Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.

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Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.

DigiCal Calendar Agenda

Today's roundup is presented by DigiCal Calendar & Widgets from Digibites. DigiCal is the full-featured calendar app that offers a ton of features that aren't available in Google Calendar, like seven different calendar views, light and dark themes, multiple widgets, integrated weather forecasts, an invitation management system, and over fifty thousand public calendars for integration with personal or corporate planning. The standard version is free, but DigiCal+ adds a year view, even more monthly widgets, extra customization options, and an ad-free experience for a $4.95 one-time payment.

Our daily planner has a clean design and multiple agenda views to make scheduling quick and easy. Schedule appointments with our easy to use planner that offers the day, week, agenda, month, text month, list and year view to all your events. Use our planner to organize and get a clear overview of your busy schedule with 9 beautiful pre-set themes available for the list, grid, day, day list, text month and month widgets. Get access to more than 560k+ public holiday, sports and TV schedules worldwide that you can add to your agenda. Detailed weather info is displayed in our planner: temperature, humidity, precipitation, pressure, cloud cover, wind, sunrise and sunset. Improve visibility at night and save energy. Lots of color options for your organizer including color synchronization with Google Calendar.

DigiCal Calendar Agenda Developer: Digibites
Price: Free
4.4
Download

Apps

Google Allo

Android Police coverage: Allo is finally rolling out in the Play Store [APK Download]

Allo, Google's next-generation messaging client, is finally available in the Play Store. Android fans had hoped that this would be a viable answer to alternatives like WhatsApp and iMessage. And... it's not. Aside from some clever design and impressive integration with the new Google Assistant, Allo doesn't offer any real plusses versus the competition, and in fact it's missing a lot of the functionality that already exists in Hangouts. But hey, we can always wait two years for the next Google messaging platform.

Introducing Google Allo, a smart messaging app that helps you say more and do more. Express yourself better with stickers, doodles, and HUGE emojis & text. Allo brings you the Google Assistant, preview edition. Respond to messages without typing a single word. Smart Reply learns over time and suggests responses to text and photos, in your style. Get creative with the photos you send by doodling on them or adding text.

Firefox Aurora for Developers

Android Police coverage: Firefox Aurora arrives on the Play Store in "unreleased" state

Chrome for Android has beta and alpha builds up on the Play Store, and now Firefox does too. This "Aurora" build implements changes from the developers faster, so it's consequentially less stable than the other versions. But for users who need that bleeding edge or developers who want to test new features, here it is in "unreleased" (read: beta) status.

Firefox Aurora is a developmental channel for new Mozilla Firefox releases. Firefox Aurora is designed to showcase the more experimental builds of Firefox. The Aurora channel allows users to experience the newest Firefox innovations in an unstable environment and provide feedback on features and performance to help determine what makes the final release. Find a bug? Report it at http://mzl.la/android_bugs.

News Pro: For You, In Depth

Android Police coverage: News Pro is a new app from Microsoft Garage that personalizes the news

Microsoft Garage is back with another app for Android, and this one's outside of its usual wheelhouse. News Pro aggregates news posts from your social networks after an authorized login, automatically finding and sorting the news that you're interested in (or at least the news your friends are interested in). New topics are occasionally presented, but odds are if you're not a fan of the news you see on Facebook or Twitter, you might be better off with a more conventional news app.

News Pro, a Microsoft Garage project, helps you search for news around your work and life every day. Fuel your unique interests with over a million topics to choose from. Get informed efficiently by locating the most important and relevant articles each day based off what interests you. Leverage the power of social networks for your daily news. You can sign-in on Facebook and LinkedIn to tailor your daily news highlights to your work experience and interests.

Paper Planes

Android Police coverage: Active Theory releases the paper planes demo from Google I/O 2016 on the Play Store

Paper Planes is a tech demo first introduced at Google I/O this year. It's something less than a game, but more than a widget. You can "make" a paper plane with your location stamped on the digital paper, flick it out into cyberspace, and the app will keep track of how far it's "flown" before someone catches it. A passport function keeps track of your planes and the ones you've "caught" with the butterfly net. It's not practical, but it's interesting.

Create and fold your own paper plane, stamp it with your location, and “throw” it back into the world where it can be caught by someone on the other side of the world. Paper Planes started as a simple thought - “What if you could throw a paper plane from one screen to another?” The heart of this concept is to bring people together from all over the world, using the power of the web and Android to create an instant connection.

Universal Hollywood℠ App

Android Police coverage: Universal Studios Hollywood gets an Android app, more than 2 years after the Orlando theme park

Universal Studios has a theme park in Hollywood? That's news to me. Apparently someone at Universal needed reminding too, because this official guide app came out over two years after the original one for Orlando. It has all the stuff you'd expect: ticket sales, an interactive map, attraction guides, wait times for popular rides, and that sort of thing.

Put everything you need to know about your trip to Universal Studios Hollywood in the palm of your hand. Download the official Theme Park app for free.

• Purchase select single and multi-day Theme Park tickets in the app.

• Check ride, show and attraction wait times at home, on the go or in the park.

