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

• Twitter had a mishap this week. A bug in their system had passwords stored as plain text. That is obviously not great news. However, Twitter did find the bug, fix it, and issued a notice to all of their users. Thankfully, they fixed it already. There isn’t any evidence of a hack, exploit, or anything like that. Sometimes it’s nice to hear that something is a bug and not a hack. Still, we highly recommend that everyone on Twitter change their password for obvious reasons.
• Google has a secret gaming startup, apparently. A report this week indicated that Google is working on a bunch of arcade games with social elements. There aren’t a ton of details Google Arcade right now. We know it’s part of Area 120, an incubator for startups at Google. Of course, if it’s successful, we’ll hear about it. It’ll simply fold if it’s not. It could be neat to see what Google can do in the field of social gaming.
• A podcast network bought Pocket Casts this week. Pocket Casts is among the best podcast apps ever. We like it, our competitors like it. Basically everybody likes Pocket Casts. The podcast network includes NPR, WNYC Studios, WBEZ Chicago, and This American Life, among others. They likely bought the app for the user data since Pocket Casts is so popular. The only statement we’ve had is that they intend on leaving the app alone for now.
• Iran banned Telegram making it the most recent entire country to do so. You know your end-to-end encryption and privacy policy are rock solid when governments ban you. Anyway, Iran recommended a different chat app to its citizens. We are weary of basically all chat apps that have government approval. Anyway, we’ll let you know more if the story continues to develop.
• Google Now Launcher is officially (finally) on its way out. The app is now incompatible with most Android devices according to reports. Everybody knew this was coming, of course. Google announced this almost a year ago. Those with Google Now Launcher still have access to it. However, they won’t be able to get it back again if they uninstall or switch phones. RIP, Google Now Launcher.

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