Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Download these 5 hot new apps for iOS and Android

best apps bumble badland2 app store closeup
ymgerman/Shutterstock
Bored with your apps and looking for something new? We’ve dug through Google Play, iTunes, and others app stores to find the best, saving you time. Here are the apps we think you need to check out this week.

Badland 2

badland 2
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The sequel to the popular and award-winning sidescrolling action-adventure game is finally here, albeit only on iOS. Badland 2 more or less feels the same as its predecessor, tasking players with floating through the map, avoiding obstacles and surviving until you reach the end. What’s different in the second iteration, though, is that instead of only going one right, you can now move in both directions. It still features only a single-player campaign, but there are global challenges, so you can complete against friends through leaderboards. It’s a little pricey, costing you $5.

ITunes

Storehouse

Storehouse
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The popular storytelling app has finally come to Android. Storehouse lets you upload photos, video, and text to make a personalized story about anything. The neat part is that you can embed your story on blogs or share it with your friends and family. You can also browse through other user stories. The features are pretty much identical to what you will find on the iOS version, so there’s no disparity.

Google Play

iTunes

Bumble

Bumble
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Bumble is a dating app brought to you by Whitney Wolfe, one of the co-founders of Tinder, and its primary focus is on making women the initiator. It works pretty similar to Tinder in that it only connects people who have swiped right on each others profiles. What’s different is that the woman must start the conversation within 24 hours before the connection is gone, and for same-sex connections, either person can start the conversation.

Google Play

iTunes

Tronko

tronko
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Need a movie recommendation? Your friends know you best, so why not ask them? That’s what Tronko is all about. It’s a messaging app built around your friends recommending and discussing movies with each other. You can start group messaging threads or have a conversation with one person. The app grabs its data using the TMDb API, and lets you rate movies on a scale of 1 to 10.

iTunes

Google Play

Elie

elie
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Selfie takers won’t have to rely on the front-facing camera anymore. Everyone knows the rear camera offers a higher quality photograph, and Elie is an app that lets you point the rear-camera and takes selfies without you having to do anything. It recognizes your face and takes multiple pictures, but only stores the one you choose. It offers a variety of other features as well, such as adding effects while taking a picture, not after. The app will cost you $3.

iTunes

Editors' Recommendations

Julian Chokkattu
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Julian is the mobile and wearables editor at Digital Trends, covering smartphones, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more…
Become an iPhone video master with this powerful new app
Screenshots from the Kino app.

Avid iPhone photographers will already know the excellent Halide camera app and how it can help transform the stills you take. But they will also know it does not support video, a point the company itself has been well aware of too. That’s why it has launched Kino, a video app for the iPhone that aims to bring similar Halide-style benefits to video instead of stills.

Kino is described as a video app for beginners and experts alike, but to get the most from it, you’ll likely need to be familiar with the iPhone’s video recording modes. For example, one of the main features that makes Kino stand out is Instant Grade, which uses the Log video recording mode, which was introduced on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Read more
Apple’s AI plans for the iPhone just leaked. Here’s everything we know
The back of a Natural Titanium iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Apple is the only major name in the world of Big Tech that hasn’t made its ambitious AI plans public yet. But that will change in a few weeks, with a focus on reimagining the iPhone experience. Bloomberg, citing internal sources, has detailed how Apple plans to integrate generative AI experiences with iOS 18, the next major build of its iPhone operating system.

The company plans to push new AI-powered capabilities not just in such in-house apps as Safari and Maps, but also in experiences like the notification system and a supercharged Spotlight search. Notably, Apple will push the bulk of AI processing to the iPhone’s silicon, and only a minor portion of it will be pushed to the cloud.

Read more
Arc Search, one of the best iPhone apps right now, just got even better
Arc Search's Call Arc feature.

One of our favorite iPhone browser apps has just introduced an interesting new feature. Arc Search’s new "Call Arc" tool functions similarly to making a phone call on your iPhone 15 Pro or other iPhone. Instead of speaking to someone on the other end of the line, though, you ask Arc to answer your queries. The outcome is fresh and unique, and it actually works really well.

Before its latest software update, Arc Search already offered a voice search feature. The AI-powered Call Arc is different and designed for people on the go who are looking for quick answers to short questions.

Read more