Welcome to the 506th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Once again we bring you the latest news and apps from the previous week. Let’s start with some of the biggest headlines from last week:

• X, formerly Twitter, has announced its new Not-a-Bot subscription is rolling out in New Zealand and the Philippines. The $1 per year subscription is required for all new account holders though it won’t affect existing accounts. 
• Google Photos is now adding RAW photo support, automatically uploading RAWs and accompanying JPEG files. Archiving RAWs is certainly helpful but keep in mind these files can take up a lot of space. 
• Whatsapp is finally rolling out support for a second account on a single device without needing to go through as many hoops. That said, you’ll still need a phone number for each account, so this will only work with dual-SIM devices. 
• Speaking of Whatsapp, the app now officially accepts Passkeys for login authentication. This lets you use your face, PIN, or fingerprint to log in. 
• Google Wallet announced it is expanding its digital state ID support to three new states: Georgia, Arizona, and Colorado. This makes four in total, as Google originally tested out the feature to residents of Maryland. 
• Google Play Protect is getting a new update, which will now ask if you want to scan an app before it’s installed. 
• Youtube is implementing several new features to its site that will make it easier to find content, avoid interruptions, and even get a more stable audio experience. Youtube’s Stable Volum toggle will reduce jarring differences in volume from video to video. 

Android Apps Weekly: The best new apps and games of the week

Looking for some new Android apps and Android games to keep you occupied? Below we take a look at some of our favorite suggestions for the week. This week we have three games and two app suggestions. 

Gacha Life 2

• Price: Free with ads
• Release Date: Oct 12

 Gacha Life 2 has finally hit Android. A sequel to the popular dress-up and roleplaying game, you can get your own anime characters and add accessories and more. While the game is largely the same general premise as Gacha Life and Club, there’s a new art style, new accessories, a new color slider, and many other improvements. Overall this is a major upgrade, especially graphically.

Warm Snow

• Price: $8.75
• Release date: Oct 12

Warm Snow is a rogue-lite Chinese martial arts game that has found quite a bit of success on Steam, and now it has arrived on Google Play. The mobile version includes Endless Mode and DLC1 baked right in. There are also a few mobile upgrades designed to better suit the on-the-go nature of Android phones. In our time with it, we found the game a lot of fun and easy to jump right in. 

Kingdom Eighties

• Price: $4.99
• Release date: Oct 14

The latest installment of the Kingdom series continues the same sidescrolling resource management action many of us know and love, but this time with an 80s twist. The characters and animations are all clearly meant to invoke nostalgia for eighties franchises like ET, Back to the Future, and more. Once again you build and fight, but this time there’s a bit more story focus as well. The game will set you back $5 but is perfect for those looking for an ad-free premium experience that’s easy to jump into. 

Franz

• Price: Free with in-app purchases
• Release date: Oct 16

Your phone is haunted by the spirit of Franz. She has her own will and desires, and you can learn more about what those are through phone notifications and visual novel gameplay. You’ll have to make moral choices and hard decisions as the game’s story progresses. The game is mostly pushing prompts, listening to notifications, and trying to puzzle it all together. 

Niji Journey

• Price: Subscription required
• Release Date: Oct 19

Midjourney is one of the best AI image generators around and now you can access its power right through an app. Well, kind of. Niji Journey was built in partnership with Midjourney, though it has a more focused use case. The new app helps you create anime characters and scenes. You can get 20 images generated for free, you’ll need a Midjourney subscription for full access.