Welcome to the 429th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from last week:
- T-Mobile is facing an unblockable phishing attack right now. This was first reported by the NJCCIC. Basically, the scam involves texting users thanking them for paying bills and offering free gifts. It’s hard to block because they use group messaging and it’s a little more complicated to block than it used to be. In any case, check the link if you’re a T-Mobile customer to make sure you’re not getting hit.
- CNN Plus is closing on April 30, 2022. The reason is pretty clear. It wasn’t popular and nobody wanted it anyway. The service reportedly has less than 10,000 total subscribers and that’s about as bad as it gets. Some content may find its way to HBO Max, but otherwise, let’s just pretend this never happens because that’s exactly what Warner Bros. will do.
- Third-party tools that install Google Play Store on Windows 11 machines also install malware. The app is Windows Toolbox and on top of the Play Store, it also installs some cryptic scripts along with malicious Chrome extensions. The extension directs users to affiliate and referral links while also stealing personal data. Hit the link to learn more.
- Netflix announced a few things this week. The first is that they lost 200,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2022. That’s not great news. The company followed this up by announcing an ad-supported plan that was less expensive than the stock plan. Lastly, they also announced that account sharing is mandatory on all accounts. We asked our readers and they were very unhappy with most of it.
- Google is shutting down the call recorder app. The company limited functionality in earlier versions of Android. It didn’t kill him for good this time. The company banned all call recording apps from Play Store starting May 11th. It does this by limiting the use of the Accessibility API. However, the drawback is that the stock dialer app doesn’t need an API to invoke recorded calls. As such, call recording is at the discretion of the OEM and not the app developer. We’ll see how this plays out over time.
Berserkers Online
Price: Free to play
Berserker Online is an idle game with RPG elements. It plays like you’d expect. You sit around while your heroes beat up enemies and level up. The game also offers dungeons, bosses and PvP arenas. It uses the classic combination mechanic to make weapons more powerful. The developers overpromised some of their mechanics, but it’s as good a waste of time as you can get in this genre. Unfortunately, the game had a few bugs on release day which caused some problems with people loading the game. We think they nailed it, but if not, give it a few more days.
Zola Watch
Price: $0.99 each
Zola Watchfaces is a developer on Google Play and recently launched several new Wear OS watch faces. The themes differ somewhat between them, but most of them have similar features. They include battery status, always-on screen, 24 or 48 hour mode, and more. It’s not the most game-changing watch face you’ve ever seen. Still, it’s an inexpensive way to add a little flair to your smartwatch if you want to.
Time Defender
Price: Free to play
Time Defenders is a mobile gacha RPG. It boasts a roster of over 70 heroes and there will almost certainly be more to come. What makes this game not bad is the execution. Characters are fully voiced with decent animations. The story isn’t bad and the whole package runs pretty well. It has many of the usual gacha pitfalls such as boring grinding to upgrade units. However, you can grind for upgrade materials instead of needing a lot of tugging. It gets more grainy and boring over time as all gachas do, but it’s honestly not bad.
Proton Calendar
Price: Free
Proton Calendar is the latest application in the Proton software suite. The beta is rolling out for use though you need to be an existing Proton user to use the calendar. The calendar itself is pretty good. These include widgets, recurring events, daily planner functions, and a dark mode along with a light mode. This one separates itself from the pack by having end-to-end encryption on servers based in Switzerland. This is about the most secure calendar you can get in 2022. Again, you’ll need to be an existing Proton user to get into the beta, but hopefully that will go away when the app officially launches.
Prison of the Gods
Price: Free to play
Dungeon of Gods is an action RPG with very simple mechanics. It’s a bit reminiscent of Nonstop Knight so if you’ve played it you have some sort of idea of what you’re playing. You stop by, take a walk, and kill a bunch of bad guys. From there, you gain loot, stay ahead of the difficulty curve, and move on. That’s the basic game loop although there are a few other things you can do. It’s a decent little time killer and microtransactions could definitely be worse. The only problem is some initial bugs which can cause occasional crashes or connection issues.
If we missed any great Android app or game releases or news, let us know in the comments.
Thank you for reading. Try this too:
