Horizon Will Never Let You Record Another Vertical Video Again [Android]

Vertical videos are the bane of our time. As much as we all hate them when we click play, we don’t really remember to turn our device on its side so we can record a proper horizontal video. Google Camera came up with a solution to that with one of its earlier versions where the app doesn’t record unless it detects your device is held correctly and I think that was genius. It’s something Apple should consider brining to iOS. Horizon is an Android app that takes the fight against vertical videos one step further and lets you hold you device any way you want while it continues recording in the correct landscape mode. The free version of the app lets you record for fifteen seconds and an upgrade worth $0.99 will let you record without any time restrictions. With the free version, you also get a watermark at the bottom right of your video and promotional animation for Horizon at the end...

Chat Lock Prevents Access To Facebook, Messenger, & Whatsapp [Android]

Chat applications alert you to new messages in multiple ways such as in the notification area, or a push message. Depending on how you’ve secured your lock screen or your device, these message alerts may or may not be easily accessible. Chat Lock (Facebook Chat Heads) is an app that secures these message alerts with a password. The app will prevent access to the Facebook app, the Facebook Messenger app, and Whatsapp. Whenever you tap on a new message alert, you have to enter the password before you can access your messages regardless of which type of alert you’ve tapped on...

Call Planner Is An App That Schedules Phones Calls With Reminders [Android]

We’ve reviewed a lot of reminder apps for just about every platform out there. Reminder apps are more or less notes that you can set alerts for. They can be simple To-do list apps that can alert you to a task, or they can be calendar based task schedulers. Call Planner is an Android app that is in essence a reminder app but for a very particular niche function; phone calls. The app lets you schedule calls you need to make and if you like, it will automatically add missed calls to your To-do list and schedule birthday calls. Call reminders can have low, medium, and high priority and be put in to a planned or to-do category...

iLock Photographs Intruders Who Try To Access Your Android Phone

A picture is worth a thousand words and while that’s probably gotten old and more worn every time you’ve read it, it’s still true. To be perfectly honest, if it’s a picture of a sunset or some other landscape it is worth a thousand words but if it’s a picture of someone caught red handed in the act of thievery, it’s worth more than a thousand words and at least on triumphant grin. iLock – Anti-theft Lockscreen is an Android app that adds its own PIN lock to your screen and if anyone enters it incorrectly, it snaps a picture from the front facing camera. The app also has you enter a codeword which, when sent to the device over SMS, can activate the app as well as give you the device’s current location...

Master Password: Off-Line Password Generator & Vault For Desktop & Mobile

In light of recent security leak scandals, people are beefing up security on their personal accounts to paranoid levels. Security is always at a premium and to serve that end there are numerous solutions available. Solutions that secure images, individual folders, apps (android and iOS) and even bookmarks. The irony of security is that security providers seem to want more of your personal information to improve security. In order to really secure certain online services, you can add anything from fingerprint verification to phone confirmation, implying that in case of a security breach, not only is your web service compromised, so is your fingerprint ID and your personal phone number. However, Master Password for Mac, Java desktop, iOS and Android (beta) makes it easy for you to remain secure without the hassle of memorizing any complicated strings. Here’s how...

Narrate: Material Design App That You Can Dictate Notes To [Android]

When Google didn’t immediately release Material Design versions of Chrome, YouTube, Keep, Gmail, and just about every other app it has, after announcing Android L and Material Design, I was disappointed. Fortunately, the developer community is adopting Material design enthusiastically and some great apps are being developed, Narrate being one of the latest ones. It’s a note taking app that you can dictate your notes to and it comes with a calendar. The app syncs notes to Dropbox and Day One, the iOS app if you have the pro version. You can dictate a new note or you can type it in. Dates are added automatically and tags can later be added. Location tag and places are under development...

Car Logbook: Record Maintenance Costs & Set Reminders For Your Vehicles [Android]

Every vehicle needs maintenance, even the low maintenance ones need maintenance. Failing to properly service a car not only means you risk it failing you unexpectedly but also means you’re depreciating its value faster than normal usage would. Car Logbook is an Android app that helps you keep track of everything to do with your car. You can track fuel expenses, how much mileage you’re getting, and set reminders for routine maintenance work like changing the oil, or rotating your tyres. The app is designed to keep records of multiple vehicles so if you have more than one car in the house, like say that of an SO or a child, you can keep track of its maintenance as well...

