The 5 best Android and iOS apps of the week
From mobile games to productivity apps, here are the five free and paid Android/iOS apps from NextPit this week. We publish this selection every week, you can also check the top 5 apps from last week.
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Flora: Plant Care and Identifier (iOS and Android)
Do you have green fingers and think an app actually insults your innate ability to care for plants? Well, chances are a lot of people have trouble taking good care of their houseplants compared to those who are in tune with their green selves. The Flora: Plant Care & Identifier app has one sole purpose: to help save your plants from any untoward misfortune!
Flora offers the state-of-the-art Flora Snap feature, so if the plant in question has information about it stored in its database, it will show you all the information you could ever want to know about it! I walked around the office and took a snapshot of a lone leaf, which produced the correct result!
The app will also help those who need reminders to water their plants through daily alerts, as well as offer additional care data. Be prepared to receive recommendations on the amount of light, moisture, humidity, temperature and even repotting! Flora works best with a subscription which can be quite expensive in the long run (you can choose between a monthly or annual subscription). I would only recommend this app to those who are really serious about their plants at home.
- Price: Free / Advertising: No / Buy in the app: Yes / Accounting: Not required (but recommended)
Want to find out what is the best type of care your plants need? This app can help. / © NextPit
OYE Wellness (iOS and Android)
We live in a highly stressful environment these days, where notifications constantly clog our smartphones and computers and vie for our attention. The term “wellness” has already caught on in tech circles, so here’s another app that wants to help you pay more attention to yourself – OYE Wellness.
This app does more than just the usual things like keeping track of your emotions (you have to choose where you want on the chart, of course), as it hopes to lift your mood through clever use of AI art. Yes, your emotions can indeed be channeled into creative action, how about that for progress? It’s an emotional check-in tool that actually allows you to name and identify the range of emotions.
It’s all very new age in nature, so if you’re quite traditional in your religious beliefs and feel uncomfortable with such actions and vibes, feel free to give this one a miss. Otherwise, it might be worth checking out this weekend to get away from it all through mindful alerts that help promote perseverance, self-love, and accountability to yourself. OYE Wellness has two subscription plans (who said feeling well is cheap?): $9.99 monthly with a 7-day free trial or $59.99 annually with a 14-day free trial.
- Price: Free / Advertising: None / Buy in the app: Yes / Accounting: Mandatory
Learn to take control of your emotions and happiness with this app. / © NextPit
Cupid (iOS and Android)
A couple that is productive together stays together. Wait a minute, is that right? If you think your relationship has more or less lost some spark and want to improve the way you and your partner are in sync, Kyupid might be able to help. This is a productivity app that targets couples specifically.
I myself use a shared calendar app with my wife, but it only helps us see each other’s schedules. Of course, we could always schedule a calendar event like “Weekly grocery shopping” and leave a note in that event on the list of items that have run out of the pantry, but that’s just so boring. Kyupid helps streamline matters through a shared and dedicated workspace that makes it easier to manage shopping lists, daily tasks, important events, routines and notes between the two of us.
To add extra interest to using this app, Kyupid lets you issue and redeem Kyupons (yeah, pretty lame, but when you’re in a relationship, anything that makes you laugh is a bonus) so you can show off your gratitude to your partner.
Whatever changes are made to a list will be reflected in real time. I guess the budget way to do things is to have a shared Google Doc that reflects the latest information at all times, but why take the fun out of trying out a new app? The Kyupons bit is cute as you can use them to redeem cute little acts of love later.
- Price: Free / Advertising: None / Buy in the app: No / Accounting: Mandatory
Kyupid can be a tool to add some cohesion to your relationship, and can be fun while doing it. / © NextPit
MySoundtrack (Android)
Were there times when you wished you could listen to a certain song in a certain place? While on-demand music has become commonplace these days, thanks to streaming services like Spotify and YouTube Music, here’s an app that helps automate things better – MySoundtrack!
Imagine “Lady in Red” playing in the background when you met your college sweetheart at the local coffee shop, where the two of you declared your love for each other! What if every time you passed by the coffee shop, you thought about that event, now that the two of you are happily married and about to celebrate your 20th wedding anniversary? MySoundtrack gets this job done, where you can pick virtually any location you like and choose from YouTube Music, Apple Music, YouTube and Spotify to play the songs you want.
Location access must be enabled for this app to work, and so far I haven’t had any issues. However, it would be a little weird if you forgot about the various locations you’ve programmed and went in there without a pair of earbuds, only to have your phone blast the playlist for all and sundry to hear!
- Price: Free / Advertising: Yes / Buy in the app: No / Accounting: Not required (but recommended)
Enjoy music wherever you are…as long as there is an Internet connection. / © NextPit
Football Manager 2023 Mobile (iOS and Android)
As an Arsenal supporter, I’ve suffered long enough that every false dawn is carefully met with both excitement and dread. There are also times when I thought the manager could have done better and I heckle him from the TV. With Football Manager 2023 Mobile, I can now manage my favorite football team from my smartphone.
As this is a licensed game from FIFA, there are no fake leagues and cup competitions to play in as you get the whole job – UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa Conference League and UEFA Super Cup. I also like the Team Talks feature that allows me to engage my players when they need a pep talk just to get a little extra performance out of them, or to tell them to keep the fort (and the lead).
Once again, you have to pay more money to unlock in-game options, such as becoming unhackable no matter how poorly your team performs, having a rich benefactor (which seems to be a recurring theme in real-world football these days, and an in-game editor). I find that pretty distasteful considering I already paid money for this game up front and to see more options remain out of reach is just plain wrong. Overall, you’ll get a kick (heh!) out of managing your favorite team digitally, although the paywall options put a dampener on the experience.
- Price: $9.99 / Advertising: None / Purchase in the app: Yes / Accounting: Required
