Readers’ App Reviews – July 2014
Check out apps made be fellow readers in July – from an app to make you look like a hipster, to an app where you can make music by smiling! By Ryan Poolos.
I thought you’d all go on vacation by now, but I should have known you’d keep making awesome apps instead!
The raywenderlich.com community just can’t stop building new, exciting apps.
This month we’ve got:
- An app where you can make music by smiling
- An app to help you track your time
- An app to make you look like a hipster
- And games galore!
What are you waiting for? You’ve got a lot of apps to download from your fellow readers!
Beelly
Did you think Flappy Bird was hard? You haven’t seen Beelly yet :]
Beelly inverts the controls on you every 8 seconds. One second, tilting right will move you right and the next tilting right will move you left. As if that wasn’t enough to bring the pain, the game objective itself is to thread a needle with this cute little bee.
If you dare, steer Beelly throw a winding meadow with pinpoint accurancy and see how far you can get. >:]
- Author: Stein Ove Helset @mangiono
- Most useful tutorial: raywenderlich.com Video Tutorials
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Smilophone
A truly one of a kind app, Smilophone is an instrument we can all play.
Smilophone creates music based off your facial expressions! Using the camera of your iOS device, Smilophone uses face tracking technology to figure out if you’re smiling, or if you’re raising your eyebrows.
You can smile to make high pitched sounds, Raise your eyebrows to change the tune. Sad faces make sad sounds. Your face is all you need to create a musical work of art.
- Author: Simon Booth @smilophone
- Most useful tutorial: Audio Tutorial for iOS: Playing Audio Programatically [2014 Edition]
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Sometime
Most of us as developers are all too aware of the pain that is time tracking. Thanks to Sometime, that may longer be a problem at all.
Sometime makes it easy to track time on multiple projects. Simply setup “buckets” for tracking time. Each bucket can be assigned to a project and client so you can get granular in your tracking. Simply tap a bucket to start tracking real time.
Sometime also lets you see an overview timeline of your work for each day. Add in geofencing and calendar integration and you have an app that can track all the time you need right in your pocket. This is definitely a productivity tool worth checking out.
- Author: Nick Bolton @pixelbleeder
- Most useful tutorial: MagicalRecord Tutorial for iOS
- App Store Link: Check it out!
S3nsitive
S3nsitive is a puzzle game with a little more to it than meets the eye. Its simple looking at first, just get from A to B. But theres much more to it than that.
Each step you take eliminates the block beneath you. So you can’t backtrack in this tricky puzzle. And don’t spend too much time thinking, blocks between platforms can only support you for so long.
With 40 levels, a sweet soundtrack, and GameCenter leaderboards, this puzzler is definitely worth checking out.
- Author: Gino Preti @LagMacStudio
- Most useful tutorial: How to Save your Game’s Data: Part 1/2
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Flyover – goes around the world
Flyover puts you in charge of your own airplane to fly around the world.
With over 260 destinations you choose where your airplane flys. You can upgrade its speed, capacity, and maximum distance with cash you earn flying passengers between cities.
Keep track of fuel costs for maximum efficiency and watch out for bad weather grounding your planes.
- Author: Ilario Del Sorbo
- Most useful tutorial: iOS Games by Tutorials Version 1.0 Now Available!
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Hipster Face Live
Well camera apps come and go but Hipster faces live on forever.
Hipster Face Live definitely got a few laughs from my friends. You can select different stamps like hats, glasses, beards, etc and then see them line up in realtime on your face using facial recognition.
You can take snapshots then save them to your camera roll or share them directly. Its quite a bit of fun to take silly pictures and send them to your mom. Your mom needs more silly hipster pictures, so download this app and give it a go! :]
- Author: Bernhard Lotter
- Most useful tutorial: How To Make An Augmented Reality Target Shooter Game With OpenCV: Part 1/4
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Last Ninja
The Last Ninja standing must fight the undead. Zombies galore on this highrise of pain.
Zombies are everywhere. Each floor you advance they get tougher and more cunning. But you’re a ninja! Cut them down with slashs and chops. Use special abilities to clear them with style.
Above all, keep jumping! With spikes on the floor growing ever closer, its death or zombies. You decide. ;]
- Author: qing lai @laiqing
- Most useful tutorial: OpenGL ES 2.0 for iPhone Tutorial
- App Store Link: Check it out!
TheNews
TheNews is an app that makes catching up on the daily news quick and minimal.
TheNews integrates with Designer News and HackNews in a clean, simple interface that makes reading a delight. Expected gesture based controls make managing your list a breeze.
Embedding web browsing, commenting, and sharing keep you in the app without needing to bounce around. Truly a one stop shop for quick news snippets.
- Author: Tosin Afolabi @tosinaf
- Most useful tutorial: AFNetworking 2.0 Tutorial
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Juggler: A Game About Juggling
I don’t know about you but juggling is hard. Juggler however, makes it a fun game.
Juggler is about not dropping any balls as they’re dropped on the screen. It supports full multitouch so you can juggle as many at a time as you can handle.
The higher your score the more balls thrown at you. You’ve got to be fast if you want to top the GameCenter charts.
- Author: Evan Lewis @eeveeayen
- Most useful tutorial: Game Center Tutorial: How To Make A Simple Multiplayer Game with Sprite Kit: Part 1/2
- App Store Link: Check it out!