Apps of the week: Boomerang | Crumbles | Overcast

MAKE your smartphone even smarter with these three useful apps

Boomerang in action

Boomerang

This is a new app from Instagram that creates a gif-like second-long loop using a ‘burst’ of photos. These videos can be played forwards or backwards, hence the name of the app. You can share these on other platforms besides Instagram, too. Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest.

iOS and Android, Free

Crumbles

Crumbles makes good on the premise that a picture is worth a thousand words – it’s a texting app that uses pictures instead of words. By matching typed words with a short clip on the internet, you can splice together a collage-like video and send that in lieu of a text message. Any words that it can’t find, you can record yourself. When finished, you can send it to someone directly through the app. Great fun.

iOS only, Free

Overcast

This is a podcast app with several benefits over Apple’s own dedicated equivalent. Functions such as Smart Speed will shorten silences in shows without distorting the speech patterns. The voice boost option normalises every podcast to one volume, making sure it’s loud and clear. It will also “intelligently” recommend shows for you, based on your listening patterns.

iOS only, Free

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