April, 2020 - Softonic English

Best apps to workout at home

These apps will help you get in shape. They offer lots of great workouts and fitness routines.

Yesterday we looked at the best Instagram accounts for workouts and today we’re going to bring you the best-dedicated workout apps. This week we’re trying to promote apps and social media accounts that help people look after themselves while staying indoors. It is always important to look after both your body and your mind but even more when you’re stuck indoors. Hopefully, this week we’re helping our faithful Softonic readers stay safe and healthy while stuck inside. Make sure you check back in tomorrow when we’ll be looking at the best YouTube accounts for healthy workouts too.

Today though, it’s workout apps and we’ve got some great workout programs for you to download. Go through them, pick the fitness apps that suit your fitness goals best, download them, and off you go. Look after yourselves out there.

Best workout apps 2020

You need these apps on your phone if you’re trying to get in shape and live a healthier lifestyle.

7-minute workout

Not having enough time to train or workout is the most common excuse given by people for missing their gym sessions. The truth is though, that it is hard to find time to work out, particularly when you also have to consider getting changed into your gym clothes and then showering and changing afterward too. Even when working out at home, it can still feel hard to find time to work out. Well, not with the -minute workout app it isn’t.

The app available for Apple iOS iPhones and iPads, and Google Android smartphones and tablets gives you lightning-fast work out that will get your heart pumping and sweat pouring. What’s also great about this app is that the workouts it introduces don’t require any special equipment meaning you could start right now, if you wanted and be finished in less than ten minutes. It’s a workout plan you can do right now. Think about that and then think about what are you waiting for? Go get at it.

7 Minute Workouts Download now

Daily Workouts

Daily Workouts is another fantastic app that will turn your home into your gym. Again, this app is all about bodyweight meaning you won’t have to splash out on any expensive equipment or specialist weights, dumbbells, or kettlebells. These workouts can be tailored to your fitness level and ability too with the shortest workouts clocking in at just five minutes and targeting specific parts of your body and muscle groups. You can then push these workouts all the way up to half an hour giving your body a more generalized workout

Daily Workouts is also a very accessible app as it is both free to download and then free to use. If you’re looking to get started with a new fitness routine but don’t want to have to splash out for an expensive app or subscribe to a monthly program, this is the app for you.

Daily Workouts Download now

Fiton

Fiton is another completely free app that will push you to your limit during each fitness class and slowly but surely stretch out your limit over a long period of time. There’s a lot of variety here too with the app covering all sorts of different bases including HIIT workouts (High-Intensity Interval Training), Yoga classes, Pilates, and even some cardio-focused dance classes and lessons thrown into the mix too.

The secret to Fiton’s success is that it takes new workouts from some of the biggest and best personal trainers out there and puts them in your hand for free. The Fiton trainers have worked with some of the most famous celebrities out there including the likes of Pink and Alicia Keys. The Fiton workouts are high energy and lots of fun, meaning you’ll feel more like you’re having a ball than slogging away in the gym.

Fiton Download now

JEFIT

The JEFIT app and program is all about bodybuilding and strength training. If you think you’d like to bulk up, build muscle mass, and increase your power and strength while you’re staying at home, then this is the app for you. You’ll find a whole host of tools here too including a workout planner, training plan, progress tracker, many different types of exercise timer, and a special log for keeping notes on your progress.

JEFIT is also a very cool app because it allows you to focus your exercises and concentrate on particular body parts. The app is all about data too with the aim being to give you as much control over your development as possible. There’s a lot here too with plenty of bodyweight exercises but also plenty of routines including dumbbells and kettlebells.

JEFIT Download now

Home Workout – No Equipment

The Home Workout app is all about turning any room in your house into a gym. You don’t need an expensive gym membership; you don’t need fancy exercise equipment in your home. All you need is this app, a can-do attitude and motivation to keep at it while you’re stuck in the house. There are plenty of exercises here too that offer users a full-body workout covering everything from legs, arms, and abs to butt, chest, shoulders.

There are many different routines users can follow and each also includes warm-up exercises and stretching routines. It is very important to stretch properly after a decent workout and may apps overlook this important stage of the workout.

Home Workout Download now

Wrapping up

So, you’ve now got five apps that you can turn to help you live a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle even while stuck in your doors. The key to making progress with any of these apps though is sticking with it. It’s not about lifting the heaviest weights or pushing yourself harder than you’ve ever been pushed before. It is about setting yourself realistic goals and sticking with your program over a long period of time.

PDF Reader is packed with every PDF editing, creating, and converting tool you could wish for

Even though PDFs were first created by Adobe in 1992, many other software companies have since built programs that work with the file type. So while you were once forced to use only Adobe’s software to work with PDFs, now you can choose from among dozens of both free and paid programs to do the same thing. This allows you to find just the right solution for your needs and budget.

Chances are pretty good though that the software you choose will be PDF Reader by Kdan Mobile Software. With more than 60 million downloads worldwide, it is one of the leading PDF manipulation tools on the market, and for good reason.

PDF Reader: Start your 7-day free trial!

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Every PDF tool you could possibly need

Want to move text around in a PDF? Increase the font size of a particular line? Change the spelling of a word? Use a freehand drawing tool to mark it up? Sign it using your finger, your trackpad or your mouse? PDF Reader has you covered. It does all of this and much, much more.

One of the ways in which PDF Reader distinguishes itself from the competition, is just how intuitive it is to use. Colorful icons at the top of the screen help you find the right tool for nearly any task, and then drag-and-drop functionality makes it a breeze to move things wherever you want them.

