Every week we bring you a curated list of five apps of the week, so that you don’t have to browse through the nightmare that is the app store. With this week’s list, explore an unknown planet, get motivated to move more, and make sure you don’t get the exploding kittens card. Check out this week’s best apps for iOS and Android.
Exploding Kittens ($2)
The widely popular Kickstarter-funded card game has made its way to iOS and will soon be available on Android devices. The game is meant to be played with friends in the same room, and you’ll have to do everything in your power to avoid drawing the “exploding kitten” card. Otherwise, you’re out of the game. The app doesn’t require an Internet connection. Instead, you can connect up to six players via a combination of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. As a launch special, the company is making all in-app purchases free for a limited time.
Movesum
A new spin-off from health tracking app Lifesum, Movesum is a really simple app that essentially just counts your steps. But numbers aren’t always as motivating as images, and what makes Movesum unique is that it tries to motivate you by displaying an image of what you have burned off by moving. Did you know 1 beer equals out to about 3,589 steps? The images can be a bit shocking, especially if you have taken about 12,800 steps only to find out that it equals out to one hamburger. The numbers vary on a variety of factors, but the point is that the app is designed to make you want to move more via daily goals, instead of just moving faster.
Kickstarter
After three years of basking in Apple’s App Store, Android is finally getting some love from Kickstarter. That’s right, now you can finally scour through projects and back them in the app — just like you can on the Web. You can get notifications from updates posted by projects you back, and an activity feed will show you which ones your friends have backed, as well as the latest projects from people you have supported in the past. Funnily enough, if you’re a creator, you can’t manage your campaign from the app, but that functionality is coming soon. The app follows Google’s Material Design guidelines and is pretty slick to use.
KnowMe
KnowMe is video-editing app that simplifies the process of whipping together a quick, short video about anything — from the highlights of a wedding to a night out at the club. The app excels in making the process incredibly simple, and it allows you to pull all your media from your phone, including videos and photos. You can also narrate your video through the app. The app has a discovery feature that lets you find other popular videos people have made with KnowMe, but it also lets users share their content to other social media sites.
Crashlands ($5)
This action-adventure role-playing game just landed on Steam, Android, and iOS this past week. It features well-polished gameplay and great design. You play a space delivery pilot called Flux Dabes, who crashlanded on an unknown planet. The point is to get back to making your deliveries before you crash-land, so you have to collect them, upgrade your character, fight, explore, and craft items to succeed. It’s a big world that you can definitely spend a lot of time exploring, and it’ll cost you $5. Fortunately, there are no in-app purchases.
