Threes a game
If you’re still wasting time on Candy Crush, here’s the new alternative. Not quite new — but now available on Android, Threes is the hottest numbers-based game since Sudoku broke on the scene nearly a decade ago. The simple, slick game has you pair matching numbers, beginning with threes. On a grid with numbered tiles, your aim is to create the highest number tile possible before the board is filled and no further moves are possible. Swipe left, right, up and down, to combine 1 and 2 tiles to make 3s, combine 3s to make 6s, combine 6s to make 12s and so on. The tiles also need to be combined fast, to avoid the board filling up and ending the game. Hugely addictive! For Windows phone owners, there’s an equivalent called 3’s. Available on iOS, Android
Anti-social media
Finally, one for those who don’t want their online presence being highlighted to one and all. Some people don’t actually want to meet their online ‘friends’ offline, and Cloak uses location data from Foursquare, Instagram, Facebook logins to spot if any of your dreaded contacts are close by where you are, so you can avoid them… teehee. The app alerts you if particularly avoid-worthy individuals (you can pick them out) are anywhere within the zone you mark out. Also, it lets you hide your whereabouts to your online friends. Less surprisingly, this app comes from the makers of Hate with Friends, one that determines whether you and your Facebook friend mutually dislike each other.
Available on iOS
Anti-social media
As cool as our Android phones are, we could always do with more and better made-for-Android browsers. Link Bubble now promises to change the way you surf the net on your phone. When you click on a link in an app on your phone, Link Bubble loads that page in the background, leaving you free to keep using your current app, rather than your precious time being wasted watching a page load. Once the page is fully loaded, it will animate on screen. Basically, it means you won’t be sitting and watching the “loading” or “reload” page on your browser. You can go from clicking a link to sharing it or adding it to bookmarks or Pocket in just over a second.
Available on Android
Fancy some quick creativity while you’re taking the metro to work? Turn your favourite photos into works of art with Brushstroke, a simple app with brilliant results. Just select the photo you want and apply the canvas/background you want, colours, paint type, brush/stroke style and fine-tune for saturation,temperature, contrast etc, and voila, you have a unique piece of art. It even gives you an option to buy a mounted canvas print of it! Catch? It drains your battery fast.
Available on iOS