5 must-have Android apps this week – Android Apps Weekly

Welcome to the 489th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from last week:

• WhatsApp had a few different announcements this week. The first is a new feature that automatically silences calls from unknown contacts to help reduce spam calls. Secondly, the app will receive Meta Quest support in an upcoming update. Finally, Google has fixed a bug on the Android privacy dashboard that incorrectly suggested that WhatsApp was listening to its users. Press each link to learn more.
• Gannet, the largest publisher in the US, is taking Google to court over its digital advertising technology. The lawsuit claims that Google has a monopoly on advertising space. Google responded by saying there are tons of options in advertising, but they choose Google because it’s simply the best service out there. Well, see how it ends.
• Spotify is getting ever closer to releasing its Hi-Fi wide subscriptions. The new Supremium tier will debut later this year according to Spotify. We don’t know much about it yet, including the exact release date or cost. However, we know it will include a Hi-Fi audio option along with other perks.
• YouTube TV is working on ways to show ads during breaks of programming that previously didn’t show ads. Ads appear during previously free Zen Moments. We think it defeats the purpose of a Zen moment, but Google disagrees. This is being tested among a small selection of users right now. In happier news, Google is expanding YouTube TV multiview streams to include business, news, weather, and other options.
• The Reddit outcry is more or less over. The subreddit we focused on, r/Android, is back, albeit in limited mode. Most of the other subreddits are also back up and running as of this writing. Many others also remain in confidential or private mode. r/Android mods are asking the community what they should be doing moving forward, as are mods from many other communities. It’s another step in the process, so we’ll see how that plays out.

Idle super cat

Price: Free to play

Super Cat Idle is an interesting release this week. Mechanically speaking, it’s an action RPG with some idle gameplay elements. You have various weapons and currencies to upgrade and collect respectively. The game also features colorful and fast-paced sequences which are really fun to play. It’s not all that original, but it’s fun. What makes it interesting is that the game had a pre-launch event where it gave a huge boost to a small group of players. Those boosts were removed on launch day, resulting in a playerbase literally failing to top the leaderboard. It’s not a good look and hopefully the developers fix it eventually.

Aerodoc

Price: Free / $3.49-$11.99

Aerodocs is an app for organizing documents. It helps you organize your various documents for easy recall whenever you need them. Some features include a search where you can find documents quickly, an encrypted vault where you can store more sensitive items, and a built-in document scanner so you can scan physical documents. There are a number of other features too, ranging from note-taking to 2FA for security. It’s relatively new, so there are likely to be bugs, but this is honestly a pretty decent idea, especially if you use a lot of documents.

The Witch Knight

Price: Free to play

The Witch’s Knight is a 2D open world RPG. The player character runs around the world while defeating bad guys, finding loot, and defeating bosses. You level up your character to do more things quickly, and that’s the main gameplay loop. Like many new games these days, this one has an idle component, and that’s during combat. Your character makes most of his attacks alone. So, other than managing your character, you’re not doing much else. It’s not bad, but it’s not surprising either. It’s just a pretty fun little game.

Pixel Search is a phone search that helps you find just about anything on your phone. You simply open the app, search for something and it will appear in the search results. This includes apps, shortcuts, contacts, files, and even web suggestions if it can’t find anything else. You also get Material You themes, a widget, and a relatively clean UI that’s easy enough to use. We have no problems with this app. It worked well in our tests. However, we also realize that the market for something like this is a bit small.

Daisho: The survival of a samurai

Price: Free to play

Daisho: Survival of Samurai is an action RPG with some pretty nice design choices. It’s an open-world game, so you can explore it however you like. Plus, you get crafting, city building, and manual attack controls unlike a lot of idle games coming out these days. It is similar in overall mechanical scope to zombie survival games, but the game puts you in feudal Japan instead. It takes some liberties with the factual accuracy of the era, but otherwise the game is pretty good.

If we missed any great Android app or game or new release, tell us about it in the comments.