AppShopper

Apple has been running an  App of the Week promotion, in which a paid app is made free for a short period of time, since last summer. A couple of weeks ago, Popcap’s Plants vs. Zombies was the featured app for this promotion and this week sees another well-known game, Rovio’s Angry Birds, under the App of the Week spotlight.

The original Angry Birds for the iPhone debuted in the App Store in 2009 while the HD version for the iPad arrived in April 2010. The game proved to be tremendously popular, prompting Rovio to release additional versions including Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Space, and Bad Piggies as well as t-shirts, hats, and just about anything else that you can slap the likeness of an Angry Bird on.

Since its release, the original Angry Birds for iPhone has been priced at $.99 for most of its time in the App Store while the HD version has jumped around between $.99 and $4.99. Neither app has ever been available for free until now.

Apple’s App of the Week promotion usually runs from each Thursday through the following Wednesday. If this pattern holds true, Angry Birds and Angry Birds HD will remain free through Wednesday, March 13 and go back to their regular prices on Thursday, March 14. That gives you a nice window of time to download them but you should get to clicking the Buy Now buttons below sooner rather later lest you forget before this week’s promotion ends.

• $.99Buy Now
  Games
  

  Angry Birds

  Last Changed:

  4 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (413)

  Version:

  3.1.2

  iOS iPhone

  Use the unique powers of the Angry Birds to destroy the greedy pigs' defenses!

 The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake. Dish out revenge on the greedy pigs who stole their eggs. Use the...

• $299Buy Now
  Games
  

  Angry Birds HD

  Last Changed:

  4 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (251)

  Version:

  3.1.2

  iOS iPad

  Use the unique powers of the Angry Birds to destroy the greedy pigs' defenses!

 The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake. Dish out revenge on the greedy pigs who stole their eggs. Use the...

Fantastical, the calendar utility developed by Flexibits that debuted in the App Store in November, has received a major update. Fantastical 1.1 offers time zone support, multiple alerts for events, improved calendar navigation, and my favorite feature ever – the ability to enable a badge on the app’s icon to display the current date.

The full list of what’s new is as follows:

• Multiple alerts when creating events
• Time zone support
• Duplicate or move events (tap and hold an event in the event list)
• Go to a specific date (tap and hold the red title bar)
• Event list is now scrollable when using the calendar
• Today’s timed events dim after the event has ended
• Copied text containing event info can automatically be made into an event
• Added setting to highlight weekends
• Added setting to show empty days on the DayTicker
• Added setting to display the number of today’s remaining events or date on the app icon badge
• State restoration (iOS 6 only)
• A staggering number of other improvements, parser enhancements, and bug fixes

To recap a bit, Fantastical lets you use natural language to create calendar events. So if you type (or speak if you have a dictation-capable iPhone) “Lunch with Mom at 1 on Saturday,” Fantastical will parse this accordingly to create an event named “Lunch with Mom” at 1:00 pm on Saturday. It’s very easy to use and far simpler than navigating through the several screens required to create an event like this in the stock Calendar app.

In my review of Fantastical, I mentioned my reliance on the iPhone’s stock Calendar app with its display of the current date on the icon. Apple doesn’t allow third-party developers to do this and I’d mentioned that a work-around would be to use a push notification badge on the icon to show the current date. I must not have been alone in that request and Flexibits heard it enough that they implemented it in this update. This feature is optional if you don’t need or want it, or you could instead choose to use the icon badge to show the number of remaining events for the current day.

Fantastical for iPhone is on sale in celebration of this update, down to $3.99 from its regular price of $4.99. Fantastical has remained on my iPhone’s home screen ever since it was released and this update only makes it more useful.

• $499Buy Now
  Productivity
  

  Fantastical

  Last Changed:

  1 week ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (17)

  Version:

  1.1.2

  iOS iPhone

  ** GET THE CALENDAR APP EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT ** Fantastical is the fastest and friendliest calendar app. Just type in "Lunch with John in Cupertino on Friday" and Fantastical...

South by Southwest, the annual festivals for music, film, and emerging technology kick off on March 8 in Austin, Texas. The festivals feature hundreds of performances and events that draw thousands of attendees, making navigation a challenge. Fortunately, South by Southwest offers SXSW Go, a universal app that offers the full schedule of events for all of the festivals along with a map and much more.

SXSW Go will let you build your own schedule of events to attend at the festivals, placing selected events on your calendar with reminders to alert you before each event starts. The app can also use the iPhone’s GPS receiver to locate you and guide you to events (switching you to the built-in Maps app for directions).

SXSW Go also lets you share your schedule with others, find other attendees who have elected to share their schedules, and even post pictures to the official SXSW Flickr group.

