Monday is a cruel mistress, but never fear — the warming glow of your smartphone is always there. Build a blanket fort and hunker down til with our favourite new apps.
Multi-Platform Updates
Call Of Duty: Ghosts Companion App for Android/iOS/WP
The new COD is here, and with it a new companion app. Ghosts‘ Clan Chat gives an off-screen communication and notification channel, alongside member stats, weapons and equipment choices. Finally, COD Clan Wars is an in-app turf war with in-game bonuses useful in multiplayer mode. [Android, iOS, Windows Phone]
Android
Swype
This week’s update to the handy no-tap-typing app brings multiple keyboard layouts, including mini keyboards for big screens and landscape mode for small ones. It’s also got continuous dictation, and new multi-language support that lets you type bilingually from the same keyboard. [$4]
Star Wars: Tiny Death Star
Originally limited to Australia at launch, this pixely Tiny-Tower-in-a-galaxy-far-far-away has you build your own Death Star, capture rebel spies, and aid the Empire’s underground plots. [Free]
iOS
QuizUp
One night of Quizzo in an empty bar will convince you, trivia games are better with lots of players. QuizUp pits minds of minutae around the world against each other with over 100,000 questions in 250 topics. If you run through them all, you can even submit topics and questions of your own. You big showoff. [Free]
Mosey
Looking for a fun way to kill four hours? Mosey has you covered, whether you’re travelling the world or stuck in your hometown. Pick the neighbourhood you’re in and the kind of stuff you want to do, and Mosey gives you an afternoon itinerary of places and things to check out. Add your favourite hotspots and insider tips, and get to jaunting. [Free]
RunKeeper
Our favourite athletic tracking app just got updated to take advantage of the iPhone 5S’s M7 chip. When enabled, Pocket Track mode automatically detects and records 15-minute-or-longer walks, while new AirDrop support lets you share workout plans and follow friends’ tracker activity. A new stride rate chart alongside elevation and pace rounds out the updates. [Free]
Windows Phone
InstaBlender
Make photo mashups with a few finger-swipes using InstaBlender. With 15 blend patterns, 30 filters (stackable, unlike Instagram where you can only choose one), colour adjustments and a text editor, you can make all kinds of crazy collaborations. And with high-res 1200×1200 export, you can share them to social media without turning them into a blurry, mushy mess. [Free]
PicFeed
Like an Instagram plugin for your phone, PicFeed lets you subscribe to Instagrammers to create a curated photo feed on your phone. Pick a stock feed, or create one of your own, and discover the great stuff out there — and since the feeds you create don’t add to your “follow” list, you can go crazy without cluttering up your Instagram profile. [Free]
Readit
Give the front page of the internet a Live Tile on your phone. With an elegant interface, integrated album browsing, and the ability to pin your favourite Subreddits to the start screen, all the weird/strange/wonderful/really bizarre corners of the internet will never be further than your pocket. [$2]