Lollicam, Starseed: Origins and other awesome apps of the week

Somehow it’s the weekend again already, and to help you celebrate we’ve combed through the week’s best apps to help you sort the wheat from the chaff.

Whether it’s a great retro-style iOS action game or a superb Twitter client, we’re confident we’ve got what you’re looking for.

Check out our list below.

Lollicam

If you’re looking for a fun video and GIF-making app, Lollicam could be it. Boasting various face-tracking stickers and movie-style effects, it’s easy to create and share your homemade videos, with your choice of social network.

Not the week’s most productive app, but a whole lot of fun, nonetheless.

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

Visual Calculation Editor

A great math notation app for creating step-by-step calculations, Visual Calculation Editor is available in both paid and non-paid versions, although the paid version lets you evaluate more than five expressions, save and load formulas, and contains no ads.

The interface is sleek and straightforward, and it includes everything you need to perform everything from basic operations to trigonometry and logarithms. It’ll even notify you of errors!

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

Land Sliders

With a simple “pick up items and avoid danger” goal, Land Sliders may not sound like the most original iOS game out there — but it’s a joy to play thanks to its unique sliding game control mechanics and colorful graphics.

It might not keep you going for ages, but if you’re looking for a fun and graphically-original puzzle game to keep you going this weekend, this has our definite stamp of approval!

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

Tweetbot 4

My personal favorite Twitter client for iOS just got a big update. In addition to the stats you’d expect from a good Twitter client — as well as the ability to plot all your weekly activity on a graph that shows your interaction over the past 7 days — Tweetbot 4 gets some new functionality in the form of iOS 9’s quick reply function.

The app’s particularly great if you’re using it on iPad, as the design has been given a major overhaul for the first time since before iOS 7. There’s also support for SlideOver and side-by-side multitasking.

A downside is that even existing Tweetbot users will have to pay to upgrade to the latest version. However, if you use Twitter even a reasonable amount (and especially if you rely on it for business) the $5 cost is money well-spent.

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

Starseed: Origins

A fun throwback game to the Atari 2600 days, Starseed: Origins is, in all but name, the Star Wars game my six-year-old self always dreamed of. You play the good guys on a mission to destroy an evil space station — although en route you must obliterate and avoid enemies ranging from smaller fighter aircraft to explosive mines.

Starseed probably won’t win points for that kind of plot originality, but, honestly, is that always what you want from an iOS actioner? It’s a great game.

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: $1.99
Get it from: App Store

Luke Dormehl

Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.