Today’s apps gone free: Scriptus, Hoplite, Smack That Gugl and more

We have a bunch of apps and games today that have never been featured before including Scriptus, Ecoute, Hoplite, and Mail+. Download them while you can!

All app prices are subject to change at any time and without notice regardless of stated free duration. Price changes are solely under the control of the developers.

iPhone:

Ecoute – Beautiful Music Player ($1.99 → Free, 2.8 MB): A visually appealing alternative to Apple’s native music player. It’s ideal for music fans who prefer gesture controls.

Ecoute does just about everything better than Apple’s native music player. Its clean interface allows you to quickly filter your music by artist, album, genre, playlist, composer, compilation, or song. While the music is playing you’re able to swipe across the album art to control playback. You’re also able to share what you’re listening to, view lyrics, tap into Last.fm, and create playlists on the fly.

Ecoute – Beautiful Music Player is available for free today only (12/09). It has a 4-star rating with a total of 213 ratings.

Smack That Gugl ($0.99 → Free, 64.1 MB): A whack-a-mole style game starring those crazy Gugls. It’s for young gamers that enjoy hanging out with Carl and his crazy friends.

All you have to do is smack Gugls as fast as possible. Sounds easy, right? Well, if you wait too long to smack those Gugls they will start to change color. If they turn red and pop, you’ll lose a life. You’ll also lose a life for smacking the sickly looking Gugls before they change to a healthy green color. Lose all five lives and it’s game over. The game includes two modes, and leaderboards via Game Center.

Smack That Gugl is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 7593 ratings.

Universal:

Hoplite ($1.99 → Free, 20.8 MB): Recover the Fleece of Yendor by battling your way deeper and deeper into the depths of the underworld in this fantastic strategy game. It’s the perfect game for those who enjoy tactical rogue-like and turn-based gameplay.

Hoplite may not be flashy, but it sure is a ton of fun. To make your way into the depths, you must move your character across small maps towards the stairs while battling your foes. Each and every move counts, as you’ll have to strike your opponents by moving next to them or leaping over them. Leaping will chew up energy, so you’ll have to make strategical choices in order to survive. The levels are all procedurally generated, so each and every play through will be a new experience.

Hoplite is available for free today only (12/09). It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 349 ratings.

Mail+ for Outlook ($5.99 → Free, 15.7 MB): Separate your work and personal life with the slick Mail+ for Outlook. It’s ideal for business professionals who need a better way to manage their email and calendar.

Mail+ makes life on the road so much easier. It allows you to tap into multiple mailboxes and calendars including Gmail, Exchange, Outlook.com, AOL, and Yahoo. Once you’re all setup you can view upcoming appointments, create calendar events, compose rich HTML emails, flag content, and more. You’re also able to view your emails and appointments offline, allowing you to stay productive even while you’re in the sky or have poor reception. The app also includes passcode protection, and support for landscape orientation.

Mail+ for Outlook is available for free today only (12/09). It has a 3.5-star rating with a total of 6673 ratings.

iPad:

Smack that Gugl for iPad ($1.99 → Free, 24.9 MB): A whack-a-mole style game starring those crazy Gugls. It’s for young gamers that enjoy hanging out with Carl and his crazy friends.

All you have to do is smack Gugls as fast as possible. Sounds easy, right? Well, if you wait too long to smack those Gugls they will start to change color. If they turn red and pop, you’ll lose a life. You’ll also lose a life for smacking the sickly looking Gugls before they change to a healthy green color. Lose all five lives and it’s game over. The game includes two modes, and leaderboards via Game Center.

Smack that Gugl for iPad is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 208 ratings.

SCRIPTUS – quick and easy text and audio note taking with Dropbox sync ($0.99 → Free, 5.3 MB): This innovative text editor allows you to quickly and easily record your thoughts. It’s suitable for people young and old who simply need a way to take notes.

Scriptus strikes a nice balance between usability and feature-rich. It brings you straight into the composition field, allowing you to quickly record text or audio notes. The toolbar at the top of the screen makes it easy to quickly search text, create bullet point lists, adjust the font size, view stats, and even speak what you’ve written. But what makes this app really stand out is its extra row of keys across the top of the keyboard. Each key has multiple keys within, requiring you to simply tap and swipe to select one of five different options. It’s truly an inspired design and remarkably easy to use. You’re able to save your notes within the app itself or upload them to Dropbox.

SCRIPTUS – quick and easy text and audio note taking with Dropbox sync is available for free today only (12/09). It has a 4-star rating with a total of 9 ratings.

That concludes today’s issue of Apps Gone Free. If you like staying on top of these daily deals, don’t forget to check out our free AppsGoneFree app. It provides all the deals each day, and even an archive of past deals that are still active.

Developers:

If you are a developer who would like to get your app included in our “Apps Gone Free” daily lists, here’s our basic set of rules:

It must have at least a three-star average rating at the time it goes free.
The app must not have been free numerous times (3+) over the last six months.
The free version of your app must not include ads.

To submit an app, simply send a request to tyler@appadvice.com with the subject “Apps Gone Free.” Please include the name of the app, a link to it in the App Store, when and for how long you intend to offer the app for free, and anything else you would like to share. We will take it from there.