Apps That
Went Free on
2014-12-09

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.