5 must-have Android apps this week – Android Apps Weekly

Welcome to the 487th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from last week:

• We polled our readers twice this week. The first survey told us that the majority of our readers are still using Google Assistant despite the influx of ChatGPT chatbots. Only around 7% of respondents no longer use the Google Assistant. The other survey we took showed that the majority of our readers are using something other than a TV for YouTube. You can see both surveys at the links.
• Speaking of Android TV, Google released a PSA this week. The company essentially told prospective buyers to make sure a TV maker was on the Android TV homepage as a partner before buying an Android TV. The reason is due to an influx of malware on Android TV that seems to focus on third-party devices not officially Google partners.
• Google is integrating a change to Google Contacts that may annoy some users. The change will remove contacts synced to your phone if you turn off syncing contacts with Google. It’s already rolling out to devices, so make sure you plan accordingly.
• WhatsApp is experiencing a crash-loop bug on Android right now. The crash occurs when someone sends you a link to wa.me/settings, which is just a link to the WhatsApp settings page. The only way to get rid of it is to delete the message. We are sure WhatsApp will fix it quickly.
• Reddit is following the same path as Twitter in terms of access to third-party apps. The company plans to charge developers big bucks for API access. The going rates are insane and will definitely crash a lot of third-party Reddit apps. Hit the link to find out more, but we’re not happy about it either.

Korilakkuma Tower Defense

Price: Free to play

Korilakkuma Tower Defense is a cute tower defense game. It works like most tower defense games. Place towers in the shape of cute animals along the way and try to stop the bad guys from making it to the end. The presentation is absolutely adorable. It’s not as deep as something like Bloons TD 6, but it’s also not the most shallow game we’ve played. He’s free to play, but he’s not aggressive about it.

Yuzu emulator

Price: Free / $4.99

Yuzu Emulator is a popular emulator that has finally made its debut on Android. It boasts compatibility with thousands of games, a few extra options to enhance the graphics, and even lets you modify your games. Of course, you also get the usual stuff like external controller support, local co-op support, and more. It comes from the developers of Citra, our favorite Nintendo 3DS emulator, so we have high hopes that this one will keep getting better. There is a free version that you can get along with an early access version that costs $4.99.

Knights of Magic Stone

Price: Free to play

Magic Stone Knights is a match-3 game mixed with an RPG. It follows the fairly typical mechanic of matching items on the bottom half of the screen to deal damage to enemies on the top half of the screen. The amount of damage you take is related to your level and also the number of shapes you match. It has some common RPG elements, like a story to progress through. You can also collect heroes to do better as you enter the game late. It’s not surprising, but it’s solid for its genre.

Apple Classical Music

Price: Included with an Apple Music subscription

Apple Music Classical is the latest addition to Apple Music. You essentially get it for free if you already have an Apple Music subscription, making it quite the value proposition if you’re into classical music. However, you cannot get it if you have the Apple Music Voice plan. It streams music up to 24-bit and 192kHz, so music sounds great provided you have the proper equipment to handle it. The app also boasts over five million songs, composer bios, and more. Those with Apple Music subscriptions should definitely get it since you get it for free anyway.

League of Angels: Covenant

Price: Free to play

League of Angels: Pact is an idle mobile MMORPG. Lets unpack what that means. It has many of the elements of an MMORPG, including an open world that you share with other players. However, most of the things that happen there are automatic. You manage your character, but they do most of the work without you. They even level up while you’re offline, so you can come back and keep playing. The game has some good points about it. However, the microtransaction strategy is rather stingy. If the developers lighten things up a bit like pull rates and some in-game activities, this could be a fun way to relax and play a bit.

If we missed any great releases of Android apps or games, tell us about them in the comments.