• Customize your park experience using the itinerary, filtered lists and the map to plan your day.

• Set ride wait time and show time alerts to make the most of your time in the park.

• Stay up-to-date with in-park notifications and news about upcoming special events.

• Share your Universal Studios Hollywood experience on Facebook and Twitter.

• Explore the park using the detailed map view.

Ivy (Sidebar, Widgets, RSS)

Ivy isn't the first app to try and put shortcuts and other tools into an always-on sidebar, but it's one of the most complete we've seen in a while. In addition to the usual apps and shortcuts, Ivy offers Android widgets and custom displays for things like weather, RSS feeds, stock tickers, and more. If you're looking for an alternative to something like SwipePad, give it a try.

Ivy does what no other sidebar launcher does. Ivy provides more than just quick access to your next app. Ivy provides a comfortable place to spend time in between apps. Your home away from the homescreen. The quick panel provides snippets of valuable information to give you glimpses of the things you need to know without the need to go to another app. Stay up on news or stocks without ever needing to launch a specific app, or get the information you need from widgets without the need to go all the way to the home screen. The info you need is just a swipe away.

Surfy Browser

The latest indie browser to have a go on the Play Store has a few points in its favor. Surfy has a unique but usable interface, a focus on safety and privacy, and a built-in speech to text tool. Add to that a themable UI and data reduction functions, and you have the makings of a potentially solid alternative. (I only wish it had an immersive mode option.) Right now it's in a beta/unreleased state, so proceed with caution.

Surfy Browser is a feature rich and fantastically private web browser.

  • Private. Lock the browser with a passcode or save a session to a lockable tile.
  • Personal. Change colors or set your favorite photo as a background
  • Listen to pages with text-to-speech
  • Mobile optimization, which can reduce data usage down to as little as 20%
  • Passcode protection. Protect your browsing from prying eyes by locking Surfy with a passcode
  • Passcode lock individual bookmarks
  • Private browsing at start-up
  • Save session to a lockable tile
  • Instant search results
  • Themable panoramic interface with a customizable background image
  • Save Passwords and Logins

AutoBud - Your driving app

AutoBud is not, as the title of the app led me to believe, a marijuana delivery service. Nope, it's another one of those maintenance apps that can quantify car data and keep track of ongoing maintenance. AutoBud boasts a friendly user interface with a "driver score" and badges to help gently guide you into better driver behavior. There's also a trip tracker that gives you a nice sum of distance, mileage, etc. for long trips.

AutoBud is your personal car app that will be your ultimate car buddy. AutoBud will help you have a perception of the time you spend behind the wheel and your driving style. It’s really easy and fun to use and once you start you’ll have all the data about your trips thanks to the real time tracking and driving history. Maybe you want to drive in a more cost-friendly way, or you want to test your driving skills drifting on some secondary road, or perhaps you are just interested in having a record of all your trips and averages: with AutoBud you can do it all.

Anchor

Anchor is sort of like Soundcloud seen through a Twitter lens. Audio clips are limited to two minutes and are instantly shared to the web, where users can reply with their own audio clips, ad nauseam. It's sort of like a phone call, only unnecessarily stifled and delayed. The service offers the usual social tools and web embeds. It could be interesting if you're especially fun of unscripted audio.

Anchor is radio by the people, where any voice can join the conversation. Anchor makes it easy to broadcast short audio clips to a global audience in seconds. Your listeners can talk back, sparking instant group conversations that were never before possible. When not recording, listen to authentic humor, knowledge, inspiration, and debate from people all over the world.

Spotify for Podcasters Developer: Spotify AB
Price: Free
4.1
Download

MightyTV

There have been a lot of efforts to a make a Pandora-style recommendation system for TV and movies, and MightyTV doesn't initially seem to differentiate itself from that very specific pack. But its recommendations do come with an easy list of where to access said shows, whether on a subscription service or a pay-to-play streaming site. The app also has the requisite quasi-social network baked in.

Discover TV & movies you love with the help of trusted friends and cutting edge A.I. No more searching, no more frustration. Choose from a wide variety of services and sort by price.

  • Personalized video recommendations matched to your tastes.
  • See what’s trending across MightyTV and in your social network.
  • Our fun, swiping style interface makes it easy to like, love, dislike, or save videos to your watchlist.
  • Maximize your subscription value, minimize your time.
  • Find all your favorite videos in one app including Netflix, Amazon, HBO NOW, Hulu, Crackle, Showtime, Cinemax, and more.
  • Use Mashup to see what you’ll enjoy watching together with friends.
  • Check out and share your MQ -- a visual way to look at your favorite actors and genres based on your swipes.

Lyreka — Song Lyrics & Meaning

Lyrics aren't hard to find on the web - most of the time Google even has a few in the Knowledge Graph. But if you need a more social way to get at them, Lyreka would like a verse or two. This network not only contains standard lyrics for searchable songs, but a comments section where users are encouraged to post their interpretations of the meaning therein. (And fight tooth and nail about said interpretations, of course.) Users can log in with Facebook, but not Google. Boo.

