. You can also customize notifications and has a feature to invert the colors of the interface. The only drawback is the long wait for the latest version of OS as the team wants to ensure a stable build for all users.
Since AOKP (Android Open Kang Project) has become an abandoned project, crDroid takes the spot as the AOSP based ROM. At first glance, it looks like the standard version of Android, but in the settings option, you can see that offers much more in terms of customization options. It supports most high-end devices with various modifications to the source code of android hidden in factory terminals. Users can customize buttons for shortcuts or create their own, add different vibration patterns and swipes gestures to improve the user experience.
These are the best custom ROMs out there among other custom firmware for android devices. Each of them had its own advantages. Lineage ROMs aka CyanogenMod is famous for its stability, Paranoid Android offers a lot of customization, Revenge OS is well known for solid performance, Miui is the most simple and lightning-fast OS, Havoc-OS is good for beginners and EvolutionX offers great battery life. It’s your turn to decide which ROM you are going with.
Top free wallpaper apps to beautify android home screen
In courtesy of Google play store, we have access to various wallpaper apps for beautiful high-quality images and artworks. However, finding the right wallpaper for your android phones can be challenging because you want a beautiful background that won’t get in the way of seeing your icons. On the other hand, having a dedicated android wallpaper app means you can view curated collections based on your preferences. For example, you can find dark, black images gorgeous to look at on an AMOLED display that also saves battery.
What are the best wallpaper app for Android?
We’ve put together a list of wallpaper application that makes it easy to get awesome free wallpaper. Now you don’t have to search through millions of photos on the web with the following cool wallpaper apps for android.
Kappboom
Price: Free with ads
Kappboom stands apart from the crowd due to its large collection of high-resolution images and easy navigation. It is one of the surprisingly good wallpaper apps with more than two hundred thousand collections of photos and artwork of images in various categories. The app contains Cool Wallpapers & Background Wallpapers in easy-to-use navigation for different sections. You can search for HD wallpaper by category, filter with keywords, color, and Tags. Besides, you can send wallpaper directly to Android Wear smartwatches. Best of all, it’s a totally free wallpaper app.
Muzei Live Wallpaper gets its name from the Russian word meaning ‘museum.’ Even though the name suggests it as a live wallpaper app, the app actually auto-updates periodically to show regular wallpapers of classic pieces of art. Unless you make changes to the settings, Muzei will rotate through famous artwork, giving you a different background on the home screen each day. You can also choose personal images from the gallery as well, either specific or random ones.
Moreover, it goes one step further to give your wallpaper a bokeh (blurred) effect so that the background won’t overwhelm the other elements like app icons or widgets. Just double-tap the screen to see the full image unblurred at any point. This app also supports Android Wear OS, and Dashclock widgets, and awesome Musei extensions.
Backgrounds HD is one of the most popular background apps to download free wallpaper. It offers thousands of high-resolution 4k images and updates its wallpaper database daily. Unlike many android wallpaper apps, the UI laid out very well to search simply for images by category and mood. You can expect some great background as each image is in high-resolution and was handpicked by the staff at OGQ. Another useful feature is sharing images with friends and family, which makes Backgrounds HD stands out from other wallpaper apps. The recent updates also bring quite a few interesting options like a live watch in the background that moves and allows to set a video as Wallpaper.
Google was decent enough to put together a wallpaper app to give its users a selection of cool background images. It also allows you to set up the separate lock screen and home screen wallpapers with an auto-set function to see new wallpapers every day, so each day, you are greeted with a new background. If you are looking for some high-quality images and artworks, then look no further.
Zedge is the most known website for Wallpapers & Ringtones since the early days of feature phones and has grown towards the smartphone era in the form of an app. It offers ringtones, notification tones, alarm tones, and beautiful wallpapers. The app has a large selection of obscure images and tones you may not be able to find anywhere else. You can search for wallpapers by category for good tones and stunning HD photos optimized for different screen sizes. You don’t have to worry about adjusting the image to make sure it fits; the app takes care of that for you.
Most high-end android smartphones now feature AMOLED display, capable of showing pure black color by simply turning off the tiny LEDs. You can also take advantage of the technology by using dark wallpapers that look gorgeous and saves battery life. AmoledBackgrounds is the wallpaper app where you can find popular AMOLED wallpapers. It basically pulls together user-shared background from Reddit thread r/AmoledBackgrounds and puts them together in a nice way to pick the best one.
We are all familiar with the discussion website Reddit where people talk about almost anything. There are many subreddits where users share a ton of decent wallpaper images in various resolutions. Some of them are from independent creators who love to share their works on Reddit. You can do a quick search with your keyword and special features like “galaxy punch hole wallpaper” or “Infinity-O Display” on the app to find related images. Also, we recommend checking out r/ultrahdwallpapers, r/wallpapers+wallpapers, r/wallpaper, and r/WQHD_Wallpaper for some excellent stuff.
Tapet is a relatively new but good wallpaper app that has quickly gained popularity. Instead of just offering wallpapers to choose from, it can generate unique wallpapers images using various forms and shapes. You can select a pattern along with a few colors, and the app generates a wallpaper just for you. Each background is created based on your individual screen resolution and comes with support for Muzei. Each update brings more patterns and effects to choose from, and the app is free to download with some in-app purchases available.
Backdrops Wallpapers app brings thousands of graphic images and abstract arts to use on your home screen for creative-minded persons. This free wallpaper app offers a variety of creative designs, modern and contemporary graphic works. Backdrops also feature Wall of the Day, where the team showcases their new creation. This is an excellent source of different android backgrounds such as material, minimal, patterns, scenery, outer space, earth views, abstract, photography, geometric, dark AMOLED friendly walls, and much more.
500 Firepaper is technically a live wallpaper app that shows regular wallpapers. This taps into the 500px website throughout the day and downloads images that you can use as wallpaper. The 500px site is known for its phenomenal photography, providing amazing images for you to choose from on 500 Firepaper. It’s also free to download but offers an optional pro-version to purchase.
Mysplash comes from the popular image-sharing website Unsplash.com where users can get royalty-free or stock photos for free is behind Mysplash. The app brings high-quality images to use as the wallpaper on your mobile. Unlike other apps above, this one mostly a photography wallpaper app featuring amazing photography images. The app comes completely free with no in-app purchases.
PixWalls is a newer wallpaper app with tons of creative wallpaper images available for quick and easy downloads. You can also search by tags, resolution quality, aspect ratio, and category. The backgrounds are created by many independent artists using photoshop or illustrator. The app is open-source and a completely free wallpaper app.
Wonderwall is an excellent source of beautiful landscape wallpapers featuring a host of hand-selected nature photography. The content is updated daily, and the app even auto-downloads and sets your wallpaper for you. Wonderwall is easy to use and has excellent design quality. The image selection is small but great if you love nature that should help to calm and relax.
Wallmax is a lesser-known wallpaper app, but it still provides some good options. The app mostly offers images based on Material Design with various patterns, gradients, and dreamy colors. There are also some good nature, superheroes, and even emoji-based wallpapers. It’s a decent wallpaper app if you want some minimalistic yet gorgeous-looking backgrounds.
If you prefer to watch something cool yet useful rather than a static image, then Weatherback has something cool in its bag. How about seeing the current weather condition right on your screen. Watch the raindrops fall, see the snow build slowly, and behold, your screen freezes as the weather gets icy. This live wallpaper app is a replacement for your old fashion weather widget.
The app gets the weather forecast from Accuweather using satellite and shows temperature in Celcius. You can also mimic your favorite weather conditions and edit them with different effects instead of displaying the current conditions.
The best Wallpaper Apps listed above provide awesome backgrounds and less battery consumption compared to live wallpaper apps. Alternatively, you can also check out some of the best wallpaper websites that offer free high-quality background images mostly created by some of the best artist photographers. Let us know which android wallpaper app you’d like most. Also, we expect you to share the free android wallpaper app you are currently using. Cheers!
Got an app idea? Let’s learn how to make it happen!
Right now, most people have an app idea. If you, too, want to build an innovative Android application – the good news is, it’s pretty doable. There are a lot of detailed resources online – this post is the condensed guide to key steps in application development.
Step #1. Validate your idea
Chances are, you already have a concept in your head. However, before you commit to it and invest months in development, it’s better to make sure the pay-off is worth the work. Here are a few helpful ways to validate application ideas:
Take a look at similar apps on Play Store and see how popular they are. You want to have the middle ground: it might be difficult to rival impactful products like Instagram but, if there are no popular apps that match your concept, it could be a red flag for low user demand.
Know your audience. Understanding the end-user and knowing what unsolved problems specific groups of people struggle with helps come up with profitable application ideas. To get insights into what people need, take some time to do online research, read forums, and get into the mindset of your target audience.
Think about ways to improve popular apps. Famous projects might be functional but are they perfect? Chances are, there are features that Google Calendar, Notion, or Trello would benefit from having. You can brainstorm these and build an app that includes them.
Step #2. Have a development plan
Building an Android app is a huge undertaking, that’s why it’s important to see the end goal. To understand how much money and time you need, break all processes down into steps and assign deadlines to each.
Be generous – if you are new to Android development, you might not realize how complex it is, so it’s better to have significant overhead.
Step #3. Learn Java development
While Java is not the only Android development language, it is the most popular one. Also, building a product in Java gives it the benefit of cross-platform availability. On top of that, there are a lot of resources for Java learners – here are a few good ones:
Codegym.cc – a well-structured online course that covers basic Java syntax and complex ideas (lambdas, multithreading, and such).
