"If there is an app for that"

Invest in Your Child’s Future With U-Nest

January 15, 2019 by RSS Feed

Reviewed by The Mule

If there’s something we can all agree on, it’s the fact that saving money is no fun to deal with. You know that but you also know that it’s necessary to prepare for future college costs.

U-Nest: Save Money for Kids, developed by U-Nest, LLC, is a terrific app to get and keep you on the right track for long-term college savings.

Concept and Functionality:

From the start, it’s obvious that U-Nest was designed for optimal organization and ease-of-use. The Home screen starts right off giving you key information about the app. You can see the benefits and feel confident in the bank-level security it provides.

Before you even go through the painless 5 minute account set up process, you can access their simple as pie College Calculator. We have to admit while it is well designed and functional it’s also a bit self-serving. That is, if you had any doubts about starting on this path, once you see the numbers you’ll be hooked.

It clues you into the fact that even if you think your child will attend a public university, it’s likely to have a full cost of over $185,000. A private university can easily be double that. Wow, better start saving now.

Features:

U-Nest iPhone App

As mentioned, U-Nest has you covered when it comes to security. These devs know their stuff and it shows. By incorporating bank-level security they make sure your information is locked down.

Of course downloading the app and setting up an account doesn’t complete the job. You now have to actually save money on a regular basis. The app shines here by making it stupid easy to move money from your savings or checking account into your college savings account.

You can start with as little as $25/month but of course, if you expect to have enough saved by the time your child is ready for college it would help to bump that number up as soon as possible. The app makes it simple to adjust your contribution at any time, up or down.

This well-designed app is no lightweight when it comes to regulations. Your account will be a tax-free 529 College Savings Plan from a company that is a fully accredited and registered Financial Advisor with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Your tax-free 529 savings plan will grow and you’ll be helped along the way by a team of experienced financial experts and advisors with decades of experience.

Value:

U-Nest is available to download from the App Store for free, but the service itself is not free.

Our only caution is that you should be aware of that there is a relatively small $3/month/account fee and there could be other fees as well, so keep that in mind as you consider your options.

U-Nest: Save Money for Kids requires iOS 10.3 or later and is compatible with iPhone 5s or higher, iPad, and iPod Touch.

TheiPhoneAppReview’s Rating:

Source link:https://www.theiphoneappreview.com/2019/01/invest-in-your-childs-future-with-u-nest/

5 Games You Should Download Now

January 12, 2019 by RSS Feed

5 Games You Should Download Now

Some people love to spend hours on Minecraft, Clash of Clans, Fortnite or maybe Donut County, Florence or Part Time UFO. Others like to jump in, play for awhile and jump out because they don’t have, or don’t want to spend, hours playing a game.

We don’t judge, if you have the time, great. If you don’t, or can’t right now, and you’re looking for some great games are don’t require you to make a career out of them, check out these 5.

I Love Hue / Free w/IAPs / App Store Rating: 4.9, 14.2K Ratings

This is a colorful, soothing puzzle game. Very enjoyable and relaxing, the complete antithesis of Flappy Bird and other “twitch” type games.

We couldn’t agree more with the devs who say “I Love Hue is a gentle journey into colour and perception. Arrange mosaics of coloured tiles into perfectly ordered spectrums. Lovingly made for players who enjoy beautifully crafted puzzle games – or anyone who needs a few moments of visual tranquility.”

Crossword Puzzle Redstone / Free w/IAPs / App Store Rating: 4.7, 16.1K Ratings

One of us (we won’t say who) is totally addicted to this game. How many hours have been lost playing it? No one knows and no one wants to know.

More importantly it is well designed, fun to play with levels that will match your ability, and plenty of free boards to choose from. If you like you can buy additional ones but that’s totally optional.

“Join thousands of players who exercise their brains every day with the best crossword game for iPad and iPhone. Crossword Puzzle by Redstone is a fun and engaging game app – it is free to download and all users get access to free crossword puzzles, no subscription required!”

10 Pin Shuffle Pro Bowling / $3.99 / App Store Rating: 4.7, 530 Ratings

If you’ve had fun at the bowling alley or playing shuffleboard at your local bar, then this is definitely the game for you.

Yes there’s a four buck download fee but that is money well spent and you get a game that has no ads, no IAPs, and you only pay once to play on all your devices – iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Apple TV. It’s one of the best games to just pick-up-and-play.

It features realistic 3D bowling games: traditional 10 Pin Bowling, 10 Pin Poker and Shuffleboard, and even has a peer-to-peer multiplayer option.