New Features In Firefox 32 For Desktop & Android

Firefox 32 for Windows, Mac, and Linux is out and with it comes a new version for Android as well. Both versions come with new features for end users and developers. One major change for end users using the desktop version is a new context menu that does away with the text based options and adds buttons for going back, forward, refreshing, and bookmarking a page. There have been the usual bug fixes and new CSS properties have been implemented. Android users once again get some UI changes. The new launch page has received a facelift and quick controls for clearing your browsing history have been added along with a nice auto-complete feature for the URL bar...

Guest Locker: Restrict App Access And Device Functionality With A Special PIN [Paid]

How often do you hand your friends your phone to show them a funny picture? If you have kids, it’s likely they know what your password or PIN is. I’ve always preferred using a PIN over a password because it’s quicker to enter but obviously less secure but the fact is that regardless if you use a PIN or password anyone who is determined enough will figure it out just by watching you enter it repeatedly. Guest Locker Smart Security is an Android app worth $ 1.99 in the Google Play Store that lets you create two PINs/Passwords, each of which lock a different set of apps on your phone. Basically, you’re creating a PIN for yourself as an Admin of the device and a second PIN for a guest. You choose what files and apps the Guest account has access to. The app makes it so that a user doesn’t realize you have any extra security on your phone and thinks they have full access to everything. The app does not require root permission to run...

Month: The Calendar Widget That Does Everything & Looks Great [Android]

As an iOS user, I like that  the calendar app icon on my home screen will show me the current date but I envy Android users who can dedicate an entire page on their home screen to organization by adding a full calendar complete with bells and whistles. Month: The Calendar Widget is something that checks all the boxes as far as a great functional calendar widget goes. It adds the month’s calendar to your home and/or lock screen and you can swipe to the next or previous month of the year. The widget adds events from all calendars configured to your Google Account and you can add a new event, as well as view the current one...

Hitlist: Create Playlists From Tracks Suggested By Your Facebook Friends [Android]

Ever have trouble trying to find music to play when you’re together with your friends? Everyone has their own choice in music and catering to it all isn’t easy. Hitlist is an Android app for getting music suggestions from your Facebook friends and adding them to a playlist. The app is a full fledged music player for your local files and you can create playlists, play songs on repeat and shuffle. To get suggestions from  your Facebook friends they need to have the app installed on their devices. You can pick who you want to receive a song suggestion from and then add it to your playlist...

Notific Is Where Material Design Meets Lockscreen Notifications On Android [Paid]

Android L’s lockscreen notifications are something a lot of Android users are looking forward to. It’s not a unique concept and those that wanted notifications on their lockscreen before Android L  probably went with an app that did the trick for them. But since it’s an entirely different experience when a feature is added by the OS itself, Android L’s lockscreen notifications have considerable anticipation behind them. Notific is an Android app worth $0.99 in the Google Play Store that mimics Android L’s lockscreen notifications exceptionally well. Besides an excellent Material design UI, the app comes with a do not disturb mode and the ability to black/white list apps...

Ignore No More Locks Phones When Kids Don’t Answer A Parent’s Call [Android]

If you have kids, and your kids have phones then you know that instead of using those phones to assure you they are alive and well, not drunk, doing drugs, or being held hostage, kids use it to post selfies, take pictures of food, and ignore you. If your kids have an Android phone though, you can now curb their habit of ignoring you when you check up on them. Ignore No More is an Android app that lets you lock your kids’ phones down if they do not answer your calls. It can take far more drastic measures and wipe a phone as well. To use the app, both parent and child must have it installed on their device...

flippr: Access Widgets From Any Screen, Any App On Your Phone [Android]

What can a floating button on your screen do? Just about everything imaginable. It’s one of the most common ways developers make theirs apps easily accessible from any and all screens on a device. flippr is an Android app that puts all your widgets a swipe away. It adds a floating button that you can swipe to access widgets from within other apps,. The apps continue to run when you use the widget and you can swipe it away and return to the app when you’re finished. In addition to calling a widget, the app also lets you create groups of widgets and switch between them, all from the app’s button...

Blur: A New Stlye Of App Launcher In The Making, Comes With API [Android]

App launchers aren’t like normal apps. They aim to make using your device more convenient but they also do what few apps do. They inspire new ways for users to interact with their device and if a launcher is popular enough, many app developers will work to support it. Blur is a new launcher, freshly released, and still in the rough that takes cue from Google Now.  Blur expands on having consolidated information on a single page by allowing entire apps to have a dedicate page to themselves.  The result is users have entire ‘pages’ dedicated to an app much like they have a dedicated Google Now page. The catch of course is that at present, there aren’t a lot of apps that support Blur since it just came out. The developers have releases an API that can be used to integrate an app with Blur but you’re in for a wait before your favorite and frequently used apps have a page of their own...

