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

Welcome to the 175th episode of Android Apps Weekly! Here are the headlines from the last week:

• Nintendo confirmed that Super Mario Run will be out on Android sometime in March. It should roughly coincide with the Nintendo Switch release. It will have been a long time since the iOS release so we’re not sure if the hype is going to be as strong. Hilariously, Nintendo plans on releasing Fire Emblem: Heroes on Android in February. That means Super Mario Run won’t be the first true Nintendo game on Android in 2017.
• Keeper Security released a report this week talks about the most popular passwords from 2016. It was not a great year. The most popular password was “123456” with various amalgamations of that taking up most of the top ten. Some of the other passwords in the top ten were “password”, “111111”, and “123123”. That’s not great news. Those who use passwords like that should seriously consider changing it.
• Google announced the 20 finalists for the European Indie Games Contest. Among those are Samorost 3, PinOut, Crap I’m Broke: Out of Pocket, Rusty Lake: Roots and many others. Some of these are very good games that we’ve talked about before. A few of the games aren’t out yet. We imagine that they will in due course. We’ll let you know who wins.
• Vine officially transformed into Vine Camera this week. The first iteration of the new app is actually pretty bad. It still records the six second videos as usual. However, since most platforms don’t loop, the videos don’t have the charm they once had. We think there could be something here someday. However, we wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to dive into the new app just yet.
• The Google Play Store and Apple App Store had a really good 2016. A new report showed that the respective app stores had more downloads, made more money, and had people spending more time in apps than in 2015. Perhaps the most interesting factoid is that 90% of the money earned on Google Play was done through mobile games. That kind of explains why there are so many freemium games. That’s simply where the money is.

For even more Android apps and games news, updates, and releases, check out this week’s newsletter by clicking here! There you’ll find all of the stuff we didn’t have time for here. You can subscribe to the newsletter using the form below and we’ll send it to you every Sunday! Don’t forget to check out the Android Authority app for even faster updates!

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Ookujira is a fun little platformer. It features soft, colorful graphics, a gigantic whale, and lots of destruction. The premise is that evil alien robots are invading earth. Human technology isn’t doing anything to help and so you play as a whale that destroys things. The premise is epic, but the game is actually pretty simple. It features one touch controls, a couple of different play modes, and some quirky themes. It’s a freemium game, but one of the less aggressive freemium games out there.

[Price: Free]
Stringify is a new competitor to IFTTT. It allows you to create automatic actions for your phone to perform. That means you can do something like automatically posting your Fitbit goals on Facebook. It also has Internet of Things support so you can also have it control tings like Philips Hue lightbulbs, smart locks, smart garage door opens, and other smart items. It’s a free download, but it’s also in beta. That means there are bugs so do be prepared for those.

[Price: Free / $2.99]
The Little Fox is a runner with some unique ideas. It boasts that it’s the first runner to use a hexagonal field of play. That gives you a few extra directions to play around with. It also features stylish graphics, a cute little fox, obstacles to avoid, and various areas to run through. The soundtrack is also pretty decent. It’s free to download and check out. People seem to be complaining about the ads and there are a few bugs here and there. Other than that, it runs pretty well.

[Price: Free]
Toontastic 3D is an animation app that lets you draw cartoons. It features a selection of pre-created things so you can start dropping things in and creating content. It includes the ability to narrate the cartoon, various story modes to choose from, and the ability to design your own 3D cartoons. Once you’re done, you can export videos and share them wherever you want. Like most newer apps, it has a few issues here and there. However, it’s also a completely free download.

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
WarFriends is a third person shooter with a lot of online options. It comes with a campaign called WarPath mode which also has online co-op. There is also a one vs one PvP mode or a more classic online multiplayer. You’ll also be able to collect various items that you can use in the game to give yourself an advantage. It’s a freemium game which means there are some pay to win elements. That said, it’s otherwise a fairly solid title that can be enjoyable. At least for a little while.

Related best app lists:

• Check out the best drawing apps (for the iPad)!
• Or take a look at these awesome infinite runner titles!

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