Endel

Instead of making you pick from a vague, spa-like list of background noises, Endel intelligently uses a range of factors to create its own. Its algorithm takes into account your location, time zone, weather, and heart rate to come up with sounds that are meant to help you focus, relax, sleep, or provide you with a tempo-based soundtrack when you're on the go. At the end of the week, it wraps all the data it's gathered into a nifty visualization, so you can see how you did, and where to improve going forward.

Minimal Calendar

It is what it says it is. Minimal Calendar is a phone calendar stripped down to its basics, rendered in gorgeous clean typography. The current year, month, and day are labeled with red type, while everything else is black, set against a white background. It supports basic functions like adding and editing of events, plus helpful reminders, and integrates with Apple iCloud, Google, Exchange, and all iOS supported calendars.

Hawkeye Access Eye-Tracking Browser

People with motor impairments may not have the easiest time controlling their phones with their fingers, and lord knows Siri can't do everything. Hawkeye Access is a new ARKit-based app that lets you control things using nothing but your eyes. After a brief calibration process, you'll be dropped into an interface with a cursor that moves around the screen with your gaze. Smile or blink to click, stare into the bottom, sides, and corners to navigate, and use your voice to enter search queries. Currently, the app contains a web browser with quick links to services like YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, but given its utility, we wouldn't be surprised to see this functionality baked into iOS in the near future.

Adobe Photoshop CC for iPad

For image editors, Photoshop was one of the only things holding the iPad back from being a full-blown laptop replacement. Essential word being was. Adobe Photoshop CC for iPad will arrive next year, giving users access to all the retouching, compositing, and layering tools they enjoy on the desktop. It syncs all your .psd files via Creative Cloud and has a context-aware UI that gives you quick access to the tools you're most likely to need next.

FilmLab

Taking the place of a traditional film scanner, FilmLab adds to the list of photography tools replaced by your phone. Simply lay your slides or negatives on a light table or other backlight and open the app: it lets you check out negatives and proof sheets, with a live preview of what they'll look like as positives. Custom algorithms combine multiple photos to get the maximum detail from each shot, and built-in tools let you crop, rotate, flip, and adjust exposure and color balance before saving the digitally preserved shot out to your camera roll.

Libby

Your local library likely has thousands of ebooks and audiobooks for you to borrow. Instead of making a trip in person, Libby lets you borrow them right from your phone. It makes finding your branch, signing up for a card, and checking out titles easy. When you find something you like, you can listen through the built-in player, use the built-in reader, or send your selection to your Kindle to read it there. All your holds and loans are placed on a single shelf, and returning an item is as simple as borrowing one, with notifications for due dates coming soon.

Rally Rd.

Many classic cars have reached the point where they're not just a means of transportation, but an investment. Rally Rd. lets you purchase equity in these valuable vehicles, just like you'd buy stock in a company. Each one is hand-selected by a team of experts and securitized so you can purchase a percentage of the car's value, now and in the future, with nothing more than a tap. The cars are stored in a protected, climate-controlled facility with on-site maintenance and closed-circuit cameras, live feeds from which will soon be available to owners inside the app.

Oak

Meditation can have a powerful positive effect on your wellbeing. Oak makes it easy to learn. It offers guided mindful and Metta meditations, as well as unguided options, all with peaceful background tracks. It also includes yogic breathing exercises with animated instructions, a calming interface, badges to earn as you progress, and HealthKit integration.

Oculus TV

It won't have the resolution of a real screen, but Oculus TV does let you enjoy a virtual 180-inch portal anywhere you go. This new app for the Oculus Go works as a virtual streaming stick, so you can enjoy content from Netflix, Hulu, and other popular services, all displayed on the big screen in your virtual living room. More services are set to join in the near future, but don't expect it to replace your real-life set — your eyes probably wouldn't appreciate it.

AstroReality Earth Model

Have the world in the palm of your hands with Earth. The augmented reality experience starts with a highly-detailed 3D-printed model of our planet. Once it's paired with the AstroReality app, just point your phone 's camera at the mini-Earth and you can travel around the globe exploring geological changes, wildlife, and weather patterns along the way. It's voice controlled, so simply ask any questions you have and find out how many gallons of water is in the Atlantic Ocean immediately. The data goes back through our home's entire 4.5 billion-year history, allowing you to take a walk through its complete evolution — the good and the bad.

Presented by AstroReality.

Obscura 2 Camera App

There are tons of camera apps to choose from in the iOS universe, but there aren't many that top the convenience of the built-in Apple app. Obscura 2 is a manual camera app that makes an excellent companion to your go-to camera with an intuitive design that puts the main controls on the bottom third of the screen for easy one-handed use. Obscura also provides exposure, focus, shutter speed, and ISO options along with a diverse set of filters and an integrated photo library browser.

Signal

You don't need to be transferring classified material or leaking internal memos to use Signal. But it's nice to know you could. Available on every major platform, it uses rock-solid end-to-end encryption to keep all of your communication private. It covers everything from document transfers to video calls. And it's remarkably free, without ads, tracking, or unnecessary add-ons.

