Waywise, Collections Database, UTM SE, and other apps to check out this weekend
Are you ready for the weekend?! It’s here, and that means it’s time for another Apps of the Week roundup. This week we have some great picks for you, including a travel guide that lets you discover cities like a local, an app for creating databases, and a retro PC emulator (yes, you read that right). And as always, we’ve selected a fun game for you to check out.
Waywise: City guides
Want to discover a new city like a local? Meet Waywise. The travel app features comprehensive transport, language, money, and neighborhood tips for virtually every major city in the world. Need to know the quickest or cheapest way to and from the airport? Not sure how much to tip your server? Want to do some shopping but don’t know where the good spots are? These are things Waywise can help you with. The app has a selection of downloadable, pre-curated city guides that are available for a one-off fee, or you can subscribe to WPass for unlimited access to every city guide. Look, I know there are tons of travel apps out there, and even some that offer a similar ‘local’ experience, but hey, now you know about this one too.
Download for free
Collections Database
Collections Database is your personal database app to organize…everything. Haven’t you thought, at one time or another, “I wish I had more databases?” Or, “I wish I had a database for my databases?” Joking aside, I think this app might be useful for the right audience. It has over 20 field types, including texts, numbers, booleans, pictures, emails, URLs, phone numbers, barcodes, and passwords. This allows you to make a book database, where you make a list of your favorite books with cover images, or you can use it for more serious things like inventory (because, barcodes). You get basic templates to get you started for things like contacts, expenses, and subscriptions, and there is a Pro version that unlocks more advanced features. Looking at everything, it’s a pretty impressive feature set. I retract my previous database jokes.
Download for free
UTM SE: Retro PC emulator
As you may know, Apple recently relaxed its App Store rules to allow emulators, which has opened the flood gates for classic games. But the new relaxed policy isn’t just good for gaming, as evidenced by this app, UTM SE. It’s a retro PC emulator, and that means, well, exactly what it sounds like. The app emulates x86, PPC, and RISC-V architectures, allowing you to install classic software like Windows 95 and XP, Linux, and even DOS. You can run pre-built machines or create your own from scratch, and it supports both VGA mode for graphics and terminal mode for text-only OSes. Keep in mind that this is very much a work in progress. Performance is slow, features are limited, and installing an OS and getting things to work properly can be a tough task. Still, if you’re looking to do some tinkering this week, this looks great!
Download for free
Tilt ‘n’ Tumble
This game could be the next Flappy Bird. I mean, it’s not, but it could be. Tilt ‘n’ Tumble is exactly what the screenshots suggest it is—a game where you use a paddle to keep a ping pong up in the air for as long as possible. It’s not as easy as it sounds; there is a wicked spin on the ball and it gets progressively faster and more difficult the longer you go on. It plays a lot like the classic arcade title Brick Breaker, but with less bricks and more balls. You can choose between swiping or tilting to move your paddle towards the ball, and there are 20 paddles and 60 achievements to unlock. The gameplay is absolutely addicting—I imagine I could play this for hours, if the thing wasn’t absolutely crippled by ads. Think of the worst ads you’ve ever experienced, and multiply it. You get around 4-5 turns in between 30 second ad sequences. It’s maddening. So why did I choose to still feature it here? There is a $3 IAP that gets rid of ads, and believe me when I say this, it’s probably worth it.
Download for free
