17+

More than ever before, smartphone users are sharing their experiences through photo and video on networks like Instagram and Facebook. Naturally, that popularity has spurred the creation of hundreds of apps that attempt to do something very similar. Such is the case with Quick Lomo, an app that applies a simple filter to each of your photos before uploading them to your social media profiles via Steply.

Quick Lomo is a simple app with only a handful of options. You can choose a photo in your library or take a new one and apply one of three filters to it (… Read more

Are you tired of boring, old text messages? Instawrite Lite gives you the tools to take your text messages and tweets up a few notches by letting you create graphical text messages; but the tools are wrapped in a poorly-designed package.

Instawrite Lite's user interface isn't light on clutter. The app's text design options are stacked on top of each other and each option resembles its design function, making for a manic, amateurish look. The buttons are teeny tiny, and on several occasions, we tapped the wrong button by accident and almost tapped on the banner ad … Read more

Maybe it's because we're getting old and our eyesight isn't what it used to be, but we much prefer using our iPad for productivity apps because of its larger screen. For that reason, we've been on the hunt for a simple calculator app for our iPad and were looking forward to trying out iCalculator for free. And what can we say? It's pretty bare bones, but gets the job done.

iCalculator for free introduces a very large, basic calculator -- you won't find a scientific calculator here. The buttons are very large, making this … Read more

There are quite a few features on the iPad and iPhone that many don't even realize exist, or that we take for granted. The microphone is one such feature. iSuperMic Free takes the microphone to a new level, enhancing the volume of voices so you can hear them more easily. This simple, free app is a surprisingly adept tool at capturing sound that you might otherwise miss.

There won't be a learning curve using iSuperMic Free. It's so easy to use that user guidance isn't really necessary. The interface is clean and simple, with large buttons … Read more

Be My Princess is a modern-day take on Cinderella; however, in this version, the main character is a graduate student who meets six differences princes. The app isn't really a game; it's kind of a choose-your-own-adventure story. The free part limits you to the Prologue, but if the paid stories are anything like what we experienced, we'd rather keep our money.

Be My Princess opens with a main menu. The app contains a Help menu, but it merely answers the question, "What do I do if the app crashes?" If you need answers to any … Read more

There are quite a few calendar apps in the iOS app store, many of them offering pared-down, intuitive interfaces that interact with Facebook and other online services. Shift Worker's Calendar is designed to serve a specific niche of individuals and managers in industries with shift workers. Integrating tools for recording overtime, shift schedules and total compensation, it has as lot of promise, but ultimately falls flat due to clunky, at times frustrating design choices, unnecessary tools and a lack of resources to guide in setup.

It's not immediately clear who this app is for, whether it would be … Read more

There are a few video-calling options for the iPhone. The built-in FaceTime functionality works very well but is only an option if the person you are calling is using an Apple device (iPad, iPhone, or Mac). Similarly, Skype is a powerful video chat tool, but without a good connection and if your quarry doesn't use Skype, you're out of luck. So, a video chat tool using Facebook is very enticing. Seen - Video Calls for Facebook promises just that, but does it deliver or is it yet another feature-rich, connection-starved video chat app?

Upon installation, you are prompted … Read more

People often want to check the weather quickly without navigating to a separate Web site. Plus for The Weather Channel for Mac, despite its small price, has a number of features for tracking the weather from the desktop.

Available as a paid app for $1.99, there is no free version for trial. Since Plus for The Weather Channel for Mac is purchased through the Mac App Store, download and installation completed quickly without any user actions. Technical support appears limited to program updates, and there are no formal instructions. The clean interface is easy to use for anyone familiar … Read more

For people who often change their desktop backgrounds, locating unique images can be a problem. Pimp Your Screen for Mac addresses this with its selection of unique, high-quality wallpapers, which may be worth the price for some people.

Available only as a paid app from the Mac App Store for $2.99, Pimp Your Screen for Mac has no free trial, which would have been a welcome feature. Since it is an App Store program, download and installation completed easily without any user activity. Pimp Your Screen for Mac also started up cleanly and the interface was very well designed. … Read more