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 two weeks or so. Today I have a short-form video sharing app from the creator of Vine, a subscription-based ad blocker that works in the majority of mobile browsers, and an earthquake early warning app. So without further ado, here are the more notable Android apps released in the last two weeks.

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Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.

Apps

byte - creativity first

Android Police coverage: Vine's successor Byte is now out on the Play Store

For those that remember, Vine was one of the first short-form video sharing platforms, but sadly it eventually went bust. Apparently, there was still room in the market for such an app, and so TikTok is the new leader in short-form video sharing. Of course, now that it's proven that people love such easily-digestible content, the creator of Vine has released an all-new video-looping service called byte, and so far, reviews are mostly positive. Just keep in mind that this is a new release, so a few bugs are expected.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Huddles Developer: Clash App, Inc.
Price: Free
2.8
Download

Scroll: A better internet

Android Police coverage: New Scroll subscription service removes ads from over 300 news sites, including Android Police

Scroll is a news subscription service that offers an ad-free experience when visiting its partner sites, and if you jump in now you can score a sub for $2.49 a month. The app is compatible with the majority of mobile and desktop browsers out there, so you retain the ability to read the news without leaving your favorite browser behind, but now your favorite sites can be viewed without ads. I'd also like to mention that AP is a partner of Scroll, along with The Atlantic, BuzzFeed News, Gizmodo, The Verge, and many more.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

QuakeAlertUSA

Android Police coverage: QuakeAlertUSA might become your early earthquake warning app of choice

QuakeAlertUSA is an earthquake alert app designed by Early Warning Labs, a studio that already has a background creating earthquake alert apps. So far, user reviews for this release aren't great, thanks to the fact that the app can't override the do-no-disturb mode built into the Android OS. This means you may very well miss an earthquake notification if your phone is on silent, which is hardly useful for an emergency situation. While I'm sure this bug will be addressed in short order, for the time being, you may want to wait until a solution is offered before you give this app a try.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

QuakeAlertUSA Developer: Early Warning Labs LLC
Price: Free
2.9
Download

Weird Cuts

Weird Cuts is a unique augmented reality app that will allow you to splice photos and images together to create digital collages. These images can then be displayed on your phone's screen as if they existed in reality through the use of AR. So if you have a hankering for creating digital collages that can be displayed in the real world on your Android device's screen, then you'll probably get a kick out of Weird Cuts.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Weird Cuts Developer: Molmol Kuo, Zach Lieberman
Price: Free
4.3
Download

Beta Maniac - Life of a beta tester

Beta Maniac is an interesting release, what with how it can track all of your installed apps to see when a beta program opens up, and you can even receive notifications for limited app betas, no matter when they take place. So basically, this is an app to keep track of the current betas for all of your installed applications, which I'm sure will be a useful tool for more than a few people out there, especially if you install a lot of beta releases like me.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Beta Maniac Developer: Mirko Dimartino
Price: Free
4.4
Download

Thermal Monitor

Thermal Monitor is another tool that piqued my interest this week, but unlike Beta Maniac, this is an app for monitoring your device's thermal and throttling status, which can really come in handy when testing games on a selection of phones and tablets. Not only can you monitor the current temperature of your device from this app, but there's also a minimal widget on offer as well as a way to directly show your stats on your status bar. Suffice to say there's no shortage of methods to show your temps through this app.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Thermal Monitor: Temperature & Developer: Rollerbush
Price: Free
4
Download

Knewz: Local & World News App

Android Police coverage:

Knewz is the latest news aggregator to arrive on the Play Store, and it offers local and world news that's fully evaluated before it's added to the service. So if you have been looking for a news aggregator that painstakingly reviews content before it's pushed to the masses, then this is could be the app for you. Sadly, the devs for this release haven't actually detailed what makes for "trusted" news, so you might want to take its claims of no bias with a grain of salt, especially since the app is free. Think Drudge Report, but slightly more neutral, and you're getting close to what Knewz has to offer.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Screencode – Offline file transfer

Screencode is an offline file transfer app that's useful for sharing files privately while you are offline. The file transfer process works much like a QR code or barcode since you'll use one device to display a code, and the second device will scan it to then download the files in question — easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Monetization: free / contains ads / no IAPs

Screencode – Offline File Tran Developer: Rollerbush
Price: Free
5
Download

Cartomizer - Visualize Wheels On Your Car

At first, Cartomizer - Visualize Wheels On Your Car sounds like a really useful app, especially if you don't know anything about car tires or rims. Sadly all the app does is superimpose the rims in its database onto a picture of your car without accounting for rim size, tires size, or profile. So sure, you can get a loose idea of how a set of rims may look on your vehicle, but you'll still have to put in the research to see what tires fit with which rims.

Monetization: free / contains ads / IAPs $0.99 a piece

Napkin Calculator and Notepad

Napkin Calculator and Notepad is just that, a nifty tool to quickly use as you would a napkin in a restaurant to figure out your tip. The UI is clean and intuitive, which works well for jotting down notes and numbers or merely solving math problems. Auto-save is supported, there are no ads, and the app is free to use, though there is an optional donation feature available through a single in-app purchase.

Monetization: free / no ads / IAPs $6.49 a piece

Tetrd — USB Tethering & Reverse Tethering (NoRoot)

Tetrd is a USB tethering and reverse-tethering app. What this means is that you can use this app on your Android device to share its internet signal, and you can use the app to share your PC's signal to your Android device, which is kind of interesting. Of course, if you'd like to reverse-tether, you'll have to install a separate app on your PC, though it's easily installed since you can find the respective link on the Play Store.

Monetization: free / no ads / IAPs from $5.99 - $9.99

Jambl: Beat Maker & Dj Music Creator

Jambl is a new music creation app that offers 100+ samples, a patented creation algorithm, smart looper, and live jamming support. This app is essentially a pocket DJ station, though its music selection can feel limited, and the app is buggy, so crashes happen a little too often. So while the UI is pretty intuitive, you will have to pay if you'd like to explore everything Jambl has to offer.

Monetization: free / no ads / IAPs from $8.99 - $54.99

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.

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