"If there is an app for that"

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 06/30/2016

June 30, 2016 by macjeff

Winery Passport - Wine Tasting, Trail & Wineries Tour Guide , Bizarre Holiday Calendar - Celebrate when every day is a holiday , Tin Pan Rhythm and more

iPhone:

Today only: Everyone who signs up for a new Winery Passport account will receive the full, ad-free experience free of charge. That’s a $2.99 value! You're able to search for wineries near your current location or you can browse through state lists. Tap on a listing to view details like directions, contact information, a website link, and social media links. You're able to stamp your passport for each visit to track where you've been. Winery Passport includes more than 6,000 wineries across the United States and Canada, so you better get a move on! The app also allows you to add photos from your visit, store your favorite wines, add tasting notes, and rate wineries.

Today only: Everyone who signs up for a new Brewery Passport account will receive the full, ad-free experience free of charge. That’s a $2.99 value! You're able to search for breweries near your current location or you can browse through state lists. Tap on a listing to view details like directions, contact information, a website link, and social media links. You're able to stamp your passport for each visit to track where you've been. Brewery Passport includes more than 5,000 breweries across the U.S., so you have your work cut out for you. The app also allows you to add photos from your visit, store your favorite brews, create wish lists, earn badges, and rate breweries.

Universal:

Here’s a fun fact: there’s a holiday every single day of the year. Some days even have multiple random holidays to celebrate. With Bizarre Holidays, you’ll find a reason to celebrate things like beans, bubble baths, sisters, left handers, and even sneaking zucchini onto your neighbor’s porch. Seriously. It’s a real thing. Bizarre Holidays allows you to share your favorite holidays, and even add them to your calendar.

Notes.xls is like having Excel in your pocket. You’re able to use it to calculate daily expenses, track bank accounts, construct budgets, or deal with any other numbers you come across. If you already use Excel on a daily basis, you’ll be happy to know that the syntax formulas work exactly the same. The app also includes two columns, gesture controls, the ability to insert and delete rows, and the ability to share spreadsheets via email.

Take a good look at the board while it is lit up because the lights will go out! You must then match elements to create electrical currents that will briefly illuminate the board, disintegrate the elements, and turn them into gold. While the board is briefly illuminated from creating a match, you will have another chance at seeing where elements are located and how they’re aligned. If you wind up not getting a good enough look, you can use a hint. The game includes three modes, loads of ways to upgrade your gold producing machine, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Tin Pan Rhythm is as much a music creation app as it is a teaching tool. It allows you to compose and arrange short musical phrases through interactive elements. You’re able to create a chord progression just by dragging and dropping various chords into place. Then complete your work by adding different guitar and percussion sounds. You’re able to record and share anything you create, and you can even use it inside of your other favorite music apps.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free

Dungeon Tiles is an Addictive Mashup of Threes! and RPGs

June 29, 2016 by macjeff

Dungeon Tiles (Free) by Iyoda is a minimalistic puzzle game that combines strategy and RPG aspects. Think of Threes! but with match-three RPG elements like Good Knight Story, and that is pretty much Dungeon Tiles. And boy, let me tell you, it’s a great combination.

I do a lot of gaming on my mobile device, despite having a New Nintendo 3DS and a PlayStation 4 on hand. This is because my iPhone is with me pretty much everywhere I go, and it’s easy and fast to launch up a game whenever I have some spare time throughout the day. For me, puzzle games are the best on-the-go, since I can keep my mind stimulated and games last a few minutes at a time. About two years ago, Threes! erupted on the market, and is still one of my all-time favorite puzzle games, despite my terrible scores compared to others. While I still love Threes!, I’m always up for something fresh and interesting with existing game concepts, which is why Dungeon Tiles caught my eye. When I saw it hit the App Store last night, I downloaded it immediately and I’ll be honest, I’m finding it very hard to put down.

As mentioned already, Dungeon Tiles carries a minimalistic aesthetic that I enjoy. The background is a dark purple most of the time, which means that the vibrant colored tiles on the board stand out nicely against it. Simple icons are used to represent life (heart), attack (sword), gold (bars of gold), and enemy dragons. Animations are smooth and fluid as all of the game pieces slide along as you move them, and there are some fun, flashy effects that happen when you make matches and add to the cumulative totals. The game also has an ambient soundtrack that I found rather soothing, and definitely adds to the overall game.

