Welcome to the 343rd edition of Android Apps Weekly! These are the big headlines from the last week:
- The Fortnite saga continued this week with a ton of new features. Microsoft showed its support for Fortnite due to the developments of Fortnite with the Unreal Engine and its impact on PC gaming. Additionally, Epic Games hosted a Fortnite tournament before Apple players lost cross-platform privileges earlier this week. Meanwhile, Apple responded to Fortnite’s claims in court, comparing Epic Games to shoplifters in some really bizarre court statements. Click on the links for more details.
- People in Arizona are suing Google over privacy concerns. The court documents alleged that even Google employees had no idea what was happening to their own privacy, much less that of others. Google said the documents and news sources picked juicy bits to make the situation seem much worse than it actually was. Most of it is from 2018 and Google has vastly improved location services since then.
- Android 11 will sometimes force people to use the standard camera app even if they prefer a third-party camera. The new system will allow users to use the camera in applications where there is a built-in camera, such as Instagram. However, if an application requires the use of an external camera, the operating system will default to the standard camera application instead of any third-party application. This isn’t a big deal as you can still use third-party apps, but it’s still a bit restrictive.
- Some Chinese phones recently shipped with malware and it has been a bit major. Malicious software, Triada and xHelper, could download apps in the background and subscribe to services without user consent. It affected some Tecno W2, a low-cost phone from China. Click the link for more details.
- TikTok is fighting back against the US government A new lawsuit from the social media giant alleges that the US government intentionally ignored any attempt by TikTok to show the US that it was not a security threat. Some of the initiatives included the storage of US user data outside of China and a data barrier that prevents the developer’s other apps from accessing TikTok. Trump’s order that ByteDance be sold to a US company by September 15 also remains in effect.
Baseball Superstars 2020
Price: Free to play
Baseball Superstars 2020 is the latest arcade baseball simulator from GAMEVIL. Players start the game by collecting various characters to upgrade their baseball team. You can upgrade players, trainers, and coaches. In addition, you can customize your baseball equipment in various ways. There’s some real baseball, including a hitting and pitching mechanic. They’re both arcade-style so there’s not much realism. However, it is a fun little arcade game for baseball fans despite its free-to-play price.
Secure clips
Price: $ 1.99
Secure Clips is a new clipboard manager that also includes some security features. It basically intercepts the standard Android clipboard so you can copy and paste text in places without worrying about who can see it. It is a bit strange to use. Copy text with a three-dot menu instead of the usual pop-up window, and then paste in the same way. Therefore, it bypasses the operating system entirely. You can also enable additional accessibility permission to bypass it and use it as you would the Android OS method. It starts at $ 1.99 with no in-app purchases and is a great tool for privacy-conscious folks.
Soul of eden
Price: Free to play
Soul of Eden is the latest game from Rayark. Rayark is generally known for his rhythm games, but it is actually an online duel card game. Players build 30-card decks from a collection of over 100 and then play against each other online. The game also features four-minute matches, various factions for players to join in, and a decent gameplay that allows for some customization of your combat strategies without relying entirely on RNG. It is a free title and people seem to like it so far.
Bazaart
Price: Free / $ 1.99 per month
Bazaart is a photo editing app with some cool effects. It doesn’t have all the usual stuff, but it makes up for it with some fun tricks. There is a magic tool to erase the background that allows you to remove your background and put something else in its place. You can also do this manually if you want. The app also features a metric ton of filters, effects, and stickers along with some basic feedback like flip, rotate, scale, and duplicate. The free version works quite well and has most of the features, but you have to fork out $ 1.99 for everything. You can test the premium with a free seven-day trial.
Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad
Price: Free to play
Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad is an online multiplayer strategy game with a Tom Clancy theme. The game includes five-on-five player battles where each player instructs their characters on where to go and what to do. The team left standing at the end wins. The game mainly focuses on its PvP arena, but you can also play the campaign mode to start. We don’t play too much, but it looks like it will be decent enough. The graphics are good and the game is quite fast. There are some initial mistakes, but they shouldn’t last long.
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If we missed any major Android app and game news, updates, or releases, tell us about them in the comments!