Lyreka is a community of music lovers who interpret and share their thoughts on songs lyrics. The more thoughts and meanings you share is the more points you earn. By sharing you will help others to discover the meaning of songs lyrics and they will in turn reward you with Eurekas.

  • Find song lyrics from our collection of over 850,000 songs
  • Post a song meaning or thought
  • Comment and contribute to other users posts
  • Follow other users / be followed by user with similar interest in music
  • Search and view over 40,000 artists profiles
  • Search and view over 100,000 albums and releases
  • Search by image text recognition
  • Upload profile and cover images

LinkedIn Learning

I will try to suppress my hatred for LinkedIn for the space of this blurb - the company's new Learning app isn't completely contemptible, anyway. The app offers "courses" (in the loose sense of everything from a short lesson to a weeks-long intense study) for various business-friendly skills, which users can then share with others and brag about on their LinkedIn profiles. It's a pricey add-on to the free service: thirty bucks a month or three hundred a year.

Advance your career with LinkedIn Learning. Discover the most in-demand business, tech and creative skills with personalized recommendations and courses taught by industry experts. Learn on the go with the LinkedIn Learning Android app. Get the skills you need to succeed by watching bite-sized video courses anytime, anywhere. Whether you want to learn leadership skills, build a mobile app, or how to use software, LinkedIn Learning has something for you.

LinkedIn Learning Developer: LinkedIn
Price: Free
4.8
Download

Yahoo Fantasy Bot

Fantasy football can get complicated - it's basically Dungeons and Dragons for jocks (and also gambling addicts). Yahoo wants to be your digital sports enabler with this tool that helps you pick out the most ideal players and trades every week. It's all tied to constantly-updated statistics and there's a football news ticker to check up on, but I feel like anyone dedicated enough to fantasy to want this can do it themselves. Also, it only works with a Yahoo account.

Yahoo is proud to introduce you to Blitz -- your personal assistant to help research your Fantasy Football team, as well as manage your roster on Game Day. Know which players to start or sit, and who to pick up off the waiver-wire so you won’t be left with scraps. Blitz will guide you through the research and help you set your optimal starting lineup. It will assist with:

  • Providing personalized roster recommendations
  • Showing player and team news, including injuries
  • Comparing player stats
  • Managing your roster

Manufacturer And Tie-In Apps

Microsoft SharePoint

Android Police coverage: Microsoft SharePoint app released into early access on Google Play

SharePoint is the collaboration tool included in Microsoft's Office suite, enabling easy sharing between teams for files, lists, assignments, contacts, and that sort of thing. An official Android app is a little overdue, but now that it's here anyone with an Office365 subscription can hop on. Unfortunately the older, locally-managed versions of the program aren't supported at the moment.

With easy on-the-go access, the SharePoint mobile app for Android helps keep your work moving forward by providing quick access to your team sites, organization portals and resources, and the people you work with in Office 365 – plus search for content and people in your organization. The Microsoft Graph powers several of the in-app experiences, making it faster to get to content and people you work with.

Star Wars Force Band by Sphero

Android Police coverage: Sphero's Star Wars Force Band lets you control BB-8 using motion gestures

As cool and fun as Sphero's BB-8 toy is, it wasn't truly complete without a goofy gimmick of an add-on. And here it is: a bracelet that your kids (or you, of course) can wear to control the tiny robot with "Force gestures." The bracelet unlocks a few AR games and a handy woosh-woosh lightsaber mode. It can also control other Sphero toys, which it damn well should for eighty bucks.

The Force is strong with you. Channel it with the Star Wars™ Force Band™ by Sphero. Like a Jedi Knight, you can control your BB-8™ App-Enabled Droid™ with just a wave of your hand and expand your abilities with Force Training. Use the band by itself to complete Combat Training, or collect digital Holocrons in your environment through Force Awareness. Fulfill your destiny and become strong in the ways of the Force.

Adobe Experience Design

Experience Design is a tool in Adobe's Creative Cloud racketeering tool software for WYSIWYG web design prototypes. This app isn't a full mobile version of the software - there's no editing - but it allows for easy viewing and presentation of projects, including interactive elements and live updates. You'll need an active Creative Cloud subscription to get any use out of it.

Easily see a live preview of your Adobe Experience Design CC designs and prototypes, complete with all your interactions, on your phone with this new companion app. Make design and prototyping changes on your desktop and XD automatically updates everywhere, so you can instantly see how your prototypes look and feel on the right size screen.

Adobe Xd Developer: Adobe
Price: Free
3.9
Download

Know A Worthy New App? Let Us Know!

If you have an application in mind for the next issue of the roundup, feel free to send us an email and let us know.

Important: there are 2 requirements in order for the app to be considered, listed below.

  • the app's launch date has to be no longer than 2 weeks ago
  • it has to be original, ground-breaking, well-reviewed, interesting, fun, etc - the cream of the crop

Now, if and only if the above requirements have been satisfied, fire up an email to this address: oh.no.its.the@androidpolice.com.

1 sponsored placement per week is available (your app would be featured at the top and marked as sponsored) - please contact us for details.