Andy Walker / Android Authority
Welcome to the 455th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from last week.
- YouTube is increasing Premium family plan subscriptions by 23% next month. The price increases from $17.99 to $22.99 per month. It starts next month, though some long term customers may get a few months before it starts. This is a sizeable increase in price; You can read more about it in the link. On a positive note, at least YouTube doesn’t lock its 4K videos behind a paywall.
- We asked our readers if they would pay for Netflix’s new $6.99 per month ad-supported plan. Most of them said they wouldn’t pay for it. The biggest problem among our readers is the part where they pay money but still see the ad. We got it and didn’t want to pay for something and still see ads.
- Google is trying to color Tim Cook on Twitter. However, social media people who work for Google use iPhones. Thus, the Twitter post for the ancient iPhone was called up, and Google reposted it from the web. It’s the cutest little glitch we’ve seen before, and we’re sure we’ll see it again. Mark Zuckerberg also sheds some light on iMessage for being less secure than WhatsApp.
- Microsoft is apparently building a game store. Details came out during court proceedings. Sony tried to block Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard, and one of the documents in the case has the information. Apparently, Microsoft wants to build a game store that works across platforms, including mobile. Hit the link to learn more about what’s going on there.
- While we are talking about Microsoft, it has also improved Android support on Windows 11. The company is currently updating its Windows Subsystem for Android to support Android 13 along with all its new APIs and features. The update will also bring file transfers and shortcuts. We don’t know when the update will be coming, but it’s on the way.
Sigma Theory
Price: $6.99
Sigma Theory is a turn-based strategy game that takes place in the future. It’s from the same developer as Out There, one of the best and most brutal survival games. Players take charge of their faction’s Sigma division to try and harness the power capable of winning the futuristic cold war you’re stuck in. In terms of gameplay, this strategy is quite good. You use special agents to blackmail people and sabotage your opponents. It’s not graphically intensive, but the game mechanics are interesting enough that that shouldn’t be too much of an issue. This is a premium game as well so there are no in-app purchases to mess things up.
Substack Reader
Price: Free
Substack Reader is an interesting type of news application. This lets you subscribe to individual authors and newsletters. It then notifies you when the author or newsletter publishes something new. Minimal and clean UI. This is a basic feed that you scroll through. Articles are read in the app with the same minimal and basic feel as the feed itself. The only complaint we saw was that some users weren’t big fans of multiple controls. However, Reader performed well in our tests, and having an author-centric focus is decidedly different.
Momento Mori
Price: Free to play
MementoMori is a new RPG with some AFK elements. On the RPG side, you battle bad guys, level up, advance the story, and take on missions. For the AFK side, basically you just do auto-battle all the time. There is a gacha element where you create a party of characters to lead the battle. Each of them has their own background, and it seems that the developers put a lot of effort into creating the background. Add in the fun graphics and a great soundtrack, and the game does quite well. We can see this one becoming very popular in its genre.
Google Home (full redesign)
Price: Free
Google Home is undergoing a sizeable redesign. Most of the features are the same, but there are some UI changes along with some new features. For starters, there’s now Wear OS support, and you can now download the app on your Wear OS watch. It’s also coming to the web as part of a redesign. Google is also integrating Matter, a new smart home connectivity standard.
Some of the new in-app features include favorites, improved camera view for Nest cameras, and more automation and sensor support. There’s a lot of good stuff, but the best part is Wear OS support. We think Google needs its own smartwatch before it starts taking the platform seriously.
MARVEL shot
Price: Free to play
MARVEL Snap is a card dueling game. It features most of the same card dueling elements as other games. Players play games, draw cards, build decks, and duel other players. Most games take about three minutes. We like that the game doesn’t have super long and fancy animations, so you can start playing right away. There are 50 different arenas, hundreds of heroes and villains to collect (in multiple variants), and the developers claim that they will update the game consistently. It’s not perfect, but you do get a lot of free stuff, and we enjoyed how quickly the battles went.
If we missed a major Android app or game release, let us know in the comments.
Thank you for reading. Try this too:
