As mobile operating systems continue to evolve, app developers have grown more confident and assured. 2014 can be considered a watershed year for apps as it saw both software heavyweights and first-timers create a splash for themselves. Here are 10 apps launched this year that made news.
Office Mobile
Available for: iOS (iPad, iPhone), Android, Windows Phone
The fact that Microsoft released a free version of its popular office suite for iOS and Android this year only underscored how important apps were to anyone in the software business. If you’ve been using Word, Excel or PowerPoint on your desktop/laptop then you’ll be perfectly comfortable using the suite on your smartphone.
Health
Available for: iOS 8 (pre-installed)
Apple jumped headfirst into the mobile health tracking segment this year with the Health app in iOS 8. Health allows third-party health apps to feed data to it to create a one-stop repository of the user’s health/fitness information and subsequently, also lets apps access that data to give more pertinent information to the user.
Google Fit
Available for: Android
2014 showed everybody that fitness tech on mobiles and wearables is not a passing phase but one that will continue to evolve. After Apple unveiled its Health suite for iOS, it only made sense for Google to do the same for Android. Google Fit is a one-stop app that keeps track of your physiological data with the help of third-party apps. If you’ve been looking to get fitter with the help of your phone, then make sure you download this app.
Yahoo! Aviate
Available for: Android
Yahoo has been fighting hard to stay relevant in this Google era and in the last two years, it has done that well. Aviate is a launcher app for Android released this year that learns your schedule and uses your location and the time of the day to push content and apps to your phone’s homescreen. As a result, you always get a fresh looking phone with relevant content.
Guvera
Available for: Android, iOS, Windows Phone
Guvera is a popular Australian music streaming service that launched its app in India this year. The Guvera app looks great and has an impressive collection of Bollywood music and curated playlists.
TrueDialer
Available for: Android, Windows Phone
The developers of TrueCaller, the global caller identification service, launched TrueDialer in 2014. Like TrueCaller, TrueDialer’s USP is caller identification but this time around, you can use the app as a phone dialer and use the service’s global database as your phonebook. Quite useful, especially if you can’t be bothered with managing your own contacts book.
Wynk
Adding to the growing number of music streaming services in India, Wynk was launched by Airtel this year. With a sizeable library of Indian music (both regional and Bollywood) and popular English music, Wynk should keep any music lover satisfied.
Mailbox (for Android)
After pretty much redefining the concept of a successful app launch on iOS last year, Mailbox, the app from the team behind Dropbox, dropped anchor on Android this year. Mailbox is an email app with a simple interface that lets you quickly and efficiently explore your inbox and reduce your ‘unread mails’ counter.
FrontBack
FrontBack is a simple app that capitalizes on the selfie craze that inundated the world this year. The app lets you take a photo with both the front and the rear cameras of your phone at the same time and then merge the two photos in a single image. You can then upload the image to the FrontBack server and also browse other users’ images.
Secret
In conjunction with Snapchat, Secret hinted at the growing importance of privacy in social media. Secret was the one of the most talked about apps of the year but unfortunately, the app gained notoriety for being used for bullying. As the year draws to an end, Secret is racked with controversy and falling numbers but there’s no denying that when it launched it created quite a big splash.
Yo
Available for: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Chrome
Yo takes the growing popularity of instant messengers and whittles it down to the most basic component: it lets you send a “Yo” to your friends. As stupid as the app sounds, it managed to garner a lot of attention because of the absolutely pure way in which it lets you connect with your friends without being distracted by unnecessary features.