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April 24, 2021
Top headlines this week:
AAW Elona Mobile screenshot
Joe Hindy / Android Authority

Welcome to the 377th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from the last week:

  • Google created a time-lapse video of Earth. The video spans 37 years and you can zoom in on parts of the planet. Google uses its Google Earth app to show you all of these details and it really is a sight to behold. It’s the largest and longest video of our planet available at the moment. Some of it is even available in 4K. Hit the link for more details.
  • Google Photos has a new feature. It now organizes photos based on what kind of document it is. Thus, you can do things like add receipts, handwritten notes, etc and Google Photos organizes them for you. This is potentially useful for a variety of reasons, even if it’s a little boring. It’s especially helpful for people who need these things for business or tax use. Not every version of Photos has this change. Hit the link to learn more.
  • Venmo is the latest payment app with support for cryptocurrency. It supports four currencies on the onset. They include Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Ethereum. Some extras coming in the future are guides and tutorials on how to monitor and trade crypto. It’s a pretty big step for the popular money app.
  • Last month, a ton of people had their phones crash. The source was a faulty update with Google’s WebView. This week, Google released more details about the crashing issue. There was apparently a configuration issue in WebView that caused a bunch of crashes. Google says future updates will be tested better to prevent the issue from happening again.
  • Apex Legends is getting a mobile version. It’ll be a lot like PUBG Mobile and Fortnite where most of the game will be the same between the mobile and console/PC version of the game. The only exceptions are mobile friendly controls and some optimizations to make it work better on phones. The beta is starting this month in the Philippines and India, with a wider rollout happening later.
New apps and games this week:

Pigeon: A Love Story

Price: $0.99

Pigeon: A Love Story is a meditative adventure game. Players explore a real map of London through the lens of a flying pigeon. It’s a surprisingly intensive game and we only recommend it for relatively modern and relatively higher end phones. It uses a real, live streamed view of London so you need a data connection for the full effect. It also has over 1 million pigeons. There is an offline mode, but it uses a simulated city instead of a real one. This is one of the most unique games we’ve seen this year and it certainly won’t be for everyone. However, it is pretty fun.

Untrack

Untrack screenshot 2021
Joe Hindy / Android Authority

Price: $1.99

Untrack is a privacy app. It basically removes the tracking data from URLs before sending them to your browser. After installation, you set it as your default browser. From there, any link you click runs through this app before eventually appearing on your actual browser of choice. It’s a neat way to protect your privacy as sites won’t know if you came from Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc. That’s basically all it does right now. The developer is working on bypassing AMP pages from Google and also shortened links, although it may require a subscription for that last one. In any case, it’s cheap and it does what it says.

Battle Seven Kingdoms: Kingdom Wars 2

Price: Free to play

Battle Seven Kingdoms: Kingdom Wars 2 is a strategy game. Players build up a little army and send it at the enemies on a level by level basis. The game includes a campaign mode with a story line and an endless mode for fun. There are also 100 units to unlock and play with, various hidden items to collect, and some other stuff. The 2D side scrolling aspect keeps the game play simple, but the depth comes when you upgrade your various troops. It’s a decent free to play title for strategy fans looking to kill a few minutes.

SwirlWalls

Price: $4.99

SwirlWalls is technically a live wallpaper. It features UHD resolution wallpapers that you can switch on demand with a simple swipe or gesture on your home screen. The wallpaper is crisp and sharp with vibrant colors and plenty of patterns and customizations. There are over 140 patterns along with some other stuff like remixes where you can change the look of the wallpaper. There are some neat tricks here as well. For instance, you can flick your phone like a Nintendo Wii remote to make the wallpaper spin. It costs $4.99 up front but has no ads, no in-app purchases, and no subscriptions.

Elona Mobile

Price: Free to play

Elona Mobile is a roguelike RPG with some other game elements. It starts with a shipwreck where you end up in Elona. From there, you can go dungeon crawling, build a business, farm, and do all sorts of other things. Players can build their character from a choice of 11 races and 15 classes. There are also other goofy add-ons like the ability to drink toilet water to raise your stats. It’s definitely something a little bit different, but not in a bad way. It’s free to play, but you can get pretty far before there is an urge to buy anything.


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