Slayaway Camp, TwIM, and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend everyone.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

What better way is there to spend a lazy Sunday than by catching up on the best apps you missed over the past week? Fortunately, Cult of Mac has done the leg work for you in selecting what we think are the most important new apps or app updates to arrive over the past seven days.

Check out our picks below. And then get downloading!

Slayaway Camp

I’m a big fan of mobile puzzle games and, at least at one point, was a sucker for 1970s and 80s slasher movies. An app which hit both of these somewhat different checkpoints was therefore always going to attract my attention — although fortunately Slayaway Camp offers a lot more than just a cool hook.

Previously available on PC via Steam, it’s a sliding puzzle game that owes more than a passing nod to the heyday of Friday the 13th, The Prowler, Prom Night and other legendary teen slashers. As the player, you control a psycho killer with a penchant for camp counsellors. Your goal is to slide the unnervingly cute killer around hundreds of isometric levels, attempting to hunt down victims without accidentally plunging into a trap in the process.

Unusual? Yes. Wickedly good fun? You bet!

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: $2.99
Get it from: App Store

Pokémon GO

Yes, it’s taken way, way too long for them to do it, but if you’re still playing Pokémon GO — which raked in close to $1 billion last year — the app’s creators pulled the trigger on a pretty big update this week. Having originally launched with only the first generation Pokémon available to catch, the game now promises 80 new creatures from the Pokémon Gold and Silver video games.

There are also some additional tweaks, such as the ability to select berries and poké balls right on the encounter screen, as well as an expanded wardrobe for player avatars.

Sure, with today’s short attention spans it feels like Pokémon GO‘s creators should have launched this upgrade a whole lot sooner, but it’s still better late than never. Maybe time to re-download again?

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free
Get it from: App Store

TwIM screens
Simple yet powerful.
Photo: Project Dent

TwIM

If you’re a regular instant messenger on Twitter, you may want to download TwIM. A free and straightforward app that’s powered by Twitter’s direct messages, it makes it easy to have one-on-one conversations with your followers — without distracting you from other noise in your timeline.

You can use TwIM to search for any user on Twitter, while messages have in-line content previews with support for tweets, photos, videos, GIFs, maps, webpages, and even its own custom set of emoji characters called TwIMoji.

There are a few other neat features, too, like handy 3D Touch shortcuts to quickly start new conversations or message a recent contact.

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free
Get it from: App Store

Ticketmaster

ticketmaster
The Ticketmaster app got a big update this week.
Photo: Ticketmaster

Finally, Ticketmaster’s iOS app got an update adding Apple Music integration, thereby allowing users to get information about upcoming concerts based on what they have in their Apple Music library: essentially making it easier for you to find out when artist you like is touring nearby.

It’s a neat feature, and if you’re a fan of live music it’s something you’ll absolutely want to get hold of. It’s also another example of why the Apple Music API launched last year was such a good idea.

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free
Get it from: App Store

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