SXSW Go is free to download and has been updated several times this year already in preparation for the festivals this month. I’ve never attended SXSW myself, but I’ve heard it’s incredibly fun and that many of the events can be hard to find and crowded. If SXSW Go can make it easier to locate events and get to them early, downloading it is a no-brainer unless you like living on the edge.

• FreeBuy Now
  Entertainment
  

  SXSW® GO – Official 2013...

  Last Changed:

  11 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.00 (103)

  Version:

  3.1.1

  iOS Universal

  SXSW GO® is the official mobile app for getting the most out of attending SXSW 2013. The app allows you to view/build/share your schedule, network with other Attendees, navigate the trade show, stay...

Whitaker Trebella’s Polymer is free for a limited time, down from its regular price of $1.99, as part of TouchArcade’s Free Play program. Polymer debuted in the App Store last year and offers a unique twist on the sliding puzzle genre.

In Polymer you’re presented with a grid of various shapes. Each shape has at least one dot that acts as a connection point where it can be attached to other shapes. To create a finished shape, you must slide columns and rows to put together a shape that has no exposed connection points. A shape with no exposed connection points is a polymer and you then tap on it to remove it from the board, which earns you points. The more pieces a polymer has, the more points you earn.

This probably sounds a bit confusing so here’s the trailer video where you can see how it works:

TouchArcade gave Polymer four stars in its review when it was first released and the game has received several updates since then. Polymer is an unusual puzzle game that can be played in quick bites here and there and it also has the power to draw you in for long sessions to create the biggest, baddest polymer you can make. It’s definitely worth a download now while it’s free (and even at its regular price of $1.99 if you miss this sale).

• $299Buy Now
  Games
  

  Polymer

  Last Changed:

  9 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (54)

  Version:

  2.3

  iOS Universal

  Polymer is a strategic shape-creating game that combines the logic of Rubik’s Cube, the sliding mechanism of Chuzzle, and the creativity of Lego. Slide columns and rows to create...

If you’ve been keeping an eye out for the newest entry in EA’s Real Racing series for iOS that was first revealed last September at the Apple keynote event when the iPhone 5 was announced, today is your day to hightail it over to the App Store. Real Racing 3 for iPhone and iPad debuted last night in the App Store in all its free download glory.

Real Racing 3 lets you race virtual versions of real cars on virtual versions of real tracks around the world. You can compete against others using Time Shifted Multiplayer, a feature that lets you race against other players even when they’re not playing the game right at that moment. There are over 900 events you can compete in and you earn in-game currency to buy new cars or upgrade and repair cars when you complete events.

The graphics of Real Racing 3 are crazy good. As shown in its first demo at Apple’s keynote last year, you can actually see the other cars behind and next to you in the mirrors as you drive and details and lighting are realistic and crisp. It’s truly a treat on a retina display device like the iPhone 5. Here’s the trailer to give you a peek (and yes, it looks this good as you’re playing):

While Real Racing 3 is free to download and you can play it to your heart’s content without spending a dime, you do have the option of putting down real money to speed things along. You do earn in-game currency when you complete races but it can take time to rack up enough to buy stuff. Repairs and upgrades to your virtual cars take time to complete and if you don’t want to wait for them to finish, you can spend the in-game currency you’ve earned or buy more via in-app purchase to get them done immediately. The same goes for buying new cars and upgrades if you don’t wait to wait until you’ve earned enough from completing races.

If you want to keep your Real Racing 3 experience as low-cost as you can, check out ‘Real Racing 3′ Tips on How to Spend as Little Real Money as Possible over at TouchArcade. While you’re there, check out their full review if you’re not convinced it’s worth the time to download.

I’ve spent some time playing Real Racing 3 today and it’s been super fun and more realistic than I was expecting. I haven’t come across any tracks that I’ve actually been on yet but the interior of the BMW 1 Series M Coupe I chose (which cost me $1.99 in real money that I don’t regret spending one bit) looks just like the ones I’ve seen in real life. If you like cars and racing, Real Racing 3 offers an excellent experience for a mobile game and you should hit that Buy Now button below toute de suite and get it. And if I see you on the virtual version of Laguna Seca where I’ve had the pleasure of flogging a sportbike a few times, I will give you a run for your money.

• FreeBuy Now
  Games
  

  Real Racing 3

  Last Changed:

  4 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (6917)

  Version:

  1.1.1

  iOS Universal

  **#1 Top Free App in over 90 countries** Real Racing 3 sets a new standard for mobile racing games – it really must be experienced to be believed. Trailblazing new features include officially...

