For September's selection of the very best iOS apps, we've got an incredibly useful translation tool, an elegant and creative painting app and some incredible photo filters to wow your friends and liven up your Facebook feed!
iTranslate
iTranslate
Free (Pro version £2.29 per month)
Computer translation services have come on leaps and bounds in recent years – and if you regularly find yourself communicating with people for whom English isn’t their first language, iTranslate is a versatile and easy-to-use tool.
With this app, you won’t have to skip over to Google Translate for a bit of copying and pasting every time you want to translate a message. Instead, it takes advantage of the latest improvements in iOS 10 to directly integrate with iMessage– meaning your text messages can be translated into one of over 90 languages at the touch of a button right before you send them. Likewise, a long press on a message sent to you will allow you to translate it in the opposite direction. And of course, there’s also a standalone app which allows you to translate other sources of text.
This alone makes it one of the most useful and practical translation apps we’ve come across here at Geek Squad – but the app’s ‘Pro’ version has even more brilliant features which make it a must-have for anybody who travels a lot, or is interested in foreign languages.
Firstly, it offers an offline mode: perfect where data roaming costs are an issue. More excitingly, it also offers voice translation, saving your fingers from all that tedious typing – and there’s also an extension for Safari to translate web pages on the fly.
All told, it’s not a bad offer for a couple of quid per month, and it’s definitely worth considering if you’re jetting off on holiday or on a business trip. But even the free version is an excellent little tool to keep in store for any unexpected foreign words or phrases you encounter.
Prisma
Prisma Labs, Inc
Free
If you love getting creative with photo effects and filters, you’ll love Prisma: an image-editing app that transforms your photos into painting-like works of art.
Simply snap a photo using the app’s own camera or choose a photo from your library, then choose from any of more than 30 different filters to transform the image. These filters range from painterly effects that attempt to replicate the styles of artists like Piet Mondrian or Vincent van Gogh to dramatic neon-hued filters.
The effects themselves are breathtaking: a real triumph of image processing and artificial intelligence. Some will work better than other for certain images, but with the right combination you can create some gorgeous and varied results.
Once you’re happy with your image, you can save it to your phone at the touch of a button, and there are also handy shortcuts that make it effortless to post your pics to Instagram, Facebook or any other apps that support the iOS ‘Share Sheet’.
It’s incredibly compulsive stuff, and I personally spent what felt like hours applying the different effects to photos from my image library – grab it for yourself today and see what kind of masterpieces you can come up with!
Forest
Shaokan Pi
£1.49
If you’re anything like us, you’re always fiddling with your smartphone – and while our pocket-sized devices are great sources of entertainment, they’re also great sources of distraction!
Sometimes, it’s simply inappropriate to check Twitter, browse through your photos or reply to that text message – and if you have trouble controlling the urge to do so, Forest might just be the app for you, as it encourages you to leave your phone alone for extended periods, allowing you to “focus and be present”.
Open the app when it’s time to concentrate, and you’ll be asked to “plant a tree” after setting the period of time you need to concentrate for. The tree will continue to grow while you’re working – but will be killed if you leave the app. Meanwhile, it’ll display motivational messages: from the encouraging “stay focused!” to the frankly moody “leave me alone” and “don’t look at me”.
Every time you successfully complete a period of smartphone-free concentration, the tree is added to your forest – and the satisfaction of growing a healthy selection of trees is intended to motivate you to develop good habits of focus and concentration.
The app is beautifully presented and easy to use, and may come in particularly handy for students come revision or homework time – and I’ll personally be using it during meals out to make sure I focus on my friends and family rather than my Facebook feed!
Tayasui Sketches
Tayasui.com
Free (in-app purchases available)
There are plenty of sketching and drawing apps to choose from for iOS – but in our opinion, Tayasui Sketches is one of the very best thanks to its advanced features and intuitive, modern interface.
Rather than a selection of icons, you can choose your drawing tool from an elegant selection of virtual brushes. These include a selection of pen, pencil and brush tools – as well as some more unusual options.
The colour mixer, for example, allows you to blend different colours directly on the canvas, before pressing a 'dry' button to set them in place. There's also a pattern tool that lets you sketch out shapes and designs before filling them in with colour, a ruler for straight edges and more.
Beyond the tools, the interface is a pleasure to use. It makes extensive use of swipes and gestures, meaning there are very few icons to clutter up the screen and get in the way of your artistic expression. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you've memorised the shortcuts it's a quick and easy way to control the app.
The basic version of the app is more than enough to produce some fantastic digital drawings, but there's also a host of in-app purchases to expand the functionality. You can choose to add layer functionality, pressure-sensitivity for styluses or simply a wider range of drawing tools – or make a saving by bundling them all together.
Whether you pony up for the extras or stick with the free version, though, Sketches is definitely worth a look – download it today and see what you can come up with.
That's it for September's selection of the very best iOS apps – but for even more fun on your mobile, why not check out this month's pick of the best iPhone and iPad games? And for more great articles from our Agents straight to your inbox each month, get your name down below for the Geek Squad newsletter!