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Welcome to the 446th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from the last week:
- Streaming services achieved a milestone this week. Streaming services are now the most watched form of television, dethroning cable TV for the first time. That’s a pretty big deal as cable TV has been the paragon of television watching for decades. Some big streaming properties, like Stranger Things, helped swing things pretty heavily, showing that online-only shows can perform in a big way. Hit the link to learn more.
- Google Meet received an update this week and got a little better. On the positive side, the video improves real-time video effects, video quality, and the update reduces CPU usage. The update only supports some kinds of filters, like background blur and light adjustment. It should roll out for other filters sometime soon.
- YouTube is joining Apple, Amazon, and Roku by providing streaming channels to subscribers. In short, you could subscribe to Netflix through YouTube, which would all work with your YouTube login. We think this is a decent idea because it takes several username and password combos out of your memory banks. However, we’d like to see the prices, features, and availability before we give it a stamp of approval. Hit the link to learn more.
- Android 13 launched in all of its glory this week. This means two things. Many folks are now waiting for Android 13 to hit their devices. Secondly, a lot of app and game developers are in the process of updating their apps to support Android 13’s new features. Prepare to see some new stuff as app developers update their products with the latest Android version. You can see our video overview of Android 13 here.
Eroica
Price: Free to play
Eroica is a gacha mobile RPG. It plays like most others, but we actually quite like the aesthetic. You go from level to level to defeat bad guys and bosses while progressing the storyline. It features bright environments, 40 characters to summon, and decent overall character development. The controls and menus aren’t difficult to learn, but there are quite a few of them like you generally see in mobile RPGs. It has some optimization issues, but the developers have been pretty quick to respond to issues so far.
The Stigma App
Price: Free
The Stigma App is an app for folks with mental health issues. It aims to destigmatize the experience by giving people a safe place to talk about their problems. You can watch videos of people who have similar problems to you and potentially even find yourself some new ways to cope with your illness. It’s a relatively new app, so new features and optimizations come with almost every update right now. We tested it for a little while, and it seems to work as it says. The app is also entirely free, at least for right now, so the barrier to entry is reasonably low.
UFO99
Price: Free / Up to $4.49
UFO99 is an arcade-style game where you fly around in a UFO. The game features 60 characters, short play times, boss fights, power-ups, and more. In terms of mechanics, you fly around levels while dodging and smashing bad guys. It definitely has an arcade aesthetic. You can also play with up to three of your friends in co-op mode. The game can get pretty chaotic and it’s honestly just nice to look at and listen to. It’s a well-executed arcade game, and even the in-app purchases aren’t very expensive.
My Little Black Book
Price: Free / $2.99 per month
My Little Black Book is a dating app organizer. You log into the app and then use the app to log into your dating websites. From there, you can manage and schedule dates, add your dating app contacts, take notes, and there are even some safety tools. We were a little put off by how many permissions the app needed. We recommend using the free version to make sure it’s something you want to keep using before even considering paying for it. Still, you can get into the app and move around while sharing a minimal amount of information in case you want to scope it out first. The tools do work, and the app supports many different dating apps. We’re not 100% certain about this app, but it seems pretty decent in our testing.
Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus
Price: Free to play
Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus is a turn-based strategy RPG. It uses the board game-style layout that you see in classic games in the genre. It features a regular single-player campaign mode along with online PvP, live events, and more. You can also become part of a guild and engage in guild wars if you want to. The game hits all the right notes. There is a bunch of stuff to do to keep players busy, and the combat mechanics are easy to get into with a lot of depth later on. There are some microtransactions, but they aren’t as predatory as some other recent mobile RPGs we could name. We see a lot of mediocre Warhammer 40,000 games released every year. This one feels doesn’t feel mediocre like many of the others.
If we missed any big Android apps or games news or releases, tell us about it in the comments.
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