So what is Dungeon Tiles? If you’ve played Threes!, then the gameplay should be familiar to you. In Dungeon Tiles, you will have a board that is full of colored tiles that represent swords, dragons, lives, and gold. You collect these by matching two or more of the same tile, and to move them, you swipe on the screen in the direction you want the tiles to move. Each swipe will move all of the tiles at once, and a new tile comes in after you swipe as well. To better plan your strategy, pay attention to the upcoming tile, which is shown in the preview in the upper right corner. The total combined value of tile matches gets added to the cumulative totals at the top, and this is when things get tricky. And when you match three or four tiles at once, you get more points for the combo and the tiles get cleared from the board.

The gameplay is more than just making matches, since you have to survive too. The numbers at the top represent the power of your attack to eliminate the dragons, and the dragons indicate how much health they will take away from your life score when the next match is made. Your swords total will decrease as it is used to eliminate dragons, but as long as you continue to match sword tiles, it will accumulate again. Don’t let the dragon value get too high, because it is super easy to not notice and then you match dragons and get destroyed. Replenish your health constantly by matching up heart tiles to recover from the dragons. The game ends when you are either out of moves on the board or you run out of lives.

As you slay dragons, you’ll gain “experience points,” which is gauged by the bar on the left side of the grid. When you “level up,” the game gets more difficult, but eventually you’ll find stronger tiles that have special attacks or abilities to help you get even further and rack up the points. The gold tiles let you obtain coins that can be spent on power-up items, like doubling your life or getting rid of all dragons from the arena. However, be warned — these items can only be used once per game, so if you are going to use them, make sure they count.

Another thing that makes Dungeon Tiles interesting is the Two-Player Mode. With this, two people can play against each other on the same device, and the rules are changed a bit. Since it’s based on turns, when one player slides all of their tiles, the opponent’s tiles are moved in that direction as well. And when three sword tiles get combined, one dragon tile is sent to the opponent. Both of these additions mean it is possible to ruin your opponent’s arena layout, and it’s a unique twist to the game. The only problem is that the two-player mode is local-only, so there is no multiplayer option online. I can understand why, since online asynchronous turn-based games can take forever to complete.

I’ve been playing Dungeon Tiles a lot since I downloaded it to my iPhone last night, and it’s definitely going to stay on my device for a long time. I enjoy the minimalist look and feel, the atmospheric music is relaxing to listen to and helps you focus, and the gameplay itself is challenging and refreshing. It truly is a mashup of Threes! and match-three RPG games, which ends up being an awesome combination. Plus, the local two-player mode is great for passing time in line (think Disneyland) or when you want to best your friends in another game. I love this game so much I did not hesitate at all to get the in-app purchase to remove the occasional video ads between rounds.

I highly recommend checking out Dungeon Tiles, especially if you like strategic puzzle games. You can find Dungeon Tiles on the App Store as a universal app for your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV for free with in-app purchases.

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

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 06/29/2016

June 29, 2016 by macjeff

Animal Puzzles for Kids with Skills: The Best Activity Preschool Shape Games for Toddlers, Boys and Girls , The Math Keyboard , Stand O’Food® (Full) and more

iPhone:

Stand O’Food is the quintessential time management game. You’re required to feed a variety of hungry patrons before they get up from their tables in pure rage. It may sound easy, but you will be tasked with making more than 80 different types of scrumptious sandwiches across 100 levels.

Universal:

After choosing a scene, cork board cutouts will begin to appear. Your child must drag and drop the pieces into place to fill each cutout. Once complete, the scene will become animated and they can tap on different items and characters to see what happens. The game includes 11 scenes to enjoy, and a new baby play time mode.

The Math Keyboard allows you to quickly write equations and share them however you wish. After adding The Math Keyboard, just tap the globe button to bring it up. The keyboard's seven different character categories can be accessed via the row at the top. Some categories have multiple pages, which can be accessed with a right to left swipe. The Math Keyboard works great in all native and third-party apps.

