Somehow the weekend is already half-way gone, but to help you celebrate your remaining hours of freedom we’ve combed through the week’s best apps to help you sort the wheat from the chaff.
Whether it’s a fantastic LEGO Star Wars game or a fantastic calendar app, we’re confident we’ve got what you’re looking for.
Check out our list below.
Rodeo Stampede
Rodeo Stampede is my choice for this week’s best pick-up-and-play iOS game. It puts you in control of a rodeo star/zoo owner who wants to collect a variety of animals. To do this you must lasso them and then ride on their backs, avoiding obstacles before jumping to the next animal when the one you’re riding on becomes too rowdy.
It’s a straightforward game dynamic with graphical shades of a title like Crossy Road, but with a surprising amount of variation along the way. Right now levels include Savannah and Jungle — although the developers promise more exciting landscapes to come!
Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free
Get it from: App Store
BusyCal
Photo: BusyCal
Long available on Mac — where it is currently on its third version — calendar app BusyCal recently arrived on iOS for the first time. In my opinion vastly superior to Apple’s default Calendar app, BusyCal features an easy to use interface which makes it straightforward to look at your upcoming events, thanks to an accordion-style overview which lets you then drill down to see the specifics of individual days.
There’s also a list view, which displays upcoming events an to-do lists in an easy-to-read chronological order.
BusyCal syncs with iCloud, Google Calendar, Exchange, Office 365, and other CalDAV servers. In all, it’s definitely worth checking out — particularly on iPad, where the extra screen real estate gives it an advantage over the iPhone version.
Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: $4.99
Get it from: App Store
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Unlike the movie it was based on, which was speculated on and written about for years before its release, the arrival of LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens on iOS this week came as a surprise. If you’ve played a previous LEGO Star Wars game, you’ll have a good idea about what to expect — but even as an avid fan, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this.
Like an old-school demo, the first chapter of the game is free, but you’ll have to pay up if you want to play the rest. I’d wager that you’ll enjoy it enough that you’ll be willing to do exactly that, though.
Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free (with in-app purchases)
Get it from: App Store
Prisma
Photo: Prisma
An AI-powered app that turns any boring photo into an art masterpiece, Prisma transform your photos into painted-style images that look like they’ve been painted by a range of famous artists — from Van Gogh and Picasso to Edvard Munch of “The Scream” fame.
It’s been massively popular so far, and while there are other photo filtering apps which have tried to do similar things, this is one of the best-executed examples I’ve seen. Recommended!
Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free (with in-app purchases)
Get it from: App Store
