Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous two weeks or so.
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Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.
Featured App
Poundaweek - Diet Coach and Calorie Counter
Today's roundup is presented by Poundaweek - Diet Coach and Calorie Counter from Poundaweek. The appropriately named app, Poundaweek (Pound-A-Week) aims to help its users do just that - lose one pound a week by eating the amount of nutrients and calories determined by the built-in Artificial Intelligence. Unlike other food logging apps where nutrition targets are only provided once at the onset based on a generic formula - Poundaweek continues to adjust the targets every week based on the foods that were eaten, exercises that were performed, and the actual changes to a user's body weight. It is scientifically proven that a person's metabolism slows down as they lose weight, these weekly adjustments become vital to ensure continued weight loss and to prevent a user from plateauing.
Based on a recent study, it was concluded that nearly all dieters (90-95%) regain the weight they lost within one to five years, Poundaweek looks to solve this problem by implementing a slow and steady philosophy that allows dieters to cultivate and maintain changes to their eating habits by following 3 simple steps:
1. Eat less than the calorie limit the AI sets.
2. Weigh in after 7 days.
3. Get a new limit based on your progress.
Apps
Trips by Lonely Planet
Android Police coverage: Pack a virtual bag and follow along other travelers in Trips by Lonely Planet
Trips by Lonely Planet is a nifty new social networking application that offers an easy way to share your travel experiences. It is also a useful tool for discovering new locations worth visiting. If you happen to travel a lot and have been looking for an easy way to share your experiences with like-minded individuals or would simply like to read about other people's trips, this release appears to be an excellent choice.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Explore every day with Trips by Lonely Planet — a beautiful, simple and intuitive way to share travel experiences. Upload photos and videos to your timeline, then share your trip with your friends, family and fellow travelers. Discover new places, be inspired by stories from the Lonely Planet community and start planning your next adventure.
Product Hunt
Android Police coverage: Product Hunt'ers get 2 new apps to browse their favorite site and catch up on tech stories
Product Hunt is a merchandise discovery application that focuses on pushing the latest and greatest products to its users. Sadly it looks like there is still a lot of optimization needed as the app performs very slowly and has trouble showing the correct products. While it is nice to see Product Hunt releasing an app on Android, it probably should have spent a little more time in the development oven.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Discover your next favorite thing. Product Hunt surfaces the best new products and apps, every day. Product Hunt is the place to share and geek out about the latest in tech, a global community of founders, journalists, investors, and makers. Join us and direct your questions/thoughts/jokes to hello@producthunt.com or on Twitter at @ProductHunt any time. :)
Sip - Tappable stories on tech
Android Police coverage: Product Hunt'ers get 2 new apps to browse their favorite site and catch up on tech stories
Sip is another product discovery app from Product Hunt, but unlike the above listing it focuses on tech news instead of specific merchandise that is currently for sale. Luckily the Sip app appears to be in working order, so you shouldn't have to worry about this being a useless app.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Every weekday Sip surfaces the most interesting and important tech stories of the day, from breaking news to profiles on favorite tech products. Stories arrive once a day so you can stay informed and remain productive. Sip is built by Product Hunt and its awesome community.
Home Agenda - Calendar Widget
The Home Agenda - Calendar Widget is a new widget from Francisco Franco. It is designed to work with a wide array of launchers, and the look is minimal while keeping an informative and intuitive UI. And sure, there may be plenty of calendar widgets already available on the Play Store, but it's always nice to have new options.
Monetization: $2.49 / no ads / no IAPs
Let's admit it, we're addicted to our calendars. We swear by it, we organize our days through them as if they were our own futuristic compass. Today your calendar experience will be empowered. Home Agenda is the widget you always wanted to use. It's beautiful, sleek, futuristic, with an amazing icon that sits on your launcher app drawer like a trophy, shining and smiling for you.