Alto's Odyssey

The follow-up to 2015's award-winning Alto's Adventure, Alto's Odyssey follows our board-bound hero and his friends on a new journey. Like the original, it's built around a one-touch trick system that's easy to pick up but hard to master, with gorgeous graphics depicting dunes, hot air balloons, lemurs, temples, and more. It also has its own headphone-worthy original soundtrack and is just as fun on the Apple TV as it is on your iPhone.

Haven

Modern home security devices are loaded with sensors. So is your old phone. Only one is basically free. Haven turns any old Android device (running 4.1 or later) into an intelligent monitoring solution. Crafted in collaboration with Edward Snowden, it's meant to help protect journalists, whistleblowers, or anyone else at risk of forced disappearance. You can set it up to detect sound, motion, or both, and tell it to record video once it's set off, catching any would-be assailant with either the front or rear camera.

HealthFit

Apple Watch collects all sorts of exercise data — but that's not a big help if you're already invested in another fitness platform. HealthFit is a simple app that unlocks all these metrics, letting you export .fit files that you can then import into Strava, Garmin Connect, RunKeeper, and others. The files include heart rate, GPS routes, swimming and running cadence, and segments, and can also sync your resting heart rate and heart rate variability data directly, depending on the platform.

Google Scrubbies

Dubbed an "appsperiment" by the minds in Mountain View, Google Scrubbies is a new research-driven app that lets you remix your video, DJ style. Just tap to record, use one finger to review, and then use a two-finger swipe to record, rewinding and replaying to create your ideal mix. It's joined by Storyboard, an Android-only app that selects multiple frames from a video and creates a comic-book-like layout, and the embarrassingly-named Selfissimo, which automatically captures selfies when you pose in front of your iOS or Android device.

Notcho

You love your iPhone X. You love your wallpaper. You hate the notch. We get it — and so does Notcho. This new app lets you create custom wallpaper that mimics the curves of the X's screen while drowning the notch in a sea of black. It comes with a library of images, in case you don't want to supply your own, and will let you preview your choice before exporting.

Mosaic

A collaboration between Steven Soderbergh and HBO, Mosaic employs branching narratives to provide a new twist on TV-watching. In the first episode, you're introduced to author Olivia Lake (played by Sharon Stone), and afterward, the 7.5-hour story breaks into different perspectives. You can choose to watch all of them before moving on, or instead follow the storyline straight to the end. Unlocked along the way are additional documents, recordings, and video clips that help add to the story, and you can always go back to watch episodes you skipped over once you're done. The Mosaic app is currently available for iOS and Apple TV, with an Android version to follow, and a Soderbergh-edited, six-hour version of the series will air on HBO January 22.

Porsche Passport

A 911 Spyder isn't the most practical vehicle, but the stuff-hauling Macan lacks the same exhilaration. For those that don't want to purchase both, there's Porsche Passport. This new subscription service gives you on-demand, app-based access to a fleet of Stuttgart's vehicles. Need to make a splash? Book a 911. Hauling your boat to the marina for the weekend? Grab a Cayenne. Taking a relaxing, open-air drive into the country? The Boxster is ideal. Everything from insurance to roadside assistance is included — you just need to pick up the gas. The base "Launch" plan includes access to various Cayman, Boxster, Macan, and Cayenne models, while the more exclusive "Accelerate" plan adds more powerful models as well as 911 and Panamera options to the list. Launching exclusively for approved members in the Atlanta metro area.

TapMeasure

Apple's new ARKit framework, debuting in iOS 11, is going to open up loads of new possibilities for what your phone can do. First up? Replace most of the tape measure aisle at the hardware store. TapMeasure, as the name suggests, lets you make measurements of both objects and rooms with just a couple taps. Tap around a piece of artwork on your wall and it becomes a virtual laser level, letting you know when you've got it just right, and by tapping on every corner, you can get accurate 3D floor maps of your room that you can export to SketchUp for further editing.

Artifact Uprising Volumes

We're taking more photos than ever. And appreciating them less. Artifact Uprising Volumes make it incredibly simple to have your best shots printed and compiled. Simply add your favorite photos to a folder of your choosing, and once you've got 50 images in there, the service automatically creates a new book from them. You get a choice between softcover or hardcover books, as well as the color of the cover, and since everything's automated, you won't get hung up trying to pick the perfect images to print.

MoviePass

We love movies. Thanks to increases in ticket prices and the overall convenience of in-home streaming, we don't go to the cinema as much as we'd like. MoviePass is out to change that. Built by a Netflix co-founder, this new service gives you a ticket to a new 2D movie every day. No joke. Its network includes over 4,000 theaters and over 36,000 screens nationwide, so it likely covers one near you, and with its low monthly price, you can see as many as 30 movies a month for roughly the cost of a single ticket.

iTranslate Converse

With a dead-simple interface and near real-time operation, iTranslate Converse is a must-have for your next trip abroad. Once you select the two languages it needs to listen for, flip your phone upside down (the better to pick up both people's voices) and press down on the screen while you talk. It will automatically determine which language is being spoken and translate it to the other, speaking the translation aloud. It also saves text transcripts of your chats, and should you spring for the Pro version, you'll get unlimited translations per month — limited to 300 in the free version — as well as audio transcripts. Currently exclusive to iOS with support for 38 languages.