• Tech
  • apps

5 iPhone Apps You Just Can’t Miss This Week

3 minute read

It seems like hundreds of new iPhone apps pop up every week, but which ones should you bother trying? We explored the App Store and found five apps actually worth downloading.

Chrome Remote Desktop

This app is as straightforward as it is useful. Every developer or software company seems eager to cram every device you can possibly own into a single tool, but Google has found a way to do it best. Remote Desktop lets you use your phone to access your computer desktop; you can choose to access one of several different desktops from your mobile device. And on an iPad, this app eliminates the need to carry your laptop everywhere.

Chrome Remote Desktop is free in the App Store.

Power Nap HQ

The danger of napping is that complacency, exhaustion, laziness, and snoozing will get the best of us almost every time we try to shut our eyes for 20 minutes. We might set our timers for 20 minutes, but by the time they go off, we’ve only been asleep for a few short minutes.

This new app tracks users’ movements to see when they have fallen asleep, and then uses this data to wake them up after a desired amount of time. It keeps us from falling into a frustrating five-minute nap or from a midday slumber so long our regular sleep pattern will be disrupted.

Power Nap HQ is available for $0.99 in the App Store.

Cat Facts Extreme

Perhaps one of the most brilliantly inane apps ever created, Cat Facts Extreme is the perfect way to bring a smile to your cat-loving friends — or drag everyone else into an abyss of frustration. Go through your contact list and choose which friends deserve to have cat facts texted to them. It’s really the simpler pleasures of technology that can be the most meaningful.

Cat Facts Extreme is free in the App Store.

The 10 Best Classic PC Games You Can Play Right Now

The Oregon Trail (1990) Nostalgia for this elementary school library favorite has never faded — probably because they’ve relaunched the game so many times. Originally released in 1971, the Internet Archive’s edition is from 1990, but don’t worry, you can still die of dysentery in it. MECC
Lemmings 2 - The Tribes (1993) A cute puzzler, the object of this game is to lead the little rodents to safety, using lemmings’ specialized digging, blasting, and building skills to navigate the landscape of each level. DMA Design Limited/Psygnosis Limited
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - The Action Game (1989) This 1989 title was a Holy Grail for gamers, because it gave them control of Indiana Jones, one of the 80's coolest characters.Tiertex Ltd./LucasArts, U.S. Gold Ltd.
Wolfenstein 3D (1992) The precursor to Doom, Quake, and many of the gore-fests roaring across consoles today, this 1992 first-person shooter has you, as allied spy B.J. Blazkowicz, racing to escape the Nazi's clutches.id Software, Inc./Apogee Software, Ltd.
4D Prince of Persia (1994) Children of the 1990s will fondly recall this run-and-jump platformer as a top-notch adventure game, with great graphics and gameplay — and it has infinite lives. Score! Brøderbund/Terebilov KA
Leisure Suit Larry 1 - Land of the Lounge Lizards (1987) Tame by today’s standards, this 8-bit, adult-oriented title was the Grand Theft Auto of its time, following the exploits of Larry Laffer as he strolls the city of Lost Wages, looking for love. Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Dungeons & Dragons - Eye of The Beholder (1991) Roll the dice in this 1991 Dungeons & Dragons role playing game — there’s nothing like the nostalgia of being a chaotic good paladin roaming the dark passages beneath the city of Waterdeep.Westwood Associates/Strategic Simulations, Inc.
The Hobbit (1983) Open door. Go East. Enjoy game. If you want to go really old school, you can turn the graphics off in this text-based game, guiding Bilbo through Middle Earth using only your imagination as your eyes. Milbus Software
BurgerTime (1982) Guide Peter Pepper in this hamburger-assembling action game, as he tries to build the biggest mouthfuls while being chased by enemy eggs and pickles and hot dogs.Data East Corporation/Mattel Electronics
Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego (1985) This educational title rocked elementary school kids’ worlds back in the 1980s, putting their geography and history smarts to the test. (How would you do with it, today?) Perhaps the best part of this browser version is its throwback sound effects.Bro/derbund Software, Inc.

Stayful

Stayful not only searches multiple databases in order to find you the best hotel rates in a given city, but it will actively negotiate the best price for you with the hotel. How exactly it works is something of a mystery, but so long as the result is cheaper rates, then Stayful has done its job. Not only is the idea itself incredibly useful, but the interface is easy to use and takes the headache out of online booking.

Stayful is available for free in the App Store.

Flush Toilet Finder

What happens when nature calls but you can’t answer? It’s a place we’ve all been, and as it happens, resentful restaurant owners aren’t terribly gracious when you ask to use their bathrooms. Flush Toilet Finder is rather self-explanatory: The app uses your GPS to locate all the public restrooms in your area, which can make a critical difference when you’re on the move and won’t be home for a while.

Flush Toilet Finder is available for free in the App Store

More Must-Reads from TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com