Agent Plummer has rounded up the very best iPhone and iPad apps in the App Store this August – and from an incredible word-processor to an all-new video messaging service from Google, you'll love our picks for this month.
Google Duo
Google Inc.
Free
Google Duo is the latest in Google’s messaging offerings – and this app is all about video!
Like the popular FaceTime for iOS devices, Duo is designed to let you have video calls with anyone else who has the app. What’s interesting is that Duo is completely separate from all of Google’s other messaging services, like Hangouts,and it’s for smartphones only: you won't be getting Duo on your laptop or desktop, nor iPad or any other tablet.
This very clear focus on mobile has enabled Google to make Duo super simple to set up and use. Just open the app, provide your mobile number and that’s it: you’re now ready to start making and receiving video calls.
Now, you might be thinking "doesn’t FaceTime already do this?" Well, Google Duo has two main features that allow it stand on its own:
First, unlike FaceTime,it's multi-platform. Whether you’re on iOS or Android you'll be able to download and use the app to communicate. Plus, in what could be a first for a Google app, you don’t appear to need a Google account to use it – just a mobile number. Admittedly most people probably do have a Google account – but removing this restriction just helps to open it up to as many people as possible.
The other feature is very, very cool – it’s called 'Knock Knock'. With Knock Knock enabled, the person making the video call is already live and on video from as soon as they press 'dial'.
This means when you receive a Duo call, you'll be able to see not just the persons name, but their face, smiling and waving at you to answer your phone! This is such an awesome feature that makes video calls that little bit more seamless – and every time you see one coming through and can see the person literally knocking on your screen to answer, it makes things all the more enticing!
Before you worry, this doesn’t work the other way round – so if you’re in the shower and receive a Duo call, they won’t be able to see you unless you answer!
All in all, Google Duo does a marvellous job of keeping video calls nice and easy, and the Knock Knock feature really sets it apart from other apps in this space.
Adorable
The Lens Lab Party Ltd.
Free
People love baby pictures – it’s a very lucrative market. As such, it can also be very expensive for you to get some good pictures of your kids – so why not make some at home instead?
That’s where Adorable comes in. The app is designed to allow you to create amazing baby pictures right from home, and comes with a variety of filters, frames, fonts and artwork to add to your pictures, giving them that little extra touch and making them really special.
You can also create pregnancy milestone pictures to help you to track your little guy or girl along the way, and then when they're born you cab look back over them see how things progressed.
Adorable keeps things simple too: it’s really easy for you to snap a picture and then start to get creative. Adding layers of frames, text and filters is done with just a few taps and at the end you will have a great-looking picture you can share with everyone!
FAST Speed Test
Netflix Inc.
Free
This app from Netflix serves one purpose: to tell you how fast your connection speed is.
The reasoning behind this being that you need a fairly decent internet connection in order to stream Netflix movies and TV Shows – especially if you want to watch them in HD.
FAST keeps things nice and simple – really simple. Simply open the app, and it will already be measuring your download speed and within a few seconds, you should have a final number. The only button is to pause the test or restart it once done. It does not provide upload speeds (which are not really any use for Netflix), nor any technical jargon like 'ping' or 'latency'.
No, FAST is simply here to tell you your download speed – which for most people is all that matters. If you're interested in the more technical stats then this app won’t really suit you, but there are plenty of other apps out there that can!
Scrivener
Literature & Latte
£14.99
Scrivener is a extremely feature-rich writing tool that allows you to work in your own way, with no restrictions. It is primarily aimed at writing long pieces of work where you might have multiple sections and make use of extra resources like research, ideas and notes.
If you are writing a book, novel, dissertation, play or any other similar project, then Scrivener will help you to keep everything organised in one app – and actually help you write in a more efficient way.
I’ve personally used this app a few times on my Mac, which syncs with the mobile app beautifully. It was fantastic for writing my undergraduate dissertation, as I could store all my research papers, links, references, images and notes right there to be referred to as I was writing the actual document.
I could also break everything down in to lots of smaller sections, and get instant word counts to know when each section was done. I’m very glad to see it coming to the iPad, as I’m using mine to create written work more and more often.
Once you’ve finished the work on Scrivener, you can then very easily compile everything into one document and export it as PDF, Word document or plain text – and a variety of other formats too.
Overall, Scrivener might seem a little pricey – but if you're doing some serious work, you're not going to find a better writing tool out there!
That's it for August's selection of the very best iPhone and iPad apps – but for more great articles from our Agents straight to your inbox each month, get your name down below for the Geek Squad newsletter!