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Today in the App Store — the best free apps, new apps and app updates

Here are some of the best free apps, app updates and new apps that have landed in the App Store recently. All app prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly, so grab them while you can.

Apps Now Free

Business Card Reader Plus : scan, OCR contact information from visiting cards and save in contacts [iPhone; On sale for $0.99, down from $9.99] ABBYY BCR is a powerful multi-function contact data management application which provides easy access to your contact details. Seamlessly capturing contact information from business cards in 21 languages.

Alertic – Weather Alerts [iPhone; Now free, down from $0.99] Get all the weather alerts into your notifications centre in advance.

Toca Hair Salon [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $2.99] Cut, color, comb and blow-dry lifelike hair on six different cute characters.

iDownloader Pro – Downloads and Download Manager! [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $0.99] We believe that downloading to your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad should be as easy as it is on your computer. That is why we created iDownloader Pro.

Weightbot — Track your Weight in Style [iPhone; Now free, down from $1.99] Weightbot is a weight-tracking robot. Whether you are trying to lose (or gain) weight, tracking your progress has never been more fun.

Printer Pro – print documents, photos, web pages and email attachments [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $6.99] Print attachments, documents, web pages and more right from your iPhone and iPad to any Wi-Fi or USB printer.

Apps On Sale

Duet Display [iOS Universal; On sale for $7.99, down from $15.99] Duet Display allows you to use your iPad or iPhone as an extra display. Developed by a team of ex-Apple engineers, duet is the first high performance solution that has zero lag.

Printability – print Safari page to PDF [iOS Universal; On sale for $0.99, down from $1.99] Here is a powerful utility for convert web pages to PDF document directly from Safari browser.

Machinarium [iOS Universal; On sale for $1.99, down from $4.99] Universal (iPad+iPhone) version of the award-winning adventure game from the makers of Samorost and Botanicula.

Space Age: A Cosmic Adventure [iOS Universal; On sale for $1.99, down from $3.99]Space Age is a game of cosmic adventure. Set in the retro-futuristic sci-fi world of 1976, it follows a small but determined band of intergalactic explorers who land on a seemingly uninhabited planet, Kepler-16.

Botanicula [iOS Universal; On sale for $1.99, down from $4.99] Botanicula is a humor-filled adventure game created by the makers of award-winning Machinarium, studio Amanita Design and Czech band DVA.

New and Notable Apps

Switch Drop [iOS Universal; Free] Switch, drop and match colors to clear the blocks in this new kind of puzzle game.

Rocket Joust [iOS Universal; $1.99] Battle your friends for aerial supremacy in Rocket Joust! Jump in with up to 4 human or AI competitors on the one device, in a wild contest to knock each other from the sky.

Air Display 3 (with USB and Wi-Fi) [iOS Universal; $14.99] Air Display 3 turns your iOS screen into a wireless (or USB!) display for your Mac. Increase your productivity with extra screen real estate or mirror your Mac computer display to your iOS device. (Windows users, stay tuned. For now, you want Air Display 2.)

Updates you don’t want to miss

Kingdom Rush Origins HD [iPad; $1.99] The most addicting tower defense game returns in an all-new prequel adventure – welcome to Kingdom Rush: Origins! Version 1.4 brings the following changes:

  • A new tyrant has risen to power and he’s using a massive army to destroy the Kingdom. We’ve sacrificed too much already to be defeated now!
  • Get ready to face the fearsome ogre hordes and make them regret the day they decided to fight you!
  • Fight alongside new Heroes!
  • Durax the crystal elemental with a no-nonsense attitude!
  • And a new free hero: Razz & Rags, a brave gnome riding his massive friend into battle.
  • Lead your armies in 3 new stages filled with action in the Howling Moors!
  • Fight against 4 brand new enemies, each more dangerous and challenging than the other!
  • Face Bram the Beheader and try to keep your head about it!
  • Also tons of easter eggs, specials, legendary creatures and much more for you to discover!

Spillo [OS X; $9.99] Spillo is a powerful, magnificent and amazingly fast Pinboard client for OS X. Spillo lets you browse and organize your bookmarks in a stunning modern interface. Version 1.5 brings the following changes:

  • Spillo can now show the latest bookmarks in the Today view in Notification Center
  • Display an Unread and Private status button in the bookmark list
  • Add support for (optionally) showing the unread count badge in the Dock icon
  • Add support for searching through bookmarks description
  • Fix a refresh connection error that could be shown when it shouldn’t have
  • Fix an issue where the title and unread/private buttons status in the toolbar would not update when the bookmark is edited
  • Fix a bug where the Sharing extension was not available in some apps such as Pocket
Steve Sande
the authorSteve Sande
Steve is the founder and former publisher of Apple World Today and has authored a number of books about Apple products. He's an avid photographer, an FAA-licensed drone pilot, and a really bad guitarist. Steve and his wife Barb love to travel everywhere!