Issue 21 I GOT ENGAGED!!! 💍... oh yea and cool app news too!

My Two Cents...

She Said Yes! 💍

We’ll get to the apps in a moment but I feel like I get 1 moment to shout from the rooftops with this news and by golly I’m gonna use this newsletter to do it too. I proposed to Val a couple days ago from Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. It was 1 of the coolest things I’ve ever been able to do in my life and yet it took about 10 seconds LOL.

She truly makes me a better man, entertains all my silly ideas (even a personal blog newsletter about apps), and I just can’t get enough of her daily. I feel like I’m honestly 1 of the luckiest people on earth.

So with that awesomeness out in the open now... let’s get on with the apps!

News Bytes

Did you know in 2020...

218 Billion apps were downloaded. That's about 7000 apps a second.
$143 Billion dollars were spent within apps. That's over $250K every minute.
Android users collectively spent 6.6 Million years on their phones alone... in 2020.

I'm just blown away by that scale. We've only even used the word "app" like this since since Jan. 9th, 2007, since the 1st iPhone was released. article referred to

Apple Invited Me To Walk With Dolly Parton!?!?

I'm about a month into using Apple Fitness+ daily for yoga and interval-style workouts.

Currently down 15lbs in 25 days.

At-home workouts are... WORKING ✅ .

I noticed this evening after my daily beatdown that my watch offered a walking workout led by Dolly Parton...

Really... Dolly flippin’ Parton?

Well... it was lovely. You hear some singing, some personal storytelling, and it’s just in a beautiful quality.

Apple is doing a bunch of these sort of exercise podcasts things and integrating them right into Apple Fitness+ and I love it. I think it’s honestly kind of genius.

If you have an Apple Watch and the Fitness Plus+ subscription, you’ll wanna try this out.

Face/Touch ID Security For Chrome Tabs?!?! 🤯

Ok you freaks out there cruising the interwebs looking at weird things... hey I don’t judge though... I think I’m 1 of them. I love to just meander about the information super highway and turn off of random exits just to see what I find.

Google Chrome will soon allow you to make the tabs in your Incognito Mode only display if you pass the face scan or Touch ID check. So now, if you accidentally keep your strange tabs on your phone, you will get half a second to look away before a blurred image clears up to show your true side.

That’s probably going to come in handy for some people out there. You know who you are.

My App Recommendation

Incredible Puzzle App On Apple Arcade 

I ❤️ Puzzle Games! This is Lumen and it’s a awesome storyline puzzle game where you learn about Olivia McLumen’s inventions.

I don’t want to give too much away but just look at the video in the App Store and you’ll know if this app is right up your puzzle-solving alley. If you liked House of DaVinci or The Room Series, you will absolutely love this 1 too!

Play it at night with headphones on in the dark and just let it immerse the heck out of you.

*You do need the Apple Arcade subscription to play it though.

How To...

Try On Eyeshadow Without Leaving The Couch

I'm always shocked at the cost of makeup when Val shops for it while we're out in the city.

1-hour and $80 later, she'll end up with 4 items that fit in her pocket.

I love the concept of bringing the “try it on and purchase if you like it”experience to the phone.

I learned that a year ago Pinterest did the same with lipstick too and it allows a user... errr, Customer to even make an in-app purchase.

With 98 Million monthly active users in the U.S. alone, I can only imagine the sales coming in... 1 makeup filter at a time.

Last Week You Asked Me...

Wade - Do you actually spend any of your Bitcoin???

This wasn’t an app question per say, but my answer was “I’ve never spent bitcoin yet”.

Then literally the next day I come across this article talking about how you can link your Bitpay MasterCard to your Apple Pay which then allows you to make purchases with Bitcoin using Apple Pay.

I have invested in Bitcoin and when I read news like this I just think that this investment only continues to show promise for profits.

Will the day come when Bitcoin is the normal currency to make everyday purchases? Your guess is as good as mine but I think we will eventually.

BTW... This section of the newsletter comes directly from you hitting REPLY to this newsletter and asking me a questions. It helps if their related to apps. Ask a good one and you might find yourself forever plastered in Apps Weekly.

What An Honor! 👑

1 App On My Phone

I’m In Mexico So Now I’m Learning Spanish. Olé! 💃 🕺

¡Hola! Estoy en Playa del Carmen. Estoy aprendiendo español con la aplicación Duolingo. ¡Es muy bueno!

Val and I left NYC quickly and headed down to live in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. It’s awesome to be back in a beach living lifestyle again and we’re surrounded with a bunch of Digital Nomad friends.

So with that... we better learn some gosh darn Spanish and did you even think I wouldn’t leverage an app for that!?!?!

This brings me to Duolingo. It’s a free app that will help you learn some basic phrases and words so you can ask the most important questions like where the bathroom is “ dónde está el baño” and where can I buy a monkey “ ¿Dónde puedo comprar un mono?”

There’s a lot of language apps to choose from but I like the simplicity and playfulness that Duolingo has created with theirs.

Try on iOS

Try on Android

YouTube Video Of The Week!

Could you draw the same thing every day for a year?

I thoroughly enjoyed this video by Struthless. It’s about the best piece of advice he ever received by a mentor/boss which led him down a path of drawing a bird called an Ibis or “Bin chicken” is its nickname, every single day for a year.

If you’re someone that’s into motivation type content, this is a really well told story that I found inspiring to boot! 🦢

And Lastly...

Salud from Mexico! 🍻

So that’s the tale of this week. I hope you found this issue fun and please reply and let me know if you enjoyed this style of newsletter.

This was basically like 10 micro blog posts about topics related to apps, and my life. It’s fun, lighthearted, informative, inspirational, and hell, we even had an engagement.

I mean that’s a flippin action packed newsletter if you ask me.

See you in the next issue when... we might have our 1st SPONSORSHIP APP. It’s in talks right now, so nothing 🔒 in yet... but fingers crossed 🤞.

See you next week fellow AppThusiasts!!!