Skip to main content

The best 5 apps out to download this week

Best Phablets Samsung Galaxy Note 4
Image used with permission by copyright holder
App stores are crowded places these days, and because storage space on your phone is often at a premium, you’ll want to find and fill it with not only the best, but also the most helpful apps out there. Because they come and go quicker than the latest fashion trends, and digging through Google Play, the iTunes App Store, or any of the others is such a mission; a little nudge in the right direction is often very welcome. Here are the apps we think you need to check out this week.

NewsGIF

NewsGif
Image used with permission by copyright holder

iOS

Reading the news, flipping through your local paper or browsing the headlines online, feels important. There’s a sort of obligation to be informed on what’s happening around you, to have an understanding about the world. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a struggle to stay engaged. Stories don’t always seem to have an immediate impact, and it’s not always clear why a story is important in the context of everything else. Sometimes the news is straight up boring.

NewsGIF wants to solve that problem. The first step is turning the news into bite-sized, easily digestible pieces of information—no deep dives, no long explainers, just the important stuff. The next step is to make that information catch your eye by layering it over GIFs, the internet’s favorite form of looping entertainment. Maybe you don’t care that much about a trade agreement being passed, but you’ll definitely take a look at it if it’s posted on top of a Ron Swanson GIF.

Recommended Videos

Playboy Now

playboynow
iOS, Android

You know the joke people always make about Playboy—they buy it for the articles. Well, with the new Playboy Now app, that’s actually true. The magazine has stories crafted by some of the best longform writers around, but if you’d rather not flip through the pages of nude bodies to read the interesting narratives, you can pull up the Playboy Now app and take your time to enjoy the stories without feeling weird about it.

IIIN

intnews
Android

The things that draw the attention of Internet dwellers can change on a dime, and you never know what’s going to be the next obsession in the many different communities. If you’re worried you’re missing out on something interesting, you can pull up IIIN and see what’s trending right now. The new news app curates top stories every hour to catch the latest hot topic and integrates additional social features to make it easier to talk about what’s happening with people who care just as much as you.

Bundle

Bundle
iOS, Android

With smartphone cameras getting better each year, along with the multiple ways to share pictures you take online, the temptation is there to snap everything in sight. The problem is figuring out what to do with them all. Bundle’s goal is to make organization of your photo roll easier than ever by grouping images into sortable, shareable bundles that can be contributed to by friends and family, or simply kept private for your own viewing.

Docady

Docady
iOS

You take precautions to protect your online presence using password managers, encrypted communication apps, and many other tools. However, you probably have your private paper documents just laying in a folder somewhere in your house. Docady adds the protective services of digital storage to the files that matter most in your life. Scan in everything — from your ID cards and important paperwork, to sensitive documents — keeping them accessible, but under the protection of a digital lock and key.

AJ Dellinger
AJ Dellinger is a freelance reporter from Madison, Wisconsin with an affinity for all things tech. He has been published by…
iOS 18’s best AI tools arrive in December, but Siri has a longer wait
Apple Intelligence on iPhone 15 Pro.

The Apple Intelligence toolkit has witnessed a staggered mix of delayed features and underwhelming perks. But it seems that the most promising set of those AI tools that Apple revealed at WWDC earlier this year is right around the corner.

In the latest edition of his PowerOn newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman writes that the iOS 18.2 update will start rolling out via the stable channel in the first week of December.

Read more
Google may make it easier to share files between Android and iPhone
Android 14 logo on the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024).

Wish it was easier to share files between Android and iPhone? Android Authority says a file-sharing service designed for Android devices may eventually become available on Apple products.

During the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, Google announced its collaboration with Samsung to introduce a new feature called Quick Share, which aims to simplify file sharing. This feature offers a unified solution for sharing files across Android devices, Chromebooks, and Windows systems, making the process seamless within these ecosystems. Think of it like AirDrop but for Android.

Read more
Apple uses giggles to highlight new Apple Intelligence features
A screenshot from an Apple ad for Apple Intelligence.

On the same day that Apple started rolling out Apple Intelligence to iPhone 16 handsets as well as iPhone 15 Pro devices, the tech giant dropped two videos showcasing some of the new features.

The first one (below) highlights the new Apple Intelligence Writing Tools feature, which, in Apple’s own words, is designed to “help your words sound more professional, friendly, or more concise.”

Read more