Today’s apps gone free: Virtual City 2, iLightningCam 2, Hashpic and more

Build and manage a resort, capture spectacular lightning photos, and take picture notes 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.

iPhone:

Alien Hatchi – Virtual Pet ($0.99 → Free, 32.1 MB): Hatch and raise your very own extraterrestrial pet with Alien Hatchi. It’s for anyone who enjoyed the virtual pets that were made popular in the late ‘90s.

Your Alien Hatchi will need to be fed, played with, exercised, educated, and generally looked after to make sure it grows up happy. Every action you perform will cost a little bit of fuel, but you can earn more by going for a walk with your pet and playing mini-games. The game also includes stat tracking, and achievements via Game Center.

Alien Hatchi – Virtual Pet is available for free for a limited time. It has a 3.5-star rating with a total of 67 ratings.

hashpic – Your reference picture note app. ($1.99 → Free, 14.0 MB): Take picture notes with Hashpic. It’s designed for those who snap pictures of things they want to recall.

Hashpic puts an end to endless camera roll scrolling. Instead, it allows you to simply snap a picture of what you want to remember, whether that’s a model number of a product or a tasty beer you tried at your friend’s house, and hashtag it for quick discovery. Pictures can include multiple hashtags in order to refine your searches. The app also includes the ability to adjust the size of the picture grid, import pictures, and attach additional notes.

hashpic – Your reference picture note app. is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 18 ratings.

Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort (Full) ($2.99 → Free, 136.8 MB): Build and manage your very own paradise in Virtual City 2. It’s for fans of city building simulation games.

As mayor, you’ll be tasked with everything from sending vehicles on delivery routes to upgrading buildings. The game includes 52 levels in four beautiful locations, 29 mission scenarios, 42 types of goods to transport, more than 50 building types, 12 production changes to master, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort (Full) is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 36 ratings.

Universal:

iCal Widget ($1.99 → Free, 4.0 MB): View all of your calendar events from the Today view with iCal Widget. It’s for those who are always looking for new ways to save some time.

iCal Widget isn’t a standard calendar app in any way, shape, or form. It taps into your iDevice’s native calendar app in order to populate a Today view widget with everything that’s coming up on your schedule. When you launch the app itself, you’re greeted with ways to customize the look and content of the widget. iCal Widget includes a day timeline, a week timeline, and the ability to scroll through days and weeks.

iCal Widget is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 31 ratings.

Jigsaw Wonder Polar Bears for Kids ($1.99 → Free, 40.2 MB): Put together breathtaking arctic puzzles in Jigsaw Wonder Polar Bears. It’s for the whole family.

You won’t be able to resist the charm of this jigsaw puzzle game. Each of the 33 jigsaw puzzles features a polar bear photo to reconstruct. The jigsaw puzzles can be broken up into as few as four pieces and as many as 24. You’re also able to choose whether or not you want a colored background and outline hints. What more could you ask for?

Jigsaw Wonder Polar Bears for Kids is available for free for a limited time. It has a 5-star rating with a total of 9 ratings.

iLightningCam 2 – Lightning Strike Photography ($1.99 → Free, 7.7 MB): Take spectacular photos of lightning strikes with iLightningCam 2. It’s for those who enjoy outdoor photography.

The best thing about iLightningCam 2 is that it does most of the work for you. All you need to do is find a thunderstorm and a safe place to wait until lightning strikes. The app will automatically detect when lightning strikes, adjust its settings, and snap an up to 8 MP photo. Of course, ISO ranges are manually adjustable as well in case you want to have a go at it yourself.

iLightningCam 2 – Lightning Strike Photography is available for free for a limited time. It has a 3-star rating with a total of 6 ratings.

iPad:

Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort HD (Full) ($6.99 → Free, 123.7 MB): Build and manage your very own paradise in Virtual City 2. It’s for fans of city building simulation games.

As mayor, you’ll be tasked with everything from sending vehicles on delivery routes to upgrading buildings. The game includes 52 levels in four beautiful locations, 29 mission scenarios, 42 types of goods to transport, more than 50 building types, 12 production changes to master, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort HD (Full) is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 6 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.