Apple's Best of the App Store in 2017: Calm, Splitter Critters, Affinity Photo and The Witness

[trusso]

I've developed my own "Calm" app. This is how it works:

First, I shut off my computer and my phone.

Then I go for a walk, or read a book.

Or sometimes, I relax and enjoy an old record, without any distractions.

And I simply repeat as desired.

Neat, huh? 🙂

 

[CrystalQuest76]

Did you ever use one of them more than once? I just try to recap myself....

There are a number of free App of the Week that I acquired and use often.

Here is just a partial list (these are all productivity apps):
Readdles' Scanner Pro, Printer Pro, Documents, PDF Expert.
1Password
MyScripts' Calculator, MathPad, Nebo, Stylus.
Fragment, Matter, Brushstroke, Retouch, PointOut

 

[bchery21]

Never heard of these...i'll check them out.

 

[mixel]

Affinity photo is such a great app, but for someone Using photoshop for
More than 13 years, I couldn’t get used to it. People like me have no rooms for new workflows

Its doable if you want to/your work environment allows it.. I'd been primarily a PS user since Windows 98.. I think (desktop) Affinity's learning curve is okay, particularly if you customise shortcuts etc. It can be made to look/behave a lot like PS. The iOS version is pretty cleverly optimised to keep out of your way.. (The contrast between Affinity Apps and for example Clip Studio Paint is pretty funny.. Affinity are putting in a lot of work to make their apps suit the target platforms.)

My work is now 50/50 between Procreate and Affinity Photo, which would've been unthinkable to me a couple of years ago! I genuinely think I could be able to go Macless in the next 3 years. @_@ Bizarre.

 

[jonnysods]

I only use the free version. I like the stories even though I don’t know how it ends
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Why did they revoke your license? I too hate these monthly subscriptions.

The company that I bought CS6 from closed down, so Adobe decided to revoke all the licenses people PAID for. I work for myself, and I couldn't face those kinds of overheads month to month for software when I've got a biz to run and a family of five to feed.

I'm sad to see PS and AI go, but I'm loving Affinity so far.

 

[puckhead193]

The company that I bought CS6 from closed down, so Adobe decided to revoke all the licenses people PAID for. I work for myself, and I couldn't face those kinds of overheads month to month for software when I've got a biz to run and a family of five to feed.

I'm sad to see PS and AI go, but I'm loving Affinity so far.

that stinks... was the company not an authorized seller?

 

[jonnysods]

that stinks... was the company not an authorized seller?

I thought they were, the site was legit enough, sold all types of software and I've used it for 3 years, came in retail packaging. I reformatted my computer 3 weeks ago, punched in the license and it wouldn't accept it.

 

[puckhead193]

I thought they were, the site was legit enough, sold all types of software and I've used it for 3 years, came in retail packaging. I reformatted my computer 3 weeks ago, punched in the license and it wouldn't accept it.

Ouch that sucks! I've hard reports of people talking with adobe to get a discount, worth a shot!

 

[tubular]

Affinity Photo deserves it too. It's ridiculously well thought out and finally made me rethink my Adobe subscription.

I agree. Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer are both incredible values.

 

[jonnysods]

Ouch that sucks! I've hard reports of people talking with adobe to get a discount, worth a shot!

I don't want to keep paying - I think it's time to back the underdog!

 

[Vjosullivan]

An app that plays "soothing nature sounds" is considered the best iPhone app of 2017? 😱

Aural emojis. There must be a word for them.
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I never downloaded not one of these apps

I don't believe that that isn't true.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Wow, Calm has some pricey addons...

 

[ChrisCW11]

Really "The Witness" best game of they year? This was one of the most overrated games in history. I bought into the hype, played it for a few days actually, but it got so boring and repetitive quickly.

People that think it is a great game played it for 5 minutes and then wrote a glowing review, if you played it for over 10 hours you will be bored to tears and completely uninterested in ever wanting to play it again.

 

[mixel]

Really "The Witness" best game of they year? This was one of the most overrated games in history. I bought into the hype, played it for a few days actually, but it got so boring and repetitive quickly.

People that think it is a great game played it for 5 minutes and then wrote a glowing review, if you played it for over 10 hours you will be bored to tears and completely uninterested in ever wanting to play it again.

Nah if you like the core mechanics you'll like the game, and it is atmospheric and nicely produced. Its like.. I hate Myst, and Sudoku.. - personally.. But they're still great to a lot of people.

 

[berrymetal]

Its doable if you want to/your work environment allows it.. I'd been primarily a PS user since Windows 98.. I think (desktop) Affinity's learning curve is okay, particularly if you customise shortcuts etc. It can be made to look/behave a lot like PS. The iOS version is pretty cleverly optimised to keep out of your way.. (The contrast between Affinity Apps and for example Clip Studio Paint is pretty funny.. Affinity are putting in a lot of work to make their apps suit the target platforms.)

My work is now 50/50 between Procreate and Affinity Photo, which would've been unthinkable to me a couple of years ago! I genuinely think I could be able to go Macless in the next 3 years. @_@ Bizarre.

What I hated the most about affinity on ios is that it rasterises text when exporting as PSD. Very inconvenient
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Give it a chance, I was a Photoshop/illustrator for more than 20 years, I can't stand the subscription extortion from Adobe, I switch about 4 months a go never going back to them, also I was an FreeHand user before Adobe

I did, I purchased the iOS app and done a couple projects on it

 

[mixel]

What I hated the most about affinity on ios is that it rasterises text when exporting as PSD. Very inconvenient

It’s fine if you keep working within Affinity’s file formats though.. PSD is quite ubiquitous but it’s still proprietary. I’ve made a commitment to not to be using adobe apps so using serif’s file format is no biggie moving forward. Though it is a bit of a leap of faith still.