Effective Java by Joshua Bloch is one of the most popular Java textbooks and reference resources for Java developers. It’s written in an engaging, informative, and easy-to-grasp language – definitely a go-to resource for Java beginners.
r/java and r/javahelp are two helpful Reddit forums for Java beginners. Lurking here might be the most information-dense learning strategy but it helps soak the programmer’s mindset and not be intimidated by the language.
Step #4. Set up the development environment
Before you start building Android apps, you need to download two tools:
Android Studio – an environment for building Android applications
To run Android Studio, follow the instructions in the Developer Wizard.
Step #5. Build the app following best practices
Armed with programming skills and tools, you can finally build Android apps. To make sure your project is functional and easy-to-use, follow these practices and conventions:
Need-, not trend-based architecture choices.
Run a performance analysis for different layout types to make an informed decision.
For higher build speed, configure gradle.properties.
Spot and deal with memory leaks as early as possible.
Add SSL-pining for high-level security.
This is not a definite list of best Android application development practices – over time, you’ll likely develop your own set of rules and strategies.
Step #6. Test your app
After you created the design and functionality, it’s time to catch and address bugs. Here’s how tech teams handle application testing:
Choose a few devices for testing – ideally, they should have different versions of the OS, as well as screen resolutions.
Use automation testing to reduce the amount of time needed for QA.
Use tools and framework for higher efficiency: Robotium or Appium are excellent choices.
Don’t skip steps: do some research on application testing workflows and stick to them.
Step #7. Submit your app to Play Store
To make sure more users know about your app, list it on Google Play Store. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of the process:
Upload the APK to Google Play.
Rate app contents to specify age restrictions (if any).
Set up pricing and distribution.
Hit “Publish” and wait for the approval.
Broken down into simple steps, Android app development seems easy – but it’s not.
It takes resilience and confidence to single-handedly build such a project – however, once you are done, seeing your creative idea come to life, bring profits, and change lives for the better is extremely satisfying.
These are the best iPhone camera apps to capture pro like photos and videos
There is no doubt that Apple’s iPhone offer the best of smartphone cameras out there. The iPhone’s Camera has always been known to be high-resolution, crystal clear, better dynamic range and offers decent settings to its users. However, we’ve all wanted to elevate our Cameras to the next level, and get access to advanced settings that would be perfect for the conditions we want to film in or take high quality photos eveni low light condition or in other seniarios.
That’s exactly why we have looked around for the top 10 free Camera Apps for iPhone. These photography apps are widely different and offer a variety of different features to fits your needs.
VSCO: Photo & Video Editor
Price: Free/ Offers IAP
VSCO is an excellent photo-editing and camera-app for the iPhone. Users can control their shutter speed and ISO settings as well as manually select spots for focus and exposure. Fast shutter speeds are perfect for slow-no captures, and slow shutter speeds blurs movements in the picture/video being taken. VSCO camera also offers a “Retro Slide” that adds an extra effect of retro cameras over your photos/videos which we personally loved. You can even set “Prisms”, which is rotating the light entering the cameras to get incredible effects with your Camera. However, most of VSCO’s cutting-edge tools are behind a pay-wall of $20.99/year.
A professional Camera App with the HDR Raw Camera that is literally in your pocket. ProCamera allows users to select their images extension (JPEG, RAW, JPEG+RAW, HEIF). Change ISO Settings, Exposure, and Auto-White-Balance features. Control the colors of lights reflecting from the Phone’s lens, and even set the perspective mode of your pictures. However, It should be noted that ProCamera’s UI may look intimidating for beginners. With plenty of features and options for users to select from, You’ll need to learn a thing or two about Cameras to be able to unlock the App’s full potential. Also, important features such as Shutter Speed are not available for free. ProCamera’s features unlock for a one-time purchase of $13.99.
Focos is a beginner-friendly Camera App with plenty of easy-to-use and DSLR like features such as Bokeh & Large Aperture effetcs. Focos allows users to select Camera Perspective, Set countdowns for taking pictures, Set levels grid to capture symmetrical pictures, Change exposure, and many more. There is even a slide to set the focal length of your Camera’s lens. Focos may not have advanced features such as many of the other Apps on this list, but It still maintains the important features found in any Professional Camera. We also noted that It is very beginner-friendly, having a simple UI with all features clearly displayed for the user wouldn’t intimidate beginners using the App. Focos unlocks other features such as supporting RAW extension, full resolution output, and PRO lens presets for a one time purchase of $23.99.
The perfect camera app for all the retro-cam lovers out there. HUJI is a very simple App that magically converts your pictures into retro-masterpieces. With simple options such as timers, and image quality. All you need is to take your picture and wait a few seconds for the magic to happen. HUJI is beginner-friendly and its UI mimics a real Retro Camera. HUJI is free and only contains non-intrusive ads. We personally loved HUJI for its simple UI and great retro effects. Perhaps we’d love to see more updates and effects in the future.
B612 is a Photo-Editor/Camera-App that is available for free on the AppStore. It contains very basic features such as setting Camera Perspective, and Setting timers. B612 is more focused on live filters and edits to your shoots. With plenty of filters and effects available for you to check out. You can even check out other users’ creations and use them with a simple click. B612’s easy-to-use UI is prominent and Its collection of filters and presets is truly unique. B612 is free and offers no paid version of the App.
Ever wanted to professionally film a Tik-Tok style video? Spark Camera is the answer. This optimized vlogging camera app can capture stick-styled videos in 1080p and 4K resoulation with the option to add hundreds of license free music from their library to your video. We loved Spark Camera simply because of its top-notch UI. The App displays all tools clearly and within reach without complicated steps making it very beginner-friendly. You can edit/filter every individual clip with ease, and even add one of their 20 stunning filters to your clips to make them stand out. Spark Camera is literally the go-to App to top influencers and brands.
The only downside is that you are limited to a certain number of videos to create, and any extra videos will require you to purchase Spark Unlimited. It costs $39.99/year which is a hefty price. Nevertheless, It unlocks Unlimited Videos, 30+ Adjustable Filters, Extra editing tools, and extra free-license music to add to your videos.
Ranked #1 Selfie Camera App in 8 countries, and with over 4.5 million active users world-wide, EasySnap is an App that will definitely upgrade your Selfies to a whole new level. Change your entire look, adjust the lighting, and remove all defects to reflect your true charm. The App’s built in Camera contains a slide that beautifies facial features to your liking, and after capturing your selfie, you’ll be allowed to edit all features in your selfie. Options like thinning your face, neck lift, whitening teeth, removing eye bags, and a whole arsenal of different makeup looks. Although Easy Snap is not a professional Camera App, It still carries a huge toolkit for retouching your selfies with ease.
EasySnap limits free users to 5 selfies only, and most of their tools are also hidden behind a pay-wall which is mainly the biggest downside to the App. To access Unlimited Captures and their entire toolkit you’d have to pay $14.99/month or $39.99 per year, which we believe is a heavy price to pay considering other candidates on the list.
A definite upgrade in comparison to HUIJI for retro-styled captures. 1998 Camera enables its users to easily transform their pictures into vintage masterpieces with extra tools to use. With over 100+ vintage-styled filters, self-timer, and perspective setter, 1998 Cam’s toolkit allows you to distinguish your pictures from other Apps in the same realm. Even the App’s UI makes it super simple to start editing all the required settings with simple intuition. The best thing about 1998 Cam is that all of those features are free, as the PRO version that costs $2.99/year removes ads and unlocks extra filters.
A one of a kind Camera App that is a perfect match for iPhone 12 Pro/Pro Max. Polycam is a 3D Camera Capturing App that allows users to turn their surrounding area, or any object for that matter, into a 3D Model that can be rendered on the spot with the Object’s texture. Want to turn your car into a 3D model? You can do it in less than 10 seconds. Sadly, Although you can install Polycam on all devices, It requires a LIDAR sensor to work. Which is why you’ll need to purchase the newest iPhone.
Protake is an excellent video camera app for iphone. Explore tons of advanced tools and options that will benefit vloggers, directors, or even filmmakers. Protake are set in two different modes, AUTO and PRO. AUTO Mode sets everything for the user automatically without much intervention, and is pretty good for beginner users. However, PRO mode gives the users all the possible settings and controls to edit. Lens mode, ISO, Shutter speed, FPS, Resolution, Focus, Color palette, and many other options that you can select for your picture/video. Protake is a true gem in the hands of any advanced user with some knowledge about Cameras. Everyone may be able to use Protake, as the App’s UI is very clear and simple. However, In order to unlock the App’s true potential, the user must be quite advanced in Cameras and its related settings. There’s even a mode that we tried that allows you to capture using both the front and back camera, which was quite useful in making a new Tiktok.
Sadly, the PRO Version with all its settings is not free, you can select it and tweak all the setting you want but you cannot capture any picture or video without purchasing Protake Membership+ for $12.99/year.
There are plenty of apps of taking stunning photos that truly elevate the potential of your iPhone’s camera. Those who wish to use their iPhone professionally or even to capture exceptional pictures/videos can use one of the Apps listed above. Whether you’re a fan of vintage-style pictures, or want to feel like you’re holding a Professional Camera in your hands with all the different settings, we guarantee you that you’ll find what you like up there. We’ve also mentioned each App’s downside to spare you wasting your own time.
Do you know any more free Apps for Cameras on iPhone? Why don’t you share your masterpieces down there in the Comments!
