20 best new iPhone and iPad apps and games this week

Welcome to this week’s roundup of the latest, greatest new iPhone and iPad apps and games. All prices are correct at the time of writing, with “IAP” indicating use of in-app purchases.

You can read the previous Best iPhone and iPad Apps roundups for more recommendations, but if Android is your platform of choice, check the Best Android Apps roundups. On with this week’s selection.

APPS

Hip Hop Hen: Phonics 1 CVC (£2.99)
Looking for a bit of digital backup to your children’s phonics learning at school? This app from British developer Hip Hop Hen is well worth trying. It’s a colourful, characterful app based on the key “CVC” (consonant-vowel-consonant) words that kids learn with phonics, helping them practise their skills at home.
iPhone / iPad

YoVivo! (Free)
There are plenty of ways to browse and share photos and videos on an iPhone. This new app’s thing is bringing your various services together, from Flickr and Facebook to Dropbox and Google Drive. You can upload and download from the app, and create slideshows for easier sharing.
iPhone

Deliveroo (Free)
You’ll need to be in one of 14 British cities supported by this food-delivery app to take advantage, but if you are, it offers a decent selection of takeaway outlets to choose from – and not just the usual fast-food delivery services either.
iPhone

Streaks (£2.99)
Whatever your daily habits, this app will help you track them. Obviously, it’s supposed to be for the good ones… You set up what you want to remember to do every day, then the app will notify you, and keep track of your “streaks” – consecutive days when you’ve completed your goals.
iPhone

Crayola DJ (£3.99)
I’ve always associated crayons with DJing, haven’t you? Oh. Yes, the match between Crayola and the dancefloor may not be obvious, but the children’s brand’s latest app is still well worth a look for musical kids. They can blend loops and sound effects to create their own tunes, then mix and scratch them for an enthusiastic audience. That would be you, of course.
iPhone / iPad

Halo Channel (Free)
Can’t get enough of Microsoft’s Halo games franchise? Here’s an official app to provide all manner of videos and tips, from documentaries made by the developers through to let’s play videos from the best players out there in the community.
iPhone / iPad

Nine (£0.79)
I’m still searching for the perfect to-do app (suggestions welcome in the comments) but Nine is an original take on the category: it gets you to take photos to represent the tasks you want to get done, tagging them with locations and labels to ensure you don’t forget.
iPhone

Wonder - London and New York (Free)
While Deliveroo is about staying in to eat, Wonder is about getting out and about. It uses a Tinder-style swipe left or right mechanism to work your way through “wonders” that might be worth seeing in London or New York, saving the ones you swipe right for later reference.
iPhone

Ivy Big Number Calculator (Free)
Here’s an interesting thing: an app produced by a team within Google using open source programming language Go – a proof of concept, possibly. Anyway, it’s a minimal calculation app that can handle complex maths with aplomb.
iPhone / iPad

KitCut - Visual Mashup (Free)
If you lack the Photoshop and/or animation skills to create comical animated GIFs, KitCut might be just the thing: a simple way to turn photo cutouts and scribblings into “visual mashups” to share with friends on various social networks.
iPhone

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GAMES

Don’t Starve: Pocket Edition (£3.99)
Judging by the middling App Store rating, some people are having technical difficulties with this game. I’ve yet to experience any, so my main problem is that I’m a bit rubbish at it. Don’t Starve is worth persisting with though: a punishingly-challenging yet rewarding strategy game that gets you to survive in a wilderness – starting with nothing.
iPad

Alphabear (Free + IAP)
Developer Spry Fox made the enduringly-marvellous Triple Town puzzle game, and its latest shares that title’s cutesy bears. It’s a different game though: a word puzzle where you turn Scrabble-ish letters into words to grow bears, over a succession of challenges. Superbly moreish.
iPhone / iPad

Magic Duels (Free + IAP)
If you’ve been a bit intimidated by card-game Magic: The Gathering (or its digital versions) this may be a good place to hop on the bandwagon: a new “Origins” campaign that helps you build your virtual deck of spells to battle real people or AI foes. Its tutorials for new players are a good way in.
iPhone / iPad

Agar.io (Free + IAP)
More scientific fusion here, albeit of the biological kind. Based on a popular web game, it sees you playing a cell and eating smaller cells to grow bigger, while avoiding bigger cells who want to eat you. And these cells are all controlled by other players, obviously.
iPhone / iPad

Nono Islands (Free + IAP)
Otherwise known as the game that will put 2 Unlimited on your internal jukebox for about a week. This is a colourful action game with lots to recommend it, as you search for treasure while avoiding spiders, sharks and all manner of traps.
iPhone / iPad

Splendor (£4.99)
If digitised board games are your thing, take a look at Splendor – an accurate version of the inventive jewel-trading game that’s won a succession of awards in recent years. You can play alone or pass your device between up to four players, with a challenges mode helping you learn new tactics.
iPhone / iPad

Rumble City (Free + IAP)
More boardgame-inspired mobile fun here, albeit in a brand new game rather than a conversion. Rumble City is a tactical-strategy game based on American biker culture, as you batter your way through a cast of fellow brawlers.
iPhone / iPad

Congo Merc (£3.99)
HexWar Games specialises in, yep, wargames. This latest one moves away from the familiar combat theatres to focus on 1960s-era Congo, just after independence. With four operations to complete and a range of varied units, it looks to have plenty of depth.
iPhone / iPad

Shooting Stars (£2.29)
Fed up with po-faced shoot ‘em ups? You may prefer the cut of Shooting Stars’ jib. It mixes celebrities and ridiculous power-ups with online high-score battles and daily challenges: a fresh take on a well-established genre.
iPhone / iPad

Flown (Free + IAP)
Finally, how long has it been since a new mobile game involving a bird flapping its wings? Don’t answer that. Flown sees “Early Bird” flapping upwards rather than along, collecting characters as it goes that can be mixed and matched.
iPhone / iPad

Those are my choices, but what have you been impressed by on iOS in the last couple of weeks? The comments section is open for your recommendations.