You can add images, tables, form fields, buttons, stamps and shapes with ease. What’s more, the formatting toolbar that appears at the side of the screen lets you adjust the size, color and opacity of many items you drop into your document like lines and highlights. And, as you’d expect with any PDF processing software, you can also add sticky note comments, as well as cross out, underline and highlight text. A hideable thumbnail panel on the left lets you easily navigate and rearrange pages.

A nice additional feature of PDF Reader is the inclusion of a “night mode,” which makes the software easier on the eyes when using it in dimly lit conditions.

Robust file management

Another way in which PDF Reader stands apart from the competition is with its impressive file-management system. By hitting a toggle button at the top of the screen, you enter the file-management area where you can tag and organize any files you add.

Here is where you can also import practically any other file type to create a PDF; compress your files; add or delete pages; merge different files into one PDF; adjust security settings; and even fax or email your document right from the program. When you want to save a document, you can do so with easy conversion tools that turn your PDF into a Microsoft Office, iWorks, ePub or text or image files with a click.

PDF Reader: Start your 7-day free trial!

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Free vs Paid

The free version of PDF Reader might be satisfactory for many users. You can mark up any PDF, add comments and notes, insert form elements, password protect documents; and use the freehand signing tool. It’s a much more robust software package than what is offered in Adobe’s free PDF software.

However, if you want even more functionality, upgrading to the paid version might be a good bet. Upgrading moves you to Kdan’s Document 365 subscription for $5/month billed annually, which works across all operating systems including iOS, Android, Mac and Windows 10.

Upgrading also adds in all of the really fun features including: converting PDFs to ePub, Microsoft Office, HTML, JPEG and PNG files; using OCR scanning to allow text to be edited, moved and deleted; adding backgrounds and watermarks; splitting and saving PDFs; encrypt and decrypt PDF files; sending files as faxes; and converting your PDFs to a wide range of other file types.

Fortunately, you can download a free, fully-functioning 7-day trial of the software to see just how many features you’ll use before choosing the version that’s right for you.

Best mindfulness and meditation apps

These apps are all designed to help have greater control over your mental health and wellbeing.

When you’re stuck inside life can feel it’s getting on top of you. The days start melding into one and it gets harder to recognize when one ends, and another begins. This means if you’re going to be inside for a prolonged period of time you need to protect your mental health and stay on top of your mindfulness.

Fortunately, there is a slew of apps available for Android smartphones and tablets, and Apple iPhones and iPads that can help you manage meditation sessions and teach you mindfulness techniques. You can add these apps to your smartphone and then you’re good to go. Performing just one meditation session a day will help you remain calm and grounded in even the most adverse of situations. If you think one a day is too much, don’t worry. Many of these apps offer adjustable schedules and can work around the pressures your day-to-day life puts on you. Download any of the best meditation apps today and start looking after yourself.

Meditation and mindfulness apps

These meditation and mindfulness apps will help you maintain your mental health even during stressful and difficult times.

Aura

Aura is a mindfulness meditation app that is more like your own personal mindfulness and meditation guru. The app was created by prominent therapists, self-help gurus, and meditation teachers and offers users daily micro-meditations that can help level your mind. What’s great about these micro-meditations is that they only last 3 minutes each, meaning you can add some mental health-boosting meditation practices into your day no matter how busy you are.

Other great features in the Aura app include a mood and emotions journal, a thankfulness and gratitude journal, and extra daily meditation challenges and games. These challenges build up your skills day after day helping you learn and develop your meditation techniques further. Another cool Aura feature is the relaxing sounds playlist that includes lots of soothing tracks taken from the outdoors and other general sounds of nature.

Aura Download now

Calm

Calm is a great app that will introduce revolutionary calming techniques and exercises, and simple habits that will help destress and relax at even the worst of times. If you ever suffer anxiety or mild panic attacks, this award-winning app will help you develop the tools you need to regain control whenever you feel like things are getting away from you. The breathing techniques alone will help you a lot once you’ve mastered them.

Calm also has a special children’s section called Calm Kids, which focuses on specialized calming techniques and meditations for children aged 3-17. There’s also a very cool sleep-related section of the app where you access soothing Sleep Stories read aloud by a large number of famous celebrities known for their soothing voices. Even if you’re not looking for better sleep, having Matthew McConaughey read to you at night isn’t a bad thing.

Calm Download now

Headspace

Headspace is an app that has been helping you train yourself on how to live a healthier life. With a healthier body and mind comes a happier existence and that idea sits at the heart of Headspace. Like many of the apps in today’s list, Headspace does have a free version of its services that include special exercises and techniques that can help you get a solid grip on the basics of meditation. This makes Headspace an excellent first step for anybody hoping to work on their mental health who isn’t quite ready to splash out on expensive subscription services.

As well as guided meditation, Headspace also includes soothing sleep music tracks and relaxing nature sounds that can quickly add an air of serenity into your day. Headspace works best by analyzing a few answers you give to certain questions and then building you your own personalized mindfulness routine.

Headspace Download now

Simply Being

Simply Being is another excellent app for somebody new to the meditation and mindfulness space, who wants to try things out without committing to an expensive plan. It offers a great way in, giving users solid voice-guided meditations and courses that will help you maintain calmness and tranquillity in your daily life.

What’s also great about this very popular app is that offers meditations that are as short as five minutes, so there are no excuses for not being able to these very helpful routines into your routine. Sessions can go up to 30 minutes long too, giving you control over how much of your day you can give to your mental wellbeing. There are also soothing audio tracks for you too here and although the layout is a little rudimentary, everything here works smoothly and effectively. This is a very well-reviewed app for a reason.

