With the new iPhones finally arriving and two new Nexus handsets just around the corner, you may have missed some of this week's best new apps.
Every weekend, we round up our favorite new and updated apps. This week's list includes an app to help you create (and remember) better passwords, a social lending platform and a keyboard app that is much more than a keyboard.
Check out the gallery, below, to see our top picks. If you're looking for more, take a look at ourlast roundup of can't-miss apps.
Ledge
One of the first finance apps to be built on top of Venmo, Ledge helps your crowd-source small loans from the people you know. You can lend or borrow up to $5,000 through Venmo and get repaid automatically with preset interest rates.
How it works: If you need cash, set up a campaign and your terms for a loan, like the length of time and an interest rate, and people you know can use Venmo to loan you the cash. When it’s time for repayment, the app automatically repays those you borrowed from, with whatever interest you defied.
Pro tip: The app restricts interest rates based on local usury laws (the regulations that govern maximum interest rates for personal loans) which should keep interest rates in check. Right now, loans made within the app don’t affect your credit but the app’s creators say they may add features in the future that could allow you to use Ledge to help build a credit history.
Free: iOS and AndroidIMAGE: LEDGE INC.Password Chef
Like most bad habits, using poor passwords can be a difficult habit to kick. If you’re not already in the habit of using a password manager to secure your accounts, Password Chef takes a clever approach to helping you create strong unique passwords you’ll actually be able to remember when you need them.
How it works: The premise of the app is to create a unique “recipe” for each password (e.g. the first three vowels of a site name combined with other easy to remember prompts). Rather than saving the password itself, the app simply stores your recipe so you can easily refer to it when you need to access your credentials.
Pro tip: For extra security, you can add a “secret code” to your recipes so even if someone gets ahold of the recipe, they won’t be able to crack your password. You can also secure the app with a passcode.
$2.99: iOSIMAGE: NARANJA STUDIOSPL-T
A strange but oddly addicting puzzle game from the makers of Device 6 and Year Walk, SPL-T is part puzzle, part strategy game (and might just have a bigger story behind it as well.) But the central part of the game tasks players with dividing the black screen into steadily smaller sections while racking up points and clearing the board of of point blocks.
How it works: Hold down on the screen to divide it into alternating horizontal and vertical sections. If cells get too small they can no longer be divided while four or more of the same-sized cells form "point blocks” that can’t be moved until their timers reach 0 on a countdown.
Pro tip: If you forget whether you’re on a vertical or horizontal move, the little character at the top of the screen changes the position of his arms to correspond to the current move. There is a lot more to the game than meets the eye so be prepared for a few surprises as you play.
$2.99: iOSIMAGE: SIMOGO ABSlash Keyboard
Though technically a keyboard app, Slash Keyboard is more of an extremely clever multi-tasking tool than a keyboard. The app connects Foursquare, Google, Google Maps, Spotify, YouTube,Giphy and more and makes all of those services searchable and shareable right from your keyboard.
Keep an eye on: As you type, the app will provide suggestions based on the services it’s connected to (e.g typing “let’s get drinks,” may prompt you to search for nearby bars in Foursquare.) But you don’t have to wait for the app’s proactive suggestions: tap the slash key on the keyboard to instantly search and share links directly to the note or message you are typing.
Pro tip: The app learns from your typing habits to provide better recommendations so the more you use it the more useful the recommendations become.
Free: iOSIMAGE: SLASH APPSSpherify
Spherify is a fun photo app that turns your 360-photos and panoramas into into mini planet-like images. Choose an image, highlight the areas you want to call attention to and the app generates the whimsical spherical photos.
Keep an eye on: You can also flip images vertically for a slightly different effect
Pro tip: The app works best with panoramas that are level and that have a full 360 view (so there are no gaps between the right and left edges of the frame).
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