Today’s great mobile apps start with Mailbox, a sleek way to organize and archive your Gmail. Next up is storybook app Little Red Riding Hood by Nosy Crow, followed by Pixel Rooms, a room escape game featuring clever puzzles.
Mailbox (iPad) (Free)
What’s it about? Keep your Gmail emails well-organized and access the full gamut of features you need with the streamlined Mailbox.
What’s cool? Mailbox is a Gmail-specific email client that brings easy to navigate menus and combines them with the speed and efficiency gmail is known for. The idea is to make reading, searching, and organizing emails as quick and simple as possible, with a focus on mobile accessibility rather than lengthy time spent at your inbox. The goal with Mailbox is to get your inbox cleaned out and keep it cleaned, but it also includes features like a snooze feature that keeps emails from disturbing you when you don’t want notifications.
Who’s it for? If you’re looking for help in keeping your Gmail inbox manageable, check out Mailbox.
What’s it like? Google’s official Gmail app is also pretty useful.
Little Red Riding Hood by Nosy Crow ($5.99)
What’s it about? Storybook app Little Red Riding Hood brings kids into the classic fairy tale and includes tons of interactive elements to play with, as well.
What’s cool? Most kids have heard the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but they’ve likely never seen it told like this before. Nosy Crow’s version of the story is more interactive game than straight storybook, providing a choose-your-own-adventure style of narrative with branching paths and lots of different areas to explore. The app also includes the standard read-along features, providing a fully voiced and animated story as well as highlighting to help young kids associate words with sounds. Little Red Riding Hood also includes nine different games to play through the course of the story.
Who’s it for? Little Red Riding Hood is great for young kids and early readers.
What’s it like? Check out Nosy Crow’s other storybook apps, Three Little Pigs and Cinderella.
Pixel Rooms (Free)
What’s it about? Room escape game Pixel Rooms tasks players with solving a series of puzzles to get a character out of locked rooms.
What’s cool? Unlike other room escape titles, Pixel Rooms leans on being clever while simple to provide players with some challenging puzzles. Each room includes a door that you have to find a way to open so that a character can exit. Sometimes the solution requires moving objects around the room, like pieces of a ladder to make a path; other times, you’ll need to do things like pinch to zoom, shake your device or make use of other smartphone functions in order to get your character through the puzzle. All of the solutions are simple, but they’re also cleverly hidden in plain sight, providing lots of fun and challenge.
Who’s it for? Puzzle game fans, this one’s easy to pick up for a few minutes, as well as fun and challenging.
What’s it like? The Room and Freeze! are also fun room-escape puzzlers worth your attention.