Crossy Road / Free w/IAPs / App Store Rating: 4.6, 163K Ratings

This is a fun arcade game where you’re trying to get the chicken across the road. Don’t ask us why the chicken wants to cross the road, that answer is above our pay grade.

Regardless of why, you’ll have lots of fun trying to beat your best score in this creative and very well designed infinite runner.

As you improve and better at moving along, you’ll be rewarded with new characters that sport diverse looks and effects that are very entertaining. For example, you’ll run into a teeny-tiny flea, or you might come upon an emo goose, or possibly Epoch, who shoots blocky bullets at cars.

We think you’ll enjoy the ride through this fun and creatively constructed alternate universe.

Alto’s Adventure / $0.99 / App Store Rating: 4.7, 1.4K Ratings

This is game is as much fun as it is beautiful. An “endless runner” type game that leaves Subway Surfers and Temple Run in the snow drifts.

Like any endless runner (or in this case, boarder) game it’s great for when you don’t have much time and want to chill with something fun and familiar. Go ahead, pick it up while they’re making your morning coffee, just don’t let your coffee get cold ;-)

“Join Alto and his friends as they embark on an endless snowboarding odyssey. Journey across the beautiful alpine hills of their native wilderness, through neighbouring villages, ancient woodlands, and long-abandoned ruins.”

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5 Games You Should Download Now – TheiPhoneAppReview.com

Source link:https://www.theiphoneappreview.com/2019/01/5-games-you-should-download-now/

The 3 Best Browsers for Your iPhone or iPad

January 11, 2019 by RSS Feed

The 3 Best Browsers for Your iPhone or iPad

Sure, the Safari browser is ready to go when you first fire up your iPhone or iPad but is it the browser you should be using? Just because it’s from Apple and preloaded on your iDevice does not necessarily mean it’s the one to use.

There are many many alternatives to Safari in the App Store and these developers know they have to offer you something different, something special, some kind of added value to steer you away from Apple’s offering.

At this point you’re probably thinking “so what are some of these wonderful additional capabilities that will turn my head?” Great question (you did ask that, didn’t you?) and for the answer let’s take a look at what we consider to be the 3 best Safari alternatives for you.

DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser – Free – App Store Rating: 4.8, 58.3K Ratings

Let’s be clear, we LOVE this company and their respect for privacy. We’ve been using their web search site (www.duckduckgo.com) for years instead of Google and it’s a fantastic alternative.

They never track your activities or remember your search terms. They don’t sell any of your information to advertisers since they don’t keep any and their search engine works great.

Their browser carries that respect for privacy to your device and is an excellent browser in its own right. You can lock the app to your Touch ID, Face ID or system passcode for additional protection. Plus they provide a privacy grade for every site you visit.

“At DuckDuckGo, we believe the Internet shouldn’t feel so creepy, and getting the privacy you deserve online should be as simple as closing the blinds.”

Aloha Browser – private & fast – Free w/IAPs – App Store Rating: 4.7, 105K Ratings

For those who feel the need for a VPN, Aloha is a fantastic option. It offers unlimited free VPN and makes it as easy as one click to engage.

The free basic version has a ton of features, and for most folks it’s all you need. It’s also fast, although in our experience not quite as fast as Turbo VPN.

For those who want more, or simply would like to turn off the ads, they offer additional options.

For $0.99 you can turn off the ads and if you’d like additional VPN functionality, such as specifying the country or using the VPN in other apps, you can upgrade to Premium for a monthly fee of $2.99 or pay $24.99 for a full year up front.

“…private browsing should not be boring. That’s why we have created Aloha Browser. Our mission is to keep you safe, entertained, and make your web browsing as private as you want it to be.”

Turbo VPN Private Browser – Free w/IAPs – App Store Rating: 4.8, 26.5K Ratings

As you can tell we’ve been building up to the most capable browser. If you are going to the trouble of ditching Safari the features that you want to focus on are privacy and speed, and of course, cost. Since this Turbo VPN is not free to use power users are the target for this app.

This browser offers, arguably, the fastest VPN browser available. We’ve used it and it is fast! We consistently get over 90% of our non-VPN download speed.

Unlike Aloha, Turbo VPN is only free for a trial period of 7 days. To use it beyond that you have to purchase a subscription. The subscription options are $9.99/week, $11.99/month or $35.99/year.

If you need speed, VPN privacy and are willing to pay for the best, this is the bad boy you want.

“Turbo VPN Private Browser – a private explorer that hides your true IP address which means your privacy is secure. With high VPN speed, You can protect your online privacy from losing online identity while using public Wi-Fi hotspots at airports, hotels, and coffee shops.”