Radiogram - Ad Free Radio
Radiogram - Ad Free Radio is just that, an advertisement free radio app for Android. It offers a wide array of genres that range from talk to country to pop. It has built-in Chromecast support, and new stations are added to its lineup regularly. All in all, it's a reliable option if you happen to be looking for a new radio app that offers ad-free music.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
With Radiogram you can listen to radio stations on your phone or tablet. No aerial is required, only an internet connection. It's free and has NO annoying adverts. Tune into the best music, sports, news and talk radio from all over the world. Radiogram has a beautiful and simple to use interface based on Google's Material Design principles.
Textto - Text From Your Computer
Textto is a new messaging app and service that affords its users an easy way to text from their PC while retaining the use of their regular texting app on their Android device. By installing the Android app in combination with the PC app, you can message straight from your PC without having to pull out your phone, which is great for an office environment.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Send and receive sms, picture, and group messages all from your computer. Read and Reply to texts without picking up your phone. Text from your computer just like you would with your phone. Save time reading and replying to your text conversations. No need to change your texting app.
Joey for Reddit
Joey for Reddit may not be a new app released in the last week, but it looks to be notable enough to bring it to people's attention since I had missed it when it originally hit the Play Store. Essentially it is a Reddit app that has quite a few exciting features such as a Q&A format for AMAs as well as autoplay gif and video support. But what is really extraordinary is that this is all offered for free sans any advertisements or in-app purchases.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Joey for Reddit is a new ingenious app for Reddit, which provides you a fresh, never before experience of Reddit. Only 3rd party Reddit app that autoplays inline GIFs/videos in the feed.
- Don't wait for entire GIF to download
- It reads aloud long self posts and all comments to you.
- Read AMA in magazine style question answer format.
- Read AMA category wise.
- Works for Crossposts, MultiAuthor AMA.
- Never miss an AMA : See upcoming AMA in your local time, add them to your calendar.
- Shows live AMA going on right now.
Beacon
Beacon is a location sharing application designed to be used when traveling through remote areas. If you happen to spend a lot of time on the trails, it may be a good idea to continually share your location just in case anything bad happens while you are out there. The last thing you want is to be stranded in the middle of nowhere with no one knowing your whereabouts.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Beacon helps you while you are outdoors, by enabling you to share your location in real time with your family and friends. It features automated alerts sent when you're not moving, in case you are in trouble, and proper battery management. The application is fully configurable, doesn't require anything else than your name, is free and ad free.
Civilisations AR
Civilisations AR is a new augmented reality application from the BBC. The app focuses on an assortment of art and culture from many different regions around the world. So far there are 30 historical artifacts to check out that are all displayed to scale, which actually sounds pretty cool.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Discover History's Treasures. Putting history in your hand - the BBC's first ever Augmented Reality app Civilisations AR brings art and culture direct to you from across the world. Discover the secrets of ancient Egypt, reveal hidden layers beneath Renaissance masterpieces and learn more about the origins of these cultural treasures and the people who made them.
Edge Action - Edge S8 Launcher, Edge Screen
Sidebar launchers aren't anything new, though they do appear to have had a jump in popularity lately. Edge Action is the latest side launcher to hit the Play Store, and it works by simply swiping the edge of your screen to pull up a custom launcher for the apps you choose to place in it.
Monetization: free / contains ads / IAPs from $0.99 - $1.99
This sidebar app gives you the ability to use your phone with one hand by gestures. You'll be able to switch between favorite apps, favorite people, quick tools, softkey or music player from any screen. Edge Action is not another edge screen, sidebar, app switcher or side panel app. It includes all of them while stays FREE, to give you the best experience.
Manufacturer And Tie-In Apps
Hangouts Chat
Android Police coverage: Hangouts Chat, Google's messaging service for teams, is finally available [APK Download]
Hangouts Chat is a new communication app from Google. It is clearly designed to compete with Slack and similar team-based messaging services. So far it looks to be half-baked and is missing quite a few useful features such as file and location sharing. And when you consider that the service is limited to current G Suite subscribers, it really begs the question, who is this app for? As it currently stands, there is no way to collaborate with anyone outside of the G Suite ecosystem, which surely isn't going to help with user adoption.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Hangouts Chat is an intelligent and secure communications tool, built for teams. From direct messages to team chat rooms, Hangouts Chat provides an integrated platform that makes team communication easy and efficient. Current version is for G Suite customers only.
