Readers’ App Reviews – June 2017

Well WWDC has come and gone. I’m sure all of you are heads down watching videos, reading change logs, and implementing all the new APIs in your apps.

I’m honored you’re 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:

• A classic fighting game for the Apple TV
• Apps to make you a better developer
• An app to finally decide what’s for dinner
• And of course, much more!

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

XcLauncher

Xcode has gotten better over the years of managing multiple projects. But it can still leave some things to be desired and starts to fall apart after just 5 or 6 projects.

XcLauncher is a lightweight Mac app here to help. XcLauncher lives in your menu bar and offers you quick shortcuts for your Xcode projects. These shortcuts are customizable by name and order. You can also group projects into folders for quick organization and access. It works with projects, workspaces, and even playgrounds. You can also easily open up your recent files as well.

Another aspect of development for many of us is multiple versions of Xcode. Between betas and client projects stuck on older versions, many of us have 3 or more Xcode versions at a time. XcLauncher also makes this easier. It can quickly list all versions of Xcode installed and you can launch the right one right from the menu bar.

If you’re a developer, I suggest giving XcLauncher a try. I set it to launch on startup. ;]

• Author: Geoff Hackworth @geoffhackworth
• Most useful tutorial: iOS Animations by Tutorials
• App Store Link: Check it out!

What am I flying on?

Have you ever been flying and wonder what type of plane you’re actually on? Often times the closest we get to knowing is when the safety presentation mentions the code number before suggesting we checkout the pamphlet in the back of the seat.

What am I flying on? is here to make it easier for your to answer that very question. This apps has almost every plane ever made it seems. You can easily look up any plane from any manufacturer. There is tons of info available. You can see general specifications for each plane like win span, engines, and number of seats. You can also see basic flight information like take off and landing runway lengths required or maximum cruising altitude.

This app is packed with more information and more planes than I knew to ask. Definitely give it a download and the next time you’re flying, learn a little more about the plane carrying you above the clouds.

• Author: Antoine Bellanger
• Most useful tutorial: Firebase Tutorial: Getting Started
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Talene

Talene is a playground for children to try all sorts of things on the iPad while having fun and learning. Its a safe space with all kinds of different activities and games.

Talene really packs it in. It has matching games, word search, and word hunt to help with word associates. It has a full drawing suite that lets kids be creative and draw whatever they want while saving their favorites. It has activities to help with letter and number forms allowing kids to draw with their finger to fill in stencils.

It even has an alphabet piano that is a fun way to learn new words and the alphabet. Tapping on a key will say the letter aloud and a random word that begins with that letter. Its a fun way to just hear and play for younger children.

Talene has even more games and activities I haven’t covered. But it also has a full parents area where you can download more games and content. You can also check the progress of your child in each activity to see where they might need some guidance or practice.

• Author: Frank Thamel @frankthamel
• Most useful tutorial: Core Data by Tutorials
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Altimeter Pro

Have you ever wondered about the altitude where you are? What about the altitude of somewhere you’re planning on visiting? Altimeter Pro can tell you just that and more.

Altimeter Pro is easy to use. Just press and hold anywhere on the map to see the altitude at that latitude and longitude. You’ll also get information on its accuracy range. And you can see live compass direction as well. If you’re moving it will even tell you the miles per hour you’re currently tracking at.

There are settings to let you change the units if you’re not into the imperial measurement system or just prefer metric. It will save the locations you check and of course you can easily just check your current location anytime.

• Author: Furkan Ozoglu
• Most useful tutorial: Intro to Object-Oriented Design in Swift
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Atento for Mac

Often times while we’re working we can be easily distracted by the many other things our Macs can do. Its so fast and easy to command tab over to another app or website between builds or to clear our head. But if you’re like me, then often times what should have been a quick break while Xcode does its thing for 30 seconds turns into a 5 minute distraction. Multiple that a few times a day and its easily a problem.

Thats where Atento comes in. Atento monitors the time you spend on every app and every website. You can go back and look at the past day or week and easily identify your time thieves. Knowing is half the battle. Once you know that you blow 45 minutes on Youtube in a day, you can be more vigilant about stopping sooner or not visiting at all.

Its not just about the apps you’re wasting time on, sometimes its just productive to get a glimpse at how you split your time between multiple tasks. For example, I spend about 30 minutes a day on email it turns out. Thats not necessarily bad since I’m normally responding a important emails, but I didn’t realize it was such a large part of my day. So in an 8 hour day, no wonder I never feel like I get 8 hours of actual work done.

• Author: Adolfo Vera @fitomad
• Most useful tutorial: Core Data by Tutorials
• App Store Link: Check it out!