Source link:https://www.theiphoneappreview.com/2019/01/3-best-browsers-for-your-iphone-or-ipad/

8 Must-Have Apps for Your Kids in 2019

January 06, 2019 by RSS Feed

8 Must-Have Apps for Your Kids in 2019

We have to admit that we’re constantly amazed by the creativity, professionalism, and outstanding design, including educational design, that we see in apps for kids in the App Store. We love checking them out and discovering which are the best ones is something that we greatly enjoy sharing with our loyal readers.

Here are 8 of our favorites that are well worth a download, even the ones that aren’t free :)

Learning Games 4 Kids Toddlers  / Free w/IAPs / App Store Rating: 4.5, 21.4K Ratings

We became aware of this app via a recommendation from a friend. And boy was she right! It’s an awesome collection of learning games and puzzles that uses “Funny Food” as the delivery vehicle for all the activities and FUN!

“Funny Food consists of 17 various educational games for your children. Funny Food addresses various topics such as: geometric figures, colors, units as parts and as a whole, logic, sizes etc. It also has puzzle games! Funny Food has endless possibilities to keep your children busy with very useful and engaging games!”

HOMER Reading: Learn to Read  / Free w/IAPs / App Store Rating: 4.6, 7.2K Ratings

The right foundations for reading are critical to establishing a love of reading in your kids. This app does a great job of not only making sure all the building blocks are covered but also does it in a personalized way.

“It includes thousands of lessons on phonics, sight words, ABCs and more and grows with your child from age 2 to 8.

HOMER Reading has been proven to increase early reading scores by 74% with just 15 minutes a day. And with stories and activities customized to each child’s interests, they’ll learn while having fun.”

ABC Animal Toddler Adventures  / Free w/IAPs / App Store Rating: 4.7, 5.1K Ratings

When children have the flexibility to learn at their own pace and be rewarded for being successful along the way they also learn that leaning itself is rewarding.

This app does an excellent job of breaking down reading skills into games that are easy to maneuver for non-readers and provide stickers as rewards for progress.

“ABC Animal Adventures is an easy, fun & simple game which is adored by kids worldwide. The app endeavors to be enjoyable and educational at the same time. It has been tested by several kiddos to ensure an effortless and smooth game play without the child getting frustrated by confusing pop ups and menus.”

Little Fox Animal Doctor  / $3.99 / App Store Rating: 4.6, 626 Ratings

Learning is about more than reading and math. It’s also involves learning about the world around us. This app brings the world of animals and pets to your child in a wonderfully engaging way.

Children naturally love animals and being helpful. In Little Fox Animal Doctor your child can be creatively entertained while helping an animal in need.

“The app is full of humorous animations, amazing 3D illustrations, and funny short movies. In the animal doctor’s office, located in a magical treehouse, the animals are waiting to be cured. Kids are playfully guided through applying treatments that they might have experienced themselves: measuring temperatures, taking medicine, getting a plaster. And of course, eating a snail is probably just good for owls! ”

Toca Life: Neighborhood  / $3.99 / App Store Rating: 4.3, 1.5K Ratings

We suppose the first effort to give kids an alternate neighborhood to play and learn in happened when Sesame Street went on the air back in the ’69.

While this app has nothing to do with that show or its producers, it also creates a fun learning environment with a “neighborhood” setting.

“Welcome to your new neighborhood, filled with friendly faces to hang out with. Explore your new block, where you can check out cafés and shops, and meet a new set of characters. And guess what? A Toca Life app has never had this many homes!”

YouTube Kids  / Free / App Store Rating: 4.7, 462.1K Ratings

Let’s face it, the internet is here to stay. No matter how many times you read about its dangers or too much screen time or any other of its negative aspects, your kids will grow up in a world where it is just there; all the time.

So you might as well provide a positive and controllable introduction to its most compelling content – videos. This app, from Google (the developers of YouTube), gives you a way to insure that your kids are only seeing safe, kid-appropriate content.

“We created YouTube Kids to make it safer and simpler for kids to explore the world through online video – from their favorite shows and music to learning how to build a model volcano (or make slime ;-), and everything in between. There’s also a whole suite of parental controls, so you can tailor the experience to your family’s needs.”

BANDIMAL  / $3.99 / App Store Rating: 4.6, 271 Ratings

It is often said that kids are like sponges in terms of how easily they can learn new things. Music is an excellent example of this.

Creating music may seem daunting to adults who are not musicians. However, when introduced to children in a well-designed, friendly, non-threatening and playful way they will take to it quite easily. And once that happens the sky is the limit.

