Readers’ App Reviews – September 2017

With Apple’s September Event reinvigorating developers all over the world, our readers have been hard at work on some new apps of their own.

I’m honored you are taking a quick break to see what the community has been building. Every month, readers like you release great apps built with a little help from our tutorials, books, and videos. I want to highlight a few today to give just a peek at what our fantastic readers are creating.

This month we have:

• An exercise app
• A personal profile app
• An artistic endless runner
• And of course, much more!

Keep reading to see the latest apps released by raywenderlich.com readers just like you.

Wheeler Dealer

Wheeler Dealer is a fun take on the stock market style of game. If you like buying, selling, and money management then Wheeler Dealer is perfect for you.

Buy and sell cars in five different cities, with each city having unique prices for each car. You buy cars in cities that offer lower prices and sell them in cities that charge more to make a profit. Sounds simple right? But you only have a certain number of days to hit a target profit margin.

There are also other factors that can change the game, such as random events that cause some cars prices to plummet, starting with debt that gets larger every day, and getting your cars stolen! All in all, Wheeler Dealer is a great game that you could easily put many hours into.

• Author: John Gillespie @wheelerdealerhq
• Most useful tutorial: 2D Apple Games by Tutorials
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Social Steps

If you have a hard time motivating yourself to walk or you just love seeing your step counter climb higher, then Social Steps can add a little more to your daily walking habits by encouraging you through friendly competition!

Social Steps pairs with the Health app in order to track your steps throughout the day. It allows you to set goals for yourself so that you’ll always be motivated to surpass your goal. If that isn’t enough, it also allows you to add your friends and compete to see who can reach the highest amount of steps per day. You can also earn awards such as the Top Walker among your friends so they know you’re the most active.

Get a group of your friends to try Social Steps for a week and you’ll be walking like crazy trying to become the Top Walker!

• Author: Jose Jeria @jeriamena
• Most useful tutorial: RxSwift: Reactive Programming w/ Swift
• App Store Link: Check it out!

SAY Hi!

Do you have a hard time starting conversations with new people? SAY Hi is here to help no matter where you are, and it’s as easy as scanning a QR code.

SAY Hi allows you to create multiple profiles for yourself. In these profiles you list your likes and dislikes, as well as any other information that you don’t mind sharing. Then, whenever you meet someone all you need to do is select which profile you want them to see and turn your phone to face theirs. A QR code pops up on each phone and scans in your profile so that they can see whatever you assigned to the profile.

SAY Hi is a great conversation starter. It lets you immediately know what you and a person has in common and can easily spark new relationships. Give it a download and let the Dev know what you think!

• Author: Oliver Klemenz
• Most useful tutorial: no book; used free tutorial on raywenderlich.com
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Matches Game

Card matching games have been around as long as cards have and they come in many iterations. If you’re a fan of matching games, then Matches Game will be a great app for you.

Matches Game is a simple matching game with a timer. Whenever you start a round, you go through as many levels as you can until you lose. The levels get progressively harder each time.

Matches Game was designed for children, and they will definitely love it. The shapes on the cards are brightly colored, various, and easy to remember. You can also receive power-ups that can do a variety of things, such as revealing all of the cards for a brief moment, showing where a cards match is when you pick it, and many more!

Matches Game is a fantastic app to spend a few minutes on and can also be used to help children recognize shapes and colors while still having fun!

• Author: Reuben Goulart @reubengoulart
• Most useful tutorial: 2D Apple Games by Tutorials
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Puck Striker

Puck Striker is air hockey on your phone! I personally love air hockey, so this app was especially fun for me. If you love air hockey also, then you’ll want to download Puck Striker.

This app lets you play against the computer or another person with different settings that let you customize the game a bit. Some of the settings you can enable are expanding goal sizes, changing winning scores, and new color modes.

One of my favorite features of the game, however, is the announcer who shouts whenever a player scores, begins each round with the classic, “GO,” and congratulates the winning player when the round ends.

The announcer, coupled with an awesome superhero-esque art style, and great lighting effects makes Puck Striker a great game for you and a friend. Actually, I think I’m going to go and play it some more!

• Author: Kotaro Fujita @wild37
• Most useful tutorial: 2D Apple Games by Tutorials
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Deep Into Space

The open void of space has always been an interesting subject because of all of the many things that fill that void, of which we know very little about. Deep Into Space aims to increase your knowledge on the subject of space!

Deep Into Space has a few features that space lovers can delve into. Firstly, the app sends you facts about space every day. It could be information on a planet, an exploding star, or our weather from the perspective of a satellite.

Secondly, it offers many images from different rover missions to mars as well as pictures of Earth. They’re beautiful and very interesting to look at! Lastly, Deep Into Space gives you information on nearby asteroids including their name, speed, diameter, and how close they came to Earth.

If you love space, you’ll love Deep Into Space. Download it and surprise your friends with all of your newfound space knowledge!

• Author: Marija Gvozdenovic
• Most useful tutorial: The Swift Apprentice
• App Store Link: Check it out!