If you sometimes need to carry on working outside the office, these office apps make it easy.
Some of the most useful android apps enable users to be just as productive outside of the office as inside. For example, there are apps available for email, reminders, document editing, spreadsheets, presentations, note-taking, chat, video calling, and document scanning. Another advantage of Android office apps is the support for cloud integration that enables users to access documents from the cloud, edit them as required, and easily save them again. The best of these types of apps make it easy to work anywhere, and many of them are also excellent for personal use.
Our picks of the best free Android office apps, taking into account usability, integration, features and services, performance, and more. Do note that these are all free to download from the Google Play Store although some have in-app purchases (IAPs) or upgrades to a premium version for full features and functionality.
OFFICESUITE
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
OfficeSuite from MobiSystems is an excellent all-around office app with integrated cloud storage called MobiDrive with free 5GB storage space. You can still connect to other cloud storage apps. The app is compatible with MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as PDF processes, to make it easy to create, view or edit documents on the go. Compatible Microsoft formats include DOC, DOCX, DOCM, XLS, XLSX, XLSM, PPT, PPTX, PPS, PPSC, PPTM, and PPSM. The app features an abundance of tools including the integrated File Commander, chat client, and more.
We really like the integrated spell checker, text-to-speech support, and a whole lot more. In fact, there are so many features we can’t list them all! In-app purchases are necessary for some features such as support for more common formats, Microsoft Compatibility font pack, cross-platform license for Android, iOS, and Windows, and some PDF operations. You can also opt to upgrade to the paid Pro version of the app from $19.99-$29.99.
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP *Editors’ Choice*
Polaris is compatible with MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Spreadsheet, Slide, Google Docs, and Adobe PDF, and supports 18 languages including English, Arabic, Japanese, French, and Russian. It supports Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Polaris Drive cloud storage. Neat features include the ability to draw and edit by writing on the screen, and inserting video clips or taking a picture from cameras to documents with your smartphone.
Plenty of its usage is free, and you can remove ads with an in-app purchase of $2.99. Alternatively, you can upgrade to premium functions with either the Smart Plan or Pro Plan at $3.99 or $5.99 monthly respectively.
Google’s own email app is widely used across the globe, and many people will already have this app installed on their mobile device. However, if you haven’t taken the plunge, it’s well worth checking out Gmail, as it’s pretty challenging to beat and is entirely free to use. The app offers instant access to emails with push notifications when they arrive, easy search facility, and the ability for online and offline use. You can categorize the messages in your inbox, use Gmail and non-Gmail addresses, and get a whopping 15GB of free storage.
Another of Google’s ecosystems, Google Drive is excellent as a hub for safely storing and accessing your files from the cloud, as well as sharing files and folders with colleagues. It’s incredibly user-friendly and enables offline file viewing, Google Photos access for your photos and videos, and fast access to recent files. You can also set different access levels for collaborators to view, edit, or comment. Don’t worry too much about the in-app purchases with this one, as they are only necessary if you want to expand your Google Drive space.
Quip is entirely free to use with no in-app purchases or adverts, a nice addition to this type of app. This smart little app makes it straightforward to collaborate with work colleagues by combining docs, spreadsheets, task lists, and chat, all in one hub. Notes taken in the office can be easily edited on your phone, and the real-time chat and messaging feature are handy if a discussion is needed about what needs to be done that also let you attach files for fast sharing. You can also manage and organize task lists, useful for both work and family, with real-time checklists, so you know instantly when something has been completed.
Documents can be imported from Box, Google Docs, Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, and more, and exported to Microsoft Word and PDF, while spreadsheets can be exported to Microsoft Excel. For a free app, it has a lot to offer, with support across phones, tablets, and desktops.
For serious business meetings and works, it’s worth checking out our list of the best video calling apps. However, Google’s Duo app works really well and has great quality. It’s simple to use with a beautifully clear interface and offers single tap video calling on the go or on Wi-Fi. It’s also cross-platform across Android and iOS devices, and further features include voice calls when you don’t want to be seen on video. The latest updates also bring many fun features such as applying various in-call effects, doodling, live video previews, video messaging, and more.
Microsoft To-Do is a task management tool that syncs across multiple devices. It will help you to stay organized with lists, notes, smart suggestions, and more, and one of the best features is reminders and due dates so you should never forget those important things you need to get done. It’s a solid option for work use and also home, and personal use. It also includes list sharing, a dark mode for easy reading, subtasks, note-taking, and color-coding.
This all-in-one office suite has been downloaded more than 1.3 billion times, and its clean interface adds to the appeal. It covers a whole load of functions include Word, PDF, Memo, Docs Scanner, Spreadsheet, and Presentation, so it’s easy to access work wherever you are and at any time of day. Its features are too numerous to mention but include easy sharing and transfer of documents via email, instant messaging, WiFi, NFC, DLNA, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, and Telegram.
All Office file formats are supported as well as 51 languages, and in-app purchases can be used for additional features. These include a fonts package, exclusive presentation templates and more.
Clear Scan turns a smartphone into a mini-document scanner for all types of documents including bills, receipts, photos, notes, and invoices. The scanned documents can be converted to JPEG or PDF formats, with sharing over mail, Google Drive, Evernote, Dropbox, OneDrive, SkyDrive, and more.
The app features automatic detection of the corner of the file, or you can choose to crop it to just the section you want to scan. Further functions include an auto-correction to improve your results, filter options, editing after save, folders and subfolders, and printing via Cloud Print. An in-app purchase is available to remove the ads if required. Overall, it’s one of the better PDF scanner apps for android.
For a free app with no in-app purchases, SmartOffice is pretty impressive. It’s a complete solution for mobile productivity needs covering documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and more. There’s also cloud support to Box, Dropbox, and Google Drive, as well as support for wireless printing. Additionally, the app has rich formatting styles, password protection support for Office files, and supports more than 35 languages. We like the intuitive interface of this one so urge you to take a look.
AndrOpen Office is fast, simple, and intuitive. It has a whole office suite for working with text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. It also has a drawing pad for slides and a formula table for excel files. It has some annoying ads randomly popping out whenever you navigate the app. Still, you can purchase a permanent license that will remove ads, will let you access cloud storage and other valuable functions for the price of $7.99. The free version works effectively and can still fulfill one’s task but with limited export to the device’s storage. If you can bear the somehow annoying ads, you may find AndrOpen Office easy to use.
This long-established office app still does its purpose and keeps up with the latest optimization and practice. It has the essential office suite such as word, spreadsheet, presentation, and PDF. You may think that the user experience will be intrusive, especially with its a bit of outdated UI and the controls are very limited. Nevertheless, I found it very responsive, plausible, easy to use, and lightweight. The paid version opens new features like password-locked files, cloud storage, and desktop sync for $16.99 OTP.
Collabora Office uses the same engine as LibreOffice for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The mobile version closely resembles the look on the desktop that helps to quickly figure out how to run it cross-platform. This popular open-source office suite can view and edit word, spreadsheets, and presentations. It can also read files from Microsoft office 2007-2019 as well as 97 -2003 versions. The UI is straightforward, with no annoying adverts. Though they are pretty limited, I don’t see any app matching the simplicity that Collabora Office can provide.
We deliberately didn’t list the standard office apps such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, or Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. The reason behind this is that most readers will already be using some of these, although if you want to check them out, you can find them all listed separately on the Google Play Store.
These are the best free Android office apps that will cover most bases regarding office and business needs and hope you find at least some of these apps to be useful and productive. If you try one or more of the above apps, why not send us a comment to tell us which you prefer and why?
Reset older Galaxy S phones to factory settings or Wipe cache partition (Hard Reset) to refresh the system performance.
Some of us may still be rocking an older Samsung S4 or S5 as a backup phone. So if your galaxy phone has slowed down, or you’d forgotten the password or Pincode, or whatever the reason you might want to Factory Reset Samsung S4 the only option left out is to restore it to the factory setting.
There are two options available to reset the older Galaxy S phones and these two types of resets clear different areas of the phone storage. So, you better know the difference between a typical galaxy S4 resets and a hard galaxy s4 reset. The same principle applies to the Galaxy S5 phone as well.
Those who do not care about losing data or simply want to put their phone to the default setting can watch the how-to video below and follow the demonstration.
Wipe cache partition Samsung S4, S5 form recovery menu without deleting data
This reset will not delete any personal data saved on your phone. Wipe cache partition means wiping the most common files from the cache stored by the system. These files won’t be deleted from your phone in general, so it’s safe to wipe the cache partition for a fresh start to improve the phone’s performance. So how to do it?
Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home buton and Power key simultaneously
When the phone vibrates, let go of the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home button.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
Press the Power key to select. The phone will automatically restart after the cache is wiped.
A master reset or known as the factory reset will restore the original factory settings as it was out of the box and may delete everything you saved on the device, including your data on the internal storage, such as downloaded content, ringtones, images, apps, and contacts. So make sure to backup your data first before you do a factory reset Samsung Galaxy S IV.
There is two way you can Factory Reset Samsung Galaxy S 4 via setting menu or using hardware buttons to Wipe Data/ Factory reset s4 form recovery menu. If your phone is unresponsive or frozen, use the hardware key method.
Factory Reset Galaxy S4 S5 from Settings Menu
From the Home screen, tap the app drawer then launch setting menu
Tap on the Accounts tab
Tap Backup and reset themn select Factory data reset.
