A selection of 26 new apps for you today. 26!
Apps Rush has one day off, and photo-sharing app Instagram not only launches on Android, but racks up 1m downloads in its first day on Google's Play store. It has the same filters and sharing to social networks, although the tilt-shift feature is coming in a future update. There has been some isolated grumbling on Twitter from iPhone users complaining about the Android extension, but that's bonkers: they can expect their networks on Instagram to grow rapidly as friends who were shut out before get on it.
Android
Figure
Propellerhead Software makes the ReBirth software (and app), which is used by professional music-makers to create squelchy acid tunes. It's a bit intimidating for casual music fans though. Figure is for them, but from the same company. It gets you to make songs with drums, bass and lead synth using an intuitive touchscreen user interface: "no previous playing skills required". And seriously, today's Apps Rush is being posted about 30 minutes late due to Figure's addictive qualities. Sorry about that.
iPhone
Ice Age Village
Gameloft has turned the Ice Age films into a free-to-play iOS app in the town-building genre: thw town here being a new village with Manny, Ellie, Diego and Sid from the films. There are social features, but its use of in-app payments may be controversial for some parents, given its likely-youthful target audience.
iPhone / iPad
Next Issue
Next Issue is a US thing at the moment, but it's very important for the magazine industry, providing Spotify-style subscriptions for digital magazines, with one monthly fee getting you unlimited access to mags including Elle, Fortune, Glamour, Sports Illustrated, Time, Vanity Fair and Esquire.
Android
Discovery News for iPhone
Broadcaster Discovery has launched a new iPhone news app, pulling together news articles, video reports and special features. It promises more than 300 stories a month, as well as a "Discovernator" feature to generate random facts.
iPhone
National Geographic Today
Also good for people wanting to know more about the world, National Geographic's new iPad app offers daily news, videos, quizzes, articles and full-screen photography.
iPad
Pepper
Pepper is a bit Songkick-meets-Foursquare: a social app for live music fans to find out about gigs near them, share details with friends and then check in at the events to share photos and comments. It's comparable to Flowd, an existing app which has a similar focus. Pepper is starting on Windows Phone, but iOS, Android and BlackBerry versions are on the way.
Windows Phone
Civilization Revolution
Windows Phone owners can now get their thumbs on the excellent mobile version of strategy game Civilization. As ever, it involves building your tribe through the millennia, with war, trade and diplomacy all figuring large.
Windows Phone
SIGN Autism Patient Guide
This app is the work of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, providing guidelines for parents and carers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as a section for those young people explaining what ASD is and what can help.
Android
The Times Cryptic Crossword Volume II
The Times brings its second volume of cryptic crossword puzzles to iPhone, offering 50 more to solve, plus clues and an anagram-solver for people who need a little help.
iPhone
The Times Concise Crossword Volume II
Because even with clues and anagram-help, some of us are just never going to solve a cryptic crossword, let's be honest.
iPhone
Avengers vs. X-Men #1
Not a standalone app, per se, but a new digital comic being distributed through Marvel Comics' iOS app. It's the first of the company's "Infinite Comics", which it says are "hand-drawn specifically to take over the entire screen".
iPhone / iPad
Dim Sum Warriors
Talking of innovative comic book-apps, this one from Yumcha Studios aims to help Chinese people learn English, and vice versa. The idea: "language learning with voiceovers, instant translations and hanyu pinyin pronunciation guides". Oh, and it stars "a bunch of crazy kung fu-fighting Chinese snacks", which can't be bad.
iPad
Noyo Spanish Vocab Builder
More language-learning here, with Noyo. It includes more than 1,800 Spanish words and phrases presented in 194 illustrated scenes, and audio from a Spanish-speaking voice artist. The words are grouped into themed units: food, travel, the city, house and home, seasons, animals, school and sports.
iPad
Peppa Pig - Happy Mrs Chicken
P2 Games has taken its Peppa Pig games to Android, starting with this collection of four mini-games and a digital sticker book. It's the first of several titles making the leap from the company, which has sold more than 600,000 games on iOS.
Android
Basket Buddy
Daily deals community HUKD has launched an app to help British smartphone owners find deals on groceries. It aggregates deals, coupons, discounts and freebies from retailers across the country.
iPhone
Parallel Mafia
Here's the latest location-based mobile game with a social twist. Made by the developer of mobile MMO Parallel Kingdoms, this sees you completing jobs, running businesses and building a mobbish reputation.
Android / iPhone / iPad
Titanic 2012
Another app for the anniversary of the Titanic's sinking, this one ties into the TV series of the same name. The idea: "to extend the experience of the show into the hands of the audience, allowing them to dig deeper into the story and characters they love while accessing extra exclusive content and learning about the historical background behind the stories".
iPad
Horton Hatches the Egg - Dr. Seuss
The latest Dr. Seuss book-app for iOS and Android features Horton the elephant, who looks after an egg through all manner of trials and tribulations. Voice narration and word-highlighting aims to help young children learning to read, as with other book-apps in the series.
Android / iPhone / iPad
Bumping Bears
Here's another freemium game for iOS with a cuddly theme – in this case, raising "adorable bears who live on donuts". The idea being to customise their outfits and level them up in 30 different professions. IAP is where the game makes its money, so parents should be on top of their settings before handing the device over to their kids.
iPhone / iPad
Me to You: Colour and Sticker Fun
Alligator Books' new iOS app features "Tatty Teddy" in a series of scenes to be digitally coloured in by children, before making virtual stickers that can be saved, shared and printed.
iPhone / iPad
Cafeteria Nipponica
Good news for gamers who can't get enough of Japanese developer Kairosoft's simulation games: a new one has gone live on Android. Cafeteria Nipponica takes its formula to the restaurants industry, hiring staff, finding ingredients and kitting out your establishments.
Android
Tetris – New - Compliments of BlackBerry
BlackBerry owners have a Tetrimino-shaped treat this week: a free copy of Tetris, compliments of Research In Motion until the end of May.
BlackBerry
Robert Walters Job Search
Recruitment consultancy Robert Walters has a new app for iPhone to help people search its dabatase and apply for jobs from their phones. It taps people's LinkedIn profiles to create their CVs, which is an innovative touch. Chelsea Apps Factory is the developer responsible.
iPhone
My Bic Lighter
Remember the days when virtual lighters were heating up Apple's App Store. They still might be: Bic's official app has done 1.9m iOS downloads. Now it's on Android too, with a choice of 15 branded digital lighters to wave in the air like you just don't care.
Android
The Witcher 2 Interactive Comic Book
More comic book-appery here, in advance of the release of the Xbox 360 game The Witcher 2. The idea being that players can learn about the game's hero and his enemies before playing the game.
iPhone / iPad
