H1 2014 in review: 24 best new Android and iOS apps

posted by Victor H. / Jul 10, 2014, 8:14 AM

H1 2014 in review: 24 best new Android and iOS apps

The first half of the year has flown by, and it's time for a recap of the best Android and iOS apps that devs showed us in the past six months. iOS and Android continue having the largest ecosystems with no competition in sight, but while for games we saw Apple getting the most interesting titles first and often exclusively, the rich customization capabilities of Android grant it many exciting apps that don’t exist for iPhone. That’s why here you’ll see many apps available for just one of the platforms.

With no further ado, take a look at our selection of the 24 best new apps for Android and iOS right below, and don't hesitate to share your favorites in the comments.

H1 2014 in review: 24 best new Android and iOS apps

#23: SlideLock

#22: Fiverr

#21: Today Calendar

View more + 20 images

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Category: Photography
Download: on Android (Free, Premium version available)

The easiest way to record screen video on Android, Rec. requires root, but if you have it, it does its job admirably.

#24: Rec.

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Category: Photography
Download: on Android (Free)

SlideLock seems like a prophetic app now that we’ve seen a preview of Android L. But while it’s not arrived yet - you can use SlideLock to get lockscreen notifications on KitKat and earlier.

#23: SlideLock

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Category: Photography
Download: on Android (Free) | iOS (Free)

The largest marketplace for services gets a mobile app where you can get help with anything: from homework, to voiceovers, getting a caricature, and so much more.

#22: Fiverr

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Category: Photography
Download: on Android (Free trial, $3.41 for full version)

Based on the stock Google calendar, Today brings the same quick functionality in a more stylish wrapper with monthly view and other extras.

#21: Today Calendar

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Category: Photography
Download: on Android (Free) | iOS (Free)

A gallery app with a great interface and in the cloud, Carousel integrates your photos and videos in a single place that’s always with you.

#20: Carousel

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Category: Photography
Download: on Android (Free) | iOS (Free)

New only on Android, Retrica is a classic iOS photo app that adds a vintage, nostalgic look to your photos.

#19: Retrica

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Category: Photography
Download: on Android (Free) | iOS (Free)

Moju is a new way to capture moments -- with motion. It has a simple point-and-shoot approach, shooting at up to 24 frames, then you just pivot or twist the device to see your captured images come to life.

#18: Moju

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Category: Calendars
Download: on Android (Free) | iOS (Free)

Sunrise is a new calendar app for that works both with Google Calendar, and crosses over to iCloud, too. It is simple, light and efficient, what Google's Calendar should be.

#17: Sunrise Calendar

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Category: Learning
Download: on Android (Free) | iOS (Free)

Helpouts allows you to easily connect with experts over live video to receive advice on practically any topic.

#16: Helpouts

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Category: Launchers
Download: on Android (Free)

Aviate comes with the promise to become the first time and location-aware launcher, adapting your Android home screen to the different time and place.

#15: Aviate

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Category: VoIP
Download: on iOS (Free)

Ringo lets you make low cost international calls to any mobile or phone number anywhere in the world.

#14: Ringo

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Category: Calendar app
Download: on iOS ($9.99)

The critically acclaimed Fantastical 2 improves on features like intelligent voice recognition to add to events and polishes further the gorgeous interface.

#13: Fantastical 2

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Category: News app
Download: on iOS (Free)

Medium is a platform for creative writers, aggregating interesting content on a wide selection of topics. Its clean, ad-free interface has won it universal praise and popularity, and now, the Medium mobile app delivers the same ideas on your mobile device.

#12: Medium

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Category: Utility
Download: on Android (Free for a limited trial) | iOS ($17.99)

The secure app to handle all your password and save yourself the hassle from entering passkeys every time.

#11: 1Password

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Category: Learning
Download: on Android (Free) | iOS (Free)

The largest portal for online classes has gotten a full mobile app, so you can learn on the go.

#10: Udemy

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Category: Keyboards
Download: on Android (Free) | iOS (Coming soon)

SwiftKey is not a new app, but it has undergone such a huge change by adopting a free-to-download model with in-app purchases, that it feels like a more modern solution that more and more people will use.

#9: Swiftkey

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Category: Productivity
Download: on iOS (Free)

Office for iPad brings the much anticipated productivity and compatibilty with Microsoft Office documents on Apple’s popular iPad.

#8: Office for iPad

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Category: News app
Download: on Android (Free)

Google Now is a fresh take on Android launchers, bringing Google Now to any phone, as well as larger icons and the typical for Google simplicity and speed.

#7: Google Now Launcher

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Category: News app
Download: on Android (Free) | iOS (Free)

Yahoo News Digest offers twice a day summaries of the top 8 to 12 stories, designed to give you the information you need to understand what is going on across the globe and in your region.

#6: Yahoo News Digest

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Category: Music streaming
Download: on Android (Free) | iOS (Free)

Beats Audio is getting many things right - its music recommendation and discovery system is top notch, playback quality is great (but still lossy), and it’s got a catalog the same size as the other big ones.

#5: Beats Music

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Category: Email client
Download: on Android (Free) | iOS (Free)

Mailbox is a complete overhaul of your inbox adding quick swipe gestures to archive or trash messages, scan a whole conversation with chat-like organization, snooze emails until later, and so on.

#4: Mailbox

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Category: Wallpapers
Download: on Android (Free)

Muzei Live Wallpaper is a refreshing new take on the Android wallpaper. It’s reliable, fast, and modern-looking, but most importantly it’s open and it already has extensions for the world’s most popular image sharing services - Instagram, Flickr, 500px, and many more.

#3: Muzei

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Category: Photography
Download: on Android (Free)

The big addition in Google Camera is a feature called "Lens Blur". The idea here is to allow anyone to take a picture with a nice bokeh effect, which is usually hard to do on a smartphone.

#2: Google Camera

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Category: Learning
Download: on Android (Free) | iOS (Free)

DuoLingo uses crowd-sourced translations to build its whole language-learning system that will walk you from the beginner stages of language acquisition to intermediate knowledge.

#1: DuoLingo

H1 2014 in review: 24 best new Android and iOS apps

Category: Photography
Download: on Android (Free, Premium version available)

The easiest way to record screen video on Android, Rec. requires root, but if you have it, it does its job admirably.