Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android games that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous week or so. Today I have a quirky physics-based puzzle game, a dark life-sim all about running a graveyard, and an adventure game that takes advantage of an interesting time mechanic....
Eaze removes in-app purchases following Google ban on marijuana delivery apps
Google changed several policies for the Play Store a month ago, and among them was a new ban on apps selling or facilitating the sale of marijuana. While applications that promote the use of the devil's lettuce is still allowed, the actual sale can't happen inside the app. 'Eaze,' one of the more...
10 new and notable Android apps from the last week including Firefox Preview, LastPass MFA, and Amazon Alexa Music, Cameras, & TV Control (6/22/2019 - 6/29/2019)
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous week or so. Today I have the open beta release of Firefox's newest browser, a multi-factor authentication app from LastPass, and an Amazon Alexa app that can connect to...
Google experiments with goofy Snapchat-style filters for Messages
As Google has culled its consumer-facing messaging options to focus on primarily Messages, it's unsurprising that the app has continued to pick up new features. Some, like RCS support, are pretty universally useful. Others are more for fun — like these in-development Snapchat-style video filters XDA...
Tetris Royale will bring 100-player online battles to Android
N3TWORK has partnered with The Tetris Company to exclusively develop and publish new Tetris games for mobile, and the first game that will reach Android is called Tetris Royale. Much like the Nintendo Switch game Tetris 99, 100-player matches will be the focus of Tetris Royale so that mobile players...
32 temporarily free and 83 on-sale apps and games for the weekend
Welcome to our Friday app and game sales roundup, everyone. Today I have a bunch of premium games that are on sale, and while a few of them were already covered on Wednesday, I've carried them over to today's roundup to ensure that everybody can pick and choose the titles they want without missing...
Gmail API changes are about to break apps like SwiftKey, SMS Backup+, Nine, and Kiwi for Gmail
Over the last year, Google has been instituting sweeping changes when it comes to app permissions to help protect user privacy. It imposed new restrictions when it came to SMS and phone permissions, and plenty of app makers found themselves caught in the Google support machine. Now developers found...
Plex adds server notifications in latest update
Until now, there was no way to know what was going on in your Plex server without actually opening Plex. Now, that all changes with the addition of notifications. With just a few taps, you can get pings whenever someone adds files, loads a video, and more. Although, you'll need a Plex Pass to check...
Google Maps can now predict how miserable your public transit experience will be
Public transit is easier on your wallet and the environment than driving or taking an Uber, but it's also frequently a frustrating, crowded experience. Google can't necessarily fix that, but the company is working to at least prepare you for it: starting today, Maps will show real-time traffic delays...
Medieval cemetery management sim Graveyard Keeper is out on Android
The comparisons of Graveyard Keeper to the fan-favorite farming life simulator Stardew Valley are many, and rightfully so, because both games look and play very similarly. Of course, Graveyard Keeper offers a much darker theme since you'll spend the majority of your time maintaining a graveyard while...
[Update: Out now] Devolver Digital's 60-second adventure game Minit is available for pre-registration on the Play Store
Update 1: 2019/06/27 9:20am PDT
Minit is officially available on the Play Store
Devolver Digital is bringing its 60-second adventure game Minit to Android. Initially, the studio published this stylish black and white video game on consoles and PC back in April of 2018, and even though it's...
Mozilla's next-generation Firefox for Android enters public beta
The current Firefox for Android browser is feature-packed, with tons of security features and support for extensions, but it has never quite matched the performance that Chrome offers. Mozilla has spent the past few months working on a brand new browser for mobile, nicknamed 'Fenix,' and now it has...
Game of Thrones Beyond the Wall is a collection-based RPG that's available for pre-registration
Game of Thrones Beyond the Wall is a new collection-based strategy RPG that's coming to Android this summer, and it's already available on the Play Store for pre-registration. Player's will take command of the Night's Watch to defend Westeros by collecting notable characters that will be useful in...
Pokémon Masters features strategic real-time battles, and it's coming to Android this summer
In May we learned from a DeNa financial briefing that the developer had teamed up with The Pokémon Company to release a smartphone game based on the Pokémon license, and today the studio has unveiled new details about this upcoming title. It's called Pokémon Masters, and apparently, it's a 3v3 real-time...
TV streaming service Philo expands to Android phones and tablets
Cable cutting is a full-blown trend in America, as Internet TV companies often offer better deals and the freedom to access your favorite channels on a multitude of devices — just consider YouTube TV. Philo, another online TV service, has had apps for Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku for some time now,...
Waze and SpotHero team up to help you find your pre-booked parking spot
Waze is slowly but sustainably turning into a hub for everything related to your car journey. You can control playback from your preferred music apps right inside the navigation interface, and about a year ago, Waze was integrated into Android Auto. Wednesday, Waze and SpotHero announced a cooperation...
WhatsApp will let you share your status with Facebook, Instagram, and other apps
Despite WhatsApp's near-ubiquity in my region, its Status feature has failed to gain much traction even though it's been available for over two years. Some of my friends love it and post multiple updates per day, but they're a clear minority. Yet, WhatsApp seems to think there's hidden potential in...
OneDrive's new Personal Vault puts extra security on your sensitive documents
You can pretty much stick a file manager interface onto any app you want. But when it comes to actual personal storage apps, be it local or in the cloud, developers could always go further by installing an enhanced-security enclave — where particularly sensitive files can be stored and accessed only...