Tap Reset device
If you have screen lock turned on, enter your PIN or password and continue
Tap Delete all
Hard reset S4 with hardware keys
The Recovery mode in Galaxy S4 also allows restoring your phone by erasing all the data on the device. The menu also allows creating a snapshot of your device’s current state in case of advance modifying or installing custom ROM. However, let’s focus on resetting.
Turn the phone off if it is on
Press and hold the volume up button along with the power button until you see the boot screen
Wait some time for the recovery menu to appear then use the volume buttons to navigate and power button select options.
Move to “wipe data/factory reset” option using the volume keys and select the option using the power button.
Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘delete all user data.’
Press Power button to select and start the master reset. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to turn the restart the device.
Factory Reset Galaxy S4 by Reset Code
There is another little-known way to perform a reset on Galaxy S4 by using a numeric code. This is a very easy and simple way to restore your phone without much hassle. But it only works if you are able to use the device and operate the phone dialer app.
First turn on the phone if its switched off
Launch the phone app and enter *2767*3855# on the dial pad
As soon as you dial the code the device will start doing the process itself
Wait until the device restart and you will see the getting start screen
Step by step guide to reset Samsung Galaxy S5 without losing your personal data
This reset will not delete any personal data saved on your phone. Wipe cache partition means wiping the most common files from the cache stored by the system. These files won’t be deleted from your phone in general so it’s SAFE to wipe the cache partition in order to a fresh start of your phone.
Power off your smartphone
Press and hold “Volume up”, “Home” and “Power” at the same time
After the phone vibrates, release the “Power” button but continue to hold “Volume Up” and “home”
Once the “Android System Recovery” screen appears, release all the hardware buttons
Using the “Volume Down” button, navigate to and highlight “wipe cache partition”
Press “Power” to select the option
Once the cache partition has been wiped, “Reboot System Now” should be highlighted
Press the “Power” key to reboot your device
Master Resetting Galaxy S5 Using Hardware Keys:
NOTE: Use this method of resetting in case you are unable to factory reset your smartphone using the settings menu.
Power off your smartphone
Press and hold the “Volume Up”, “Home” and “Power” buttons at the same time
After the phone vibrates once, release the “Power” button but keep pressing “Home” and “Volume Up”
Once the “Android System Recovery” screen appears, release all the hardware buttons
Press “Volume down” until you highlight “wipe data/factory reset”
Press the “Power” button to select the option
Navigate to “Yes — delete all user data” using the “Volume Down” button
Press “Power” to confirm the master reset
After the device has been reset, the “Reboot system now” option should be highlighted
Finally, press the “Power” button to reboot your device.
Love Free Wi-Fi? Protect Your Android Device First on Free WiFi hotspot networks
Imagine: you are traveling, and you need to share an important file with your colleague immediately. Unfortunately, you have used up all cellular data for the month. What do you do? You rush into the nearest coffee shop and use the Wi-Fi there so that your work isn’t delayed. These days, free Wi-Fi hotspots are available at shopping malls, airports, public transportation, hotels, etc. According to a recent survey, people tend to connect to any free Wi-Fi hotspot available to them. At that time, they do not consider the potential risks or consequences of their actions.
Thus, most users fail to realize that using public Wi-Fi is risky. You may be asked for a password before logging in, but that still doesn’t ensure the safety of what you do online. Public Wi-Fi sure is convenient, but it’s a prized target for hackers. Therefore, you risk losing your money and your online identity when you use public Wi-Fi.
Of course, there may be occasions when you have no other option but to use public Wi-Fi. Below you will find the most effective security tips that’ll ensure your safety when you use public Wi-Fi.
Ensure that operating system is updated
There’s more to updating operating systems than simply delivering new features on your Android phone. Such updates also strengthen the operating system and fix bugs or other flaws that could compromise your security. Therefore, it is important that you install a new update upon receiving an alert. If not, your smartphone will continue to be vulnerable. In many cases, the issues might be minor. However, if there are severe bugs, you need to patch your system as soon as possible.
Beware of evil twins
There will be times when connecting to an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot will not have any repercussions. However, this misleading event should be an exception, not the rule. You need to understand that your data can be compromised once you connect to free Wi-Fi. And, in some cases, the network you connect might not even belong to the entity you assumed. For instance, let’s say you want to connect to the wireless network offered at Starbucks. Before you do, you notice two similar networks featuring Starbucks in their name. One of them might be an evil twin. It is a fake network that hackers set up as a trap. The fraudsters will monitor the activities of the connected users and could steal valuable information they exchange online.
Use Virtual Private Network (VPN)
Unless a trusted entity manages the Wi-Fi network, you should not connect to it. However, the chances are that at times the only viable option will be to connect to a free hotspot. You can prepare your device to connect to any network safely. The tool for this is called a Virtual Private Network. A VPN for Android is an app that will let you connect to a preferred location. Then, it will encrypt your internet traffic and ensure that your connection is safe. For instance, since unsecured Wi-Fi networks lack encryption, a VPN solves this problem by encrypting each communication.
Disable Wi-Fi as soon as you are done
While this is a simple idea and a simple thing to do, many people still ignore it. However, it’s a great safety practice to switch off the wireless internet on your smartphone or tablet when you’re done. You should also disable any internet connection sharing functionality before connecting. Disabling your Wi-Fi is an effective way of preventing unwanted malware from entering your device. With no data connection to use, drive-by hacks by scammers nearby will fall flat. To put things simply, this is a very decisive action to take while protecting your smartphone when you use public Wi-Fi.
Use Two-Factor Authentication for Enhanced Security
Hackers are always on the mission to steal passwords and other sensitive data using various hacking apps while you were connected to the unsecured Wi-Fi network. Your password will only be a part of the puzzle if you use two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication helps you make sure that you communicate directly and exclusively to the online service you intend to use. The providers of the online service as well can ascertain that it’s indeed you who’s trying to log in.
The two factors used in such authentication are something that you know, like your login details, and something that’s shared with you as a generated code sent on your mobile. You can be certain of using a genuine website after you correctly enter the two details. 2FA is offered by most of the security-conscious companies across the globe.
What are the risks of using free Wi-Fi hotspots?
Man-in-the-middle attacks. This term refers to hackers or other fraudulent sources intercepting you connection. If your data travels from point A to point C, hackers intervene and read the communication midway.
Unencrypted networks. This problem is probably the most severe. Unsecured networks might not encrypt the information about your activities. Without knowing how the network is set up, you won’t be able to tell whether your data is encrypted.
Snooping and sniffing. Hackers could even purchase or make special equipment to spy on users connected to the free Wi-Fi hotspot.
Malware transmission. Free Wi-Fi networks could also participate in the distribution of malware. It usually requires your device to have weak spots that hackers or other malicious entities could exploit.
So, Its significantly important to understand the risks involved in using public Wi-Fi. It’s important to implement necessary safety precautions before using public Wi-Fi regularly. The tips we have shared to keep you protected are simple, easy, and affordable. Follow them to keep cybercriminals at bay while protecting yourself and your dear ones as well. Exercising caution at all moments is the key. If you do need internet access, try to look for reliable options. However, there are options that allow you connect to free Wi-Fi without worrying about your data.
Play Games Online Safely or Browse the Internet without worrying about privacy
It’s good to have some entertainment, especially today when everything’s going a little uncontrollable. Playing games, watching some Netflix, or doing your hobbies is necessary to keep yourself sane and happy despite the current situation. Make sure that everything is safe and sound, even when you have entertainment. Even when you’re only watching Netflix, you have to be sure that everything is under control. If you ever feel confused, Wizcase experts say on how to watch American Netflix safely. Besides watching Netflix shows or browse the internet, you should also protect your privacy when playing online games.
Some of the best android security apps can do wonderful things, including back up your contacts and phone’s internal data. They can also offer GPS tracking, detecting phone thieves ‘ faces via a front camera, and many other options. Let’s check out the top 10 security apps for android.
Bitdefender Mobile Security
Price: Free/ Offers IAP
It’s time to protect yourself from Android malware with security apps like Bitdefender. It is a nearly flawless security app, with a very light performance, integration with Android Wear, and even VPN client support. Plus, it has a blocker for most Android browsers as well. Not only that, but this app also has other benefits such as app lock, scanner for Wifi, and data-breach notifications, preventing your phone from being exposed outside.
As a starter, Bitdefender does have a 14-day trial, which consists of basic features. The free version on Android can only be used for scanning malware. The VPN client that also included only offers around 200MB of data. If you want more, you need to pay monthly or yearly. Getting the premium version of Bitdefender is a wise choice. Fifteen dollars per year is traded with multiple functions to protect yourself and your gadget from the harm of cyberattacks.
Norton Mobile Security is another excellent Online Privacy & Security app to protect android phones against malware. Before 2019, it still has anti-theft functions, plus other safety instruments. Now, you can still enjoy its service, but with a few limitations. Still, Norton Mobile Security is still considered one of the best security apps today. Without any introduction whatsoever, the users will have to get the premium version. About the price, it seems that Norton does seem to be pricy, even when compared with fellow security apps. Though it lacks some of its specialty, Norton still offers a feature worth the extra price.
The App Advisor acts as a virtual assistant for managing data usage and any unusual behaviors. It will frequently check to determine the originality and safety of some installed apps from the Google Play Store.
Kaspersky Internet Security is a lightweight antivirus app for android that won’t be a burden to your phone but works miraculously to offers use full security features. Even in the free version, the users won’t be disturbed by annoying ads. You can still get its charming features in the free version, like Android Wear support, Call Filtering, and even anti-theft functions, which is brilliant.
