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Welcome to the 315th edition of Android Apps Weekly! Here are the big headlines from the past week:
- Zoom continues its tumultuous month in India. India did not ban the app like other governments and companies. Instead, the country’s government considered the application to be unsafe and gave its citizens a series of recommendations for its use. However, this may be the light at the end of the tunnel, as many of those recommendations are being forced into the next Zoom security update.
- Several companies are giving away their apps and services for free during the pandemic. The list includes Headspace, Dicord, Webex, Final Cut Pro X, Fitbit, Microsoft Teams, Peloton, and several others. Of course, advertising works as a kind of free advertising for each service, but it’s nice to know that you can get some free tools while you’re stuck at home. Click the link to see all options.
- Aptoide was found in hot water this week. The company announced a security breach with more than 20 million compromised accounts. That number can be as high as 39 million. Apparently, people who registered between July 21, 2016 and January 28, 2018 are affected. You may want to log in and change your password if you registered within that time period. The good news is that 97% of Aptoide users don’t have accounts anyway and don’t need an account to download stuff. The company is investigating the violation now.
- Google announced an update this week for the Google Assistant. The new feature is an activation word sensitivity switch that allows you to slightly dim your phone so it doesn’t respond when you hear something like “Hello, Google.” Once you get it, you should be able to change the sensitivity of all your Google Home devices through the Google Home app.
- Google Play Store has a small bug found predominantly in Africa. The error removes icons and images from the Play Store, making it difficult to navigate. Most of the problems seem to be focused on Africa, suggesting a regional rather than a global problem. Google should fix it soon and you can click the link for more details.
Mr Pumpkin 2: Walls of Kowloon
Price: $ 1.99
Mr Pumpkin: Walls of Kowloon is a neat puzzle game with a fun premise. It takes place in Kowloon Walled City, a real place where 50,000 people lived in a space the size of an apple. The game is full of interesting people who do various things and explore a fictional version of this city in the game. Most of the mechanics are point and click, so nothing is too difficult or over the top. Players get involved with the stories told by the game characters and try to solve everything. The game is priced at $ 1.99 with no in-app purchases or ads. This is a bit dark, so we don’t recommend it for children.
Vivaldi browser
Price: Free
Vivaldi Browser was in beta for months and was officially released this week. Provides a complete browser experience with privacy and functionality. It comes with the usual privacy, including tracker and ad blocking. You also get a built-in notepad, screen capture feature, dark mode, above-average user interface, and some other cool features. Perhaps the biggest problem here is its ability to sync with the desktop version of the browser. The sync feature allows you to compete with larger dogs like Chrome and Firefox. The app spent a lot of time in beta, so most of the issues went away. This is not the latest version since we have discussed Vivaldi before, but it is nice to see a stable version now.
Earth Wars: Remake Earth
Price: Free to play
Earth Wars: Remake Earth is a new mobile RPG with action elements. Players join the fight for Earth as they are about 24 hours away from being eliminated. You level up your character, learn new skills, and then kill a bunch of baddies. The game features tons of over-the-top animations with tons of explosive explosions and various sound effects. However, the rhythm is quite normal for the genre. There’s also an inactive base defense mode for when you’re not playing. There are some issues reported by others, particularly those with low-end devices. Also, graphics on the face are not for everyone. It is decent overall.
Facebook games
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Facebook Gaming is Facebook’s competitor for Twitch and YouTube live streams. Basically it just takes the part of Facebook where the games happen and puts it all in one experience. You can find streamers live by playing lots of different games. However, like most, the service promotes the most popular games and creators more frequently. There is also the option to stream your mobile games directly from the app and your device. Be careful, this destroys your battery, but it works. The app has a few bugs here and there, but we hope Facebook fixes them in a relatively short time. This can be a competent competitor for big dogs if Facebook does it right.
Fortnite
Price: Free to play
Fortnite managed to make the news this week by officially launching it on the Google Play Store. This felt like something inevitable and an accusation of Google’s dominance of the Android ecosystem with Google Play. Still, the game is now available without a third-party download, which will undoubtedly increase its player base on mobile devices. The game is Fortnite, but on mobile and the coverage of this game is so constant that we are sure you already know how the game works. Most of the game’s complaints are mostly from people who didn’t expect the battery to run out in such a heavy game and frame rate issues with low-end and older devices.
If we missed any great news about Android apps or games or releases, tell us about them in the comments or hit me on Twitter!
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