Debtster Helps You Track Your IOUs Within Different Groups [Android]

The complications that come with splitting bills when you are co-existing are unavoidable. Keeping track and then later reconciling the difference can be time consuming if you’re IOUs are all little sticky notes or scribblings on paper. Debtster is an Android app that helps make sharing expenses, and recovering them, easier. It makes allowance for expense sharing with different groups so if you’re splitting bills with a room-mate or occasionally end up paying for lunch or coffee for a co-worker, the app lets you keep track of both separately. You add yourself as a user, likewise, other users are added the same way. The app supports most popular currencies but not all of them which is a surprise and gives you a nice historical view of money that is owed for a particular transaction...

Grammar Nazi Helps You Learn Proper English While You Read [Android]

English is a bit of a tricky language; you’re not always sure whether a CH at the start of a word should be pronounced as it is in Chair or as it is in Character. Then you hear tongue twisters about a woodchuck chucking wood and it gets more confusing. Words you can learn slowly by reading. You will eventually have a bigger vocabulary and hopefully the knowledge to use them properly. The trickier part of a language is the syntax i.e. the grammar. Grammar Nazi is an Android app that, although built to be a game, helps you read books in English (currently only supports TXT files) and improve your grammar...

Numix Is A Material Design Calculator With Advanced Trig Functions [Android]

Material design apps are cropping up more and more frequently now. Developers are not only taking well to the new design but since its announcement, they’ve been hard at developing useful apps while conforming to it. Numix is the next Android app to jump cut to Material design. It’s a calculator, nothing more – nothing less. Besides the standard mathematical functions, the app supports trigonometric functions as well as conversion of numbers to decimal, binary, or hexadecimal number systems. The free version of the app will let you perform any and all supported calculations while the pro version features customization options in the form of themes, and allows you to recall previous calculations...

Andrognito BETA: Hide Any And All Types Of Files On Your Android Device [No Root]

Just yesterday, we reviewed S Converter, a simple conversion app that is an excellent example of what Material design is. As time goes by, more and more developers are now conforming to the new Material design and creating some really great apps in the process. Andrognito, a play on the words Android and Incognito, a new app that lets you hide your files. The app is in Beta and does not require a rooted device to run. Files are hidden behind a PIN number and can only be unhidden from the app itself. Once a file has been hidden, it no longer appears in file browsing apps...

S Converter: Convert Units With This Material Design Done Right App [Android]

How many pounds in a kilogram? Back when calculators, and smartphones weren’t so common, the best you could do was learn little tricks that could help you get a near estimate. For example, you can double the value of Kg and then add half more to get a near enough figure of how many pounds are in it. Fortunately, you can now convert units from the Google search results page or, if you’re offline, you can use a conversion app like S Converter. It supports unit conversion for acceleration, currency, area, digital storage, energy, force, fuel consumption, and more. The app works great and if you want another reason to use it over any other run-of-the-mill conversion app then take S Converter’s design into consideration which is all Material...

Poppy Gives You Email Notifications That You Can Reply To From Anywhere [Android]

Android’s notifications one-up iOS notifications because they can be made more interactive. Android is after all open and that means more features. Email Popup: Poppy is an Android app that gives you richer email alerts on any screen. Like the alerts in the notification area, you can interact with the alert but it takes the interaction further. You can reply to the email directly from the email without having to switch to the email app. The message can be marked as read, and deleted as well...

QwickNote: Gesture Based Note Taking App With Text, Photo, Voice Memo & Reminder [Android]

Note taking apps are like weather apps; there are a lot of both of them. I haven’t found an app that takes notes and tells you the weather but I have found a neat little note taking app that is gesture based, covers all the bases you would want in a note taking app including voice and photo based notes, and it syncs to Dropbox. QwickNote is a free ad-supported app that lets you take notes. For an ad-free version, download the pro version of the app.  Apart from letting you create text, photo, and voice based notes, it also lets you create lists, set reminders for your notes, add check boxes to your lists, edit the text size, and a lot more...

Rotation Gives You Complete, Per-App Control Over Your Device’s Orientation [Paid]

The accelerometer in our phones add amazing functionality to it allowing developers to develop some truly creative games and some amazing utility apps. It also tells our phone which way it’s being held i.e. upright in portrait mode or in landscape mode. The screen rotates accordingly to make use of the the extra space in landscape mode. With screen orientation, the ability to rotate it is great but it’s also a fact that one size does not fit all. You can’t lock the orientation and you can’t always have it enabled because some apps are best used in portrait mode while others are best used in landscape mode. Rotation is an Android app worth $0.99 in the Google Play Store that lets you change screen orientation on the fly, customize it on a per-app basis, and/or force it to either landscape or portrait mode for all screen...

