Apps That
Went Free on
2016-02-05

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.