Simply Being Download now

The Mindfulness app

The name of our final app today says it all really. The Mindfulness App was developed by two Yoga specialists who were looking to help as many of the general public experience the benefits that can come with developing and maintain general mindfulness practices in day-to-day life. Again, this app also offers 3-minute micro-meditations making these benefits truly accessible to even the busiest of people.

The app also has soothing audio tracks and guided meditations. What’s great about this app is that it allows you to deactivate the narrator’s voice on certain meditation tracks, if you’re comfortable enough to it on your own. The Mindfulness App is another great option for anybody new to this stuff and offers a solid path of development for all rookies to follow.

The Mindfulness app Download now

Wrapping up

There you have five mindfulness apps that will help you exert more control over your mental health, even if you’re stuck in the house for long periods of time. Don’t worry about trying more than one of these apps. The key here is to go with what works best for you. It’s you’re body and your mind, so you’re the one in control here. Good luck with this. Namaste.

The latest release of Smart Game Booster will turbocharge your computer’s performance

As any gamer will tell you, speed is critical. Whether you’re hunting aliens, driving an F1 car, or fighting off enemy troops, you need your computer to function at a flawless level with no glitches, slowdowns or stalls of any kind. By optimizing your computer’s performance in several ways and overclocking (see below) several of your computer’s functions, Smart Game Booster will keep you at the top of your game. And its latest release has some extra goodies that make it an indispensable piece of software for any serious gamer – or PC user.

Juice your computer's speed with Smart Game Booster

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What Smart Game Booster does

First and foremost, Smart Game Booster overclocks your CPU, GPU (graphics processing unit), and your memory card. Overclocking is a process in which these systems are pushed to behave at a higher level than that set by the manufacturer when you received your computer. The result is increased performance and often, an increase in your frames per second (FPS), which not only helps you game glitch free, but it will make your games look better as well. In the latest version of Smart Game Booster, this feature is built in as an easy slide switch called Super Boost.

Smart Game Booster also shuts down background operations whenever you launch a game, so that maximum system resources are directed to your gaming, rather than being wasted on non-essential functions. And, because overclocking can cause your computer to run a little hotter, an onscreen temperature monitor is now included. This helps you keep your CPU in the recommended range of between 75-80° C and your GPU lower than the recommended temperature of 85°C. If you see the range climbing higher on the monitor, you’ll know it’s time to give your system a rest – or install a better cooling system.

What else is new

Smart Game Booster 4 has a collection of new tools that seriously clean up your PC for some seriously fast gaming.

For starters, it has a disk defragmenter utility, which organizes data on your hard drive to make it more accessible and efficient, which naturally makes it faster. The new version of the software also contains a PC diagnosis feature that lets you examine your entire system at a glance, and a system tweaks feature that lets you further boost your computer’s speed by allowing you to set different system parameters.

On top of this, Smart Game Booster 4 lets you easily take still shots or videos of your gaming exploits and comes with a do-not-disturb feature that means the software won’t interrupt you if you’re working on another task in full screen mode. The software also automatically checks popular gaming sites for new releases and now has a more powerful detection algorithm, so that you’ll always know what’s new and updated from your favorite sites like Steam, Origin, Epic and more.

Great for non-gamers as well

While Smart Game Booster 4 is aimed at improving the gaming experience, it is also valuable software for anyone who wants to boost his computer’s performance. With the disk defragger, the system tweaks and PC diagnosis, the software can improve computing performance for anyone. On top of that, the new release also automatically checks for driver updates so that the components in your computer are always functioning their best – another valuable benefit to all PC users.

Get the deal

You can download a trial version of Smart Game Booster 4 to see just how much it can improve your gaming – and computing – experience. After that, a license for one computer is being offered for Softonic readers for just $14.99 per year, while a license for two computers is a very reasonable $19.99.

Juice your computer's speed with Smart Game Booster

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The four best ways to rewatch all the Star Wars movies

Now that the Skywalker Saga has ended with The Rise of Skywalker, you might be gearing up to rewatch all the Star Wars movies. Or maybe you want to take advantage of the fact that they’re all on Disney+ to get a family member or a friend hooked on this great saga. Regardless of your reasons for revisiting these incredible adventures, we’ve come up with four possible orders for you to watch them in. We’ve broken down the pros and cons of each order and recommended the best ones for seasoned fans and newbies.

Remember, with the exception of The Rise of Skywalker, all these movies and series are available on the recently launched Disney+. The free one-week trial of this comprehensive streaming platform is plenty of time to have a Star Wars marathon using some of these orders!

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Option 1: Release-date order

Okay, let’s go with the obvious choice first. It’s still the best option for newcomers to the saga, because you slowly learn about the world and characters of Star Wars. In that sense, it’s perfect for introducing the saga to kids. The classic trilogy is free of scenes of political maneuvering and such, which they might find confusing or boring. Also, you avoid spoilers, such as finding out Darth Vader is Luke’s father, or that Obi Wan Kenobi trained him before the days of the Empire. And finally, it’s an option that quickly gets you to the brilliant The Empire Strikes Back, one of the highlights of the saga.

That said, this order has its drawbacks. First, the people you want to introduce Star Wars to may not tolerate the style and presentation of “old” movies (that is, pre-’90s films). If so, this option will only get them to associate Star Wars with “stuff for old people that’s no longer fun.” The other disadvantage is that A New Hope hasn’t aged well. The pace is a bit erratic, and it’s obvious that most of the acting is a bit wooden (Alec Guinness’ general facial expression is “I don’t know what I’m doing”). These details could be off-putting for some people.