Google Clips
Android Police coverage: Google Clips app pops up on the Play Store ahead of the camera being delivered to anyone
This Google Clips app is a tie-in application for Google's upcoming $249 wireless smart camera. The camera has yet to land in the hands of the general population, which makes this app useless for now, though it may be a sign an official release is coming soon.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
The Google Clips app lets you set up and manage your Google Clips camera right from your mobile device. With the app, you can see what’s on your camera and save or discard clips. It also tells you about your camera’s status including capture activity, battery charge, storage remaining, and more.
Rylo
Rylo is another tie-in application for a camera. This time around it is for a 360-degree camera that goes by the same name as this app. So yeah, you will need that camera to make use of this release, but if you do plan on purchasing it or already have one, then you can expect this app to help in the editing process of your videos as well as provide an easy way to watch them.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
Rylo captures everything in 360° all around you in beautiful 4K resolution, letting you share vivid and realistic scenes loaded with details. With the Rylo app, you can create a perfectly framed clip from any section of your 360° shot and share a traditional HD video, or fully immersive 360° video.
LG Wi-Fi Speaker
This LG Wi-Fi Speaker app is intended for use with LG Wi-Fi Speakers. Not only does it control the settings for the physical speakers but it also provides an easy way to queue up the music stored on your device so that it can be played through those speakers with ease.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
This application is exclusively for LG Wi-Fi Speakers enabling more efficient use of the speakers. Through this application, the user may enjoy the music saved in a mobile device, configure various features and control sound effects of the Wi-Fi Speakers. The following LG Electronics products are available for this application: Wi-Fi Soundbar & Wi-Fi Speaker.
Google Time Zone Data
Google Time Zone Data is only supported by a few specific Pixel and Nexus devices. The app basically ensures that your phone stays up to date with the proper time no matter how often you travel. This way you never have to guess what the local time is when your plane lands in a new time zone.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
The Time Zone Data app ensures that supported Pixel and Nexus devices have the latest available data when there are changes to world time zones.
Android Things Toolkit
The Android Things Toolkit is a developer-focused app that will help you to get started developing for Android Things. Essentially this app along with a compatible hardware kit can help you assemble and test your kit in four easy steps.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
This is a companion app for Android Things under Developer Preview, currently intended for developers who will be attending International Women’s Day workshops hosted by Google. We plan to add support for additional kits in the future. To learn more about Android Things, visit developer.android.com/things.
Google Station Onsite
Google Station Onsite is a tool for those working in teams with Google Station, whatever that means. If you are unfamiliar with Google Station, that is because it is a free Wi-Fi service from Google that is only available in Indonesia and India. What this app has to do with coordinating with teams in a "professional capacity" I have no idea, but maybe those who live in India and Indonesia have a better idea.
Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs
This application is intended for use by teams working with Google Station in a professional capacity.
Live Wallpapers
LWP+ - live wallpaper with customized colors
LWP+ is a live wallpaper application that is only compatible with devices that are on Android OS version 8.1 or higher. What is interesting is that Android 8.1 will automatically adjust its colors depending on what wallpaper you have set. This app will allow you to change what that default color is when setting a live wallpaper through the app.
Monetization: free / contains ads / no IAPs
Starting from Android 8.1, when you set a wallpaper, the OS might change its colors based on it. Sometimes what you get might not be what you'd wish to have. This is why I've made this tiny app. The app allows you to manually set which colors you'd like to request the OS to use.
WTF App Of The Week
Alive With Me
If any of you remember the WTF messaging app Die With Me from our January 22nd app roundup then you will understand the significance of this week's WTF listing Alive With Me. Basically it flips the script by providing an anonymous messaging service that only works when you have a 95% battery level or higher.
Monetization: $0.99/ no ads / no IAPs
Join those who live life to the fullest by downloading Alive With Me. It's an anonymous group chat that requires at least 95% charge to send messages. Instead of death and taxes, we cherish life and prosperity. Wake up and chat with a full charge, join a conversation during your afternoon phone fill-up, or get cozy in the dark during an evening plug-and-play.
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.