Welcome to the 420th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the headlines from the past week:
- Google has added iOS-like functionality to its Pixel Launcher app. It now shows you apps as they are installed on your home screen, just like iOS. We believe this will be part of the “play by downloading” feature that Google is rolling out.
- Google Assistant had an issue this week where commands weren’t working properly for smart home users. Google fixed the problem after a few hours but didn’t really say what the problem was.
- Gmail is getting some long-needed fixes. Google only wants Gmail notifications to show up on one device at a time. The feature is in very limited testing at the time of this writing, but hopefully it will work.
- Google officially launched Privacy Sandbox for Android this week. The intention is to make ad tracking more secure and private while still being developer-friendly. It’s not the smoothest runtime, but it should improve over time.
- There’s been quite a bit of news around Windows 11 this week. For starters, Microsoft is testing a live captioning feature similar to Android and you can read more about it here. Additionally, the latest version of Windows 11 unlocks Android app support through the Amazon Appstore. Finally, it’s actually possible to run Windows 11 on Android 13 via its new virtualization support. Click on the links to learn more about it all.
Paths: the adventure of Béatrice
Price: Free / $2.99
Paths: Beatrice’s Adventure is a narrative game in which you choose the path that Beatrice’s life takes. Beatrice is a teenager capable of possessing people. Players guide her through her life and make decisions about what she should do. Decisions have an impact on the end. There are ten different endings to get and each game should take two or three hours depending on the developer.
It’s currently in early access beta, so it’s not fully complete, but you can play the prologue and first chapter for free and see if you like it.
Kwai video editor
Price: Free
Kwai Video Editor is a simple and free video editor. It omits the power user stuff timelines or chrome inlay in favor of simpler tasks such as trimming videos, compressing videos, converting videos to MP3, converting videos to other formats , etc You can even join two videos together.
It’s certainly not something that will replace the mainstays of the genre, but all the features worked when we tested it, although there were a bunch of annoying ads when we did.
Basketball courts
Price: Free
Basketball Playgrounds is an arcade basketball game. It looks and feels similar to the Street Basketball Association where you play with only half the court. The controls are quite simple. You get a joystick to move your character around and press buttons to do things like pass or shoot. However, it uses an NBA Jam style where there are only two players on each team.
There’s a gacha element where you collect players, build a dream team, and stomp on the competition. This one is also in Early Access, so there will almost certainly be some bugs. That said, it’s nice to see a competent arcade basketball game since there are so few good ones on mobile.
Celebrations Passport
Price: Free / $19.99 per year
Celebrations Passport is a new app from 1-800-Flowers. It is a gift wrapping application with the support of several different shops and stores. You browse each store’s inventory and create gift baskets for people. The service then ships the gift baskets to their recipient. It also almost requires a 12-month subscription to pay fees like shipping and earn points.
You can still use the app to buy things even without a subscription, but they greatly improve the experience if you do. The choice is yours, but most brands have their own websites if you want to skip that.
zombie virus
Price: free to play
Zombie Virus: K-Zombie is an FPS game where you shoot zombies. Yes, there is yet another one. What makes this one quite enjoyable is the slower pace, tons of activities, an offline mode, and the K-Zombie vibes the game gives off. Of course, the downsides are that the mechanics aren’t as polished as FPS games from big developers and the mechanics definitely need polishing. It’s new, so it has potential, but we’re getting it if this game isn’t for you.
If we missed any important news or releases of Android apps or games, tell us in the comments or email us at contact@androidauthority.com.
