Best new Android and iPhone apps of the week (October 27th - November 2nd)

posted by Paul K.

Nov 02, 2015, 9:10 AM

Best new Android and iPhone apps of the week (October 27th - November 2nd)

Another week has passed, and another heap of apps has been uploaded to the App Store and Play Store. For those who wish to try new apps on a regular basis, sifting through all of the new ones may be a daunting task. But fear not – we're here to help, as each week, we comb through the stores and pick some of the more eye-catching apps that are out there.

This week around, we have a couple of cool wallpaper apps for both platforms, two email clients that will help you hastily sift through all your email accounts, a couple of launchers for Android, and some more surprises. Head on down to check them out, and do tell us – which ones did you download, and did you like them? If you know of a brand-new app that deserves to be in this list, but we overlooked – drop us a line and we will find a way to have it mentioned in the future!

New for Android

Launch by Quixey

Price: free

Download for Android

Quixey's Android launcher is an attempt at an “everything at your fingertips” launcher – swiping down will give you a deep-searching tool, much like iOS' Spotlight; swiping up will instantly pop the app drawer open; and swiping to the leftmost homescreen will show you a newsboard, card-based panel, which can be customized. Said panel can bring up stock information, Twitter topics, Yahoo weather forecasts, and a few more services. We hope there will be even more options when Quixety goes out of beta.

Launch by Quixey

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Arrow Launcher

Price: free

Download for Android

A Microsoft Garage Project, Arrow looks like a mix of concept, taken from Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. It's a pretty simplistic launcher that will analyze your app usage, and give you a single homescreen with your most often-launched apps. Swiping to the right screen, we will find a contacts list, and further to the right – a quick Notes widget. To the left of Home, we have Recents, which will show you recently downloaded items, recently contacted people, viewed photos, or installed apps. Next to it is a Widgets screen, dedicated solely to your widgets of choice. All these screens can be turned off or on and rearranged at the user's discretion.

Pulling up will unveil a tray, which contains app shortcuts (these are static and the launcher will not rearrange them automatically), as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, flashlight, etc. toggles – much like iOS' Control Center.

Arrow Launcher

Backdrops – Wallpapers

Price: free

Download for Android

A cool collection of wallpapers, complete with community-uploaded pictures, Wall of the Day choices, and Premium wallpapers (unlocked via IAPs). If you love to switch the background picture on your phone often, this app will not disappoint.

Backdrops – Wallpapers

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Alto Mail

Price: free

Download for Android

Alto will aggregate all of your email accounts into a single inbox. It will then try to identify spam and filter it out into its own separate folder, in an attempt to only feed the main inbox with important stuff. Of course, you don't lose the ability to switch between accounts – it's just a matter of swiping left or right in the app's main menu. The inbox screen supports gestures for quick email deleting, marking, replying, et cetera. You can look for emails that contain photos, files, or personal correspondence by just selecting said filters straight from the main menu.

Alto Mail

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New for Android and iOS

Inky Mail Pro

Price: free (subscription-based after trial)

Download for Android | iOS

Inky will download your emails and analyze their content and the chances that you would interact with them. It tries to show you only the messages, which it believes matter to you. Of course, there is the option to access the “unfiltered” inbox and check if something fell on the wrong side of the wall. Inky gives you 14 days of use for free and then costs $5 per month. A bit of a curious thing, considering that there are so many great and free email clients out there. Perhaps Inky's only bonus is the fact that it is multi-platform (PC, Mac, Android, iOS) and will carry over all your settings and preferences when you log in from a different device.

Inky Mail Pro

Who's Down

Price: free

Download for Android | iOS

Google's take on a meetup app, who's down works pretty straightforward. You flip a switch to inform friends nearby that you are down for [insert custom reason]. Others can check the app and decide if they want to join you or not, then get in touch. The switch will turn off automatically after 3 hours, so there's no need to worry about it.

The app is currently in beta. You need to be invited to use it, and this happens from within the app once you download it.

Slidebox

Walc

Price: free

Download for Android | iOS

Walc is a very different take on navigational apps. Instead of feeding you dry information, such as “Head East, in 350 m turn left”, Walc will communicate directions to you by using landmarks. When you start the navigation, the app will simply ask you “Do you see [specific landmark / business]”; when you answer “yes” it will tell you in which direction you need to keep moving.

It's a community-driven project, so, as can be expected, not many locations are supported just yet. But the idea is pretty cool and deserves its chance at a strong community effort.

Walc

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New for iOS

Slidebox

Price: free

Download for iOS

Slidebox lets you sift through your photos in fullscreen and sort them or delete them with a simple swipe. Sometimes, the aforementioned process is just not very convenient to do with iOS' stock Photos app and it's thumbnail-based interface. Slidebox lets you view a photo in its full glory, before deciding to dispatch it.

Slidebox

DSCO

Price: free

Download for iOS

A GIF-making app (boy, these sure became popular recently), made by the creators of VSCO – a photo-editor for iOS. After you make your animated photo, you can apply various filters to it, and then upload it to the VSCO web page, where your profile will have its own personal feed set up. After that you can share on social networks as normal.

DSCO

WLPPR

Price: free

Download for iOS

WLPPR will provide you with a stream of beautiful shots of various places on Earth, taken directly from above. The locations are exotic, and the effect is oddly surreal. Definitely a must-try for frequent wallpaper changers.

WLPPR

Peng!

Price: $0.99

Download for iOS

Peng! is a location-based reminder app. What this means is that it will remind you to do specific tasks when you get to an exact location. For example – it can notify you not to forget to pick up soap next time you are in the supermarket. The app supports the iPhone 6s' new 3D Touch, allowing users quick access to pre-set locations from the homescreen.

Peng!

Morning - A Photo A Day

Price: free

Download for iOS

Avid Instagram users probably have so many photos down the line that they barely remember the first images they shot. Morning is made to remind you of some of your favorite moments by feeding you one photo from your Instagram past each day.

Morning - A Photo A Day

SpectateApp

Price: free

Download for iOS

If you ever felt the need to stream your mug to a bunch of anonymous on-watchers – well, there you go. SpectateApp doesn't have user registrations, so everything is a bit on the “anon” side. The app allows you to filter local streams, or just look for global ones. It's still a bit cranky and obviously needs some work done, so here's hoping the developer doesn't “publish and forget”.