Our smartphones are great! They're powerful and pretty, but without the proper software, all that power means nothing. Today, we're going to present to you our weekly curated pick of iOS and Android apps that caught our attention.
We're going to do this on a weekly basis, so expect more cool app picks heading your way. "Best" is always subjective, but we'll try to find interesting apps that really add value and can help you with your work, hobbies, and day-to-day life. We won't forget entertainment, of course, so it will be a mix of everything.
This week's focus is visual creativity! We present you with a couple of really cool and powerful apps that can elevate your game and help you express your inner artist. And there's one really cool app as a bonus (we've promised entertainment, after all). Here we go!
Some of you might already be familiar with the iPad version of this powerful app. Procreate Pocket is the iPhone version of the critically acclaimed Procreate app, and it brings the magic to your phone. You can unleash your imagination and create stunning visuals thanks to a comprehensive set of tools, including handmade brushes, layers and masks, color palettes, 250 levels of undo/redo, and much more.
If you're feeling intimidated by the sheer volume of features, don't fret; Procreate Pocket comes with user-friendly guides to help you unlock your potential. There's also real-time drawing assist, to help you perfect your strokes. Along with sketches, drawings, and storyboards, you can also create animations, use vector formats, import and export as Adobe PSD files, and all this on your phone. The list of features is too long to include here, and it more than justifies the asking price.
Adobe Express: Graphic Design
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Speaking of Adobe and design, we just can't omit the Adobe Express app. It's available both for iPhone and Android devices, and unlike Procreate Pocket, it has a free version. Adobe Express utilizes the power of AI, because we're in the era of AI, of course. All jokes aside, you get a ton of free stuff to play around with, even outside of the Premium membership.
You can access thousands of royalty-free fonts and images, create and convert images, and use effects and overlays. It's very powerful software on your phone. Furthermore, you can quickly export and share your newly created visual on all the popular social media sites and apps with just a tap on the screen.
If you opt for a premium membership, you also get access to Adobe Photoshop Express for mobile and Adobe Express for web and mobile, along with the aforementioned images and fonts.
FaceApp: Perfect Face Editor
Platform: iOS,Android
Price: Free with in-app purchases
We all like to take selfies! After all, that's the reason the front-facing camera was invented in the first place. But no matter how good the camera on your phone actually is, creating a good portrait can sometimes require extra help. Enter FaceApp!
This cute software is capable of transforming your average selfie into a professional looking portrait. There are no complicated layers or Photoshop-level editing involved; you have over 60 realistic presets to choose from, and you can control various parameters to get to that perfect picture.
There are also fun tools to add that mustache you can't normally grow, make you older or younger, add makeup, and many more.
Infinite Painter
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Infinite Painter is a no-frills, easy-to-use, and powerful creative tool that can breathe life into your inner visual dreams. This app is available both on iOS and Android and features great virtual pencils, along with hundreds of brushes.
Infinite Painter may look minimalistic, but there's a powerful engine behind it. This app will let you use your stylus with full pressure and tilt support to give you a realistic feel and brush-to-canvas interaction.
The free version will get you three layers at the device resolution, Solid Fill, Lasso selection, Basic Transform and Symmetry tools, Seamless Pattern projects, all the built-in brushes and brush editing, and the Smart shape detection feature. Which is a great starting point.
CapCut - Video Editor
Platform: iOS, Android
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Get CapCut - Video Editor for iOS here
Get CapCut - Video Editor for Android here
Short video formats are all the rage nowadays, with TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and many more occupying people's phones. If you want to stop consuming and start making these tiny video snippets, there's no better tool than CapCut.
From AI-generated effects through filters, captions, and stickers to professional transitions and in-and-out animations, this app has it all. It's also one of the preferred choices of many pro and semi-pro creators out there, so it has to be good, right?
Some call it the best video editor on mobile. We won't go that far, but it's sure one of the most popular ones, and you should definitely check it out.
Bonus: Universe Splitter
Platform: iOS
Price:$1.99
Universe Splitter is one of the coolest and most unique apps I've ever stumbled upon. It's a quantum coin to help you choose from two different options, but the way it works is unique! The physics nerds will love this; check it out!
In quantum physics, at a certain level, there's something called the Haisenberg uncertainty principle. Basically, it limits our understanding of particle properties at a very fundamental level. Universe Splitter uses this principle to help you choose between two options. Say you want to go out tonight, but you also wonder if it's better to stay at home chilling and watching Netflix.
You punch those two options into the app's interface and push a button. What happens next is amazing. The app sends a signal through the internet to a lab in Switzerland, where a device fires a photon toward a semi-transparent mirror. Whether or not the photon will get reflected or pass through the mirror depends on the Haisenberg principle; it's a truly random outcome that no one can predict.
There are two detectors to get the photon and give you back the path it has taken; those are your A and B choices you initially punched into the app. So there you have it: a perfect random coin toss using the most fundamental quantum principles! Why Universe Splitter? Some physicists believe that every such quantum choice splits the Universe into two versions that contain both outcomes. Isn't that super cool?
That's all for this week, folks! Share your thoughts on our selection in the comment section below, and stay tuned for more next week!