The Iconfactory’s Twitterrific 5 for iPhone and iPad debuted in December (our review), featuring a gorgeous interface that was a complete redesign compared to its predecessor. However, it lacked the ability to mute users, a useful “pro” feature that hides users you don’t want to hear from temporarily. In an update last week, Twitterrific 5 gained this feature with a unique and brilliant twist.

With Tweetbot and other Twitter apps I’ve used, you can easily mute other users. This means that you won’t see any tweets or retweets by those users temporarily or even forever. It’s handy when you’re a little tired of someone’s tweets and just want to not hear from them for a little while. Or for when you really just can’t stand someone or their tweets but unfollowing them would be rude or even unprofessional. When you mute someone in Tweetbot or other apps, their tweets and retweets disappear entirely from your timeline and you have no idea if or when they’ve tweeted at all unless you specifically navigate to their profile and look.

(Yes, you could argue that muting is silly and simply unfollowing someone is the most mature and reasonable option but I’d still bet many people follow at least one friend or family member who is a horrible tweeter that you just don’t have the heart to unfollow or you have a co-worker or client you can’t unfollow without professional repercussions.)

Twitterrific 5 handles muting differently. The Iconfactory calls this feature “muffling” and you can do it to users, hashtags, or domains. The unique thing about muffling is that muffled users, tweets, or domains don’t completely disappear from your timeline – they still appear in a collapsed view so that you know that they’re there but you can still read them if you want by tapping on them, which expands the view.

Here’s a video by The Iconfactory’s Gedeon Maheux showing how muffling works:

I only muffle a couple of people I follow (don’t ask, I’m not telling who or why) and I’ve found it incredibly useful to still see when they tweet or retweet with the option to see their tweets if I want. And when you muffle someone or a hashtag, there’s even a cute shushing sound effect to go with it.

Muffling isn’t the only feature that Twitterrific 5 got in the update to version 5.1 – new image services and a new font, Avenir, also made the cut along with several improvements and bug fixes.

Twitterrific 5 still doesn’t offer push notifications but this is planned for a future update. Yet even without push notifications,Twitterrific 5 is a beautiful and feature-filled Twitter app that’s worthy of your hard-earned money.

• $299Buy Now
  Social Networking
  

  Twitterrific 5 for Twitter

  Last Changed:

  1 week ago

  Rating:

  3.50 (17)

  Version:

  5.2.2

  iOS Universal

  ★★★ Special launch price – 50% off for a limited time ★★★ Twitterrific is the award-winning, fast and elegant Twitter client that’s easy to understand and a delight to use. The...

PopCap games has made the iPhone and iPad versions of its super cute and incredibly popular game, Plants vs. Zombies, free for one week. This is the first time ever that these apps have gone free and you even have the luxury of several days to hit the Buy Now button instead of some ridiculously small window of time. But don’t wait. Don’t be fooled by the stretch of time before you until Plants vs. Zombies goes back up to $2.99 for the iPhone version and $6.99 for the iPad version next Thursday. Locate the Buy Now buttons at the bottom of this post and click them immediately.

I’ll stop pestering you for a moment and take a step back. Plants vs. Zombies is a tower-defense style game in which you need to defend your home, and ultimately your brain, from zombies. The home defense weapons at your disposal are in the form of plants. You might think that plants would be useless against zombies but you’d be wrong. These plants can shoot peas and spikes and do other amazing things to destroy the zombies marching across your lawn and even your roof with the goal of eating your warm, delicious brain. Despite the gory intent of the zombies and the rampant destruction you’ll rain down upon them, Plants vs. Zombies is cute and suitable for a wide range of ages.

If you want more information, check out the review of Plants vs. Zombies over at TouchArcade. Here’s the official trailer for Plants vs. Zombies:

Now enough talking. Move your mouse to the Buy Now buttons and click before February 28!

• $.99Buy Now
  Games
  

  Plants vs. Zombies

  Last Changed:

  5 days ago

  Rating:

  4.00 (360)

  Version:

  1.9.8

  iOS iPhone

  Get ready to soil your plants as a mob of fun-loving zombies is about to invade your home. Use your arsenal of 49 zombie-zapping plants — peashooters, wall-nuts, cherry bombs and more — to...

• $.99Buy Now
  Games
  

  Plants vs. Zombies HD

  Last Changed:

  5 days ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (250)

  Version:

  1.9.6

  iOS iPad

  Get ready to soil your plants in this high-definition, multi-touch adaptation of the PopCap hit! Winner of over 30 Game of the Year awards.* Plants vs. Zombies™ was spawned from the fertile minds...