If you choose this option, the order is as follows:

A New Hope

The Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

The Phantom Menace

Attack of the Clones

Revenge of the Sith

The Force Awakens

Rogue One

The Last Jedi

Solo

The Rise of Skywalker

Option 2: Chronological order

Do you have youngsters at home who can’t stand old movies, as we mentioned above? This option could be your salvation. The Phantom Menace, the first movie in this order, is the one most oriented to children. The jokes are quite infantile, one of the main characters (Anakin) is a child (so it will be easy to identify with him), and Jar Jar Binks is the “pet” on duty. It’s also an excellent way to introduce Star Wars to people who demand a linear story, or who are passionate about special effects. Finally, it’s a good option for saga experts who need a change of pace (that is, always using option 1).

The disadvantages? Although The Phantom Menace is the most kid-oriented film, it has moments that even adults will struggle to tolerate. We’re referring to the endless talk about the Trade Federation, the political maneuvering… And it’s immediately followed by Attack of the Clones, one of the weakest movies in the saga. Also, we don’t recommend this order if you’re a fan of plot twists, mysteries and surprises; it will totally ruin episodes 4-6 for you. Another problem is that you’ll take a long time to reach the classic trilogy, the main course, with the addition of the two most recent prequels: Solo and Rogue One.

If you choose this option, the order is as follows:

The Phantom Menace

Attack of the Clones

Revenge of the Sith

Solo

Rogue One

A New Hope

The Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

The Force Awakens

The Last Jedi

The Rise of Skywalker

Try Disney+ for free during one week and on 10 devices

Start Streaming

Option 3: The Machete Order

Here’s where the fun begins. They say this order, created by Rod Hilton in 2011, is perfect for both fans of the saga and newbies. The idea is to start with A New Hope and continue with The Empire Strikes Back, but then go back and watch two of the three prequels (Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith) to learn about Darth Vader’s background. It’s a logical leap backwards, because we just found out Vader is Luke’s father and we’re surely wondering what happened to make him a villain. This order skips The Phantom Menace because Anakin is very minor in it, and it makes the flashback too long. And then, with the right information and having watched both movies, we are ready to return to the “present” and prepare for the final battle in Return of the Jedi. It’s a near-perfect order because it focuses on Luke’s story, which has the most substance, and finds a quick, fun way to introduce the prequels. Also, it heightens the tension of the Luke vs. Darth Vader fight, because we now know about the villain’s baggage and everything at stake. Although many believe it’s the perfect order for everyone, we prefer to recommend it to veterans for the following reasons.

The first is that the Machete Order is out of date. It was created in 2011, before Disney acquired the franchise. So it doesn’t include the new trilogy. Maybe we could start with The Force Awakens and then, when we see Luke defeated, jump to Episodes 4-6 to explore his younger days? That could work, but… what about the trilogy of prequels? The second reason it’s better to use this order if you have already seen the movies is Machete has no room for Rogue One or Solo, since they’re not films focused on the Skywalkers. As a result, out of 11 movies you only end up watching 5, fewer than half! Newbies will get a very minimal taste of what Star Wars is about.

If you choose this option, the order is as follows:

A New Hope

The Empire Strikes Back

Attack of the Clones

Revenge of the Sith

Return of the Jedi

Option 4: The complete order

Now that Disney+ is here, you can go all out and watch absolutely everything related to Star Wars. Because this platform lets you enjoy not only all the movies (with The Rise of Skywalker pending release) but also the animated series and the excellent show The Mandalorian. This option is 100% for fans, and it takes time (many mini-marathons), but as a reward, you’ll have the most comprehensive vision of the universe. Also, you’ll get to know all the secondary characters who have yet to appear in the movies.

The drawbacks? For starters, your family and friends won’t see you for days. We hope you won’t blame it on us! The other disadvantage concerns the series. Although Clone Wars and Rebels are terrific shows with cool story arcs and likeable characters, you may get overwhelmed by so many episodes. No worries if you decide to skip the filler and go straight to the most important moments of each series. That won’t happen with the last show, The Mandalorian. It has only eight episodes, and they’re packed with action and suspense – they’ll fly by!

If you pick this option, here’s what you have to watch (you choose the order!)

A New Hope

The Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

The Phantom Menace

Attack of the Clones

Revenge of the Sith

The Force Awakens

Rogue One

The Last Jedi

Solo

The Rise of Skywalker

The Clone Wars series (if you’re really lost, watch The Clone Wars movie first)

Rebels

Resistance

The Mandalorian

Try Disney+ for free during one week and on 10 devices

Start Streaming

The best free Clash Royale alternatives

If you love Clash Royale but want to try something different, these are all the best alternatives you can play on your Android mobile right now.

Tower Defense and card-based strategy games represent the most popular genres of mobile games there is. The best games like Plants vs Zombies have millions of fans spread out across the globe and new clone versions of the games are popping up on the App Store and Google Play Store all the time. One of the biggest games of the genre though, if not the biggest, is Clash Royale.

Clash Royale has amassed well over 100,000,000 downloads on Android alone and has seen over 28,000,000 of those players leave extremely positive reviews. Clash Royale is extremely popular and has made developer Supercell an absolute fortune through its popularity. If you’ve had enough of what might just be the biggest mobile game, however, or if you like to do things a bit differently to how most other people do things, you might be looking for Clash Royale alternatives. If that’s the case, then we’re here to help you. We’ve put together a list of fantastic alternative games to Clash Royale that we think you might like. Let’s go through them now.

