APP TO DATE

CANVA $17.99/m, Android/iOS

Australia’s latest tech juggernaut, Canva, has just added a new suite of video-editing tools that could be seriously useful for budding social media stars. The new features include TikTok templates to help users put together complicated edits, graphics for YouTube videos, new ideas for Instagram stories and shortcuts for creating video collages. Video-editing in Canva also now supports multiple audio tracks and will guide users through the process of creating their own animations.

WATTPAD $6.49/m, Google Android/Apple iOS

If you have a story to tell, this app could help you find readers.

Wattpad is an app for sharing and reading original stories. Users can sign up as writer or reader (or both), choose three of their favourite categories (such as sciencefiction, romance, or contemporary literature), and either contribute or delve into the works of others. The app is free to use for the first week, and costs $6.49 per month afterwards.

SONIC FORCES Free, Google Android/Apple iOS

The world’s most famous hedgehog is back on the smallest screen in this outing, and Sonic Forces: Racing Battle lets players test their rolling speed alongside others connected from around the world. This app will be very familiar to fans of the original ‘90s games, with futuristic, looping racetracks, but it will also let them play as other characters within the Sonic stable, such as Amy, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow.

SPEECHIFY $95/yr, And/iOS

Whether you have difficulty reading or want to save time by having documents, articles and books read to you, this app could be handy. Speechify will let you input a PDF, article or even a photo of text and read it to you with the AI voice of your choosing (even Gwyneth Paltrow’s voice). Users can accelerate reading by up to 4x the normal pace. There’s a seven-day free trial of the app available, though it costs $95 to use for a year.

TICKTICK Free, Android/iOS

This can be a one-stop shop for your events, appointments, to-do lists and reminders. TickTick connects to other services, will sync across devices and will let you create checklists, recurring tasks, add attachments, and file everything into categories. A new update adds the Eisenhower Matrix, which helps you prioritise tasks by urgency. The app is free with premium features for $3.69/m.