The app is able to provide you with an hourly UV forecast for your current location. The UV index is represented on a color-coded and numbered meter. You’re also able to view the type of protection required to head outside, sunblock information, and the amount of time it will take to burn. All of the information is provided by Weather Underground, so you can be sure it’s accurate and up to date.

This fantastic educational app from the team at Toca Boca allows your child to utilize six different builders to create their own unique worlds. Each builder offers a different way to drop, paint, lift, and smash blocks. The intuitive gesture controls and on-screen buttons are easy enough to handle for children ages five and up. After seeing Toca Builders in action, you're most likely going to want to join in on the fun yourself! The app also includes a huge collection of colors to choose from, autosave, and the ability to take snapshots of your child's creations.

Stand O’Food HD is the quintessential time management game. You’re required to feed a variety of hungry patrons before they get up from their tables in pure rage. It may sound easy, but you will be tasked with making more than 80 different types of scrumptious sandwiches across 100 levels.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free

BusyCal, the Calendar for Busy People, is Finally on iOS

June 28, 2016 by macjeff

BusyCal ($4.99) by BusyCal LLC is a calendar app that is designed for those with a busy schedule to tend to on a daily basis. If you live a hectic life and want a calendar app that can keep up with you, then it could be worth your time to check out BusyCal, now on the iPhone and iPad.

Ever since I started using a smartphone and laptop, I’ve had to keep a digital calendar with me at all times in order to remember where I need to go and what I have planned every day, because otherwise, I’d pretty much forget everything. I was always terrible with paper calendars in the past, and still am, so digital calendars are a complete lifesaver for me. A long time ago, before Fantastical was ever around, I was a faithful user of BusyCal on my Mac. However, I must admit that I’ve been using Fantastical since it was first introduced on the Mac and iOS platforms a few years ago, and stopped using BusyCal altogether. But since I saw BusyCal pop up on the App Store recently, I was intrigued to give it a try for myself. While it won’t be replacing Fantastical 2 on my iPhone as a daily driver calendar app, it’s a solid choice for those who aren’t satisfied with other solutions.

In terms of visuals, BusyCal looks fairly minimal and barebones when compared to the competition, such as Fantastical and Calendars 5 from Readdle. The app features a lot of white and gray, with events in colored blocks that go along with what you have already set in your calendar account. Even if you have a busy schedule, the app still has a lot of whitespace that could have been better utilized, since it seems like wasted space at times right now. In fact, if someone didn’t ever use the native iOS calendar, they may mistake this for Apple’s own app, because it’s pretty utilitarian. However, despite the less-than-appealing aesthetics, BusyCal features tabs at the bottom that let you easily switch to different calendar views with just a tap, and it’s fast to do so, too. BusyCal won’t be winning in the looks department compared to Fantastical, but it does well in the features department.

Unlike many of the existing calendar apps that were on the market, BusyCal does not fetch data from the native iOS calendar. This means that even if you have your calendar info on the phone, BusyCal won’t read it. You’ll have to add your calendar account into BusyCal itself for it to sync with whatever service you use. At the moment, BusyCal works with iCloud, Google, Office 365, Exchange, Fruux, Yahoo!, CalDAV (if you use BusyCal on Mac, for example), and WebDAV. Though I do not use an Exchange calendar, I know that it’s a popular service for businesses, and it’s hard to find proper support for it. Fortunately, BusyCal has you Exchange users covered.

Once you’re logged in to all of your necessary accounts (the app supports an unlimited number of accounts and calendars), you can toggle what calendars you want to see in the app from the Settings menu, which is great for those who use separate calendars for different events. Each one is color coded based on your account settings, so it should be easy to tell each event block apart.

With BusyCal, users get easy access to four different calendar views from the bottom tab bar: List, Day, Week, and Month. There is also a separate To Do view if you keep tasks and reminders in your calendar service.

The List view is a condensed agenda of all of your upcoming events organized by day — if you want the most information in one place, then the List view is your main go-to view. It even includes the high and low temperature for the day, so you can prepare for your appointments with one glance. The Day view displays a timeline for the day and all of your events are shown as blocks on the timeline, with a separate section up top for All-Day things. A sharp blue bar at the top tells you what day you’re looking at, as well as the high and low temperatures.

