Welcome to the 507th 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:

• Google recently announced its Wallet digital payments app will now let users store transit cards and see ride history, as well as get real-time schedule updates and details on how much they saved from fare caps.
• Google had a busy week, as it also announced a major Google Maps update that offers several new AI-enhanced features to help with navigation, search, and fueling up. The new features are expected to start rolling out over the next few days. 
• Yes, Google is really dominating the headlines this Apps Weekly. Now we’re discussing a new Google Photos feature called Photo Stack. Simply put, the new feature can automatically group related photos into various stacks, instantly making the whole experience more organized than ever before. Users will also be able to further edit and manage the stacks as they see fit.
• Let’s take a short break from talking about Google, as we turn our attention to X (formerly Twitter). The controversial social network is now rolling out audio and video calling to the platform. While it is available for some users now, it hasn’t rolled out widely to all users just yet.
• We’re not done talking about Google yet. The Mountain View giant announced it will require developers to add the ability to report or flag offensive AI-generated content in-app starting next year. It will also have stricter guidelines in place for prohibiting and preventing the generation of restricted content.

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. 

Lovebrush Chronicles

• Price: Free with in-app purchases
• Release Date: Oct 20

Lovebrush Chronicles is your typical dating sim/visual novel type, where the story is the main driver. You’ll basically listen to blocks of text and then pick a response. There are a few twists to this tale, such as the fact it’s set in a multiverse and you can essentially level up your art skills as you go through the game. First and foremost, this is a love story game. While it’s not exactly my personal cup of tea, I know people who would be into this one for sure, and in my short time with it, I found the story interesting enough and the game easy to get into. Be aware all the voices are in Japanese, so you’ll have to read subtitles. The game is free but there are in-app purchases for stuff like ad removal.

Sinag Fighting Game

• Price: Free with in-app purchases
• Release date: Oct 25

If you’re looking for a new mobile fighting game, this will scratch that itch. Just be aware you start the game with just two character choices, though you can unlock two by completing story mode, two by watching a short video ad each, or two that are available for purchase at $1.49 apiece. The game also has a bit of a story but I didn’t get far enough into the story mode in my initial playthrough to piece it all together. Let’s be honest, no one is playing fighting games for the story, it’s just a nice extra. What matters is the fighting and I have to say the characters are well balanced and the touch controls work reasonably well. It took me a little bit to get the hang of it, but once I did I had a lot of fun. 

Aside from Story Mode, there’s also a Versus Mode that lets you fight another player or a CPU, or you can watch two CPUs duke it out. Lastly, the training mode is designed as an easier experience that lets you figure out your character’s special moves and learn how to be a better fighter. 

Magic Spear Idle RPG

• Price: Free with in-app purchases
• Release date: Oct 23

I’ll be honest, there are much better Idle RPGs out there, but this one is still not too bad if you’re into these kinds of games. Basically, you can jump right in and start fighting to level up. As you level up you can unlock dungeon fights, upgrade weapons, and more. In my short playthrough with it I found it a fun enough time waster but there’s nothing really new or innovative to the formula here either. 

Reverse: 1999

• Price: Free with in-app purchases
• Release date: Oct 26

As you can see, we have another visual novel-style game, or do we? Sure, it’s very text-heavy and has you picking options just like many graphic novels, but once you finish the story part of a chapter you’re then plunged into an interactive battle scene that’s more what you’d expect from an RPG with different power combinations and more. The story had me intrigued right from the hop, and you don’t feel in that much of a rush to get through the dialogue. The voice acting isn’t great however. From my research, it seems that some of the other language translations aren’t bad, but the English version has many broken English phrases that don’t quite make sense and in general, the acting just isn’t that impressive. Still, this is a fun game and the story itself is good, just not the acting. 

Safer Watch

• Price: Free
• Release Date: Oct 20

This one is a bit different, designed with safety in mind. Safer Watch makes it easy to report incidents such as potential crimes, as well as receive alerts when incidents happen near you. The Live Emergency feature records the incident in real-time and sends it directly to security and law enforcement, it also gives first responders information such as exactly where the incident happened using GPS.