Category: Apps

The latest selection of Android apps, both free and paid, are found right here. If you were looking for that fresh list of trending Android apps, we have you covered on a daily basis. Want to know the newest Android application releases first? Want to know which Android applications are free for a limited time?

Whether it’s Gmail, Google Calendar, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, or lesser known apps like Nova Launcher, Trello, Sling TV, and Philips Hue, you will know the best Android apps at all times.

Got a suggestion for a new app you think we should check out? We are all ears and regularly accept user-submitted applications, so that you won’t pay until you know if we approve.

Google Assistant Can Now Send or Receive Payments, Thanks to Google Pay
Starting today, you’ll be able to fire up Google Assistant and either ask for cash from your buddy for that sucker bet he lost, or send off the $5 you owe for losing in similar fashion. Yep, payments through Google Assistant are here and they are powered by Google Pay.

To get started, all you’ll do is say to one of your contacts, “Hey Google, request $5 from Joel for last night’s beers,” or “Hey Google, send $15 to Tim for the burger.” The first time you do it, you’ll walk through a quick setup process that ropes in Google Pay and cards or payment accounts you have setup there. Once you are done, the command will still request either a Google account password or your fingerprint before any money moves around.

What happens if the recipient doesn’t have Google Pay setup? They’ll get a text, email, or notification (if Google Pay is installed) that will help them cash out the funds you sent.

This new Google Pay feature is only available on both Android and iOS, but it’ll come to Google Home units in the “coming months.” Be sure you have the latest Google app update, as well as Google Pay.

Google Play Links:
// Google
March 22, 2018
Shadowgun Legends is Now Available for Download on Google Play

Madfinger, the makers behind the original Shadowgun series, are back with another intense PVP title, Shadowgun Legends.

In this title, humanity is under attack from a deadly alien invader. What else is new? During the campaign, you will level up your character over 200+ missions taking place on 4 diverse planets. That’s just the campaign, though.

The real action will take place in the PVP mode, where you will take on other players in various arenas. If you can remember Shadowgun: DeadZone, then you’ll know what to expect from the PVP aspect of the game.

Shadowgun: Legends is free to download and play, but you should expect to see plenty of in-app purchases available.

Google Play Link

March 21, 2018
You Can Now Add Hashtags and Profile Links to Your Instagram Bio

Instagram is adding the ability to place live hashtags and profile links directly in your bio this week. With this, you can add your favorite hashtag directly to your profile or even link straight to your bae’s profile so everyone knows you’re in a relationship and miserable.

As you can see in the header image above, whenever you add a “#” in the bio, Instagram will recommend a few hashtags you might be looking for. You can add whichever you might want. The same goes for profiles. When you place a “@” during the editing process, you’ll see your list of friends that you can add.

Once saved, the links are live and anyone that visits your profile can click them and see what you’re all about.

For profiles in particular, Instagram explains, “When you mention someone else’s profile in your bio, they will receive a notification and can choose to remove the link to their profile. Their profile will remain in your bio but without a link.”

These changes are rolling out right now, so be sure to add your bae!

// Instagram

March 21, 2018
Keeper Password Manager Now Fully Integrated With Autofill in Android 8.1

Announced this week, Keeper Password Manager is now fully integrated with Android 8.1’s Autofill API, meaning logging into apps and services on your Oreo-powered device just got super painless.

The Autofill API is one of the more overlooked changes that came with Oreo, simply because a lot of developers have yet to integrate it into their apps. However, we are getting there, and with Keeper now allowing for seamless usage, keeping your passwords safe but still easily accessible when logging into apps is a step forward.

According to Keeper, “Over the past few months, the Keeper team has worked closely with the Google Android team to offer this enhanced capability, allowing for better security, seamless integration and increased performance.”

The way this will work should be rather straightforward. If you have Keeper installed on your device, with all of your passwords stored inside, anytime you open an app on Android 8.1+, Keeper should automatically popup and offer your username and password for the service.

Bless you, Autofill API.

Google Play Link

// Keeper

March 20, 2018
PUBG Now Available on Android in US

UPDATE 3/19: PUBG is now live for all Android users in the US!

PUBG, short for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, is one of if not the biggest battle royale game in the world right now. Yes, I know, Fortnite is also popular, but I’m not here to discuss Steam rankings or anything of the sort.

