An app to help parents keep track of what their kids are doing on their iPhones is just one of our picks for “Awesome Apps of the Week.”
In addition, we’ve got a pair of fun retro-style platformers, and an impressive display of artificial intelligence to help keep track of the food you’re eating. Check out our selections below.
OurPact: Parental Control
Photo: Eturi Corp.
There was a lot in the news this week after a group of activist investors, with AAPL stock worth $2 billion, asked Apple to look into the issue of smartphone addiction among young people. While Apple has said it will introduce new features to help parents manage their kids’ usage of their iOS devices, for now the best solutions involve third-party apps.
One of the best of these is OurPact, a parental control app and family locator that lets you manage family screen time, locate family members using geolocation, and teach time management through internet and application blocking.
It’s easy to use, pretty comprehensive, and should address the majority of concerns a parent might have about their kids’ ownership of smart devices — from the apps they use to the amount of time they spend using them to the possibility of their stumbling upon adult material.
Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free (paid subscriptions also available)
Get it from: App Store
Kraino
Like a lot of folks, I’m a sucker for old-school platformers, and 2018 has gotten off to a great start on that front with Kraino. An original game for the new Yyar, Kraino nonetheless wears its influences pretty clearly on its retro-styled sleeve: a mash-up of titles like the Mega Man franchise and the Castlevania series.
It will challenge you, but it’s not frustratingly tough to play, either. The graphics are also a lot of fun, and beautifully designed, which makes this an absolute winner. More of this, please!
Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free
Get it from: App Store
Lifesum: Diet & Health Tracker
Photo: Lifesum AB
Popular iOS calorie counting and nutrition tracking app Lifesum got a nifty AI-focused update this week, adding a new image recognition system. The tech promises that it uses the “latest machine learning technology” to log the ingredients and nutritional information of food when you snap it.
The feature is currently available to iOS users, but will roll out to Android in the near future. It’s available only to premium subscribers, however, meaning that you’ll have to pay $25 for three months, $35 for six months, or $45 for a year if you want to use it.
(If you don’t want to pay this, however, the free version of the app is still worth checking out — particularly if “get healthy” was one of your New Year’s resolutions.)
Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free (paid subscriptions also available)
Get it from: App Store
Let Them Come
Let Them Come is a brilliant survival shooter that sees you blast your way through waves of aliens as the final survivor on a spaceship. It adopts a pixel art 16-bit aesthetic, which makes the impressive lighting and animation look even better. Oh, and the music is great, too!
The core concept of final survivor, alien blasting, and upgrading your weapons is nothing new. However, it’s done with a lot of panache here, and the overall experience is a whole lot of fun. While I’ve singled out the iOS version, it’s also available to download on Steam for Mac, priced $4.99.
Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: $1.99
Get it from: App Store