The premium version surely does extra. Users can enjoy the automatic scans for newly installed applications, so they don’t need to scan them manually anymore. And that’s it. No wifi scanner or other privacy features available as an addition to the Premium one. All is packed inside the Free version, which is nice.
One of the oldest android security apps was Lookout Mobile Security, now rebranded into Mobile Security, Antivirus & Cleaner by Lookout. The app is still carrying its classic look with a clean-looking UI without the abundant ads lingering in every corner. The free version of this software offers the basic malware scan and detection, plus tracking lost phones. It also acts as an android cleaner app to optimize phones for performance improvement. The Premium, which charges you 30 dollars per year, comes with fancy features like website blocking, wifi scanning, plus free Android security apps as a cherry on the top. Lookout Premium also has VPN with unlimited data. This feature alone makes many people feel interested in trying it.
Avast is one of the best full-featured android virus protection app that offers everything from privacy adviser to system optimizer. Avast has long-known to be one of the best protection apps, both for mobile gadgets or PC. Though it’s good in actual practice, It lacks something. Sometimes, people reported ongoing issues that haven’t been fixed, like malfunctioning anti-theft features and call-blocking.
What we don’t like is the free version of Avast is cluttered with ads, constantly annoying and intrusive pop-ups, plus nags that always want you to upgrade. If you want to be free from that, try Avast Mobile Security’s Paid Version, starting with 2 dollars per month for Premium and 7 dollars per month for the Ultimate version.
Though still considered one of the top security apps for Android, the free version of McAfee is even worse than Avast. It’s full (literally) of ads and upgrades suggestions. If you can be patient with the annoying ads, getting the free version of McAfee is sufficient. You can still get anti-theft features, tracking each app’s data usage, and a scanner for wifi protection without paying anything. An interesting feature is the “Guest Mode”, which lets other people use your phone for a while. For the premium version, the game changes quickly, and it’s one of the better mobile security apps.
Online games can be done with your phone since many competitive online games are available on Android and iPhone. Since you’ll be online at all times, internet security should be put into priority. Suppose you don’t have any antivirus installed on your phone. In that case, you’re putting yourself at the internet’s risks, such as corrupted data and other kinds of malware.
Caller ID apps help to Identify fake callers, spammers, and spoof callers and block unwanted calls
Caller ID Apps are known to be helpful as they name random caller’s identification using a well-founded database. They give protection and security as they block calls, identify potential scammers, and even filter out which phone number to ignore and add to the blacklist. Here we have a rundown of the Top 10 Best ID Caller Apps so you can determine which one has reliable features that may help your day-to-day experience.
Truecaller
Price: Free with ads/ $0.99
Truecaller is the most popular Caller ID app that offers a great user experience and a featured pack secured service ranging from messages, contacts, and dialer function with backup and identification feature. The app is capable to block foreign numbers, unsaved contacts, hidden numbers, and top spammers in your area. It works great and the UI is quite straightforward with nice animation and clean fonts. It also has a dark mode feature however, the messaging service is a bit hard to navigate.
The true caller app is free with no aggressive bothering ads but it offers premium and gold membership for as low as $0.99/month which grants you access to other features such as call recording, auto-update of top spammers list, remove ads, and a Gold calling card that’ll make you stand out.
Whoscall is an excellent caller id app that also won the editor’s choice app award featuring Call, SMS, and anti-spam services with a built-in dialer. It accurately identifies unknown numbers and blocks spam calls/SMS, unsaved contacts, and international numbers. What’s great about this app is the offline identifier, perfect for users with a limited data connection. It also has a cool personalized caller-ID for businesses, and the UI has simple functions to operate. For example, all the useful tabs are at the bottom, perfect for one-hand operation. Whoscall is a free app for Android and offers a $0.99/month premium subscription that enables offline auto-update from the database and removes all ads. It is not at the top 10 searches, but it offers the best of both worlds, online and offline.
Call App is one of the leading caller ID apps offering call and dialer service that blocks and identify unknown callers and filter spam calls. It doesn’t have built-in messages, but there are tons of features such as backup, personalized video covers, who viewed my profile feature, detailed analytics, and Incognito calling. It also acts as a call recorder app for high-quality audio call recording. However, getting all those features requires a premium monthly subscription priced at $0.99/month. In-app purchases will expand the collection of free themes library. You can also refer and earn points so you can unlock a Premium subscription. Call App is quite a heavy app for entry-level smartphones, but it offers reliable protection with a gimmicky personalization feature and analytics that tracks your call routine.
We’ve been hearing good thing about Hiya as a popular caller id app and wanted to test ourself. Surprisingly it works pretty well. Hiya has a simple and cleans UI with pretty specific features for minimalist people. It has basic protection features such as caller ID, personal call block list, spam call alerts, and basic number lookup. It also has a call screening for added protection. The reliable app is suitable for non-tech-savvy users; however, the nuisance calls and scam/fraud calls blocker are only available in the app’s premium version, which costs $1.99/month. But still, Hiya is one of the best software for reliable daily usage with navigation as easy as ABC.
Also, a better caller ID app identifies the caller’s ID, name and region, spam, scam, robocalls, and telemarketing numbers. It has google drive back up and works even offline thanks to the number database. The Showcaller is a great daily driver with instant, real-time identification, voice recorder, and smart dialer that is easy to use. The app has the basic call and dialer service, and the UI is informative and interactive. It also has a wide variety of call screen themes. Call blocking works just fine, although some random ads appear on the screen. So buying their premium subscription for $1.99/month works best, with unlimited search time, video ringtones, and auto-block spam calls.
The same with the rest of the app, it blocks potential scams and frauds, identifies names and regions of unknown numbers, and avoids spam and scam calls. This app offers excellent interactive analytics on its clean and straightforward UI. The contacts, dial pad, and messaging service are also available. However, the UI is not seamless as it doesn’t have one consistent theme. It offers call recording but with limited time as well. By purchasing the monthly subscription for $1.59, True ID caller name offers unlimited call recorder, cloud backup, no watermark, and ads free app.
Eyecon has a unique UI, the reason why you will never hit the uninstall button. The visual is very much acceptable for people who like stylish looks thanks to the gradient themes. The app also displays a profile picture for every contact, whether in a list or grid view. The photos are synced via Facebook, generated online, or uploaded from the gallery. The Caller identifier and call Blocker functions quite well though very basic in features. There are also pop-up ads when using the app, but the premium yearly subscription of $9.99 offers complete spam protection, 40+ themes, ads-free, and VIP support.
A pretty lightweight and simple app that brings user experience a fresh feel. This caller ID app tells immediately if the caller is a spam or scam, and it is working. It also identifies whose calling as it displays a picture and city address. It also blocks spam calls, and the user interface is pretty much minimalist. It also offers backup contacts, phone number search, smart dialer, and calls log scan. The downside is, it doesn’t offer a premium subscription if you want to remove ads, but it is not that distracting as it seems. Still a great experience
A unique name for an app identifies unknown calls and permanently stores them in their database, which can then be used without an internet connection by all users. It will warn you when a potential scam or spam is trying to call. Pretty much all functions of the other app above. And even the app only has 1M+ downloads, the main feature of this app is the Advance Blocking which gives the user plenty of actions when having incoming or outgoing calls. It doesn’t have any subscription as the features are all free to use, but they accept donations by subscribing to their tier list from $1.99 – $10.99, and I, myself, want to do it as the app works like a charm.
A very interactive and distinctive app we found among all Caller ID apps. It is worth trying as it has smooth animation and lots of customization. There are also an unlimited number of themes, the sorting and function are a little bit complicated for average users, but the finger sliding gesture gives comfortability with ease. The blocking and identification work fine, and it offers backup and call recording. You can also upgrade to the Pro version for as low as $0.99, and it will unlock more intuitive and fun features.
And that’s pretty much the best 10 Caller ID apps we found on the Play Store. Each has distinct features suitable for your different needs. Some have varied with customization, the rest are basic and straightforward, and some sure have Advertisements, so choose what the best app is for you.
Check these apps that will record phone calls with clarity and flexibility
Recording your phone call can be extremely useful if you need to get back to some parts of the conversation, remember something, or use it for an interview if you’re a journalist. While most modern smartphones come equipped with a phone call recorded, they are mainly limited in their functionality and lack some useful features. In this article, we will cover the 10 best Android call recorder apps to record phone calls. Most of these apps are easy to use and come with some great bells and whistles. There are call recorder apps that can record [phone calls manually and automatically to choose a more flexible option based on your preferences.
Cube ACR
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
Cube ACR is one of the best free call recorder app for recording calls using an android phone. It supports both manual and automatic call recording and supports the vast majority of modern calling technologies, including phone calls and VoIP. Using Cube Call Recorder ACR, you have to record the regular phone calls and those within Skype 7, Skype Lite, Viber, WhatsApp, Hangouts, Facebook, Slack, KAKAO, Line, Telegram, and much more.
It has many features, and one of our favorites is crystal clear voice quality and an exclusion list that enables you to make a list of friends that will automatically record calls. Also, smart gesture control let you switch loudspeaker mode to regular call as you move the phone towards your ears.
As its name suggests, Automatic Call Recorder developed by Appliqato, will easily record your phone calls and store them in a place for you to use later. The most useful feature is the ability to customize which phone calls to record and which calls should be ignored. You can listen to the recordings, make notes about them as well as share them.
