This week’s roundup includes a new app that celebrates the 50th anniversary of a children’s favorite. Read on!
Eric Carle’s Brown Bear Animal Parade ($3, iPhone and iPad) marks the 50th anniversary of Eric Carle’s classic best-selling children’s book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. Brown Bear and his friends—including Red Bird, Yellow Duck, Green Frog, and other characters—come to life in 3D animation. It’s designed “for preschoolers and Eric Carle fans of all ages.”
Hyper News (free, iPhone) lets you watch late-breaking news videos, even offline—videos download in the background whenever you’re connected to Wi-Fi. The makers update the app every hour with a handpicked video, from sources like Mic, Mashable, and National Geographic.
iHeartRadio (freemium, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch) has long been one of the giants of iOS radio. Now users can access two different premium services through the app: iHeartRadio Plus, at $5 a month, offers users instant replay of a track they just enjoyed, then jumps back into live programming. iHeartRadio All Access ($10 a month) is more of a competitor to streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify—letting users curate and create playlists from “millions” of tracks playing on the radio.
Air travelers rejoice: Netflix (free, iPhone and iPad) now lets you download and view some movies and TV shows offline. Like that? PlayOn Cloud (freemium, iPhone and iPad) lets you “record” shows from services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime for later offline play.
Pie (free, iPhone and iPad) lets you create 360-degree videos, even though your iPhone isn’t equipped with a 360-degree camera. Take a panoramic video “slice” by moving your phone in an arc— here’s video of the results—then share your creations with friends on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media services.
Radio Public (free, iPhone) is a different sort of podcast player—it offers curated lists of the best podcasts and best podcast episodes, helping users cut through the clutter of the vastly crowded podcasting universe.
Truebill (free, iPhone) has a been around a few months, drawing attention as a cool new way to help users track and manage their finances and keep their heads above water. Sign up and link your bank accounts, after which you can instantly see everything you’re paying for on a recurring basis. Want to unsubscribe from that recurring payment? It takes one click. Version 2.0 recently launched with a new, easier interface to guide new users.
Yahoo has launched a free mobile app for its Yahoo Answers service (free, iPhone) letting users search for questions and answers, seek out explanations for those answers on the web and post those links in your answers, plus edit questions, answers, and even your username from your phone.
Facetune 2 (pictured) is an update of the popular selfie-editing app Lightricks … SwiftKey keyboard has made all its themes free.
Author: Joel Mathis
Joel Mathis is a regular contributor to Macworld and TechHive. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and young son.