Our top 5 Android and iOS apps of the week

Every week we try to bring you the best apps possible that aren’t data cheats or nests of microtransactions. In addition to the editor’s recommendations, we also add apps discovered by the NextPit community and shared on our forum.

From mobile games to productivity apps, here are NextPit’s five free and paid apps for Android/iOS this week. We publish this selection every week, you can also check the Top 5 apps of the past week.

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App Blocker (Android)

Being productive means staying focused, and in order to stay focused, you may want to minimize the number of notifications coming to your smartphone. Why not get an app to help you? While you have more control over the type of notifications that come with each individual app on Android, App Blocker takes this idea further. Being a productivity app, it will help you block distracting apps, reduce screen time, and hopefully increase your productivity.

This way you can spend more time on what really matters both online and offline by managing your time in a better way. It has a time management feature that allows you to set your own days and times when you want to block access to your intrusive and addictive apps. It also limits the number of times you can launch a particular app each day, how about that? Parents will also be happy to know that you can manage your children’s screen time with this app.

Interestingly, you can opt for negative reinforcement, which plays an annoying ad every time you’re about to break your habit of walking away from blocked apps. Different profiles can be configured to serve different users of the same device, which is useful for a shared phone or tablet at home. You will be able to unlock additional features by paying for them.

• Price: Free / Advertising: None / In-app purchases: Yes ($3.99 to $29.99/item) / Bill: Not required

Emoji Grocery Shopping List (Android)

Do you love making lists and sticking to them? Shopping lists are a necessary evil for most people, though if you tend to be a creature of habit, you’ll already know what you need for the next week without having to rely on one. Of course, memory fails us sometimes, so why not make your shopping list fun using emojis?

Aptly known as the Emoji Grocery Shopping List, simply type in what you’d like to buy and an emoji will automatically be attached next to it. However, please note that some unique items may not have a corresponding emoji, which will instead be represented by a colored circle. Interestingly, you can set the screen to stay on at all times, making it easy for you to complete your purchases without constantly having to unlock your phone.

There are ads in this app at the bottom, but you have the option to remove the ads in this app by upgrading to the premium version through a one-time payment of $4.99. You can even send the shopping list at the touch of a button to whoever you want via WhatsApp in the premium version.

• Price: Free (with option to pay for Premium mode) / Advertising: Yes / In-app purchases: Yes ($3.99 to $4.99/item) / Bill: Not required

Sleepwave (Android and iOS)

Sleepwave is an app that can be installed by those who would love to track their sleep pattern, and it offers an insight into what it’s like to use a fitness tracker or smart watch that can track the quality of your sleep. This revolutionary motion-sensing sleep tracker is so easy to set up, you just set the alarm, place your smartphone next to your bed, and go to sleep.

Sleepwave claims to accurately detect movement using your smartphone’s microphone and speakers by listening to reflections of a silent sound wave. While I didn’t experience better quality sleep (since I usually fall like a log at the end of each day), it was interesting to check the data afterwards. There are also Wavescapes that work as interactive visualizations that respond to your movements without having to touch your phone, playing different patterns to help refresh or focus your mind.

There is a premium version that costs $17.99 each and offers a detailed breakdown of sleep stages showing light, deep, and REM sleep, plus weekly, monthly, and yearly sleep patterns, among others. If you install it today, you can get a free premium subscription until next year!

• Price: Free (with option to pay for the Premium modality) / Advertising : None / In-app purchases: Yes ($17.99) / Bill: Not required

Promling (Android)

Keeping a journal used to be something that many of us did, and although the pen and paper method is no longer popular these days, the advent of digital devices has made it much easier to keep track of your daily thoughts. Some of us might think, “But I’m as dry as a desert and I have absolutely no idea where I can start writing my thoughts!” This is where Promling comes in to fill this niche.

If you have no idea where to start, don’t worry. Promling is here to help you with various prompts so you can start typing right away. Point out little everyday occurrences that can hopefully inspire and spur you to write deeper things as time goes on. There’s no account to set up here, so your privacy is assured, but I wish there was a cloud account you can link to keep track of your thoughts.

Fortunately, each thought can be shared on your social networks, WhatsApp, email or other instant messaging platforms for posterity. Of course, you can also go the freestyle route by writing your thoughts without a prompt! That’s probably when you know you’re knee-deep in creativity lane.

• Price: Free / Advertising : None / In-app purchases: None / Bill: Not required

Descendants (iOS and Android)

I had a lot of fun playing Motocross Maniacs on the Nintendo Game Boy when I was a little kid, and those pixelated 8-bit graphics certainly had me immersed for hours on end. How far technology has progressed where the smartphone you hold in your hand today has much more computing power than the space shuttle that sent the first man to the moon.

Descenders is an extreme downhill freeride title for today, offering procedurally generated worlds so every experience is always fresh. This means that the bugs are very real, so it’s up to you to make sure you descend safely. Procedurally generated worlds ensure you have to remain on your toes at all times, while an in-depth physics system adds depth and realism. Of course, if you push yourself to pull off more risky stunts successfully, you’ll be able to get more points, but if you fail too often, there goes all the points!

There is an online representative system that allows you to show your worth to the world and earn bragging rights. You’ll have to pick a team, though, and I found this free-to-play title worth enjoying over the weekend. Of course, you might get tired of it after a while, but the fact that it offers a different world each time guarantees replayability. This is a pretty big game so please be patient when you first launch it as there are additional files to download.

• Price: $9.99 (iOS and Android) / Advertising: None / In-app purchases: None / Bill: Not required

There you have it: our top 5 apps of the week. It’s quite an interesting mix, don’t you think? If you have anything to criticize or want to share your own suggestions, please leave a comment section right below this article!