Today’s apps gone free: Enlighten, Alphabet Tracer, VLC Remote and more

Go to your happy place, learn to draw letters, and control your VLC media player from anywhere in your home with today’s collection of apps and games.

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.

Universal:

Word² ($0.99 → Free, 26.3 MB): Unscramble words not once but twice in Word². It’s for anyone who enjoys a good word game.

Word² will test your vocabulary and your patience. Each level features a square with scrambled letters. Your objective is to put the square back together by rearranging the letters so that each row and column pair have the same word reading both vertically and horizontally. The game starts you off easy with squares that are three-by-three, but eventually you’ll work your way up to seven-by-seven squares. Hopefully, at least. You can get some help along the way by utilizing hints and clues. Word² includes 90 levels in all.

Word² is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 357 ratings.

Alphabet Tracer | Learn to Write the Alphabet Letters ($0.99 → Free, 7.0 MB): Children can learn to write all of the letters of the alphabet with Alphabet Tracer. It’s ideal for children ages one through five.

Alphabet Tracer includes the full English alphabet. Your child is able to select any letter they want to practice. A demonstration will then take place, and they’re able to drag the slider around the letter to trace it themselves. The letter name will be spoken as will a related Emoji to illustrate words that begin with the letter. The app allows you to show only upper case letters, low case letters, or both.

Alphabet Tracer | Learn to Write the Alphabet Letters is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 14 ratings.

Tribal Quest – Master of Elements ($1.99 → Free, 52.9 MB): Lead your Tribe to victory by becoming the master of elements in Tribal Quest. It’s for gamers who enjoy endless runners.

Race through the dynamic arena by leaping over and rolling under dangerous obstacles. Grab power-ups to aid you in your quest, and collect totems to boost your score. The game includes more than 90 stages, 70 unique quests, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Tribal Quest – Master of Elements is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 154 ratings.

Shape Tracer | Learn to Draw Shapes ($0.99 → Free, 10.2 MB): Children can learn the names of basic shapes and how to draw them with Shape Tracer. It’s great for children ages one through five.

Shape Tracer includes 11 different shapes to learn the names of and trace. Each shape is traced and pronounced when selected. Your child must then drag the slider around the shape to trace it themselves. When complete, the shape will animate and the process will restart. You can jump to other included shapes via the toolbar at the bottom.

Shape Tracer | Learn to Draw Shapes is available for free for a limited time. It has a 5-star rating with a total of 8 ratings.

Enlighten – Relax, sleep, meditate to wave, wind, rain, forest, ocean and natural sounds and calm your mind. ($0.99 → Free, 146.4 MB): Go to a happier, more relaxed place with Enlighten. It’s for anyone who has trouble relaxing or falling asleep.

Enlighten doesn’t waste your time or space with a bunch of useless sounds. It only includes natural, high quality sounds that will take you out of this world. Simply choose from one of the five main natural sounds, and mix in one of the 10 additional sounds or three binaural beats. Then put your headphones on, crank up the volume, and relax.

Enlighten – Relax, sleep, meditate to wave, wind, rain, forest, ocean and natural sounds and calm your mind. is available for free for a limited time. It has a 3.5-star rating with a total of 36 ratings.

Expired (gone back to paid already):

VLC Remote ($4.99 → Free, 21.2 MB): Control your VLC media player on your computer from the comfort of your sofa with VLC Remote. It’s an essential tool for anyone who utilizes VLC media player.

VLC can handle just about any file format, which is why so many people use it to play music and videos. With VLC Remote, you can control all of that content from anywhere in your home. All you need is the free companion software, which is downloadable via a link included within the app. VLC Remote allows you to control playback via the app itself, a Today view widget, or even your Apple Watch.

VLC Remote is available for free for a limited time. It has a 3.5-star rating with a total of 1913 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.