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

[Price: Free]
Invi SMS & Messenger is an SMS and MMS app that also doubles as a standalone messaging app. You’ll be greeted with a variety of features, including a built-in meme generator, emoji, stickers, group chats, voice to text, and more. Since it supports SMS, you won’t need to invite your friends to use the service. It also includes a new feature called the Awesome Bar which gives you all kinds of fun stuff at the touch of a button.
It rocks a pretty decent design that features Material Design and the app works very well. It’s a simple, clean app that is easy to use and has a ton of functionality. You can pick it up for free with no in-app purchases right now. Give it a shot and show your support for Android Apps Weekly!

Welcome to the 171st edition of Android Apps Weekly! Here are the headlines from the last week:

• A round of Twitter hacks made their rounds this week. The white hat hacker group OurMine claimed responsibility. Their targets included the official US accounts for Netflix and Marvel Comics along with the verified accounts of Tony Stark and Captain America. The group has also successfully hacked Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai earlier this year. Everything is back to normal now, but it was a fun week.
• There is a new YouTube show out called Devs. The premise of the show is to shine light on how video games are made. On top of that, there are some pretty good insights on things like how the industry has changed over the years. It also talks about why Finland is a good spot for game development. It’s a fun little show and definitely worth a watch if you like this kind of stuff.
• Amazon announced this week that it intends to start taking India more seriously. During an interview this week, an executive stated that Amazon was ready to make the necessary investments to do just that. This comes just a week after Amazon launched its Prime service in India. The company will receive some competition from Flipkart which is to be expected. The investments made by Amazon so far are the largest in company history.
• Vine isn’t entirely doomed after all. The company plans on stripping down the app and re-releasing it as Vine Camera sometime in 2017. It’ll still take six second videos like the app did except this time you can upload them directly to Twitter or keep them on your camera roll. Videos should also be compatible with other social networks. We’ll tell you more about it when we get our hands on it.
• Super Mario Run has made an estimated $14 million in just a few days. The game has already rocketed to the top of the charts on iOS despite mixed reviews from pundits. The game had $5 million along five million downloads in its first day. That’s more than Pokemon Go. We imagine both numbers will rise significantly once there is an Android release. It should be out on Android in early 2017.

For even more Android apps and games news, releases, and more, check out this week’s newsletter by clicking here! There you can find all of the stuff we didn’t have space for here. You can also use the form below to sign up for the Android Apps Weekly newsletter and we’ll send it to you every Sunday! Also don’t forget to check out the Android Authority app!

[Price: $4.99]
Retro City Rampage DX is an action-adventure game. It’s also reminiscent of very early Grand Theft Auto titles. You’ll engage with an overhead view of a retro world as you complete missions, do challenges, play minigames, and explore the open world. It boasts well over 100 activities, 50 vehicles to steal, 25 weapons, 200 character customizations, and more. The game plays well enough although there are some early release bugs that you may heave to deal with. In any case, it’s $4.99 with no in-app purchases.

[Price: Free]
Google revamped their Google Keyboard last week and turned it into Gboard. At its core, it still works as it did before. However, there is now Google Search integrated directly into the keyboard. This allows you to search for practically anything and then immediately share it. This includes the GIF search, a feature that was highly touted in the iOS version of the app. It’s completely free to use. About the only downside is that you may run into a few bugs here and there.

[Price: $4.99 / $3.99]
Twilight Struggle is a board game that has been ported to Android. The game puts you in the center of the Cold War and the political drama between the USSR and the United States. You’ll draw event cards, play them out, and strategize accordingly. You can play with people online or against AI opponents if you want to. The mobile controls work rather well and you’ll even have an online profile showing your stats. It’s relatively inexpensive at $4.99 and you can buy additional content as in-app purchases.

[Price: Free]
TWRP has been the go-to aftermarket recovery on Android for years. Now, they finally have an official app. It’s not a very complicated app. You can open it, find your device, download the recovery, and then you can flash it. It can also keep you up to date on which version you have. As you probably guessed, you will need root access on your phone in order to use the app to its fullest extent. If you’re rooted and using TWRP, you want this app. Thankfully, it’s free.

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Rovio is at it again with another casual game called Angry Birds Blast. It’s a match-three game where your goal is to break certain blocks each round to free the birds. It works like pretty much every match-three game where you wait for two or more of the same color to line up. You’ll also have boosts and powers to help make things go easier. The game has 250 levels, colorful graphics, and a family friendly demeanor. It’s a casual game through and through, but it’s not bad if you need a time faster.

Related best app lists:

• Check out the best free Android games!
• Or take a look at the best keyboard apps for Android!

If we missed any big Android apps or games news, tell us about them in the comments!