The best alternatives to the Clash Royale

Hearthstone

Just like Clash Royale, Hearthstone is a card-based strategy game that acks and entertaining and addictive punch. With Hearthstone the table is your battlefield and your mission is to build up a mean collection of battle cards representing heroes, spells, and magical enchantments that will help you get the better of your opponent. What’s really great about Hearthstone is that it is based on the World of Warcraft, meaning anybody familiar with what is one of the biggest games ever, will feel at home wielding Hearthstone cards. Heroes such as the Lich King are here, and you’ll recognize a lot more cards than you’d expect to.

Hearthstone is a built on adaptive PvP dynamic but there’s also a lot here for anybody who wants to play on their own. The game, which is available on both Android smartphones and iOS iPhones already has a cult following of its own and is incredibly popular.

Hearthstone Download Hearthstone

Clash of Clans

Clash Royale is like the card game sibling of Clash of Clans. Both games offer very similar stylistic experiences and even some gameplay elements are similar too. Whereas Clash Royale is about building decks of cards though, Clash of Clans is about building up your defenses and fighting off hordes of enemies as they try to overrun and ultimately defeat you.

For a free game, Clash of Clans offers a very rich experience and there is no doubt that developer Supercell has done a really great job creating a game that will get you hooked. This is why Clash of Clans is one of the most popular mobile games ever created. If you haven’t already played it, you should try it now.

Clash of Clans Download now

Titanfall: Assault

Titanfall and Titanfall 2 are pretty epic games. Titanfall 2, in particular, has one of the best single-player campaigns we’ve played for years. The mix of first-person shooter action and giant mech warrior style Titan battles proves a lot of fun. Titanfall: Assault takes the huge action of the two games and shrinks it down into your mobile by producing a card-based strategy game that feels like a mix between Clash Royale and Clash of Clans.

The action here is frantic and loud but requires a deft strategic mind to master. There’s multiplayer action offering the chance to battle against your friends or strangers online as well as an excellent single-player offering for all you loners. What sets this game apart though is the graphics, with a futuristic sci-fi aesthetic bringing the action to life and drawing you into the battle.

Titanfall: Assault Download now

Kingdom Rush

Kingdom Rush for Android smartphones is an excellent tower defense game that proves to be a fantastic alternative to Clash Royale. The premise behind Kingdom Rush is simple. You’re responsible for a kingdom in an epic fantasy land filled with forest, mountains, wastelands, and more. Your kingdom will come under attack from vicious hordes of orcs, wizards, trolls, and all other manners of ghastly baddy set on your destruction. That being the case you need to fight them off by strategically building your defenses and placing your troops where they need to be.

There is a lot here for Tower Defense game lovers. There are rich strategic elements you need to master, and the game looks great too. It almost feels like you’re playing in a much more fun version of the world of Warcraft. The game, however, is definitely challenging enough to stand on its own feet without the need to copy or imitate anything else. This is one of the better tower defense games you’ll get to play on mobile and shouldn’t be missed.

Kingdom Rush Download now

Star Wars: Commander

Our final game is a big hitter because it is based in a galaxy far far away. The action is here is strategy-based battles that are full of all the iconic vehicles, ships, soldiers, and weapons from the Star Wars universe. Disney has done a great job with this game creating a compelling experience that stands up against other strategy-based Tower Defense games like Clash of Clans.

There are multiplayer elements to Star Wars: Commander with the ability to link your games to your social accounts and drag your friends and enemies into the action with you. As you’d imagine with a Star Wars game though, there’s also plenty here for anybody who simply wants to play on their own and play through their own adventure. There’s also plenty of bonus content available too with Disney tying in promotions for Star Wars movies and matching the action on your mobile to that going on the big screen. This game is lots of fun for all Star Wars fans and is worth a download for anybody looking for an alternative game to Clash Royale.

Star Wars: Commander Download now

The best free mobile games of 2020

These are all the best free mobile games you can download and play in 2020

One of the real wonders of today’s modern world goes beyond the technical marvels that are the mobile devices we use all the time. Sure, our Android devices are impressive beasts on their own, and the software that comes with them is impressive even more so. The craziest thing, however, is that a lot of that software is available for free. Yep, there are incredible games you can play on your smartphone without having to pay a single cent.

When you play these free games too, you realize instantly just how impressive it is that they’re free. Free games these days aren’t simple affairs built by amateurs in their bedrooms. Instead, free games these days are built by professional teams of developers working for huge video game studios. Sure, there are elements that you have to pay for but the biggest and best games, like Fortnite: Battle Royale, work it so that the things you pay for don’t actually affect the gameplay at all. That’s right, the best Android games these days are completely free to play.

Best free Android games 2020

Below you’ll find the five best free games for Android from 2020. All games are available in the Google Play Store, which means all you have to do to play them now is click the download link and follow the online instructions.

Call of Duty: Mobile

No game will prove our point about how free games these days are big-name AAA features from the best gaming studios more than Call of Duty: Mobile. This free mobile game is so good that it even adds new and entertaining elements to the established First-Person Shooter (FPS) action that the Call of Duty series is famous for. On top of the beautifully looking multiplayer shooting action, Call of Duty: Mobile also brings in a 100-player Battle Royale mode that is very good.

