5 Android apps you shouldn't miss this week! - Android Apps Weekly

Welcome back to Android Apps Weekly! This is the 153rd edition, let’s get started with the headlines:

• IFTTT has rolled out direct third party support. What that means is that instead of going into the IFTTT app to create recipes, individual app developers can include them directly into their apps. People can then just head to the settings and turn on the recipes they want. It’s a new thing so there aren’t a lot of real world examples yet, but some companies like Garageio, Adobe, Skybell, Bloomsky, Automatic, and others should have it sooner or later.
• Facebook announced this week that their advertising will be more resistant to ad blockers. Basically, the company is redoing how ads are rendered in order to disguise them as organic content so that ad blockers leave them alone. Ad revenue represents a large portion of Facebook’s revenue and many sites depend on them to reach new audiences, so a move like this isn’t unexpected. It’s worth noting that Ad Block responded in kind like two days later so it’s probably a non issue.
• We are one month away from the day when Google Chrome will start killing off its support for Flash. Despite the sudden off switch coming in just a month, Google Chrome has been slowly lowering its support for Adobe Flash over the last few years. If you still have uses for Flash, you won’t be able to do those things anymore, but at this point most sites have migrated away from it anyway.
• Quadrooter is a new security flaw in Android that affects devices with a Qualcomm processor. It’s a standard privilege escalation vulnerability which means that apps that have this problem can get root access and then it’ll have access to everything in your device. Luckily, features that already exist such as Verify Apps pretty much prevent this from happening. As long as you don’t sideload apps, your chances of having issues are virtually 0%.
• Hulu announced this week that they’re doing away with their free service. Initially, you could watch some stuff for free and then you could get additional features by paying for a monthly subscription. However, the company stated that their free offering is so far removed from their paid experience that they decided to get rid of it. It sucks, but that’s how things go.

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[Price: $2.99]
Reigns is a strategy simulation game with some pretty unique mechanics. Instead of using controls to maneuver a world, you’re given a stack of cards. You then swipe through each card Tinder style to answer whether you agree with that position or not. The longer you play, the longer you remain in power. If you make the wrong decision, you are mercilessly killed. It’s a goofy little idea and it’s a pretty interesting use of the Tinder swipe mechanics. It’s $2.99 with no in-app purchases.

[Price: Free / $0.99]
Isotope is a beautifully designed app from Jack Underwood, developer of the popular Today Calendar. This app helps you learn more about the period table of elements. It features a 118-element table complete with transition animations along with high quality images for most of the elements. The developer has promised to include more over time. You can also read information and fun facts about the elements, search for specific elements, and some additional features. If you go pro, you get an additional theme. Neither version has ads.

[Price: $4.99]
The Manga Works is the latest sim game out of Kairsoft, the same developers who did the highly acclaimed Game Dev Story. In this sim, your job is to run a studio that produces manga. You’ll start with a fledgling studio and you’ll be hunting for plot ideas to make your manga better. It has a lot of the same graphical styles and mechanics as Game Dev Story, so those who may have played that will have an idea of how this game games. It’s $4.99, but there are no in-app purchases. The only downside is that it doesn’t have cloud saving.

[Price: Free]
OneView Calendar is a fun new calendar app with some very bold ideas. For starters, it doesn’t sort your calendar by the classic month, day, or week view. Instead, the entire thing is laid out in a single Agenda View mode where you can scroll through your entire calendar. It supports pinch to zoom so you can navigate easily and it syncs with Google Calendar which should make migration easy. You can add events by dragging and dropping the icon where it needs to go. It’s completely free and it’s actually a lot of fun to use.

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
FIE Swordplay is a new fencing game and, frankly, the best fencing game now on Google Play. You create a character and then learn the finer points of fencing. The mechanics are simple and easy to understand while being difficult to master. The game features customization that has you adding equipment to your character and even fine tune your weapon. There is a PvE campaign mode or you can face off against your social media friends in PvP mode. It has in-app purchases, but they are inoffensive. The game is definitely worth a shot.

Related best app lists:

• Check out more awesome simulation games by clicking here!
• Still looking for a good calendar app? Here are the best ones!

If we missed any big Android apps or games news, tell us about them in the comments!To see our complete list of best app lists, click here.