Though more than 60 million people in the US alone use Craigslist every month, the incredibly popular classifieds site does not have its own iPhone app in Apple’s App Store. However, there are at least 50 apps in the App Store that let you access Craigslist on the go and Silicon Valley-based Mokriya has added another selection for your downloading pleasure: Mokriya Craigslist debuted in the App Store this morning.

Mokriya Craigslist is free to download and lets you browse Craigslist ads from around the world. With a $.99 in-app purchase, you can add the ability to post ads, set alerts so you can be notified when something you want is listed, and mark ads as favorites for viewing later.

Mokriya created this overview video that highlights the paid features of the app:

I’ve been using Mokriya Craigslist for a few days now and it’s got a polished and eye-pleasing interface. One of the most useful features is the map view for the housing section, which could make Mokriya Craigslist indispensable to anyone looking for a place to live.

Mokriya is not new to the App Store – the company has previously partnered up with Side.cr (to create SideCar Ride) and Path (the folks behind the social networking app of the same name). Mokriya Craigslist is another sleek notch in Mokriya’s App Store belt and it’s worth a download if you post ads on Craigslist frequently or like to keep an eye on those Missed Connections posts in case you think you may have passed by your one true love at the grocery store the other day.

• FreeBuy Now
  Lifestyle
  

  Mokriya craigslist app for iPhone

  Last Changed:

  2 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.00 (86)

  Version:

  1.8

  iOS iPhone

  The BEST, OFFICIALLY LICENSED craigslist app with NO ADS! ***** TIME ***** Mokriya Craigslist is a thoroughly slick, modern piece of software — one which looks like what Craigslist might be if it...

Bump, the popular file-sharing app that debuted in the App Store in 2010, has been updated with a new feature that allows you to send files on your iPhone to any computer. To send files to a computer, you simply need to tap the space bar on the computer with your iPhone while the computer’s web browser is pointed to http://bu.mp.

Bump Technologies has created a demo video showing how this works:

If you’ve never used Bump before it can seem pretty magical. How on earth can you send files to another iPhone or computer without a direct connection via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth? Bump Technologies uses the information from the sensors in your iPhone along with a fancy algorithm in their cloud servers to match up bumps between devices around the world to transfer files. Here’s the official FAQ answer on how it all works from the Bump Technologies site:

There are two parts to Bump: the app running on your device and a smart matching algorithm running on our servers in the cloud. The app on your phone uses the phone’s sensors to literally “feel” the bump, and it sends that info up to the cloud. The matching algorithm listens to the bumps from phones around the world and pairs up phones that felt the same bump. Then we just route information between the two phones in each pair.

I’ve had Bump on my iPhone since it was released but I have to admit that I’ve never had an opportunity to use it in real life. I’m sure I know people who own iPhones and have the app as well but I default to sending photos or other files via email or SMS/MMS rather than going through the “Do you have the Bump app installed?” dance with them. I’m not sure if this new feature to send files to a computer will change my behavior and prompt me to actually use Bump outside of testing for work but it’s a cool addition nonetheless.

Bump is free to download and requires iOS 4.3 or higher on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

• FreeBuy Now
  Social Networking
  

  Bump

  Last Changed:

  1 week ago

  Rating:

  4.00 (56)

  Version:

  3.5.9

  iOS iPhone

  NEW: Now Bump works with computers too! Photos, videos, files, everything. Just go to http://bu.mp on your computer web browser. NEW: Share files on your device with a single bump! Use Bump™ to...

Kickstarter, the online crowd-funding platform that was launched in 2009, released an iPhone app today. Kickstarter for iPhone is free and lets you browse and back projects and keep up with any projects you’ve already backed.

Accessories for Apple products and even iOS apps have been funded through Kickstarter, including weather app Dark Sky (review) and the iPhone-compatible Pebble and Metawatch smartwatches, which each have their own companion apps, Pebble Smartwatch and Metawatch Manager, respectively.

I’ve personally backed several Kickstarter projects over the last couple of years and the new Kickstarter app makes it a bit easier to look for new projects and read updates on the projects I’ve backed. Not that it was incredibly hard to go to Kickstarter’s website before but I appreciate this kind of easier access and formatting optimized for the iPhone’s screen.

If you’re a Kickstarter user or if you’re a little curious about what new and crazy projects people are looking to fund, check out Kickstarter. My current favorite is the open source Death Star. Yes, a Death Star. How awesome is that?

• FreeBuy Now
  Social Networking
  

  Kickstarter for iPhone

  Last Changed:

  9 weeks ago

  Rating:

  3.50 (73)

  Version:

  1.1.2

  iOS iPhone

  Kickstarter is a new way to fund and follow creative projects. Everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. We love projects! Take it for a spin... * Discover new...