The Best Apps To Download This Summer

When it comes to the summer months, we will spend less time sitting indoors and more time outside taking selfies on holiday to make our friends and relatives jealous.

But, as well as taking selfies, it is also fun to kill some time on a sunbed too, so here are some apps you should download for over the summer months.

Cinamatic
This iPhone-only app will help you put some retro fun into your summer videos and means you can add funky filters to your crazy selfies and pictures of nearby landmarks. There is a limit of 15 seconds of footage but that is definitely a good thing – no one wants to be bored by a minute-long holiday slideshow.

Secret
Many of us post updates of pretty much anything that happens in our daily life, but we only say the things that make us look good. Secret is a social network that makes whatever you say anonymous so you can post statuses about anything and people will never know it’s you. Although trying to work out the point of it is difficult, it is all part of the fun that the things on there are people’s secrets.

Uber
This free app is for those people looking to get from A to B in a number of countries for as cheap as possible. So if you and your friends are looking to travel to one of the 38 different countries this app has maps for, you can get around for the smallest fare, which means you can save more money for food and less on the travel part.

Drivetunes
This app costs 74p but it’s an investment worthwhile if your summer holiday consists of a road trip. This app is designed for Spotify premium subscribers, which is probably the only setback, but it allows you to listen to music that picks up how fast you’re driving and picks a song accordingly. Although, this could get a little boring if you end up stuck in loads of traffic.

If you’re not going anywhere on holiday though, these apps can still be useful for you when around the UK, so you don’t have to feel too left out.

The Birds Are In Full Song - Twitter #music

We’re not on about a real bird in this instance, we are on about social networking website, Twitter, who has launched its new music app.

Twitter has exploded in popularity over the last seven years and has now turned an ear to music by creating a ‘music-discovery’ app. This app is called ‘Twitter #music’, which is a fairly ordinary name but there is not much ordinary about its intentions.

Twitter #music claims to ‘change the way that people find their music’. Although this may seem like a very bold statement on the outset, they may have just done exactly that. The app, unlike many other music streaming websites, has narrowed their focus in order to create a simple and accessible platform.

The app allows the user to collect music from nowhere other than Twitter, which means that there are lists for more ‘Popular’ music as well as ‘Emerging Tracks’. This is not all; Twitter #music also allows you to see what other people are listening to with the #NowPlaying chart of songs that get tweeted by the user. And just like the normal platform of Twitter, where it suggests friends you might know, it also suggests artists that you may enjoy too.

The reason this app is destined for success is because Twitter acquired a company called We Are Hunted, who are known for their helping hands in other music sites like MySpace Music and, more recently, Spotify. So it has a good pedigree!

This means that this app was not just quickly thrown together over a couple of months, instead they have built a team of people that know exactly what they are doing and have created something quite exciting.

App’s are extremely convenient and this app is no different. By simply clicking on an artists’ profile you can easily follow them as well as be able to see exactly who they are following too, which means it has a great exploration aspect too.

Although, it may be worth knowing that as it has only recently been released, it is only available in selected countries. Thankfully, the UK, US, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand are all part of this list.

Spotify And Ford Join Forces

Spotify and Ford has put their heads together to create an app which means its users can listen to all of their favourite tracks whilst they drive.

The two branded big-wigs made the announcement official at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Ford originally launched its Ford Developer Program at CES 2013 in January which meant that its users could add commands to their smartphone so they could effectively have hands-free voice control whilst driving. This has attracted over 2,500 registered users since its release.

The Ford Sync AppLink has been created to let smartphone owners integrate their apps into the software which is something that Spotify is looking to do. The Ford Sync AppLink has already been used in over one million cars throughout the United States. With this success Ford are looking to focus their visions on the European market too.

Users will be able to control their smartphone, car systems and their music with this AppLink and Spotify which makes voice activation whilst driving much safe and more convenient.

Spotify is one of the largest music streaming services and provides a vast range of music from a number of major and independent record labels which includes other big names like Sony and Universal. This service has an estimated user base of around 20 million people.

This is the very first time Spotify has worked with an automotive manufacturer though, which makes this a great combination for Ford who is likely to benefit greatly from this venture. The Spotify service, online and on your smartphone, is a paid service which normally costs its users between £5 and £10 per month.

The introduction of Spotify into the AppLink is expected to hit the United States in the upcoming weeks and is likely to be a huge success. If this reaches it is predicted success in the US then it is likely to be released throughout Europe later on this year. If you are interested further in this Ford Sync AppLink , then keep your eyes and ears peeled for any emerging information on the release of the software in Europe.