Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority
Welcome to the 368th edition of Android Apps Weekly! Here are the main headlines from the past week:
- Apple TV Plus is rolling out on Google Chromecasts with Google TV. Google made the announcement last week. Additionally, support is also rolling out to Android TVs with Google TV support. There is not much to say about it. You should be able to watch Apple TV Plus content on Chromecast now.
- The Google Play Store now allows you to share apps with other people. It uses Android’s close sharing feature. You just send a copy of the APK to another device. There are, however, some limitations. You can’t send some apps (such as the Stadia app), and you can’t send premium apps either for obvious reasons. Click on the link to find out how to do it.
- Google Pay and Samsung Pay are adding additional support for cryptocurrency in the near future. The BitPay service has announced upcoming support for both tap-to-pay apps and you can pay for goods with your Bitcoin with it. BitPay also supports Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum as well as a few others. Look for the deployment in about a month. Coinbase already allows you to use cryptocurrency, but it’s good to see more options.
- Google Maps received an update this week. It now allows you to pay for parking and public transport in the app. You don’t even have to touch the drive when using it. Maps has partnered with Passport and ParkMobile to make this possible. You’ll even see a timer in Google Maps to see how much time you have left on your parking meter. It should be officially deployed in the coming weeks. Click on the link for more details.
- LastPass put a terrible restriction on their free tier this week. Now users have to choose between mobile only or desktop only for its free offering, where the old version allowed you to use both. This has made a lot of people angry and we are working on a list of alternatives for people who want to get off the ship. Click on the link for more details.
Pirates of Freeport
Price: Release
Pirates of Freeport is a roguelike game with RPG elements. Players create a team, explore various dungeons, and level up their characters as they progress. The game is tough and encourages players to have a diverse squad of fighters with varying stats. It’s mostly text based, so you won’t get rich graphics or anything like that. Your goal is simply to build the best possible team and survive. There are a few bugs here and there, but if not, it should turn out to be a fun game in the genre.
Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority
Word Clock Watch Face
Price: $ 0.99
Word Clock Watch Face is a Wear OS watch face. It creates a word clock on your home screen. The clock is overall simple. It has a bunch of words on it and it sheds light on the ones that fit right now. It works in English, German, Italian, Latin and Spanish. You can also customize the colors, see a battery indicator and a minute point feature to see more granular time. It’s a neat, inexpensive little watch face that performed well in our testing.
Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority
Sudoku More
Price: Free / $ 1.99
Sudoku Plus is a new Sudoku application. It joins a very crowded market with a ton of great Sudoku apps, but it should compete well. The game features multiple difficulty levels, a relatively straightforward user interface, daily challenges, and performance tracking with stats. It uses a 9 × 9 grid with only one solution per puzzle so more or less a classic Sudoku experience. Finally, there is also a mode where you can play with shapes rather than numbers. The premium version is relatively inexpensive and should be a good newcomer for puzzle fans.
TikTok for Android TV
Price: Release
The world’s fastest growing social media platform is now visible on Android TV. It basically works like the phone app, but suitable for 16: 9 TV screens. TikTok for Android TV works like the phone app. There’s the For You page, then your feed based on who you’re following. It’s a relatively straightforward app, so there’s not a lot of customization or anything. The only thing you can’t really do is upload or create videos because you’re not on a suitable platform. It’s free with advertising if you’re interested.
Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority
Jemeyah
Price: Release
Jemeyah is a free to play adventure game with decent gameplay. Players run on 2D levels until they reach the final boss. The game includes three levels, a boss fight, offline play support, and its content is safe for children and adults. It’s a free to play game, so it’s hard to get a lot of criticism in its length, although we wish it was longer. You’ll probably beat it in a fairly short period of time, but it’s a good game anyway.
Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority
