New apps for every platform
Hope Corrigan reviews the most interesting new apps for iOS and Android.
Loóna: Bedtime Calm & Relax WARM MILK.
The app to take out Google’s top pick this year was the relaxation assistant Loóna: Bedtime Calm & Relax. This app is all about getting you ready for sleep and users seem to report having a better time of it after a week or so of use. Loóna provides a bunch of different options to help with this, which is good because you might find your mileage varies. The sleepscapes, for example, are 3D models you gradually tap to fill with colour as per the instructions from a soft calm voice. I think they’re meant to be a calming simple task to get you in the headspace to sleep. However, for me these are actually tedious and frustrating, rather than relaxing. But there are other soundscapes and stories which were much more up my alley. With all the different helpful tools, I can see why Loóna got Google’s top pick.
It’s a good idea to try every aspect before committing to dropping money to make sure it’s for you.
Disney+ THE MOST MAGICAL PLACE ON APPS.
The Disney+ app received awards from both Google and Apple’s 2020 roundups. The app originally launched late last year and is widely used thanks to the popularity of Disney, so this is another that comes as no surprise. However, the app really is pretty good nowadays. Everything is laid out cleanly with recommendations and new things to watch right at the top. There’s even a fixed Cast to TV button, which is super handy so you can find it no matter which page you’re on. You can download shows to watch later, which is great for travelling, especially if you’re trying to keep kids entertained. Disney has even stepped up their game with featured Christmas sections, including a curation of all The Simpsons Christmas episodes. There’s a pretty huge range of content there now too. Of course, most importantly, it’s a place where you can watch The Emperor’s new Groove whenever you like, which is a pretty big win no matter how you slice it.
Calmaria BREATH IN AND OUT.
Another award winning app is the breathing instructor Calmaria. I think it says a lot about 2020 that an app whose sole function is to instruct you in simple meditative breathing is a big winner. Calmaria is very simple. Literally all it does is count and tell you when to breathe in, hold it, and breathe back out. This isn’t necessarily a criticism. Breathing exercises are wonderful to help with stressful moments and being able to load up an app that instantly takes you to them is great. You don’t have to worry about making choices, or completing other tasks. Just open the app, follow the instructions, and breathe. There’s no sound, which avoids any weird or jarring noises, and instead uses small vibrations which can be turned off to let you know when to change gears. It’d be nice to have some options to customise times and reps to better suit an individual’s needs, but otherwise it’s a solid, simple design.
Tayasui Sketches WATER COLOURS.
Tayasui Sketches was listed in Google’s Best Hidden Gems category and as it’s a drawing app, I had to check it out. The free app is pretty damn limited, and almost feels more like a demo to check it out before you buy. You don’t get layers and many of the brushes are locked behind the $9.99 paywall. So I think it’s best to think of the free app as a trial, rather than something that’s particularly good value. The good news is it does let you test out Tayasui Sketches’ best feature to some extent. This app has been designed to mimic brushes in a somewhat realistic way, and it does a pretty good job with watercolours. There’s even a button you can push to choose when the paint dries. In real life, water colours are great for creating quick beautiful art, and I feel Tayasui Sketches does a reasonably good job of recreating this experience. The UI a little confusing, but most drawing apps take some learning to familiarise with new layouts.
Jumprope: How-to Videos DOUBLE DUTCH.
Have you gone in search of a video tutorial only to skip through the first three minutes of “Hey what’s up YouTube, it’s your boi” to only find out the video didn’t actually help? How about looking up recipes and having to skip past the long story about how it was a beautiful autumn day when the leaves inspired this particular cheese toasty. Well, Jumprope: How-to Videos to the rescue. Jumprope has tonnes of how-tos from DIY, cooking, art, sewing, workouts, everything. You curate your own list so it’ll only show you what you’re interested in. Then you can go through these little tutorial cards. Some have videos and others don’t, but you can easily skip back and forth between steps, and if it’s particularly helpful you’ve only wasted a few seconds. I spent some time just scrolling through my interests and found several succinct, and surprisingly helpful tutorials.
Zoom Cloud Meetings MOST IMPROVED.
iOS/Android
We took a look at Zoom earlier in the decade that has been 2020 and I slammed it pretty hard for the security issues it was wrought with. Since then, the team behind Zoom has actually been working pretty hard to mitigate these. They added two-factor authentication, which can be huge in helping with personal security. You can now suspend meetings and kick disruptive guests which helps with the Zoom bombing issue people were having. There’s even end-to-end encryption options if that’s what you need. Basically, Zoom is a lot better than it used to be.
And look, a lot of these changes are because Zoom was very bad, and in some cases was even thought to mislead users. However, credit where credit is due.
Zoom has easily been one of the biggest apps in 2020 and that’s because it’s so damn easy to set up and use. Just remember to be careful, and maybe don’t trust it with any big secrets.