Google Task 1.6 gets new FAB, app shortcut, and rudimentary Photos integration [APK Download]
Tasks has long been one of the forgotten, deprecated services at Google, but with the impending death of Inbox, new life has been breathed into the to-do manager, probably to replace Inbox's native ability to assign tasks to emails. Since then, the service is seeing a plethora of updates, and it only...
8 temporarily free and 23 on-sale apps and games for Wednesday
We're halfway through another week, so here are some app sales for you. Today's list is small, so it shouldn't take you too long to get through it.
Free
Apps
Equalizer FX Pro $1.99 -> Free; Sale ends in 1 day
Maki Plus: Facebook and Messenger in a single app $1.99 -> Free; Sale ends in 1 day
Games
The...
YouTube announces new tools to customize your video recommendations
With billions of videos available about every topic you can think of and then some, YouTube is, statistically, filled almost entirely with content you don't want to watch. The platform has always tried to narrow what it suggests to each user down to videos they're likely to click — and today, the...
YouTube Music will download up to 500 liked songs for offline playback automatically
Google's move from Play Music to YouTube Music is still unresolved — especially since the final transition of libraries and uploaded content between the two still hasn't happened — but the latter is picking up a new feature to help with offline playback. "Smart Downloads," as it's called, will pull...
Advanced in-app billing: handling alternative purchase flows
Posted by Oscar Rodriguez, Developer Advocate
When designing and developing an app or game, at some point you may ask yourself if you want to monetize it.
If you choose to do so by selling products via Google Play, you will most likely have a store screen that shows available items for sale, and...
Human: Fall Flat is a chaotic physics-based puzzle game, and it just landed on Android
Last week we learned that No Break Games' quirky physics-based puzzle game Human: Fall Flat would be coming to Android on June 26th, and thankfully the developer has stayed true to its word as the title is now officially available on the Play Store for $4.99.
Human: Fall Flat is an odd puzzle game...
TripIt integrates with Assistant and Alexa to get you quick updates about your next flight
For those of us who only travel occasionally, Google search and alerts about upcoming flights are more than enough. But if you're a frequent traveller, you likely use a service like TripIt to stay on top of every detail regarding your flights. Starting today, you won't need to open the app on...
[Update: Official] Google Maps keeps you safe by alerting you if your taxi goes off-route
Update 1: 2019/06/26 3:20am PDT
Google has officially announced this feature and said it's aimed toward users in India. It also explained what you can do when your taxi deviates from its route, namely,
When you're traveling to a new country, region, or even an unfamiliar part of your own town,...
Duolingo helps you learn the difficult but beautiful Arabic language
Being a native Arabic speaker, it never occurred to me how complicated the language is compared to many others. I learned to speak it, read it, and write it ever since I was a kid, so I rarely notice its idiosyncrasies and instead simply think of all of it as second nature. If you come from an another...
Rebranded Beats app lets you easily control and update your Bluetooth headphones
Beats, the headphones brand now owned by Apple, has rebranded its Android app. Previously dedicated to the Beats Pill+ speaker, and therefore called "Beats Pill," the app now services several of the company's headphones too and has thus been renamed to a simple "Beats."
The five Bluetooth headphones...
Microsoft may launch a dual-screen, foldable Surface that runs Android apps and iCloud
As Samsung and Huawei attempt to re-engineer their foldable phones so that they don't break so easily once they limp to market, we're left with smartphones with tack-on screens, laptops, and convertible or so-called 2-in-1 tablets. Microsoft seems to have mastered the folding aspect of its hardware...
23 temporarily free and 28 on-sale apps and games to start the week
Welcome to the final week of June. Today's list of app sales isn't all that impressive, but some of you might something you like.
Free
Apps
WiFi Mouse Pro $4.99 -> Free; Sale ends within the hour
Uprice Light - fast offline currency converter $0.99 -> Free; Sale ends in 2 days
Quick Reminders...
Google Camera takes page from iPhone playbook, preps wide-gamut imaging — maybe to debut on Pixel 4
The camera in Google's Pixels has always taken some of the best photos in the world of smartphones, but they might be getting some expanded color chops soon — if not in existing hardware, then maybe in the Pixel 4. Google may be gearing up to add P3 wide color gamut support to the Pixel's first-party...
Chrome OS will soon show cloud storage apps natively in Files — but no Dropbox
Fans of third-party cloud storage providers will be excited when Chrome OS 75 finally reaches the Stable Channel. The update will deliver an optional flag which enables storage services other than Drive to finally integrate into the Files app in Chrome OS via Android apps — though not all third-party...
You can now use your new Bank of America debit card before it even arrives in the mail
There are few things more frustrating than being unable to access your checking account while you wait for a debit card to arrive in the mail. Bank of America is mitigating that particular headache for its customers by allowing for use of a "digital debit card" before the physical one arrives in the...
Koush’s new Scrypted app is like Tasker for home automation, integrates with Google Home, Alexa, and HomeKit
There are a plethora of different home automation platforms like SmartThings, HomeKit, Wink, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and many more. Some of them play together nicely, but once you're mixing and matching, you're going to end up with a bunch of apps and hubs to control all of your devices,...
