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

Welcome to the 149th edition of Android Apps Weekly! This is going to be done a little differently than normal. We’re going to separate the Pokemon Go news from the rest of the show so if you don’t want to see it, just scroll down to the “other news” part and start there. Let’s get started with the headlines!

Pokemon Go news:

• T-Mobile is cashing in on the Pokemon Go craze by allowing people to play the game without it affecting their data cap. This is wildly unfair to every other game out there, and I’m sure the net neutrality conversation will be had. However, unless something happens, this promotion will last for about one year.
• Pokemon Go was also rolled out to the UK and Germany this week with other European and Asian territories planned for the coming weeks. It was also launched in Italy, Spain, and Portugal as well.
• That announcement came on the heels of Pokemon Go’s first official update. The most important part is that the game gained some much needed stability. The game also became compatible with devices with Intel chips as well as devices running Android N. The stability still needs more work, but at least those other problems are taken care of.
• One of the bigger announcements for Pokemon Go was that it surpassed Candy Crush Saga as the most popular mobile game in United States history. It reached 21 million active players, which soundly beat the 20 million active users that Candy Crush Saga achieved. This came just days after it surpassed Tinder in active users and word is that it’s passed Twitter as well.
• It was also announced that Pokemon Go players would eventually get the ability to trade their Pokemon to other trainers. Along with that, they will allow sponsored locations of Pokestops where businesses can buy a Pokestop and put it in their business. You can take that as either good things or bad things, that’s fine. The CEO of Niantic stated that these updates would be rolling out soon.
• Now for something completely different. This week, Pokemon Go topped porn to be the hottest search term in all of the Internet. On top of that, Pokemon Porn searches on PornHub are up 136% since the game’s launch. I’m not overly proud to be a human being after that, but hey, whatever floats their boat, right?
• Of course, Pokemon Go wasn’t without a little controversy. In its first week, the game accidentally led a women to a dead body floating in a river. There were also reports of some thugs that were putting up lures and then mugging people. These events are rare, but is yet another reminder to be careful when you’re out playing.
• And hey, if you’re getting sick of hearing about Pokemon Go, there is a Chrome extension available now called Pokemon No. It will help by removing Pokemon Go content from your computer screen. At this point, I don’t blame you if you’re a little sick of hearing about it and this extension will help ease the strain of seeing it everywhere.

Other news:

• Google launched Google Hangouts version 11 this last week. Included in the update is the addition of video messages while the update also took away the ability to merge SMS and Hangouts threads. This isn’t a huge deal, because SMS is still allowed, and it’s rolling out to users now. It also now includes the ability to join a group chat by sharing a link!
• A new video came out this week that shows just how much effort Facebook puts into testing their app on Android devices. The device farm, which is about 200 devices and swiftly growing, tests performance on everything from high end to low end devices as well as older devices. It’s a lot of work for an app that uses so many resources.
• It’s been announced this week that San Francisco will be hosting the Google Play Indie Games festival on September 24th. The premise is that Indie developers will submit their games to show off at the festival and the whole thing will be about the wacky, fun, and awesome things they create. We’ll cover as much of it as we can when the time comes!
• Microsoft is working on a competitor to the popular IFTTT. This alternative, called CAP (or Conditional Action Programmer), functions in much the same way that IFTTT does. The difference is that CAP can use voice commands. This would seemingly let you program your own voice assistant that does the things that you want. It’s not available just yet, but if it’s half as good as it sounds, it should be fun to use.

For even more Android apps and games news, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter by clicking here! There you’ll find a ton of stuff that we didn’t have time for here. If you’d like, you can sign up using the form below and we’ll send the newsletter straight to you every Sunday! Also, don’t forget to check out our official app for even faster updates!

[Price: Free]
Bitly, one of the world’s most popular link shortening services, has launched its official app. It comes with some gorgeous Material Design and mirrors pretty much all of the functionality from the actual website. You’ll be able to shorten links, share those links quickly, and check out the click stats on those links. It’s an excellent tool with a simple design that should just work for most people. There isn’t a lot wrong with it and it’s worth having around just in case.

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Fear the Walking Dead: Dead Run is a a tactical runner where you must run through hordes of zombies and survive. You can play as your favorite characters from the show and, consequently, you can play through some scenes that are actually in the show. It’s a freemium game looking to cash in on The Walking Dead, so you can expect the usual flaws that come with over-produced freemium games. Despite that, the game isn’t all that bad and it is free to download to see if you like it for yourself.

[Price: Free / $2.99]
ParcelTrack isn’t necessarily brand new, but it’s actually really handy. The idea is that it lets you input all of your tracking numbers from shipped packages in one spot. It will then give you updates and alert you when the delivery status is updated. It supports most known carriers, including UPS, USPS, DHL, DHL Express, and FedEx, among others. You can get additional features if you go premium, but even the free version is one is pretty good. It’s a must-try if you get or ship packages frequently.

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Card Wars Kingdom is the latest game out of Cartoon Network. It’s based around the characters of Adventure Time and the game is a pretty standard card-collecting experience. You’ll collect various characters, battle them, and upgrade them to unlock better stats and abilities. There is an online component as well where you can battle with other players, share your creatures to other players, and borrow helpers from allies. At its core, it’s not too different from other card collectors, and that includes the freemium aspect, but it’s goofy and fun to play.

[Price: Free]
Discogs is a unique application that is perfect for all of you record collectors out there. The idea is that you put your existing record collection into the app and then it helps you find and purchase albums that you don’t have. Along with physical music discovery and purchasing, the app will also provide an estimated value for your entire collection. Record collecting is niche, but virtually all collectors should try this out. It also features Material Design and no price tag to download.

Related best app lists:

• Check more awesome infinite runner games for Android!
• Pick up more great Android utility apps and tools here!

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.