Ever since the likes of PUBG and Fortnite: Battle Royale took the world by storm there has been plenty of clone attempts to replicate the success and many games have had some sort of Battle Royale mode bolted on to them. With Call of Duty: Mobile, however, this isn’t the case as there has clearly been a lot of effort put into developing the massive new game mode. This is a relatively new title too but already it has been gaining a lot of popularity with new players taking to its entertaining gameplay quickly and particularly happy with the fact that in-app purchases only make cosmetic differences.

Call of Duty: Mobile Download now

Stranger Things: The Game

When you play video game adaptations of major cult smashes, be they movies, TV shows, or god forbid pop acts, you normally don’t expect much from them. Stranger Things: The Game, however, for Android and iOS devices is an exception to that rule. Presented in a pixel art format that fits the 80s nostalgia feel of the hit Netflix show perfectly, Stranger Things: The Game is lots of fun to play and brings with it all of the recognizable elements you know and love from the show.

The gameplay is simple and effective too. This mobile puzzle game is easy to control via a simple tap control system that removes a lot of the clumsiness you get from other mobile adventure games. Even if this wasn’t a Stranger Things game, it would still be lots of fun. The fact that it is though, makes it a must-have game for all fans of the hit Netflix show.

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Alto’s Odyssey

There have been many beautiful games that have graced our mobile screens over the years, but normally we have to pay for pleasing aesthetics. Alto’s Adventure changes this though by giving us a dynamic adventure to experience while giving us fantastic visuals and digital art to splendor at as we do so.

Alto’s Odyssey plays as a side-scrolling land surfing game as you take Alto on a magical journey through desserts and plains all on his sandboard that can help him fly down the sides of mountains and jump and flip and pull off a wide array of impressive tricks. On top of the regular stunts and jumps, however, the game also brings in other gameplay dynamics such as wall riding and magical creatures that will toss Alto high into the air.

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Pokémon Go

Yes, Pokémon Go has been around for what seems a very long time and nowhere near as many people play it now as did at the height of its popularity back in the summer of 2016 but the game is still one for the best around for many reasons. The main reason is the continued support and development that Niantic has given the game. Back when everybody was playing Pokémon Go the AR RPG game was beset with many flaws and issues. These have all been ironed out now making the real-world AR game everything we all wanted it to be back then when things didn’t work as they should have done. Now, everything just works, which makes the AR dynamics as impressive as they should be. This is one of the best ever Android apps.

On top of that, Niantic is regularly running major global events for players to participate in, giving the game some real weight that makes it worthy of our list of the best mobile games of 2020.

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Asphalt 9

The Asphalt series of racing games have been blowing away mobile gamers for years now. The graphics are simply breath-taking, and the gameplay is incredibly fast-paced and entertaining. Asphalt 9: Legends has more tracks than ever with some courses based on real-life locations from around the globe. As well as head to action Asphalt 9 also has a great career mode that will take you through all the best features the game has to offer as you battle to become the world’s best driver. This game is free to play and there is an awful lot here that impresses, the only catch is that you’ll be shown ads regularly.

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The best free mobile platform games

These mobile platform games are all free and available to play now.

You can’t overstate just how useful smartphones are these days. They can do pretty much anything and everything. You can take great photos, take care of pretty much any work-related task, contact people all over the world and have actual face-to-face conversations, and obviously access all the wonders the internet has to offer from almost everywhere.

The other big thing smartphones have to offer these days is video games. You don’t need a specialized gaming phone like the Asus Rog or the Razer Phone to get console console-like graphics on your mobile device. Most phones these days can handle state of the art graphics and hold vast game worlds that take days to uncover and explore. There is a rich gaming experience to be had with your iOS iPhone or Android devices and today we’re going to go through the best free platforming games you can play right now.

Platform games for Android

Below you’ll find a list of our top five free platforming games you can download for Android. Simply click the download button below any of the games, follow all the online instructions, and you’ll be good to go.

Super Phantom Cat 2

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that when they made a game about a cat that had phantom superpowers it became so popular that they simply had to make a sequel. Well, that is exactly what happened and Super Phantom Cat 2 is the result. This 2D platformer is a lot of fun to play with Phantom Cat’s superpowers creating all sorts of interesting dynamics that add to the gameplay.

There are plenty of mini-puzzles and games here to get into as the main action that plays as a fast-paced side scroller with plenty secret areas to discover, enemies to get the better of, and obstacles and platforms to jump over. This game is colorful too with a trippy feel to it that makes you feel lie you’re playing around inside a cat-themed crayon box. Try this game now.

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Rayman Adventures

Rayman is the classic protagonist of one of the best platformer series ever. He’s been around forever and starred in a lot of great games. In fact, at the moment there are quite a few Rayman games available and they’re not all platformers. There’s also Rayman Jungle Run and Rayman Fiesta Run, which offer interesting side-scrolling takes on the Endless Runner genre.

Rayman Adventures takes these classic tap and swipe dynamics and adds a little more nuance, giving you control over Rayman’s vertical as well as horizontal movements. The results are a frantic-feeling action platformer that keeps going and going. The action is always a challenge but never stops being fun in the meantime.

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Super Mario Run

Super Mario Run was the first mobile game from the legendary Nintendo. Ever since he first appeared on the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment system way back when Mario has been the king of all platformers. When Nintendo took him to mobile the plan was to keep all of the platforming elements that Nintendo fans had come to love but to make the experience fun and relatable on smaller devices often used with just one hand.

