Best new apps for Android and iOS (March 24th - 30th)

Hello there, appaholics, and welcome to yet another weekly comb through the new apps for Android and iOS. The amount of offerings on the Play Store and App Store was, again, pretty substantial this past seven days, and we've done our best to filter through some apps that you may find interesting. Just like every week, we've also got a list of the best new games to come out, too, so be sure to check that out here.

So, without further ado, let's check out what developers have in store for us now. As always, there were quite a few photography apps to pop up, so we set our filter to “nitpick” and raked out just the couple that stand out with something special. There are also some interesting social media offerings, some cool phone experience-enhancing apps, and some special offerings for the musically inclined among you.

New for Android

1. Drupe

If you are one who finds themselves constantly texting with people in a mixture of different apps, you'll probably find Drupe to be a useful offering. The app gives you quick access to your favorite / recent contacts via a pull-out bar on the left side of your phone. Once you get that drawer out, another one opens at the right side of the screen, displaying your communication apps – phone, SMS, Facebook, Hangouts, and whatever else you may have installed (WhatsApp, Viber, Skype, et cetera). All you need to do is tap on the portrait of the person you wish to contact and swipe it over to the app you want to use for that specific conversation. If not a much needed upgrade, Drupe is still a simple, elegant, and pretty fresh take on how we use our phones.

2. FrontBack

Jealous of the dual camera features that manufacturers like Samsung, Sony, and HTC put on their higher-end phones? You know, the ones that use both the front and rear snappers to take both a picture of what you are looking at and your facial expression at the same time? Well, FrontBack brings that function to every phone. And, of course, no photography app comes without at least a limited number of photo editing options (crop, colors, etc.) and some Instagram-made-these-famous filters. So, there you go!

3. Gesture Controller Free

This is one of those “I don't know if I should keep it on my phone, but it definitely sounds cool enough to try” apps. Gesture Controller will let you launch any app on the phone via waving the device in a specific manner. Of course, one can imagine a number of scenarios where this app could potentially be troublesome, or at least not as practical as it seems on paper, but overally the idea is neat, even if you just use it once or twice to wow your friends.

4. Photo Editor Minecraft Edition

Minecraft is among the (if not the) most popular indie games to come out these past few years. The game has a cult following of its own and it is obviously the target of the app's developer. It does exactly what the title suggests – you can place and edit minecraft-themed stickers to your photos – you know, just to see if you would look good in the famous blocky world.

5. GIPHY for Messenger

If you love .gifs as much as your average Internet-aholic, you probably know what Giphy.com (hint: it's one of the Internet's largest .gif libraries). Now, we all love to (or know somebody who loves to) express ourselves with a funny animated picture now and again, and often times, Facebook's stickers just don't cut it. GIPHY for Messenger is here to sate your .gif sharing needs, as it eliminates the need for you to open the images in the web browser and sharing them via links – this little app will allow you to immediately pick a .gif and send it to any one of your Messenger contacts.