The app easily integrates with Google Drive, Dropbox, and other storage on the clouds, which lets you save them without compromising your device’s storage. If you don’t want to integrate the cloud, you can save the calls in your inbox, which can be manually optimized – size, number of saved calls, and setting conversation priorities. The app comes in three default settings – Record everything (which is set to default,) Ignore everything, and Ignore contacts. Automatic Call Recorder is available for free, although upgrading to a premium version will extend the available features and get rid of ads that can often be very annoying.
Tap-Mobile’s Call Recorder Automatic is another app that comes free of charge and allows you to keep track of conversations with your friends, family, and colleagues by recording the conversations. You can choose any of the incoming or outgoing phone calls and press record. The app gives you the ability to save your calls and share them with other apps.
Both automatic and manual call record option is available and sorting option to organize all the saved recordings by names or group by the date they were saved. One exciting feature allows you to reveal the ids of calls where the caller is unknown. The app is free, but it contains in-app purchases that may improve the overall quality and add new features. We installed the app on the phone running android 4.1, and it works perfectly, showing the app is fully compatible with older devices.
callX is our favorite call recording app option, mainly for the nice visuals. It sports a darker theme that doesn’t put so much pressure and strain on the eyes while providing all the bells and whistles users need to record their audio calls.
You can record calls based on the phone number or name while excluding recording by the same parameters. The caller id will be able to identify the unknown phone numbers, which is great if you want to keep track of a stranger calling you. Another interesting feature is that you can choose whether you want to save your recordings in MP3 or WAV audio formats. Both of them offer stellar and clear audio quality, which is great if you’re a journalist, you’re making a YouTube video, or a podcast. The app also provides a secure Dropbox and Google Drive integration.
Auto Call Recorder is one of the better free call recorder apps for android smartphones to record phone calls that offer a lot of flexible and easy functionalities. It’s a simple automatic call recording app that does the job without tweaking any settings and has deep customize options if you want to. It has external SD card support and comes with five working profiles to adjust your settings, including Record Everything mode, a default mode, Ignore Everything, Ignore Contacts, Record Incoming Calls, Record Outgoing Calls.
Call Recorder app from lovekara is a more popular app that lets you record phone calls in a very intuitive way. It offers both manual and automatic modes and the option to save phone calls, whitelist, or blacklists them. Like other apps, it has three different modes that allow recording all calls and ignoring them, depending on whether the contact is called or a stranger. Apps will also let you add notes and share the recordings you make. If you don’t have enough storage on your phone or the SD card, you can easily synchronize the app with Google Drive or Dropbox.
All Call Recorder Automatic 2 is a perfect app for people who are not tech-savvy and need a flexible and intuitive user interface. It is one of the best Android call recorder apps for quick phone call recordings. The app captures phone call’s audio automatically and saves them to the device. It comes with a library of conversations that lets you store and organize the recorded phone calls intelligently. Just like the other apps, you can synchronize them to other apps.
This app will enable you to record all the crucial conversations worth saving while providing a smooth and intuitive user interface. What’s the most appealing about this app is the clarity and sharpness of the voice quality, so this voice can easily be distributed further, especially if you’re a YouTuber or you are recording podcasts using the phone.
This app supports all the features above and works in different modes to use it flexibly. Another attractive feature of this app is regarding the security aspect, as it can identify unknown numbers and give a warning about telemarketing, fraud calls, and other spam that is incoming. It supports different file formats, including AMR, 3GP, MPEG4.
Smart Call Recorder will do precisely what its name suggests – record your phone calls quickly and cleverly. It works in different modes, allowing users to record calls automatically as soon as the phone call gets connected or delay the recording start at some particular point and have it activate automatically at some point. You can easily organize, upgrade, send calls to your friends, and delete the list of phone calls recorded while also setting a password if you’re working with sensitive data. Also, the calls can be organized to be split between more important and less urgent calls. Also, it works with different calling formats, including MP3, WAV, AMR, and 3GPP.
Truecaller is one of the most popular calling apps that lets users identify an unknown caller. However, one of its most attractive new features includes the capability of recording ongoing calls. While the app is available and works for free, the call recording feature requires a premium plan. That said, you’ll need to pay to be able to record the calls. The call recording feature needs to enable the settings menu, where there is a toggle to enable the calling feature. Truecaller is extremely flexible and reliable from security and safety aspects because it doesn’t store the calls on their servers. Instead, all your recordings are saved on your phone only. Another drawback is that it only works phones running android pie and lower OS version.
Choosing the perfect call recorder app for a phone depends solely on the experience and performance you need, as well as whether you’re willing to join a premium plan for better quality, more features, and fewer ads. Finally, it’s worth taking your own device’s capabilities, so you wouldn’t download an app that won’t work correctly on your phone. There are countries where recording phone calls is illegal, so make sure to check whether you can record your phone calls, before embarking on such an endeavor.
These are the best photo editor apps for iOS devices.
Image editing used to be a difficult task reserved only for professionals or someone who has extensive knowledge of using image editing software on a desktop computer. However, nowadays, you can have top-notch Apps with advanced yet straightforward toolkits right in your pockets. Whether you only want to crop part of your picture or remove any object with a simple tap, We’ve put together 10 of the best free photo editing apps available for iPhone/iPad.
Indulge yourself with countless possibilities where the only limit is your creativity. We guarantee to you that Social Media accounts will never be the same, as you’ll indeed be able to stand out with your creative edits.
VSCO
Price: Free/ Offers IAP
VSCO is a powerful photo-editing app that mixes between a large community of photo editors and eccentric filters and tweaks that can be applied to your photos. VSCO has a lot of filters that can vastly change the look of your picture. Whether making it more vintage-oriented or modernizing your pictures, VSCO probably has it. VSCO can change standard properties of images such as cropping, adding borders, adjusting exposure, contrast, temperature, and lots of other properties. Users share their epic edits with others in the community tab, and users can react to edits and even enhance their own editing skills. It also doubles as an excellent video editor app. We certainly enjoyed VSCO’s Community as we were able to check out new ideas and filters for amazing edits.
VSCO is easily integrated with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other Social Media platforms to ease sharing the images between apps. We thoroughly enjoyed the creative tools to make awesome video stories which has become a craze on social media apps. VSCO is free to use, however, Its true potential is unlocked with its premium membership. With over 200 presets unlocked, video editing, advanced editing toolkits, and many more features available for premium users. VSCO Membership costs $19.99/year.
In our test, it justified its worthiness and proved why millions of users love it. PicsArt is an app that gives its users a powerful toolkit for photo and video editing. The UI is simple, You only need to select the picture/video you wish to edit, and you’re good to go. There are tons of filters to try on pictures, background removal tools that are very easy to use, object-removal tools, adding borders, cropping parts of the picture, and a wide array of options and tweaks for images. Feeling unproductive? Jump to the Explore tab and start viewing hand-picked filters and edits by the developers that you can try with a click of a button. For Professional editors, PicsArt has editing challenges. Contestants edit/create masterpieces with a certain common theme, and Users vote on the best.
What’s truly amazing about PicsArt is its simplistic UI. Each user has his/her own profile on the App, where they can share their amazing edits with other Community members and keep track of their proud accomplishments and winnings in PicsArt’s Challenges. PicsArt is free, but users can opt to buy PicsArt Gold for $4.99/month, which unlocks thousands of premium stickers, frames, templates, masks, filters, fonts, and many more.
Ever wanted how that beard would look on you? Or perhaps how you’d look when you’re old? FaceApp is a powerful photo-editing App that utilizes cutting-edge AI Technology to edit your pictures to your liking professionally. FaceApp allows you to try out different beard styles, add a specific type of smile, change the overall size of your head, switch your entire gender, change your age from being a teenager to an elder, change your hairstyle or color, and hundreds of other adjustments such as contrast, temperature, vignette, and lens blur.
The Technology used in FaceApp is extremely powerful, and changes look surreal. We personally adored FaceApp UI as it is super simple, and you’d be able to start editing photos in seconds. The accuracy of the AI Filters is mesmerizing and quite magical. We certainly had some fun turning our friends into grandparents with a few taps. However, FaceApp’s arsenal is very limited for freemium users, and the App’s true potential unlocks after users pay. FaceApp offers limited usage for free users, and users can subscribe to the PRO version for $4.99/month. Pro version allows Infinite Edits, More filters and tweaks to use, Removal of ads from the App, and Saving your edits without watermarks.
Polarr’s photo-editing toolkit has a compelling and distinguishable feature: selecting objects as layers in your picture. Polarr allows you to select different objects such as Background, Sky, Person(s), Buildings, Ground, Animal(s), and so on. Polarr even has Face detection tools that automatically detect all the faces in a given image and edit them as to the User’s liking. All those features are employed using sophisticated AI Technology. With several masks such as brushes and gradients. As well as Overlays, which is basically an extra layer of mask on top of the image. Overlays can even be animated, and we certainly had some fun with the thunderstorm overlay
Polarr’s potent arsenal contains auto-selection, a function that allows users to automatically detect and select Sky, Ground, Vegetation, or other objects in the given image. Such a feature allows users to edit big portions of their images quickly. Polarr even includes several Retouch adjustments that are focused on beautifying facial features. Polarr allows the users to edit an abundance of properties such as Light, Color, Color Palette, Cropping parts of the image, Changing the perspective, and several other properties. The toolkit provided by Polarr definitely offers its Users a very strong editing tool that could yield beautiful results. Polarr is a free App but has a PRO Version for $3.99/Month.
