Happy Thursday, my app warriors. Need new some new software to power that smartphone in your pocket, or looking to just kill some time? All these apps are worth at least a few idle moments of exploration to see if they could be smartphone mainstays. They're also all free, so download away without worry.
Android
Lumific
Lumific is like a smart phone editor looking over your shoulder (and judging your photography skills). Using Deep Learning technology, the app connects with lots of different cloud accounts, like Dropbox, and helps organize your photos according to events. It will also pick the best photos out a collection of similar shots and automatically apply certain photo edits, but you can toggle back and forth to see if you want to stick with Lumific's auto-selection. The app is finally out of beta this week, and an iPhone version is planned for mid-March. [Free]
Alt-C
Alt-C has one specific purpose—allowing seamless copy/pasting between smartphones and PCs. The setup works a lot like apps such as Pushbullet where the app on your smartphone corresponds with your a desktop application. Just highlight text, press copy hotkey, and the text is copied to your PC clipboard (and vice versa). It's a very small use case, but one you may actually find using pretty frequently. [Free]
iOS
Darkroom
There are a ridiculous amount of photo editors out there. Some for free, some for lots and lots of money. Darkroom rests comfortably in the former camp but provides features that would feel at home in the latter. Darkroom delivers a huge suit of editing options and a cool curve tool to tweak the tone of photos. It's worth checking out to see if Darkroom could give VSCO Cam a run for its money. [Free]
Short
Short is one of those apps that makes me wish I still used an iPhone. The idea is reading on mobile should be more strictly defined by time. When you're out and about, you're reading on trains, in lines, or waiting for a friend, so articles should be organized by how long they are so you can read in one sitting. Short connects with popular reading apps like Pocket and Instapaper, calculates how long each article is to read, and organizes by time commitment. It also has a cool progress bar that tells you how far along you are. I want. [Free]
Windows Phone
Instructables
Want to build something? Instructables can help. The one-stop-shop for DIYers has been helping out Android and iOS users for years make whatever projects they can find or dream up, and now the app makes its way to Windows Phone—another example of big, must-have apps finally coming to the oft-neglected WP OS. [Free]
Achievement Art
Bring your gaming spoils to Windows Phone with the Achievement Art app. This is one of those convenient times that the name pretty much perfectly describe what the app does. Whatever achievements or wallpapers you unlock while gaming, you can now bring over to your smartphone, letting you lord of your twitch-skilled achievements. If you want even more gaming-centric wallpapers, Microsoft packs a bunch in the awesome #TileArt app as well. [Free]