Readers’ App Reviews – January 2016

Remed – Remember Taking Your Medicine

Do you take daily or weekly medication or vitamins? Do you even forget to take your pills for short term stints to clear up a cold? Remed can help.

Remed will help you remember to take your medicine on the proper schedule and with the proper doses. Just enter each of your medications and their dosage into Remed. Then use the scheduler to set your schedule be it twice daily or once weekly. Remed will take care of the rest.

You’ll get a push notification when its time to medicate. Best of all using iOS’s activity notifications Remed allows you to mark your meds as taken right from the notification. No need to unlock your device and find the app.

As you use Remed, the app will keep track of how you’ve been doing staying on schedule. You’ll be able to get a list of medicine you’ve taken or missed.

• Author: Tom Golbach @remed_app
• Most useful tutorial: iSO App Extension video tutorial series
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Mobs & Potions

Mobs & Potions is a simple yet addicting game.

You are presented with cards one at a time. The controls are simple swipe right to attack, swipe left to use it. You might swipe right on a rat, or ice goblin, or giant with a club. You’ll swipe left on health potions and coin bonuses. Your health is constantly dropping. Health potions buy you some time while failures to attack lose you some time.

Use your coins between battles to buy equipment. There are health rings to boost your health or slow down the rate it drains. There are multiplier rings to give you bonus points when you swipe correctly for a stretch. And of course much much more.

• Author: Quentin Ivanhoe @quentinivanhoe
• Most useful tutorial: Unity 4.3 2D Tutorial: Scrolling, Scenes and Sounds
• App Store Link: Check it out!

plusclock Calc

There are two mode of input on the Apple Watch: touch and the digital crown. The digital crown is extremely easy to spin precisely. Touch is useful but only as long as the targets are large enough.

Most calculator apps are plagued by having too much input to fit comfortably on the Apple Watch. Enter plusclock Calc.

This app uses the digital crown to slide between buttons. Then you can simply tap the screen to select the highlighted button. Its also easy to backspace, just tap the right side of the input box. And you can clear the entire display by tapping the left of the input box.

Its certainly a unique design taking advantage of both Apple Watch input methods!

• Author: Glyn Thomas @plusclock
• Most useful tutorial: WatchKit by Tutorials
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Golden House

You sister is lost in a haunted house and needs your help!

Gold House is a retro platformer made for your iPhone. Its exactly what you’d expect with the classic left/right and jump button layout. You can double jump as well as wall jump which makes for some pretty cool interactions.

There are of course tons of enemies and obstacles between you and your sister. Everything from classic spikes to spinning blades to zombies.

There are 6 worlds and 48 levels with more to come. And of course it wouldn’t be complete without a retro chiptune soundtrack. What are you waiting for? Your sister needs help getting out of this haunted house!

• Author: Amadeusz Polak @enanogames
• Most useful tutorial: iOS Games by Tutorials
• App Store Link: Check it out!

Honorable Mentions

Every month I get way more submissions than I have time to write about. I download every app to try them out, but only have time to review a select few. I love seeing our readers through the apps submitted to me every month.

It’s not a popularity contest or even a favorite picking contest — I just try to share a snapshot of the community through your submissions. Please take a moment and try these other fantastic apps from readers like you.

Slow Maddie
Pyramid Stack
Grabble Words!
ProtoZoah!
Life – Moments for every mood
Slime Sports
The Shopping List App
Spiral Painter
Parcheesi FullHD
Busy Suby

Where To Go From Here?

Each month, I really enjoy seeing what our community of readers comes up with. The apps you build are the reason we keep writing tutorials. Make sure you tell me about your next one, submit here.

If you saw an app your liked, hop to the App Store and leave a review! A good review always makes a dev’s day. And make sure you tell them you’re from raywenderlich.com; this is a community of makers.

If you’ve never made an app, this is the month! Check out our free tutorials to become an iOS star. What are you waiting for – I want to see your app next month.