Earlier this month, Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite, announced a mobile version for its insanely popular Battle Royale game mode. Well, PUBG has now done the same, providing a soft launch of PUBG Mobile in Canada published by Tencent Games.

And yes, before you have to ask, this is an officially licensed port of the PC version running Unreal Engine 4. It should be pretty dope.

In this game, you will drop onto an island with 99 other players, searching for loot and guns, then eliminating all of your opponents. Should you be the last to survive not just enemy players, but an always decreasing map size, you win.

If you follow the link below and you’re in the US, expect to see none of your devices compatible to download. As soon as we hear about US availability, we’ll let you know.

Google Play Link

// Touch Arcade

March 19, 2018
IKEA Place App Comes to Android, Powered by ARCore
Google’s ARCore has allowed IKEA Place to make its way to Android. IKEA announced the move today, giving IKEA fans with supported phones the ability to place pieces of IKEA furniture in spaces to see how they might look. It’s a bit of a test drive app.

IKEA Place includes 3D representations of more that 3,200 IKEA products that you can place in your office, bedroom, living room, etc. You can adjust them in place, make sure the size is right, that sort of thing. It’s a similar experience to the one IKEA launched with iOS 11 back in September 2017.

In addition to the 3D modeling, IKEA Place has a visual search feature that lets you take a picture of any furniture and the app will find let you know which IKEA product it is or if there is something similar that IKEA sells.

IKEA Place is available now for ARCore supported phones. That list is somewhat limited, but does include Pixel and Pixel 2 phones, LG’s V30, OnePlus 5, and recent Samsung phones dating back to the Galaxy S7 (S9 support should come soon too).

Google Play Links:
- IKEA Place
- ARCore
// IKEA
March 19, 2018
Google Introduces Instant Apps for Games, Branding It as Google Play Instant

Google announced today that it has advanced its instant apps framework by allowing games to take advantage of the tech too. That means you can now almost instantly try out select games before having to download the entire experience.

We first learned about instant apps back at Google I/O in 2016, where Google said they were working with select developers to offer up instant experiences of apps, almost like web experiences. They have since expanded instant apps, but this is the first time they are bringing games into the fold.

The feature has been rebranded today to Google Play Instant and it works like instant apps did. If a particular game has an instant version, you’ll see a new “TRY NOW” button next to “INSTALL.” If you tap “TRY NOW,” a version of the app will load up quicker than an install and let you take it for a spin. During that time, you’ll see a constant “INSTALL” button within to let you know that you can/should install the full game.

Instant is still in a closed beta, but Google is working to rollout the experience to more people and is working with Unity, Cocos, and IDE to make building instant apps even easier.

To checkout the current crop of Google Play Instant games, hit this link.

// Android Developers | Google

March 19, 2018
Chrome Beta 66 on Android Picks Up New Chrome Duplex Option, Removes Chrome Home

Chrome Beta for Android picked up an update to v66.0.3359.30 today and it arrives with Chrome Duplex, the possible replacement for Chrome Home. Its arrival appears to mean the end for Chrome Home, as the option to switch to Duplex’s predecessor is now gone.

Confused? Let’s catch up.

Chrome Home was a new experience that Google was testing in Chrome on Android. It moved the navigation bar to the bottom of the browser, likely to reduce the number of times you had to reach up to the top of your giant phone’s screen. (I hated at first, but quickly grew to love it.) Within months of it becoming the default setup on Chrome Beta, Google scrapped development on it and never did push it to Chrome stable. And then Chrome Duplex showed up in its place through Chrome Canary around a month ago. Today, it moved up to Beta, a step away from stable.

What is Duplex? It’s a split bar system where the Chrome navigation bar sits up top, but the bottom of the browser features a new bar that can be swiped up to access history and your most-visited sites. I’m not sure it’s the worst thing I’ve ever used, but the bottom bar needs to be reduced in size by about 75%. It takes up an enormous amount of space that our mobile devices already lack. You can see what it looks like below.

Thankfully, it’s not on by default and you have to enable it if you want to use it. You’ll do so by heading into “chrome://flags” in your browser, searching for “Duplex” and then enabling it.

Anyone liking Duplex? Anyone else wish they’d just gone with Chrome Home?

Google Play Link

// Chrome Releases

March 16, 2018