TouchSwitcher, Super Cat Tales, and other awesome apps of the week

By

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

Looking to get up to speed on the week’s hottest apps? We’ve got your back!

In a week in which Thanksgiving celebrated being happy with everything we’ve got, and then Black Friday showed how angry people are about things they don’t yet own, we’ve combed the latest apps to bring you the cream of the crop.

Whether you’re looking for a great retro-styled platformer or a brilliant iOS scanning app, we think you’ll find something to entertain you…

Solitaire

Solitaire
Microsoft’s iconic time-waster is finally available on iOS.
Photo: Microsoft

[contextly_auto_sidebar]

Along with Minesweeper, Solitaire was one of the standard issue Windows games that surreptitiously entertained us through many a computer class back in the day.

This week it finally broke free of its Microsoft confines and made its way to third-party mobile platforms for first time ever. Microsoft Solitaire Collection includes the classic version which was first introduced with Windows 3.0 in 1990, as well as additional game modes. There are even daily challenges thrown in for good measure.

The game is free to download, but a $1.99 in-app purchase gets you the “Premium Edition” which doubles the coin rewards you get for completing those challenges and removes the ads.

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free (with in-app purchases)
Get it from: App Store

TouchSwitcher for Touch Bar

Developers are wasting no time in jumping on the Touch Bar bandwagon for Apple’s new MacBook Pro. One such app? TouchSwitcher, which allows users to utilize the Touch Bar as an alternative to the regular command+tab method of app switching.

Will it prove any faster? You’ll have to try it out to know for sure, but if the goal is to provide an alternative to regular keyboard shortcuts, this is certainly a feature we couldn’t live without!

Available for: MacBook Pro with Touch Bar
Cost: Free
Get it from: App Store

Super Cat Tales

A feline-starring platformer (catformer?), Super Cat Tales combines great level design and intuitive controls to create a nostalgia-infused gaming experience with more than a nod to Super Mario Bros and its 1980s ilk.

Offering more than 50 entertaining levels, six cats with unique abilities, and plenty of hidden secrets to find along the way, we’re confident this game will certainly entertain its target user base. Recommended!

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

Pic Scanner Gold

PicScanner
Pic Scanner Gold and an iPhone will preserve treasured family photos.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Your iPhone might be, among other things, a makeshift scanner that sits in your pocket, but for the most part you’ll have to whip out a flatbed scanner if you want a high-res reproduction.

Pic Scanner Gold attempts to challenge that theory with what essentially amounts to a neat photo-editing tool: letting you correct orientation, fix blemishes like torn edges and creasing, and more.

A “Coming Soon” section boasts of updates that will bring cloud backup for photos, bulk imports from photo apps and unspecified upgrades to some of the editing tools — although you’ll be waiting a bit longer for those to arrive. You can check out our full review of Pic Scanner Gold here.

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: $4.99
Get it from: App Store

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.