“BANDIMAL is a fun and intuitive music composer that lets kids discover the creative world of making music. Set up a drum loop, swipe through animals to change instruments, compose melodies, change loop speeds and add a quirky effect on top. Amusing animals animate in hilarious ways as you perfect your song.”

Little Stories. Bedtime Books  / Free w/IAPs / App Store Rating: 4.6, 5.6K Ratings

A big part of learning to read, and loving to read, is for kids to have content that they find entertaining and fun. The titles that are part of this collection fit that bill to a T. Your child becomes part of the action to make the stories that much more engrossing.

Using beautiful images, melodies and stories your child will want to come back to this app time and time again.

“The “Little Stories” series present fairy tales, in which your kid plays the main part. It’s quite simple – just enter your kid’s name and gender in the settings window and enjoy reading fairy tales about your son or daughter.”

**

Do you agree? Disagree? If you have some other apps in mind that should be on this list let us know about them in the comments section.

8 Must-Have Apps for Your Kids in 2019 – TheiPhoneAppReview.com

Source link:https://www.theiphoneappreview.com/2019/01/8-must-have-apps-for-your-kids-in-2019/

Mobile Royale Review

January 04, 2019 by RSS Feed

The mobile strategy MMO genre has been thriving ever since 2012, when Supercell’s Clash of Clans burst onto the scene.

Since then, developer IGG has specialized in perfecting the strategy MMO genre, with games such as Lords Mobile and Clash of Lords dominating the app store charts thanks to their professional sheen (and canny choice of names).

Mobile Royale, the studio’s latest, demonstrates the same commitment to high-quality game production and sneaky zeitgeist-borrowing titles.

Despite appearances, Mobile Royale is not a battle royale game. Instead, it follows the strategy MMO formula pretty closely. That means it involves building up a city by adding and upgrading buildings, while also venturing out to fight for the resources and experience you’ll need if you want to dominate the game world.

Unsurprisingly, Mobile Royale has a fantasy setting, which means you’ll come across elves, humans, dwarves, beasts, dragons, monsters magic, and so on as you romp your way through the single-player campaign.

The dragon is a particular point of interest. This magical beast has apparently taken a shine to you, which means it’s prepared not only to smite your enemies during battle but also to help you at home by bestowing boosts on your city-building efforts.

The Good

As you’d expect from a studio with IGG’s clout, Mobile Royale looks terrific, from the impressive introductory cut-scene featuring a Kratos-like warrior to your city, which is spread out across a lush cloud-draped mountainscape, giving you an impressive area to scroll around and zoom in and out of.

The battles are distinctive in themselves. Rather than moving through stages with a party of heroes you engage in full scale battles, with rows of infantry charging up the screen in block formation.

Before each battle you can examine your opponent’s army to inform your own tactics. There are three different troop types, each effective against one of the others and relatively ineffective against another. Think rock-paper-scissors, with your three brigades hopefully outranking your enemy’s.

On top of that you get additional effects for sending more than one brigade of the same kind into battle. These include Shield Wall, Charge, and Barrage. Since three brigades is the maximum number you can send into battle, you have to go without a unit type if you want to make use of a bonus effect, lending the game an extra tactical dimension.

You have a relatively high degree of control during battles, too. Each hero on the battlefield (you can have up to four) has a spirit bar that charges as you fight. One a bar is full you can unleash that hero’s skill, aiming it by tapping and dragging. You can also choose when to deploy your dragon and, of course, your brigade effect.

Naturally, you spend the many spoils of war on upgrading your city, buying new buildings and levelling them up. On top of that you need to summon and upgrade heroes, trade with other players, hunt monsters, occupy villages, and so on. There’s always plenty to do in Mobile Royale.

The mission system gives you a rational path through this abundance of activities, prompting you to do the things you need to do to keep your forces and your city ticking along and winning battles.

All of that will be familiar to anyone who has played any one of the countless strategy MMOs that have hit the app stores in the last few years. Mobile Royale sticks to the formula in most regards, but it brings new features too, and

The Bad

The only real issue with Mobile Royale is that it won’t be winning over anybody who isn’t already an MMO fan. Although it’s polished and has stacks of features it doesn’t particularly do anything hugely different to other titles in the genre - but that could well be seen as a plus for those who are just looking for another MMO to sink some hours into.

The Verdict

If you’re looking for a new strategy MMO to fill the hours, Mobile Royale is up there with the best of them.

8.2

OVERALL

Replayability 8.1

Game Controls 8.2

Graphics 8.5

Sound/Music 8.4

Gameplay 8

FREE

Mobile Royale

IGG.COM

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews