Welcome to this week’s roundup of the latest, greatest new iPhone and iPad apps and games.
All prices are correct at the time of writing, with “IAP” indicating use of in-app purchases.
You can read the previous Best iPhone and iPad Apps roundups for more recommendations, but if Android is your platform of choice, check the Best Android Apps roundups. On with this week’s selection!
APPS
Loopimal (£2.49)
As ways to get your children into music-making go, Loopimal is one of the most creative and fun apps around. It’s a colourful mini-sequencer where children drag shapes onto a looping timeline to create sounds, accompanied by dancing animals. Simply marvellous.
iPhone / iPad
Alexi (Free)
Everyone and their Spotify-playlisting aunt is banging on about “curation” in 2015. Alexi applies the idea to books, with its own team and special guests – authors including David Mitchell, Sarah Hall and Bret Easton Ellis – creating themed lists of books for you to swipe through in search of new reading material. What’s missing (for now) is a direct way to buy them. But there are bookshops for that...
iPhone
Detour (Free + IAP)
If you’re looking for an app to get you out and about looking at the real world, Detour is well worth a look. It’s a collection of “audio walks” that has just gone global – initially a guided tour of San Francisco haunts, it now includes walks for London, Berlin, Barcelona, Paris and Marrakech, sold as in-app purchases.
iPhone
Relook (£2.99)
You’re spotty and ugly! But Relook can make you beautiful. Is the message I’m taking from this clever photography app, which “enhances natural beauty” by editing out your grease, wrinkles and pimples, as well as plumping up your eyelashes and putting a sparkle in your eyes. Sadly, no filter for ‘British teeth’ yet…
iPhone / iPad
The Pink Panther (£2.29)
De-dum de-dum. De-dum. De-dum de-dum de-dum de-dum DA-DAAAAAH. De-dum-dum-dum. The Pink Panther theme tune is iconic (albeit slightly less-so written down), and this is an interesting idea: a sheet-music app to help you learn to play it on the piano, slowing down the pace if necessary.
iPad
Sago Mini Boats (£2.29)
A good week for iOS-owning parents, with Sago Mini Boats the second playful app for kids. Launched by developer Sago Sago, this has a nautical theme as a dog named Harvey sets sail in a range of boats and ships, meeting friends as he goes. With no goals, it’s relaxing pre-school fun.
iPhone / iPad
Vee for Video (£1.49 + IAP)
There are (probably) more apps for shooting and sharing video now than there are professional broadcast camera operators. Vee is the latest looking to help people tell their stories, with slick editing features, filters and the ability to upload to social services in the background.
iPhone / iPad
Machinima (Free)
Machinima is one of the popular multi-channel networks finding an audience on YouTube. Now it’s doing it through an app too: obviously it serves up the company’s videos – mainly focused on gaming – but comments and community are also big features, along with the ability to share your own videos, images and GIFs.
iPhone
Ramadan Legacy (Free)
Muslims are preparing for the month of Ramadan, which begins on Wednesday. Here’s a new app that aims to be a companion for the annual event: a mixture of planning, information and social tools to complement the month ahead.
iPhone / iPad
WantList (Free)
Previously known as Styloko, this relaunched app is all about fashion – and specifically, shopping for it. The latest app to take a leaf out of Tinder’s book with its “swipe left to reject and swipe right to approve” interface, it serves up an array of products to tempt your wallet.
iPhone / iPad
GAMES
Tiki Taka Soccer (Free + IAP)
If you, like me, grew up on the Sensible Soccer games, Tiki Taka Soccer’s pixelly graphics will give you a bolt of nostalgia. Thankfully, this is a worthy successor in gameplay too: an inventive touchscreen football game with light management features. AND you can share replays of your hoofs from the halfway line into the top corner onto social networks...
iPhone / iPad
You Must Build a Boat (£2.29)
There’s a lot of buzz building around You Must Build a Boat, and justifiably so: it’s brilliant. A sequel to the fun 10000000, yes it does involve building a boat – but also battling monsters, recruiting a crew and wielding magic by matching tiles – with no in-app purchases in sight.
iPhone / iPad
Fallout Shelter (Free + IAP)
Console game Fallout 4 is coming later this year, and a lot of people are very excited about it. To fill the months until then, Fallout Shelter is an intriguing mobile strategy game – a bit like an underground Tiny Tower, set in the world of Fallout. It’s freemium, but not aggressively cash-grabbing.
iPhone / iPad
Hitman: Sniper (£3.99 + IAP)
This is the latest game based on the Hitman console brand: and unsurprisingly, it’s all about the long-range shooting. There are more than 150 missions to snipe through, bagging new rifles as you go. A neat companion to the excellent Hitman Go game.
iPhone / iPad
Transistor (£7.99)
Originally released in 2014 for PC and PS4, Transistor is a beautifully crafted action-RPG with a science fiction theme, as you battle your way through a futuristic city. It looks lovely, as on other platforms, but there’s real depth of gameplay and story here too.
iPhone / iPad
Angry Birds Fight! (Free + IAP)
The latest freemium Angry Birds game takes its cues from mobile hits like Puzzle & Dragons and Best Fiends, as you match birds in the bottom half of the screen to battle enemies at the top. It may sound cynical, but actually this is good fun.
iPhone / iPad
AlphaBetty Saga (Free + IAP)
Saga? Yes, this is the latest from Candy Crush publisher King, and as the rest of its title implies, this is a word game. Your job is to link letter-tiles to make words as you work through more than 100 levels – with the familiar system of boosters and in-app purchases for when you get stuck.
iPhone / iPad
Terminator Genisys: Revolution (Free + IAP)
Glu Mobile has had a huge hit with its Kim Kardashian: Hollywood game, but now it’s turning its attention to another aspect of Hollywood: killer robots from the future. This tie-in to the new Terminator film is an entertaining, guns-blazing third-person shooter.
iPhone / iPad
Robbery Bob 2: Double Trouble (£2.29 + IAP)
The original Robbery Bob was a clever mix of action and strategy, as you snuck around a bunch of houses trying to burgle them without being caught. This sequel is just as fun: 60 new levels and lots of new gadgets to help you avoid the long arm of the law (or the sharp teeth of the dog).
iPhone / iPad
Battles of the Ancient World III (£2.29)
Finally, something fun for hardcore wargame fans out there. This turn-based hex title eschews the usual wars in favour of conflicts between 1457 BC and 378 AD – think chariots and legionaries – as you strategise your way through campaigns for hours on end.
iPhone / iPad
Those are my choices, but what have you been impressed by on iOS in the last couple of weeks? The comments section is open for your recommendations.
