5 Android apps you shouldn't miss this week - Android Apps Weekly

Welcome to the 420th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from the last week:

• Google added an iOS-like feature to its Pixel Launcher app. It now shows you apps as they’re installing on your home screen just like iOS. We think it’ll be part of the “play as you download” feature Google is eventually rolling out.
• Google Assistant had an issue this week where commands weren’t working properly for smart home users. Google fixed the problem after a few hours but didn’t really say what the problem was.
• Gmail is getting some fixes that it has needed for a long time. Google wants Gmail notifications to only show up on one device at a time. The feature is on a very limited test run at the time of this writing, but here’s hoping it works out.
• Google officially launched Privacy Sandbox for Android this week. The intention is to make ad-tracking more secure and private while still being friendly to developers. It isn’t the smoothest execution, but it should get better as time goes.
• There was quite a bit of news around Windows 11 this week. For starters, Microsoft is testing a live caption feature similar to Android’s and you can read more about that here. Additionally, the latest version of Windows 11 unlocks Android app support via the Amazon Appstore. Finally, it’s actually possible to run Windows 11 on Android 13 via its new virtualization support. Hit the links to read about all of those.

Paths: Beatrice’s Adventure

Price: Free / $2.99

Paths: Beatrice’s Adventure is a narrative game where you choose the path that Beatrice’s life takes. Beatrice is a teenage girl with the ability to possess people. Players kind of take her through her life and make decisions about what she should do. The decisions impact the ending. There are ten different endings to get and each playthrough should take two or three hours according to the developer.

It’s in early access beta right now so it’s not totally complete, but you can play the prologue and first chapter for free and see if you like it.

Kwai Video Editor

Price: Free

Kwai Video Editor is a simple and free video editor. It omits the power user things timelines or chrome keying in favor of simpler tasks like cutting down videos, compressing videos, converting videos to MP3, converting videos to other formats, and other such things. You can even join two videos together.

It’s definitely not something that’ll replace the mainstays in the genre, but all the functions did work when we tested it, even if there were a bunch of annoying ads when we did.

Basketball Playgrounds

Price: Free

Basketball Playgrounds is an arcade basketball game. It looks and feels similar to Street Basketball Association where you play with only half of the court. The controls are pretty simple. You get a joystick to move your character and tap buttons to do things like pass or shoot. However, it uses an NBA Jam style where there are only two players on each team.

There is a gacha element where you collect players, build a dream team, and stomp on the competition. This one is also in early access so there will almost certainly be bugs. That said, it’s nice to see a competent arcade basketball game since there are so few good ones on mobile.

Celebrations Passport

Price: Free / $19.99 per year

Celebrations Passport is a new app from 1-800-Flowers. It’s a gift package app with support from several different boutiques and shops. You surf around the inventory from each shop and create gift baskets for people. The service then ships the gift baskets to their intended recipient. It also almost requires a 12-month subscription to pay for things like shipping and earn points.

You can still use the app to buy stuff even without the subscription, but they improve the experience dramatically if you do. The choice is yours, but most of the brands have their own websites if you want to skip this.

Zombie Virus

Price: Free to play

Zombie Virus: K-Zombie is an FPS game where you shoot zombies. Yes, there is yet another one of these. What makes this one kind of nice is the slower pace, tons of activities, an offline mode, and the K-Zombie vibes the game gives off. Of course, the downsides are that the mechanics aren’t as polished as FPS games from bigger developers and the mechanics definitely need some polish. It’s new, so it has potential, but we get it if this game isn’t for you.

If we missed any big Android apps or games news or releases, tell us about it in the comments or email us at contact@androidauthority.com.