Here they are: Our top 5 Android and iOS apps of the week
Every weekend, we meet on NextPit for a selection of 5 free or paid mobile applications and games that caught our attention on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
Just like my colleague Antoine Engels does every week, I offer you the best possible apps that are not data mining traps or microtransaction hells. In addition to our own finds, I also included apps that were recommended by the NextPit community and shared on our forum.
From mobile games to productivity apps, here are the 5 free and paid Android/iOS apps from NextPit this week. We publish this selection every week, and you can check out Antoine's recommendations for last week's 5 apps list on this link.
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Erase.bg (Android & iOS)
Erase.bg (for "background", not Bulgaria) is a simple-to-use web app packaged for Android and iPhones to easily remove background elements from your pictures. This suggestion came from Luna in the French community (merci!) and would have saved me a few seconds to edit the opening image for this page if I had discovered it before.
You can upload files from your phone's gallery or use the camera to snap a picture. After a brief upload and analysis, the app shows the resulting image with a link to download the transparent PNG file, without watermarks, ads, captchas, or artificially imposed waiting times.
- Price: Free / Ads: No / In-app purchases: No / Account: Not required.
- Download Erase.bg from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
Bathtimer (iOS & Android)
Ok, I am cheating a little bit on this one. Bathtimer was already suggested a few weeks ago, but now it has arrived at iOS. Isn't that a good excuse to feature it again? Especially considering the threat of increasing energy prices all over the world - thanks to attention-seeking-decadent-governments!
Set (realistic) goals for each step of your bath, type in how much time you are currently spending in the shower, and then Bath Time will suggest a timeline to reach your goal, taking some seconds off parts of your shower routine, and offering a timer to keep track of your progress. The Play Store listing informs that the app includes ads, but we saw none during the testing.
- Price: Free / Ads: No (Yes, according to the Play Store) / In-app purchases: No / Account: Not required.
- Download Bath Time from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
Chameleon (Android)
Another tip from the French forums, Chameleon is a simple app for Android that suggests palettes based on a color you select. The combinations include complementary, spaced, analogous, shades or tints.
You can save favorite colors to check back later and also generate random palettes that can be exported as an image. There are no ads or in-app purchases. I just wish it offered an export tool to save the suggested combinations - only displayed in hexadecimal - in different formats.
- Price: Free / Ads: No / In-app purchases: No / Account: Not required.
- Download Chameleon from the Google Play Store.
Wake On Lan (Android)
This suggestion is admittedly super niche, but since Antoine will be back from the Bahamas in a few weeks, I won't have enough time to ruin this column with more apps like this one, or maybe someone will find Wake on Lan useful... In short, this app allows you to turn on compatible devices in your local network with a quick tap on the phone.
Setting the app is not as straightforward, even though it offers a network scanner that detects available IPs: You need to inform the device's MAC address, type a name, and the broadcast address (the default one should work). After that, simply tap on the button to turn on the device. Additionally, you can set a shortcut on the Quick settings.
- Price: Free / Ads: No / In-app purchases: No / Account: Not required.
- Download Wake On Lan from the Google Play Store.
Up Left Out (Android & iOS)
This is not a particularly new game, and it was even featured in NextPit's free apps of the week list months ago. Even so, I am a fan of minimalistic puzzles, like those published by Andrey Spencer, Hamster on Coke, and Rainbow Train, the latter studio responsible for this week's game suggestion.
With (REALLY) simple mechanics, in Up Left Out you need to free blocks from the playfield. The game doesn't track scores, and it is impossible to die, so the only challenge is figuring out the new possibilities opened up as you progress and trying to clear stages with the least amount of moves, or faster. There is a soothing (optional) soundtrack, and almost no interface, just the option to replay earlier stages.
Price: $0.99 / Ads: None / In-app purchases: No / Account: Not required.
- Download Up Left Out from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
NextPit's app central
What do you think of this selection? Have you already tried some of the apps on this list? What would be your Android and/or iOS apps of the week?
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