Week view is similar to the Day glance, except you get to view multiple days at a time and can scroll horizontally to check days in advance. Unfortunately, the Week view won’t show weather data. The Month option lets you see the entire month in one fell swoop, and while it may not include weather data, you can see the moon phases on the month, which is something. I found the Month view to be a bit cramped in portrait mode, even on my iPhone 6s Plus, so I recommend using landscape mode for this view, or any of the other ones if needed. Unfortunately, there is no way to switch between views in landscape mode or access settings, which is a bit annoying.

As you’re in portrait mode and want to return to today, just tap on the button in the bottom left corner. BusyCal also has a search functionality, so you can look up any event, past or future, through keywords. While it seems to search for the keywords through any field of text for an event, you can’t filter it out like with Fantastical, which may be annoying.

When you create new events or reminders in BusyCal, there are two ways to do so. You can go with the traditional, old-school route with inputting the event details into separate fields, or you can toggle Natural Language Input in the app settings. To add a new event or to-do item (even timed ones), just tap on the plus button in the upper right corner.

What I noticed about the natural language input method is that the typing lags behind somewhat, as the letters were struggling to catch up as I was typing in my event. Plus, there is no autocorrect and automatic keyboard switching when trying to go from the numerals back to the alphabetic keyboard, which got super tedious after a few moments — my sentence was riddled with errors. Hopefully the natural language input gets optimized in the future, but right now it’s pretty frustrating to use compared to the competition.

Overall, I was a bit surprised that BusyCal finally landed on iOS, but it won’t be replacing Fantastical 2 for me anytime soon as my daily driver. There seems to be quite a bit of wasted whitespace throughout the app, and the natural language input falls short here. I also wish that there was an option to just fetch my iOS calendar data instead of having me input my Google Calendar credentials again. However, the app does have some good benefits, such as fast ways to switch to different views, full and reliable support for Exchange accounts, and giving you basic weather info so you can prepare for the day ahead. I think BusyCal is a good option to consider if you haven’t been satisfied with other options, like Fantastical 2 or Readdle’s Calendars 5.

You can find BusyCal on the App Store as a universal download for $4.99. BusyCal 3 for Mac is available online for $49.99.

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

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 06/28/2016

June 28, 2016 by macjeff

Rocket Valet! Galaxy Landing Service , Amount - Unit and Currency Converter , Lumiè and more

iPhone:

You’re able to create a list of your favorite locations around the world and view their times as a color-coded list. Tap on a location to view more detailed information like its time zone, time interval and distance from you, coordinates, and even weather. You’re also able to change the time in one location and see the changes in all of your other locations. The app includes support for up to 64 custom location-based alarms, imperial and metric support, two sorting options, and 12- and 24-hour formats.

Universal:

Rocket Valet is the perfect little time waster that’s easy to get the hang of but difficult to master. Your rocket ship controls are found at the bottom of the screen. You must tap the thrusters to navigate your ship through delicate mazes and safely to the landing pad. You’ll be rewarded with bonus points for a direct hit and small bounces. After each successful landing you can choose to record your high score or risk it all to climb even higher up the leaderboards.

Amount takes a different approach to unit conversion. You start off by just inputting the number you want to convert. You're then asked to select a category. That's it! The next screen will display all of the results for every unit within the category. Tap on a unit to see how it compares with the rest. The app also includes the ability to create custom lists, copy results, and view history.

Lumie is the only app truly dedicated to the popular Bokeh blur effect. You're able to import any photo from your library or take a new one within the app. Then swipe to scroll through the huge list of 121 lighting effects. Tap on the one you want to apply it to your photo or live camera feed. Each effect can be repositioned and rotated, and you can adjust the intensity level of the lights. Once everything looks just right, share your new creation via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, or email.

GREG proves that even simple math isn’t easy. A grid of numbered tokens is laid out before you. Tap on tokens to select and add them up in order to match the number at the top. Each turn of the timer located around the number at the top will cause the unused tokens to become hotter and change color. If a single token burns up before you reach the next level, it’s game over. Bonus points can be scored by making lines, squares, and crosses from your selected tokens, and you can utilize power-ups to clear levels faster.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free