Five Great Mobile Apps for the Weekend

If these recommendations don’t ignite your interest, you’ll be delighted to find a lineup of premium apps currently being offered for free—though only for a limited period. Additionally, if you’re eager to uncover more hidden gems, don’t forget to check out our “Free Apps of the Week” section, updated every fortnight!

Mutazione (Android & iOS)

First of all, here is a caveat — Mutazione was originally released in 2019 as a narrative game with supernatural drama, all packaged in a 2.5D point‑and‑click adventure. Nothing much has changed, apart from it being on mobile platforms, which makes it easy to pick up and play as you go.

I am Kai, a teenager who arrived in the mutated island community of Mutazione to care for my ill grandfather. Along the way, I managed to uncover rich interpersonal drama and garden‑based puzzles to kill time. I love the hand-drawn art that adds a touch of nostalgia to it, offering vibrant images that evoke an intimate, storybook-like atmosphere.

The audio is also well-suited for the game, featuring a tranquil, ambient score with tribal influences. With its narrative-driven exploration, the game’s progress offers uplifting yet poignant dialogues and interactions without any situation where I can fail, making it perfect for a relaxing weekend game without any pressure to perform or make it to the top of the heap.

• Price: $8.99 / Advertising: None / In-app purchases: None / Account required: No

How did I find Mutazione? For starters, I think it offers a contemplative and emotive mobile adventure that is coated with a sense of supernatural mystery. Of course, there are also tender human moments that tug at the heartstrings. Basically, I am one who enjoys narrative-rich games while taking my own, sweet time to explore various in-game areas and chatting with different characters, making this a welcome addition to my mobile game library.

Final Outpost: Definitive (Android & iOS)

Final Outpost: Definitive happens to be a survival-strategy base-builder, where I am thrust into the role of the leader of a makeshift colony in a post‑apocalyptic world. That’s not too shabby, until I realize that this very world is overrun by zombies. I do hope I have what it takes to keep a tight ship, assigning roles to the correct people, craft weapons, manage resources, and fortify defenses so that my little ragtag bunch of humans will remain alive through harsh seasons and escalating threats.

It is like a cute version of The Walking Dead. Basically, resources always seem to be at a premium, but that’s why I would do well to assign specialists to the corresponding tasks, which include farmers, scavengers, and guards, so that my outpost is as efficient as possible. I also like how I can construct diverse buildings, which will help me craft weapons, tools, and defensive gear.

Meanwhile, I also have to ensure I stamp out all survival threats like zombies, seasonal challenges (droughts, cold, storms), and starvation. There is no easy way out here, with balance being key to survival. I like how my effort does not end up in vain, as I can upgrade my citizens so that they continue to deserve a spot in my little utopia, doing so via skill trees.

• Price: $4.99 / Advertising: None / In-app purchases: None / Account required: No

Overall, I like the strategic depth of the game as there seems to be a good balance of resource gathering, citizen roles, and survival planning, which creates engaging, thoughtful gameplay. None of the in-app purchases are mandatory or necessary for progression, which is always a good thing. 

Raindrop.io (Android only)

Were there moments in your life where you wished you had all the time in the world to read all the articles you like online, only to be pulled back to reality and realize your time is a premium, and you’d best work on this thing called “life” and leave your articles for later. Enter Raindrop.io, a powerful cross-platform bookmark manager that lets you save and organize any type of online content—articles, videos, images, recipes, and more.

First of all, I must say the user interface is clean and simple enough to use without getting confused. It supports collections (also known as folders), tagging, search, collaboration, and works great when synchronizing across Android, iOS, web, and desktop apps. At least there is some uniformity here. I can also save a variety of stuff in the form of clip links, web pages, videos, PDFs, or images, thanks to the in-app browser or via the Android share menu.

While it uses collections and tags with custom icons or covers, there were times when I ran into trouble editing tags or entering descriptions. Perhaps future iterations of this app will be able to fix such small niggles, but overall, this is a solid bookmark app that is worth checking out.

• Price: Free / Advertising: None / In-app purchases: Yes ($2.99-$27.99) / Account required: Yes

Basically, I found Raindrop.io to work great as a robust, visually appealing bookmarking tool that boasts excellent cross-platform support and thoughtful organization options. I also liked how the embedded reader and sync across devices make it far superior to browser bookmarks. The only drawback? There is no offline access or flawless AI-driven tagging.

status – Sims but social media (Android & iOS)

Who knew social networking could end up as a premise for a game? Enter status, an AI-powered social-simulation app that merges role-playing with social network dynamics. I start off by creating a character, often based on fandoms or original personas. From there, I can interact via “posts” and events with AI-driven characters. The goal of this game? Build relationships, gain influence, and navigate cancellations or stardom without the emotional risk.

It was fun at first, letting the AI figure me out as a prima donna, where my AI “friends” could respond dynamically. It was like The Sims in an unreal manner. Imagine your Sim scrolling his or her social media account via an in-game phone, and you’ve got the picture. 

Engagement is well-paced by using a daily Energy meter. Basically, once this Energy meter is depleted, I will simply have to wait it out or fork out more money to recharge. I guess the developer really wants to bank on your impatience, but I did not succumb to temptation!

• Price: Free / Advertising: None / In-app purchases: Yes ($0.99-$99.99) / Account required: Yes

Overall, I love the innovative concept as this game throws a novel twist on social media with AI NPCs, somewhat like AI personas you see on Twitter. While it offers fun on the move, I do wonder whether the amount of satisfaction in playing a game like this would be more compared to say, an epic like The Witcher 3. I would also like to see the user interface improved over time.

Eatwise AI: Calorie Counter (Android & iOS)

How has your battle of the bulge been this year? We are close to hitting the mid-year mark in a fortnight’s time, and I am curious to see whether my waist is keeping up its end of the bargain with healthier eating choices and some exercise thrown in for good measure. Well, why not get an app to help me out? I tried Eatwise AI as a calorie and macro tracking app, and here’s what I found.

Basically, the user interface is simple, and it helps me set personalized nutrition goals. I also like how it is easy to log meals via text entry as a record that is easily remembered, with the inclusion of barcode scanning or photo recognition to store information on my meals, while monitoring my progress with insightful charts and nutrition breakdowns.

Of course, there is a caveat here. Not everything is accurate, as there were moments when I knew a particular food item had way more carbs than mentioned, and it is not able to recognize all kinds of food (which is to be expected). Still, it is good enough for a beginner.

• Price: Free / Advertising: None / In-app purchases: Yes ($4.99-$49.99) / Account required: No

Of course, as the consumer, the choice is yours at the end of the day. If you value an attractive interface, fast AI logging, and visual progress tracking, and do not mind forking out a rather hefty premium for its features, then go ahead. Otherwise, you might want to look elsewhere if you prefer a dependable free version with strong customer support.

With that, we have come to the end of this week’s list. Let us know whether you found any of them useful before we begin working on next week’s edition!