The result is a non-stop running game that sees Mario sprinting across the screen from left to right with the player simply controlling when Mario jumps and how high or how far he goes. With other cool dynamics like wall jumps added to the action, Super Mario fun is a lot of fun and feels like a premium mobile game in every way, even if you could say that is gameplay is limited compared to the bigger console versions of Mario that are out there. If you’re a Mario fan, there’s a lot to like here and you can try the game for free before having to commit to the relatively high purchase price for a mobile game.

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Sonic the Hedgehog

Another classic platformer to rival Mario but this time coming from Sega is the inimitable Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic is the ridiculously fast Hedgehog that for decades now has been battling against the evil Doctor Robotnik. Sonic’s antics are so famous that he’s recently been the protagonist in his own movie battling against non-other than Jim Carrey.

Sonic’s background makes him much more suited to high-speed frantic action than Mario and all of Sonic’s mobile games showcase this well. Game worlds in Sonic games are lush beautiful places filled jungle greenery, beautiful gold coins, and all manner of baddy out there looking to take them off you. The other great thing about Sonic mobile games is that they’re pretty much like for like reproductions of the full version games you get on consoles. Sure the controls can feel a little clumsy at times, dragging your fingers along virtual D-Pads on your touchscreen device the fact the full games are here on your mobile device and play so well is a testament to how well they were made in the first place.

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Blackmoor

Blackmoor – Duberry’s quest is the final game in today’s list. Although it might not have the name recognition of a Sonic or a Mario, you can still expect a very good side-scrolling platformer here. You pick your hero and then you through 16 different worlds that are filled with 57 different types of enemies for you to vanquish. What makes this game so great, however, is that all worlds are randomly generated meaning you’ll never play the same level twice. If you add to this the fact that you can play cooperatively with friends, and you really have a lot of games to get into on your mobile. This is definitely up there with even the biggest names in today’s list.

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Best apps for living a healthy lifestyle

These are all the best apps you can download that will help you live a healthy lifestyle.

Healthy living has evolved into some sort of modern-day religion. You have healthy living gurus and lifestyle coaches all out there trying to help you live your best life. You then have all manner of different diets and exercise plans you can follow and a whole host of books, videos, guides, and tutorials out there trying to help you fine-tune the decisions you make on a daily basis in search of a healthy lifestyle that will make you feel better and live longer. We now have a new pillar that supports us in our quest to live a healthy lifestyle, the trusty mobile app.

That’s right, apps are now fantastic tools for helping us stay healthy in many different ways. There are now apps for tracking what we eat and recommending healthy meal plans, recording our activity and promoting suitable exercises to boost our bodies and even apps that track lots of different biometric health data giving us greater insight into how our bodies are working than we’ve ever had before.

Best health apps

MyFitnessPal

The first app we’re featuring today is a fantastic food tracking app that will help with weight loss. MyFitnessPal has a huge database of known foods and tries to make logging what you eat easier than ever. All foods in the database have nutritional information attached and there are literally millions of different foods and dishes here, with even common restaurant meals also in the list and ready for you to track. What’s also great about MyFitnessPal is that it will offer you macro-nutrient guidelines based on the individual nutritional needs of your diet. If you’re looking to eat more carbs or protein, for example, then MyFitnessPal will analyze the foods you’re eating and let you know whether you need to eat more or less of any particular foods.

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Home Workout

So, you’re tracking your calorie and macro-nutrient intake using MyFitnessPal and now you want to add fitness goals to your daily routine. For this, there is no better app for Apple iPhones or Android smartphones than Home Workout, which makes it easy to start working out at home without the need for any specialist equipment at all. This app is like having your own personal trainer.

Once you’ve downloaded Home Workout you won’t need a gym membership or your own weights or home equipment. The app will give you routines including weight training and strength training. You’ll also get warm-up routines and cool-down stretches as well a wide range of analytics tools including tracking charts and graphs, and drink reminders and period trackers if you want to go that far.

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Headspace

Now that you have your diet taken care of and a decent home workout routine set up the next step should be taking care of your mental health and well-being. This is what the app Headspace is about, helping you stay calm and relaxed and maintaining strong mental health. Eating well and regular exercise will help you stay on top of your mental health, but Headspace will help you take control of it.

Headspace, which is available for iOS and Android phones offers guided meditation sessions, help with sleep patterns, and many different ways to try and deal with stress and anxiety. There’s also access to emergency stress releasing sessions for people dealing with intense levels of stress or personal distress. There’s a free version of headspace but a lot of the features remain behind a monthly subscription.

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Lumosity

Another great app to keep you feeling sharp and clear-minded is Lumosity. This free app sends you daily brain games and puzzles designed to both test your mental dexterity and expands it. Lumosity offers great quizzes, puzzles, and teasers that will require critical thinking, memory, and deep problem-solving skills to solve. This app is like a gym routine for your brain. It will get your synapses firing and keep your mental dexterity fresh and ready for a challenge.

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Runtastic

Runtastic has been one of the best apps for tracking runs for quite some time now. As well as the regular run tracking app, Runtastic has also expanded to track many other types of activities such as bodyweight training and daily steps. Runtastic offers you stats and graphs on your performance and progression and also works seamlessly with other wearable devices like Android smartwatches and even shoe trackers. As well as the free version, which you can sync with other fitness apps such as Google Fit or MyFitnessPal, Runtastic also has a premium plan that you can pay monthly or annually.

