“Cell phone” (CC BY 2.0) by mobilyazilar
With a plethora of content available, App stores can often be a tricky maze to navigate when it comes to looking for content. Even when narrowing your choices down to specific categories, you can still be left with so many decisions that you don’t quite know where to start. Searching for a fun app to enjoy can become a chore, with the duds often outnumbering the diamonds. But, fear not, because we have gathered together a collection of Android and iOS apps that are good fun to use and can bring hours of joy.
Super Mario Run
It looked like the little Italian plumber would never feature on devices other than a Nintendo console. However, due to the soaring popularity of smartphone and tablet games, Mario made his long-awaited mobile debut towards the end of last year, going on to become the fastest-selling iOS game ever with 40-million downloads in just four days. The game itself is a simplified version of the popular side-scrolling Mario 2D games – an endless runner – and has been fine-tuned for mobile devices.
Pokémon Go
“Togepi in Sea of Walnuts” (Public Domain) by firecloak
Augmented reality is still a fairly new concept for most people, and no other app managed to superimpose computer visuals into the real world quite like Niantic did with Pokémon Go. The fanfare may have calmed but, upon its release, the anticipation generated by the ground-breaking game was second to none. The concept is straightforward: Pokémon Go sees you searching real-world locations and collecting the adorable monsters which seem to appear right in front of you in real life.
Comic Draw
Moving away from games, Comic Draw is an app that manages to stimulate the mind and improve your drawing skills. The app is designed for budding comic book drawers and features a digital sketchpad that allows you to sketch original ideas, as well as the ability to ink and colour with a variety of brushes to finish your concepts. You have the capacity to create a whole comic from scratch or you could just make do with a few cool sketches to hone your style.
Mr Smith Casino
“Dice” (CC BY 2.0) by Steve A Johnson
Online gambling has seen a huge boom over the last few years, with the vast number of companies almost removing the need to go to a betting shop or real-life casino. Mr Smith prides itself on its UK roots yet is still available in many different countries. The casino’s smartphone app has more than 300 slots – one of the largest catalogues on the web. Whether you’re looking for a quick punt or fancy a longer session, Mr Smith provides enough variety to appeal to a broad range of online gambling fans.
Prisma
Photo editing has become all the rage thanks to easily accessible apps, with many amateur photographers capturing shots that they can easily pass off as professional work. Prisma is an app that allows you to edit your photos by adding funky styles to create an extra layer of depth for your snaps. There are film and cartoon filters, and the ability to crop and resize images. The sophisticated algorithms used by the Prisma app set it apart from other editing apps, letting you add vibrant colours and effects that turn your photos into a work of art.
Apps stores generate content at a quicker rate than most other software fields so there are always exciting new releases on the horizon. However, we think that these five apps have the ability to stay relevant for the long term, becoming in-demand fan favourites in the process.