Pale Moon For Android Is Firefox On Steroids

Mozilla Firefox is an open-source web browser, which means anyone can take its source code, modify it and create their own custom built. Various projects, maintained by small, or even individual, developers have taken Firefox and released their own variants, either to optimize its performance, or offer additional functionality. Pale Moon is one such highly ambitious project for Windows and Linux that’s known for its fast performance. The browser carries many backend optimizations that make it faster than the stable Firefox build. The XDA-Developers forum member cyansmoker had been busy bringing the Pale Moon browser to Android for the past few months, and he’s now released its first version for anyone to download and use...

Bamboo Paper Finally Goes Multi-Platform & We Took It For A Spin

If you are artistically inclined, you will instantly recognize the name of Wacom, a company that made a name for itself through digital drawing tablets. Despite not being an artist, I have used the Wacom Bamboo for the longest time, as it brought an element of ease and fluidity to writing, note taking, scribbling and drawing on a computer. ‘Bamboo’ was the name given to their introductory line of drawing tablets. When the world started shifting to tablet computing, it was a logical choice to provide Bamboo’s trade mark fluidity in the new world. This brought us Bamboo Paper, a very popular app that has been an iOS exclusive for nearly 3 years. However, it is now looking at a multi-platform launch for “Kindle + Windows Tablets + Android” Phablets and Tablets. Phones – even large screen devices - will have to make do with Wacom’s image sharing app Bamboo Loop, as Paper is not available to all mobile users. Let us take you through how the app fares on an Android Phablet (tested on a Sony Xperia Z Ultra)...

Focal (Beta) Aims To Be The One Camera App To Rule Them All [Android]

I’ll be the first one to say that there is little in this world that can beat Google’s Camera app. I have yet to find anything that comes close for either Android or iOS. Having said that, there’s always a chance something better or something different comes along. Focal is a new camera app for Android and before you read further, know that it is in Beta and it does have bugs. It’s an all encompassing app for recording video or taking photos with several flash modes, white balance, scene mode,, HDR capture, effects, exposure adjustment, and burst mode...

Get Audio Guided Instructions For Taking Selfies With The Rear Camera [Android]

As I write this post, I know I’m helping to further the selfie epidemic that plagues this generation but Smart Selfie is an app that is hard to pass up. It’s an Android app that helps you take a selfie with the rear camera instead of the front one which, on many devices, is a lower resolution than the other one. Smart Selfie asks how many people are in a photo, and what orientation it is being taken in. The app then gives audio instructions to move the device up, left, right, closer, and away until everyone is in the shot and then it takes the selfie...

Digify: Secure, View Only, Self-Destructing File Sharing With Dropbox Support

It’s seemingly pivotal, from time to time, to discuss the essential process of protecting your sensitive data. We’ve discussed apps before that are designed to help you securely share files online, but today we’re going to take a look at another entry in that race that combines Snapchat like prowess with Dropbox-esque file sharing. The app is simply referred to as Digify and it aims to give you the most secure file sharing solution. The application achieves this via the good ‘ol file destruction method. That is, rather than giving recipient permanent access to a file, it sets a time limit from the sender and initiates self-destruct automatically...

Essential Calls: Allow Your Phone To Ring Only If It’s Important [Android]

Call forwarding and voice mail are how we deal with calls when we’re caught up with something important. Of course, not all calls can just be forwarded to voice mail. Some are important enough to take during a meeting. Essential Calls is an Android app that lets calls from white listed contacts bring your phone out of silent mode and ring or vibrate, whichever you prefer. The app has a Lite version and a premium version. The Lite version lets you white list only two contacts (a bit too restrictive to be honest) while the premium version lets you add unlimited contacts and get SMS alerts for text messages sent by them...

Facebook Now Lets You Bookmark Posts From Web And Mobile

Something that’s long been missing on Facebook is a way, any way, to find a link or photo you liked a month ago. Even searching for a page you like but have forgotten the name of is difficult. That struggle is now a thing of the past because Facebook is rolling out a new ‘Save’ feature to its users. This new feature lets you save places, events, music, links, and photos from your news feed. A new ‘Save’ link is added under the Favorites in the left side bar where you can access them, share them, revisit the links, or delete them. The feature is being made available in both iOS and Android apps, as well as for the web...