Awesome Apps

IKEA’s Place is a new app that takes advantage of iOS 11’s exclusive augmented reality features. Scan a space, then browse for furniture. Your chosen product will pop up on your iOS device’s screen, accurately scaled to your room. You can even go around and zoom in on the furniture.

MoviePass is a monthly subscription service that lets US residents watch up to one movie per day in a theater. It recently lowered its monthly fee to just $10. The problem? You have to sign up first to see if there’s a supported theater in your area. And AMC wants out of the deal.

Keep your Mac’s desktop clean and more with Unclutter. It has drop-down fields where you can store files and shortcuts, manage your clipboard and make notes. It can also sync your files and notes via Dropbox. If you own DaisyDisk, you can buy Unclutter for just $5.

Another challenging escape the room-style puzzle game from the makers of The Forgotten Room. In All That Remains, your character must unlock and get out of his family’s bunker to rescue his sister. Available for Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android.

Privatix’s free service lets you generate dummy email accounts for anonymity and security. It has apps for iOS and Android plus browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Opera. The only downside is that you have to go to their site to check your dummy inbox.

DigiDNA’s free software lets you wirelessly backup your iOS device to a Mac or Windows computer without using iTunes. If you want more features such as individual app, file and media backups, check out its big brother, iMazing.

(PG-13, Gore) A turn-based puzzle that parodies slasher flicks. You play as Skullface, a serial killer who can move only orthogonally. Like a skull-faced rook. Observe your victims’ movement, evade cops and collect gruesome trophies. Available on PCs, iOS and Android.

YouTube for podcasts. Anchor lets you make and publish podcasts right from your iOS or Android device. You can broadcast anything that your device can hear, including music from Spotify and Apple Music, and even call-ins from your listeners.

The sequel to one of the most beautiful and enthralling puzzle games ever made. Monument Valley 2 introduces a new story and new characters. Help Ro teach her child about the magical ways of Monument Valley. Currently on iOS only.

Coming soon to Google’s Assistant and Photos applications, Lens offers information or actions based on a photo or what your device’s camera is seeing. It can identify objects, detect Wi-Fi passwords, offer to show you a restaurant’s reviews and more.

Elk is an iOS app that provides currency conversion at a glance. It shows conversions in multiples of ten, hundreds, thousands etc. You can tap on a value to see smaller increments. It also has a very convenient companion app for the Apple Watch. $4 unlocks all currencies.

Love to go out to dinner or drinks with friends? Split the check with ease with the Square Cash app. It lets you request or send cash instantly, and spend it with a virtual credit card or Apple Pay.

Pandora’s upgraded streaming music service has a slick new user interface and playlist features. On each of your radio stations, it can make a playlist of tracks you’ve thumbed up. It can also automatically add songs to a playlist based on the ones you’ve already added.

Pokémon Duel for iOS and Android combines a board game with Pokémon’s familiar collecting and battling mechanics. The goal is to get one of your virtual figures to your opponent’s base. You can customize your Pokémon’s attacks and level them up.

Fret Zeppelin uses a row of removable and non-intrusive LEDs together with a mobile app to teach new and intermediate guitar players. It shows notes, chords, scales and styles. It can also use MIDI files to show the chords for songs and act as decorative lighting.

Amazing assistive tech for the blind, visually impaired, and color blind to help identify objects. Aipoly’s app uses sophisticated computer vision and deep learning algorithms to identify objects in real time, then speak their names out loud. Works in seven languages.