Our 5 free and paid Android/iOS apps of the week

As I do every week, I'm going to talk about five free or paid mobile applications and games that are worth a visit on the Google Play Store and Apple's App Store. To my own findings on the app stores, I'm also going to add the pearls found by the NextPit community and shared on our forum.

From mobile games to productivity applications, here are the five free and paid Android/iOS applications that have marked us this week at NextPit.

Zenchat: a messaging app with integrated scheduler

Zenchat is a messaging application that's not so zen after all. Its particularity is to integrate a task scheduler that allows you to turn some messages into tasks directly. Concretely, you can associate the app to almost any type of account (Google, Apple, etc...) and then invite your contacts and create discussions. In these discussions, each message can be turned into a task.

If, for example, I discuss with my colleague Julia to organise a meeting next week, I can directly create a task, assign it to contacts, create a calendar reminder, etc... The task then becomes a "thread" under which you can continue to discuss so as not to mix everything up in your discussion.

Each task can then become a separate discussion in which the people involved can exchange. This is a good way to segment discussions, have a main chat as a "central hub" and then create secondary discussions around the topics of your choice. The app is free, I have not seen any ads and there does not seem to be any in-app purchases either. The interface is also very nice and ergonomic since it is quite reminiscent of WhatsApp.

Zenchat is mainly intended for professional use, but if you have an active social life it can be useful. / © NextPit

You can download the Zenchat application from the Google Play Store

Hyperburner: a therapeutic space odyssey

Hyperburner is an obstacle course game like Temple Run but with a spaceship and it is set... in space. The gameplay is not really innovative and this type of game is ubiquitous on the app stores, but I found the game really soothing, even therapeutic with its fluid graphics and futuristic graphic universe. If you've ever run a 3DMark benchmark on your smartphone, Hyperburner strangely reminds me of those animations I see regularly when I do my tests, maybe that's why it has this effect on me.

The game is paid, but you can get it via the Google Play Pass subscription if you have subscribed to it. No ads obviously nor micro-purchases in this game which is a nice little nugget to pass the time.

You can buy the game Hyperburner on the Google Play Store or on the Apple App Store

Task Air: finally a planner with a nice interface

Yeah, that's a lot of productivity this week. For once, a task scheduler with a nice interface is here. I wanted to talk about it in this selection. Task Air doesn't offer much more than your normal task scheduler, but the interface is pretty minimalist. The application does not require an account, you can also use it offline. Visually, the graphics are really nice, especially in dark mode.

The options cover the essentials, and adding tasks and then programming them is very easy and especially fast. With no ads and no in-app purchases, Task Air is a good breath of fresh air for power users and other organization maniacs.

Task Air is one of the few task schedulers with a neat and elegant interface. / © NextPit

You can download the Task Air application from the Google Play Store

AppLocker: to protect your sensitive applications

This is an application that I discovered in the Google Play Pass catalogue this week and that allows you to protect access to your applications. Concretely, the app brings an additional layer of security by allowing you to set a password and/or lock access to some or all of your apps via the fingerprint reader.

The interface is very nice and easy to use once you have given the application all the necessary permissions. No ads but in-app purchases.

AppLocker allows you to secure your most sensitive applications. / © NextPit

You can download the AppLock application from the Google Play Store

Blocks live wallpaper: to "Pixelize" your home screen

This is an interface customization application that allows you to apply a "live wallpaper", a dynamic wallpaper inspired by the design of those displayed on Google Pixel smartphones.

Cubism, geometric collages and primary colors, nothing transcendent or extravagant. If you want a simple, minimalist but colorful wallpaper Blocks Live Wallpaper is an unpretentious app but also without ads or in-app purchases.

The app is not visible in your app drawer, it integrates directly into your system customization settings, just like a 'normal' wallpaper. It's also really cool if you like Pixel 5 wallpapers, but don't want to pay £600 for a flagship with a mid-range SoC.

Blocks Live Wallpaper brings a touch of Pixel to your Android smartphone. / © NextPit

You can download the Blocks Live Wallpaper application from the Google Play Store

What do you think of this selection? Have you already tested some of the applications on this list? What would be your apps of the week? Share your opinions in the comments!

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