MOLDIV is a really simple photo editor available for free on iOS that is more focused on beautifying facial features, as the App contains a camera that will automatically alter facial features. The camera removes wrinkles, smoothes skin, enlarges eyes, and so many other features. MOLDIV also contains over 200 filters, Textures that can alter the image’s entire mood, Animated stickers, and over 300+ fonts. The App also offers a “Magazines” tab that contains tens of templates for Magazine covers that you can edit and alter to your liking. There are also tons of templates for collages that can contain several images together. Another interesting part of the app is the collage maker to combine multiple photos into one frame. The app has a straightforward UI, however, MOLDIV’s toolkit is not as advanced as most of the other apps on this list, and it falls short on many of the advanced features found on other apps. MOLDIV is a free App but offers an upgrade pack for a one-time $14.99. The Pack contains an extra 171 filters, 464 stickers, almost 200 textures, 295 frames & magazines and removes ads and watermarks.
Perhaps you tried those filters that turn your picture into a drawing, but you haven’t tried Prisma. The free-to-use photo editing app uses cutting-edge AI Technology to turn your simple pictures into masterpieces. Winning the 2016 App of the Year from the App Store, Prisma definitely deserves a spot on this list. Prisma contains tens of freestyles, borders, and the option to edit image properties. Prisma’s true beauty lies in its specificity. The app is heavily focused on artistic edits to any given image, thus, it substantially succeeds in performing. You can even opt to unlock extra styles and options for $7.99/month. The premium pack unlocks more styles and the option to turn your image in HD to get better resolution results. We’d have to say that Prisma’s true beauty is hidden behind that pay-wall, as the unlocked presets are truly beautiful and will transform your image into a masterpiece worthy of being in the Louvre.
Lightleap
Price: Free/ Offers IAP
There are only a handful of apps that give you actual superpowers for fixing photos, and Lightleap is one of them. Lightleap gives its users an insane amount of strong tools that sophisticated Artificial Intelligence Technology powers. Whether you want to remove an entire person from your image or change how the sky looks behind you, Lightleap will do it in a few seconds. Lightleap also contains Stickers, Overlays, Blur tools, Color Palette changer, Cropping, Altering image properties, and several other tools under your control. Lightleap offers Lightleap PRO for $24.99/year, which unlocks extra tools and settings, as well as an entire extra toolkit for facial editing. Lightleap is a powerful App with many advanced tools, yet It remains effortless to use for the average joe. You won’t need to spend hours on YouTube to learn how to crop a person out of your image. The App also contains one of the most accurate Auto-Selection tools compared to other Apps on this list.
A literal Retro Camera in your pocket to give your photos a vintage look. Retrocam contains tens of options to add to your images to give them that retro-feel you want. Tons of Overlays such as Overlight that exist in old cameras can be added to your image, as well as textures that depict old picture quality. Date stamps, image glitches, and even frames are all features in your toolkit to turn your picture into a retro masterpiece. Retrocam’s dedication makes it stand out for users interested in this specific editing style. Retrocam offers a $19.99/month subscription that removes that app’s watermark from edited images and unlocks hundreds of themes, overlays, textures, and filters.
Adobe Photoshop required no introduction. PS Express is a collection of Photoshop’s most powerful editing tools put into a mobile version. It has all the traditional PSD tools such as cropping, red-eye correction, contrast, filters, saturation, and smart filters. Smart filters are filters that are designed to correctify an image’s color temperature automatically. PS Express also gives you lots of tutorials that are easy-to-follow and unlock your true potential. The app is very easy to use and maybe slightly intimidating at first, given all the advanced tools in its arsenal. Still, after a few tutorials, you’ll be editing images for breakfast. You can even share your creations with other users in the Adobe Cloud or even check others’ creations in the Discover tab.
The only problem we faced with PS Express is the complicated UI. The App will certainly look very intimidating for beginners because of how diverse and advanced it is. Nevertheless, The Tutorials are not hard to follow, and we promise you that they will truly unlock a lot of unique edits for your images.s PS Express is free but offers a premium version for $6.99/month. The premium version unlocks incredibly AI-powered tools that automate a lot of the manual work, such as selecting objects, auto-healing, correct blinks in photos, and plenty of other options.
An award-winning photo editing app with plenty of creative potential for its users. Bazaart differs from other apps on this list because of its Graphic Designing toolkits available for its users that allow users to create true art from their phones. Bazaar has plenty of easy-to-use tools, such as the magical background eraser, which obviously removes backgrounds from objects with one click. A pretty advanced heal tool that detects objects and removes them to another layer in a few seconds. Bazaart also offers your tens of free/premium templates for designs, whether you’re designing a card or a poster, you’ll find it there. Bazaart offers plenty of AI-powered tools behind a paywall for $4.99/month or a one-time payment of $79.99
There are plenty of great photo editing apps in the market, which is why we scoured the App Store to filter for you the top 10 photo editing apps available for iPhone/iPad. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced guru, you’ll definitely find the perfect app for you in this list. Did we miss any photo editing apps? Which apps do you use? Let us know in the comments below!
These best holiday apps help preparations for the festive season
The holiday season is always the best time of the year to spend time with family and friends. Especially Thanksgiving, Christmas, and celebrating the New Year are wonderful. However, it can be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things that need doing. From Thanksgiving feasting and the grocery shopping involved, inviting folk over, Black Friday sales, thinking of gift ideas, buying Christmas gifts, making travel plans, decorating the house, keeping the kids amused, and maybe planning a New Year’s Eve party, just thinking of it all is enough to bring us out in cold sweat! Luckily, there are some great holiday apps around to make it easier, so you can spend more time enjoying the celebrations.
What are the best android holiday apps for festive season?
We’ve spent a reasonable amount of time looking at the myriad of apps available to produce our selection of the best apps for the holiday season to get things done. These free apps for the holiday season are something you need to get organized.
The Coupons App
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
Some people love the hustle and bustle of stores during the holiday season, while others prefer to shop at home using their smartphone or tablet. Either way, the sheer amount of shopping can seem like a mammoth task, so one thing that can ease the pain is getting a bargain. Whether you’re shopping for gifts, for your home, or simply to treat yourself, Shopular is a hugely popular app that will help you to get the best deals. The app will provide you with coupons and weekly ads from well-known stores, including Walgreens, Macy’s, Target, and Kohl’s, and covers more than a thousand US malls.
If you want to shop online, there’s an opportunity to earn 25% cashback, or if you want to go out to shop at the stores, the app will automatically appear on arrival at the mall and show the best deals and coupons as you shop. The coupons don’t need to be printed out as they are redeemed directly from your phone, and the app has an easy-to-navigate interface. This is one of our favorite shopping apps, and it’s really well worth using during the holiday season or all year round.
If you feel like your brain is getting saturated trying to remember everything you still have to get done, then Any.Do could be the right app for you. It’s an excellent note taking app for productivity with a clean, uncluttered interface that will help to make your life a whole lot easier at this time of year. It features a daily planner, a to-do list, reminders, and a calendar. Hence, it is extremely useful whether you’re trying to remember to pick up laundry, clean out those cupboards that some family members insist on looking in, borrow that large roasting dish from Mom, shine your champagne glasses, or simply want a reminder to pick up Uncle Chuck at the airport.
The latest update to the app added the option to create an event, useful if you’re planning a party or perhaps New Year fireworks, and the app also includes a home screen widget, so it’s easy to see those reminders and things you have left to do.
This is a great food app featuring recipes from your Food Network favorites. It provides recently aired recipes and those airing right now, and there are likely to be plenty of holiday season recipes to interest you over the coming weeks and months. There are over 70,000 recipes, and you can search for specific recipes, by course, or by the chef, or simply browse the many great ideas available. You’ll find the basics such as a Thanksgiving roast turkey dinner, cookies, sweet potato recipes, some great dessert dishes, festive cocktails, and much more.
You can share recipes with others or save them for your own collection, and this Food Network app also helps with your grocery shopping list as recipe ingredients can be saved ready for when you shop. The recipes are clear and easy to follow. However, video recipes are only available to view in the U.S.
For many of us, when we think of Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year, we associate it with trying to get home for Christmas or perhaps having people to stay. The KAYAK app is a great all-around travel app that will assist you in making your holiday season travel plans go smoothly. It gives information and deals on flights, hotels, and rental cars with easy, secure, and convenient booking. One of the best aspects of this travel app is the additional information it provides, such as security wait times (so you need to know whether to leave early for the airport), terminal maps, and flight status updates so you know just when that special someone is arriving.
The holiday season is the busiest time for airports and airline operators and also, a lot of changes happen in schedules. So it’s important to track flights and bookings to get notified of any changes. Flightradar24 is one of the best flight tracking apps out there. With a slick interface, it does the job quickly and efficiently. Users can quickly find a flight with the number or use the code for the airport/airline. We particularly like its control over trips and flights that gives detailed flight information such as flight status, route, estimated time of arrival, the actual time of departure, and other stats. It also delivers quick notifications. The ability to view real-time aircraft moves on the map is a pleasure to see.
Having a nice dinner with loved ones brings great pleasure during the holiday season but we all know how difficult it is to get a table without prior reservation. OpenTable is one of the best restaurant reservations app that lets you save money with discounts and deals across fifty thousand restaurants globally. The search feature works really well and helps to narrow down the choice of places by filtering area, menu, cuisine style, and much more. Also, booking a table is very easy with just a few stapes and allows sharing the RSVP with other parties. Another useful option is the ability to keep a record of your dietary preferences, stats, and Dining Points to redeem rewards and travel deals on apps like KAYAK.