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Sweatcoin

This app offers a unique spin on getting yourself active. Sweatcoins are a type of crypto coin that you generate when walking. You download the app onto your iPhone or Android smartphone and then allow it to track your steps. For every 1,000 steps, you take you’ll generate 0.95 Sweatcoins, which puts you on just over nine coins a day if you average 10,000 steps. This app should be seen as a novelty, however, rather than a genuine fitness app as the average item, you can get with your Sweatcoins costs 20,000 coins, which will take you around six years to collect, going on the average step rate outlined above.

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Sleep Cycle

The final app in our list of healthy living apps is designed to help you get the best night’s sleep possible. Sleep Cycle tracks how deeply you sleep at night and is also able to track your heart rate through the night as you sleep. Another cool feature of the Sleep Cycle app is that it will wake you up during light patches of sleep. Basically, as the app tracks how deeply you’re sleeping, you’ll be able to set a period of time when it will assess your sleep patterns and then wake you when you’re in your lightest sleeping phase. This way you’ll feel fresh when you wake up because you won’t feel like you’ve been disturbed from a deep sleep.

Sleep Cycle Download now

Top 10 animated Disney movies

With Disney+, we now have access to a vast catalog of animated Disney movies for only 7 euros a month. To help you prioritize or rediscover movies you had forgotten about, here’s our ranking of top 10 animated films made by Disney. Sign up for a free, one-week trial of Disney+, and you and your family can watch them as many times as you want. Enjoy!

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10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

How could our ranking not include the movie that started it all? Aside from its main achievement (it was the first full-length, color animated film released in theaters), Snow White stands out for its characters that ooze emotion, for the movements of each of them, for its colorful settings, for its songs… Has it aged badly? In some ways, yes, especially in the way Snow White seems like a spectator in her own life. But overlooking those qualities of the era, it’s quite entertaining and certainly tastier than a poison apple. Hmm, that’s not setting the bar too high, is it?

9. 101 Dalmatians

Three words: Cruella de Vil. This great villain has managed to scare and traumatize children of every generation. Part of her “charm” is her naked greed. While other villains seek revenge for something they consider unfair (Scar and his loss of power, for example), Cruella only wants a new coat made of dalmatian puppies. Is there anything meaner or more chilling than that? For her alone, 101 Dalmatians deserves a place on our list.

8. Mulan

She’s one of the first Disney princesses who decided to take charge of the situation instead of waiting around to be rescued or prioritizing her love affairs. Thanks to the main character’s proactivity, Mulan is a more epic movie with more action than usual. It still has Disney touches, such as its catchy tunes or fun “pets,” but it draws heavily from Asian culture. That’s why the film is still fresh and fun (even packed into a Disney movie marathon).

7. The Little Mermaid

We owe this movie’s excellence to mega-duo Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, two Broadway composers who organically turned The Little Mermaid into a high-caliber musical. The result is a streamlined, agile, modern adaptation of the original tale that awakened not only an audience numbed by “more of the same” from previous films, but also an animation studio that began to churn out wonders.

6. Moana

This might get us into trouble with Frozen fans, but among the latest batch of modern Disney movies, our favorite is Moana. The directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin bring us a leading duo who complement each other perfectly: on the one hand, the young Moana and her insatiable thirst for adventure, and on the other, the heroic yet selfish demigod Maui. The evolution of both is touching and organic, the action sequences are impressive both graphically and choreographically, and thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda, the songs have no reason to envy the greatest classics. Also, the world of Moana has clearly been recreated with the utmost respect and care; therefore, we’re sure Moana won’t age over time, quite the contrary.

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5. The Jungle Book

In The Jungle Book, we find some of the best animated characters in Disney history: the friendly bear Baloo, King Louie and his court of dancing monkeys, and the Shakespearean villain Shere Khan. The movie also contains some of the best Disney songs (composed by the Sherman brothers). Furthermore, the film achieves something that’s almost invisible to the audience: giving narrative coherence to the original unrelated short stories.

4. Fantasia

Walt Disney was always obsessed with revolutionary experiments, so we had to include at least one of them in our top 10. Disney wanted to turn a concert into a movie, and the result was Fantasia, a masterpiece full of great moments. They range from the legendary “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” starring Mickey to the ending with the fearsome Chernabog in “Night on Bald Mountain.” The movie is that, a parade of images and music, an eclectic combination made to be admired and contemplated. The fact that it didn’t have the success it deserved when released was a real tragedy.

3. The Lion King

Why did a movie that nobody at Disney wanted to make and many branded “Bambi with lions” end up being one of the great animated classics? Because its main themes are so human and universal: the parent-child relationship, the eternal struggle against destiny, what it means to grow up and accept who we are… All these great complexities are wonderfully reflected in an endearing, epic and fun fable of less than 90 minutes long. That’s quite a feat.

2. Beauty and the Beast

As proof of the excellence of Beauty and the Beast, consider what happened when Disney decided to pre-release a “work-in-progress” version at the New York Film Festival. The movie, even in its unfinished state, achieved the impossible: a standing ovation from the critics, who whistled and cheered. And let’s not forget it was the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. What’s its secret? The fact that it’s a great musical (the Broadway adaptation is still a hit) full of charismatic, complex characters.

1. Pinocchio

With Snow White, Disney created the world of animated feature films. With Pinocchio, the studio not only raised the bar, but also set the stage for future films. At the narrative level, we have a more complex story than the previous one, a fairy tale with a profound moral that asks what it means to be human and what moral responsibilities it entails. On an artistic level, the improvement over Snow White is amazing: camera effects, huge and varied settings, animation richer in realistic expressiveness. The adventures of the puppet who wanted to be a real boy struck such a chord that “When You Wish Upon a Star” quickly became Disney’s widely recognized theme song.

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