Are you looking for something new? The Google Play Store gets new Android apps all the time. Take a break and check out the best new Android apps from the last month (or so)!
App developers are pushing the envelope on a daily basis trying to improve and enhance our smartphone and tablet experiences. In fact, so many Android apps come out every day that it’s difficult to keep track of them all. It’s difficult to usurp the best of the best but if you’re getting bored with what you’ve got and want to try something new, check out the best new Android apps from the last month! You can watch the videos from past months by clicking here! You can check out our selections for the best Android apps from 2017 in the video above!
CamToPlan is an ARCore app. It lets you map out rooms with your camera and AR technology. You move along the baseboards of your room. The app maps it out. It then creates a 2D representation of the room. This is useful for planning, construction, and other uses. It boasts a 2% margin of error in ideal conditions. The app works best with good lighting and a good contrast between the floor and the wall. It’s far from perfect. However, this is one of the better uses of ARCore tech that we’ve seen. It runs for $3.99 with no additional in-app purchases or advertisements.
Forest is a neat little game for phone addicts. You open the app and plant a tree. The tree only grows when you don’t use your phone. You use that as motivation to put the phone down and leave it alone for a while. The app keeps track of the trees you grew along with a sharing features for you and your friends. Over time, you just use the phone less often. There are a few bugs, but it’s otherwise stable. It’s also relatively inexpensive.
Google News replaced Google Play Newsstand this month. It’s Google’s new app and it’s decent. There are a range of standard features, including a news feed, recommendations, and some control elements so you see the stuff you want. The app also tries to deliver full coverage of events from credible sources. The definition of credible sources is a little ambiguous these days, but the app seems to do an okay job of finding good stuff. The app also lets you subscribe to newspapers and magazines. It works okay, but the algorithm needs a lot of time to gauge your interest in stuff.
Horizon Explorer is a neat little app. It uses ARCore along with your camera. You point your camera at a spot far away from you and the app tells you how far away it is. It actually works surprisingly well. There aren’t a ton of uses for an app like this one. However, the developers promise more features in future updates. This is another excellent use of Google’s ARCore technology. Plus, it’s just downright fun to use. The app is currently free with no ads, no in-app purchases, and it doesn’t run in the background.
Material Gallery is a new app by Google. It’s mostly for developers. Developers can upload their design work and get critiques from other developers. You can upload screenshots, mock-ups, or even whiteboard sessions if you want to. Additionally, you can leave feedback on other people’s work. It might be a useful tool for developers with new apps. However, us normal people don’t have much use for it. It’s a free app with no in-app purchases or ads.
Opera Touch is Opera’s latest attempt at a browser app. Thankfully, this one is pretty decent. It features cross-platform syncing with its browser app, a feature that even Microsoft has at this point. However, unlike competitors, there is no login or account required. It uses a QR code that you scan with the app to your desktop version to sync the two together. There are also other features such as privacy browsing, a Fast Action Button, a search button, and more. It still needs work, but frankly, not that much. It’s a decent web browser.
Siempo is a new launcher for Android phones. It’s also an app for smartphone addicts that want to kick the habit. The app has a variety of features to get you off of your phone. That includes batched notifications so you only get them occasionally. Additionally, it features a simplified home screen as well. The app even randomizes your app drawer on occasion. It’s a goofy concept but it works strangely well. The app is entirely free right now. Google Play lists in-app purchases up to $49.99. However, we could not find them in the app during our testing.
Steam Link is an interesting new app from Valve. It lets you play PC games on your mobile devices. It works like Nvidia’s GameStream, except the game plays on your PC instead of the cloud. You connect a controller to your phone, enable the link, and play. The game plays on your PC and streams the visuals to your phone over local WiFi. It’s a little janky as expected. It is a new release after all. The only downside is playing complex PC games with something as simple as a mobile phone controller. Otherwise, we liked it.
VPNhub is one of the most interesting releases of 2018 so far. It’s a new VPN app by Pornhub. It’s a strangely good VPN for a porn website. The app is unlimited and free on US servers. There is a monthly subscription for additional features like over 1,000 servers worldwide. It also boasts a no logging policy and we like that a lot. We didn’t run into any issues during our testing. However, it is just a little bit expensive for a mobile VPN. Otherwise, this is actually legitimately good.
YouTube launched its new music service this month, kind of! The update rolled out about a week ago. However, many are still waiting for it. It’s only available in the US and many people in the US are on a waiting list. Anyway, the app features on-demand music streaming similar to Google Play Music, but also all of the YouTube Music features from before the update. Thus, it’s a sort of combination of the two. It has some issues and there are questions about whether or not it’ll be as good as Google Play Music in terms of selection and music quality.
