Free apps for iOS & Android: Get these Pro versions for free!

This list is updated weekly with at least two editions - on Tuesday and Friday. Between the publication time and the moment you view this article, some of the apps may have already reverted to paid status. Google Play Store app promotions are pretty easy to predict, but it's more complicated with those on the Apple App Store since Apple doesn't specify just how long the discount will remain valid.

• The best free Android apps you can get right now
• Best totally free Android games: no ads, no in-app purchases

Here's a tip: If you find an interesting app but can't really use it right now? Install the app anyway, then delete it from your device. That way, the app will become part of your app library and you can install it again for free when you need it. This is a good way not to miss out on a short-lived promo.

Free Apps and Mobile Games for Android

Free Apps in the Google Play Store

• Brightness Manager ($0.99): Tool with which you can separately adjust the brightness for individual apps. According to some reviews, it also drains the smartphone battery a bit.
• Dark Screen Filter ($0.99): One of the apps that filters blue light to save your eyes. Extensive, well rated and - logically - free right now!
• Kosmos ($2.99): A task planner with a totally WTF interface that was inspired by shoot 'em ups such as Space Invaders. We dedicated an article to it here if you're interested to know more.
• Digital Dashboard GPS Pro ($0.99): A 2-in-1 speedometer and GPS, although it has received mixed reviews on the Play Store.
• QR / Barcode Scanner PRO ($2.99): Barcode scanners are to productivity apps what Sudoku is to mobile games: they are ALWAYS on sale.

Temporarily free Android games in the Google Play Store

• Defense Zone 3 Ultra HD ($2.99): Great tower defense game, but which gets crisply difficult in the higher levels.
• Manguni Squad ( $0.99 ): Featuring main character Toar, this first-person shooter immerses you in the cultural world of Indonesia as you become part of an Interpol team.
• Bricks Breaker Pro ($3.99): One of the many brick-breaker games with many levels, a good rating (4,5 stars) and of course with addictive potential if you are prone to this kind of game.
• Trick Art Dungeon VIP ($1.99): Adventure game that, according to the developer, blurs the lines between reality and fantasy. Should definitely give it a try, right?
• Island Heist ($0.99): 3D adventure game in comic-book style, which you can play offline. You can choose from different characters and play four maps.
• Survival Island: EVO 2 PRO ($0.99): You have no clue how you ended up on this island, but now you need to learn how to get around. So first build a hut and explore the island.
• Mystery of Fortune 2 ($0.99) A tactical RPG where you explore dungeons with your army and try to conquer it with the most efficient units possible.
• 2048 Puzzle Game ($3.99): A puzzle game where you have to move numbered tiles to obtain a sum of 2048.
• Pilot Brothers 3 ($3.99): A point-and-click game whose graphics strangely remind me of a book from my childhood, The Three Robbers.
• G'Luck! ($0.99): G'luck or "Good luck", an offline and single player platform game that has no ads or in-app purchases! How rare is that?
• Dungeon Corporation S ($1.49): What we call an idle RPG, a role-playing game in which your only goal is to farm in order to obtain more powerful equipment to defeat your enemies. The comic book look and pixel art are rather nice.

Free iOS apps temporarily available on the Apple App Store

The productivity and lifestyle apps for iOS are temporarily available for free in the Apple App Store.

• Seterra Geography ($1.99): We already recommended this app above for Android. This geography trainer is also free for iOS right now!
• LocalCast for Chromecast ($7.99): Streams media for example from your iOS device, Google Drive, NAS to Chromecast, AppleTV or even your smart TV.
• Music Player ▸ MP3 Player ($2.99): Very slickly designed music player with offline feature. Smooth 5-star rating with 231 reviewers after all.
• EXIF Viewer by Fluntro ($2.99): The EXIF viewer lets you edit or remove EXIF data, and batch processing lets you change the EXIF data of many images at once.
• Windy ~ Sleep Better ($1.99): Can one app alone make you sleep better? It can at least support you! Windy wants to do that with different wind sounds in combination with different stories and themes.
• MealBoard - Meal Planner ($3.99): With this menu planner you can plan your meals by importing recipes from other sites. You can also use it to manage your shopping lists and share menus.
• Emoji - Unique Filters ($0.99): "Unique filters" might be a bit of a mouthful. Nonetheless, the app lets you spruce up your photos with beautifully hammy emoji-style filters.
• Wallpapers of Top TikTokers ($9.99): Download wallpapers of your favorite TikTokers. Yes, it's a troll but at 10 for this app, I could not help but include it.
• Houdini Playlists ($2.99): An application that lets you transfer, synchronize, and share your playlists between different music apps. I haven't tested it, but the concept looks pretty promising.
• SNMP & SSH Terminal ($4.99): This week's starter for iOS is the #1 development tool! So go ahead and download it!
• Reverse Video ($5.99): Want to play your videos backwards frequently? Download the app "Video Reverse" for your iPhone or iPad!
• Lilium ($1.99): A finance app that shines with Siri support!

Temporarily free iOS games in the Apple App Store

• My Very Hungry Caterpillar AR ($3.99): Here we are dealing with an augmented reality game for kids where you raise a caterpillar in Tamagotchi fashion.
• Tank Battle - Mini War ($4.99): We've already recommended this NES reminiscence of the tank game Battle City to you here. Now it's free again.
• Block vs Block II ($2.99): Blocks that fall from the top and have to be placed by you at the bottom? Okay, there's probably no innovation award for this Tetris clone. Still, it's worth a look for free.
• Tiny Dentist ($2.99): Do you like having your hands in other people's mouths? Then this dentist game is made for you.
• Card Thief ($2.99): A great tactical puzzle game that I loved on Android, where it also was picked as one of our top mobile games of 2021.
• Tales of the Neon Sea ($4.99): An investigative game that is played in a cyberpunk universe with a very nice pixel art look. I'll check it out on my iPad tonight.
• neoDefense ($0.99): A classic tower defense game albeit with a neon cyberpunk design.
• Card Crawl ($5.49): Card Crawl is a dungeon crawler that was inspired by solitaire. The game takes the freemium route, with a one-time in-app purchase of $5.49 for you to unlock the entire game. Hence, it's not really free, but at least it's an opportunity to check the game out for free before deciding whether to buy it or not.
• Maze Machina ($1.99): Similar principle, a paid game that became premium. Maze Machina is a turn-based puzzle game where you play a little hero who has been trapped by the evil Automatron in his ever-changing mechanical maze. The art direction looks very nice.
• Tusker's Number Adventure ($2.99): According to the developer, this game is NOT meant for kids! So if you are over 18 years old, you can download it on your smartphone. This wacky mobile game simulates breakdowns and crashes.

So, that's it for this week with our free app and game recommendations. I've left many of Tuesday's still free suggestions in again - just in case you missed the article. I hope there was plenty for you again this week, and I can promise you that we'll have some new downloads coming up on Tuesday.