Amazon is the mother of all shopping apps and it is known for number of shopping festival during various holiday season in many countries that brings incredible deals and discounts. Since many of the big brands now offers a dedicated app, you should also keep an eye on your favorite retailer’s app.
One of our biggest headaches every Christmas is keeping track of gifts we’ve already purchased, are yet to buy, who we’re giving to, and what to get. This app really helps out in this respect as it enables you to enter who you want to buy for, how much you want to spend on each person, mark it once you have the gift, and mark it yet again once it’s wrapped and ready to give! You can also send a Christmas list via Twitter, Evernote, email, and more, and personalize each entry with a note, picture, or links for gift ideas.
It’s easy to overspend during the holiday season, so using this app will help you set a budget and keep track of what you’ve spent already. The stats page also shows details such as gifts left to buy, left to wrap, and days to Christmas. As well as all this, you can protect your Xmas list with a password, so if a member of your family or a friend is trying to snoop and see what you’ve got them, they won’t be able to find out. A handy feature of this app is that it automatically archives your list on New Year’s Day each year, carrying over the people on your current list.
Christmas songs app is an obvious choice of the best apps for the holiday season to get in the festive spirit by listening to Christmas music while preparing for the holiday season. The app offers a great library of cheerful songs that can also be set as ringtones and assigned to different contacts, set as alarms and message tones, and more. Just a few of the music choices available are Jingle Bells, Away in a Manger, Sleigh Bells, Joy to the World, and Silent Night. For other holidays you should check out our choice of best music streaming apps.
Decorating the house for Christmas time is the most satisfying job that everyone loves. House Decoration app offers crafts and decorations and great ideas to decorate your home for the holidays. You can also save money on in-store decorations, which is a big bonus! There are plenty of decorations in this app with step-by-step instructions like Christmas tree decorations, home décor, Santa Claus, candles, bells, snowflakes, snowmen, and reindeer. We also recommend using the apps from our list of Home Decorating Apps & Interior Design Apps.
A bonus app to cheer up with holiday spirit! Fill your house with classic Christmas music. Magic Piano is one best easy-to-learn and plays piano apps that will let you play free holiday songs as well as timeless classics. While sitting with family, ask everyone to play songs and see who can do it perfectly. This could be a whole lot of fun in the family get-together.
Any or all of these apps should help you to get ready for the holiday season. After all, holidays are meant for relaxation in the company of those closest to you, not running yourself into the ground getting increasingly frazzled as the season progresses. As well as practical holiday apps that will help with shopping, planning, decorating, and shopping, there are also apps that you can sit down and share with the kids and get all the family involved. If you have enjoyed our ideas for the best apps for the holiday season, let us know which you found most useful or recommend that we haven’t included in our top choices.
These are the best physics-based puzzle games for iOS devices
Physics-based games have always been a popular choice amongst others on the App Store. With tons of fun and challenging physics games added on the App Store daily. They use fun mechanics based on physics and offer a significant challenge to those hardcore gamers who prefer challenging games. We have scoured the AppStore to find the best of the best physics-based games for iPhone and iPad, bringing you a list of the ten best free Physics-based apps available for all iOS Devices.
Games with physical components are favorites of many users. Years ago, Angry Birds appeared with physical components and stunned the mobile gaming industry. Since then, there are hundreds of mobile game releases with the same idea. Let’s check out the top 10 free physics games for iPhone and iPhone.
Smash Hit
Price: Free/ Offers IAP
Smash Hit is a physics-based shooter game where the player’s main task is to hit the crystals with metal balls. Are you bored at work? Smash Hit will turn your time around. The game is mainly a platformer where the player controls the direction in which the metal balls are thrown. The more your progress, the harder it becomes to hit all the glass crystals. You collect more balls as you destroy more glass crystals. There are several power-ups, such as rapidly firing fireballs or slowing downtime. If the player runs out of balls, then the game is over, and the player starts over from the beginning. Smash Hit is free but offers a $1.99 premium version that allows users to unlock extra modes, review statistics about their gameplay, and restart from checkpoints.
A satisfying physics game where the player is required to dig a way for the ball(s) to reach their designated targets. As easy as It sounds, Dig This can get very cumbersome, with several levels requiring us to take some time and think about how to get the ball to its target. The game is level-based, where players progress through intricate levels designed by the developers. With more than 2646 levels in the game, Dig This is a game that will keep its players occupied sometimes. Dig This is free, but offers “Solutions” as an in-game currency to solve players’ difficult levels for players automaticallyayers automatically. You can also remove in-game ads for $2.99.
The well-known physics-based puzzle game requires players to have both good instincts with how ropes work in physics and a sharp reaction to other events in the game. Players are required to deliver the candy to the frog by cutting the rope that hangs the candy. However, you are also required to collect stars. So the player needs to cut the rope(s) in a way that the candy hits and collects the stars, then finally onto its destination to the frog. With over 425 challenging levels, Cut The Rope will surely keep you busy. The game is free and includes a VIP Membership with which the user can disable all Ads and unlock all the levels in the game. The membership is $10.99 monthly.
Well, if there is a reason why this article took more time than intended, then It’s probably Hitmasters. Take control of a spy in a physics-based shooter where your main task is to kill all the enemies on the screen using the least number of bullets. Use strategy to kill multiple enemies with a single bullet to get a higher score. Hitmasters offers different modes in the game, such as Shotgun mode, Gravity mode, Ricochet mode, Toxic mode, and portal mode. The game is really satisfying and very indulging. Hitmasters is free and offers a $7.99 weekly subscription that gives the player 3000 coins and extra skins.
What’s better than reuniting lovers again? Love Balls is a game where the player must draw anything on the screen to reunite the balls together. The possibilities are endless with this game. However, to achieve the best score on any level, you must use as little ink as possible. Love Balls has more than 648 levels, all unique with different obstacles that the player must face to reunite the Balls. What we love about Love Balls is the endless solutions possible to the same puzzle; truly, the only limit is your creativity. Love Balls is free but offers users to play the game without ads for $3.99.
A physics-based logic game where the player’s main task is to fill the glass with water. Draw all sorts of objects in front of the water pipe to get all the water to the glass safely. Players get more stars as they draw less ink on any level. Happy Glass is a game that challenges any puzzle lover as the game offers 720 unique levels for the player to solve and even more coming soon. Happy Glass is free but offers a VIP membership for $9.99 a week, $24.99 a month, or $124.99 a year. VIP membership removes ads, gives daily coins to the player, and unlocks a variety of different themes and skins.
A classic arcade game where players control a paddle that hits a ball to break all the bricks on the level. However, Break Bricks has a twist, as the bricks destroyed occasionally drop power-ups that give the player more balls to destroy the bricks or even set a stone barrier under the paddle to block balls from falling off. Enjoy over 731 levels in the game that challenges the player fun challenges. Break Bricks has several skins for the balls and paddles that can be unlocked by watching ads or buy gems.
The second spin-off from the famous Angry Birds franchise. What’s better than shooting off birds to hit piggy structures with plenty of levels to go through and a dozen different birds with special abilities. You need to plan and think about how to topple that piggy structure with the least birds possible as you only have a limited number of birds on each level. Angry Birds 2 delivers as much fun as its predecessor with one difference, Angry Birds 2 is free with in-app purchases. Purchase the in-game premium currency to unlock cool skins for all your birds, or even skip difficult levels.
Ever wanted to play as a stealthy killing machine? Well, Hunter Assassin is your go-to game. Spawn in different levels with only one purpose. Kill everyone else without getting shot or detected. Unlock amazing different characters such as Ninja Assassin that shoots shurikens at the enemy. Play hundreds of different levels with distinct types of enemies that require different tactics and strategies to overcome. Hunter Assassin is a free game with in-app purchases. Players can purchase VIP Membership for $6.99 weekly, which removes all ads, gives the player Diamonds, and increases the diamonds won from each level.
Who wouldn’t want to save people hanging from a ceiling? Rescue Cut is a game that requires Players to rescue people hanging by ropes from imminent death. Levels contain multiple hazards, such as spikes, so the player must think carefully before cutting any rope. The objective is to get the hanging person safely to the ground to exit the level. Rescue Cut is fascinating as it incorporates realistic mechanics when it comes to the physics in the game. Rescue Cut has over 56 levels for players to enjoy alongside different modes, and even more, are coming soon. Players can unlock tens of different skins for the game.
Swampy needs to take a shower but needs your help. You need to dig a way for the water to reach him. Where’s My Water? 2 is a physics game that requires its users to dig a way in the dirt and deliver the water to the water pipe. However, to get a higher score, the player must collect ducks by filling them with water along the way. The game also offers different modes where the player needs to make the water stay on-screen as the screen navigates downwards, which is a thrilling mode for a simple puzzle game. The game offers hundreds of levels for players to enjoy, each level requiring a unique strategy to overcome. Where’s My Water? 2 is free and offers in-app purchases.
Physics-based games are a fun time-killer and are a personal favorite for us. For those of you who would prefer challenging puzzles that depend on the player’s intuition and strategy, you will surely find your new favorite game on our list. There’s everything from shooting birds at towers to filling up a glass with water. What are you waiting for? Get to playing!