Welcome to the 479th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from the last week:
- Nearby Share is now available for Android and Windows, albeit in beta. It lets you send files from your Android phone to your Windows PC. It’s pretty simple to use. You download and install the Windows app and then follow the instructions. Hit the link to learn more.
- Google Drive instituted a file limit on users. Granted, it was five million files, but some users got caught off-guard and were asked to remove files from the service to get under the new limit. Google has since rescinded that limit and stated that they’re working to optimize in different ways.
- Microsoft is moving right along with its AI push. This week saw the addition of Bing Chat to SwiftKey Keyboard. This is an AI chatbot function that is basically the same as Bing Chat, along with another feature that helps you draft more polite or professional correspondence. The feature is in the beta version of SwiftKey right now, which is available in the Google Play Store.
- Meanwhile, Google is putting the pedal to the metal with its own AI efforts. Google is restructuring the virtual assistant team to focus more on Bard development. This is obviously to integrate Bard with Google Assistant and other products, so we’ll keep an eye out. Google also confirmed this week that an AI chatbot is coming to Google Search, but we don’t know when exactly. Search did get a new feature to help save money on flights and hotels, though, so it’s still putting along just fine.
- Some Google Play policy changes came through the pipes this week. The first is a policy that will prevent personal loan apps from accessing sensitive user data, and it starts on May 31, 2023. The other forces app developers to give users a way to permanently delete their account data on any app. Hit the links to learn more about each change.
Overlord of Chaos
Price: Free to play
Overlord of Chaos is a strategy game with kingdom-building elements. You recruit heroes from across history, build up towns, and progress through the game. You even get rewards while you’re offline. It relies a little heavily on the gacha elements as well, as there are multiple ways to earn pulls for more heroes. Combat is pretty simple as well. You form small armies and fight other armies. It’s relatively new, so it’s tough to see how well it’ll do long term, but it has some potential as long as you don’t mind all of the elements.
Mood Journal is yet another diary-style app where you can track your mood. This one was promoted by Google Play’s editor’s choice segment for April. They seem to be big fans of mood journals. This one is pretty nice. It has a good, sleek UI, and its usability is quite good. You can track your mood over a long span with some fun graphs to see how it fluctuates over time. You have to watch some ads to unlock some features, but otherwise, it works quite well.
Another Dungeon
Price: Free to play
Another Dungeon is an idle MMORPG that uses pixel art instead of realistic graphics. It plays like most MMORPGs. You follow the story, do side quests, fight bosses, dive into dungeons, and more. Of course, the idle part is that the game does a lot of stuff on its own, but you still get to make decisions every now and then. There is also a PvP mode if you feel like fighting other people. This game, like most new Android games, has some potential, but only if you’re into idle games. MMORPG fans will likely want something a bit more traditional.
Voidpet
Price: Free / $3.99 per month / $39.99 per year
Voidpet is a mix of a mood journal (yes, another one) and a game. This one has you collecting pets and growing animals. You then confide your actual, real-life feelings with those animals to track your mood over time. Some people play it just for the game part, but other folks seem to like using it as a journal of sorts. The point of the app is to help players think more positively and deal better with their negative emotions. It also lets you set goals, and there are some meditation bits in there too. It’s a neat take on mood tracking.
Higan: Eruthyll
Price: Free to play
Higan: Eruthyll is an action RPG with anime-inspired graphics. You get a variety of characters, level them up, and use them to beat up on bad guys. The developers say that the combat is action-oriented, but it’s more flashy than anything. There’s an energy system that lets you unload gorgeous attacks. At the end of the day, though, it’s tap-to-attack like most gachas. It’s not bad, just not quite what the marketing team says. In any case, this is a good-looking gacha RPG, and hopefully, it’s as good in the late game as it is in the early game.
If we missed any big Android apps or games releases, tell us about them in the comments.
