Thousands of apps and games are added to the App Store each week, and trawling through them to find the good ones can be difficult. That’s where we come in! We’ve found two new titles in particular that we think are worthy of your attention, as well as a golden oldie that we reckon deserves another mention.
App of the Week
Element [Free]
The app previously known as Riot.im recently relaunched as Element, providing a fresh European-based contender for the secure messaging app crown. Besides being open source and end-to-end encrypted, the key feature of Element is its decentralised Matrix network standard, which means you’re not reliant on a monolithic US or China-based tech company and their private server farms to keep your comms secure. You can choose who hosts your conversations. It’s a complete service too, with voice and video calls, file sharing, screen sharing and more.
Game of the Week
Nil Action Metronome [$3/£3]
This colorful rhythm-action game has you bopping baddies and dodging obstacles, turn by turn, in time with a lively pop beat. If you’ve ever played Crypt of the Necrodancer (or Nintendo Switch spin-off Cadence of Hyrule), you’ll be right at home, though Nil Action Metronome appears to adopt a more inviting 3D ‘kawaii’ aesthetic and mobile-friendly bite-sized levels. As the name suggests, this one has a pronounced hypnotic effect as you slip into its breakbeat rhythm.
App Store Classic
Dubsmash [Free]
We suspect that millions of Western teenagers – or at least those who follow the news – are rather concerned about the future of TikTok. If the popular video-short app does get axed outside of its native China, though, there are alternatives. Chief among those is probably Dubsmash, which has been offering 10-second video creation and sharing from its New York base for a good five years now. Thanks to this, and a hundred million worldwide downloads, there’s a ready-made community of creators for TikTok refugees to dive into.
