30 best iPhone and iPad apps this week

It’s time for this week’s roundup of the best new iPhone and iPad apps and games released on Apple’s App Store.

As ever, the prices provided in brackets are for the initial download only: when an app uses in-app purchases, this will be listed as (Free + IAP). No, it’s not changing to “get” just yet.

More interested in Android apps? They’re covered in a separate weekly Best Android Apps roundup. But if it’s iOS you’re after, read on for this week’s selection which, since we’ve missed a few weeks, is a bumper top 30.

APPS

Toca Nature (£1.99)
This is the latest app from children’s publisher Toca Boca, and it’s a creative-but-focused sandbox for exploring nature. Kids raise and lower the land to create mountains, valleys and lakes, then plant trees to attract foxes, bears, woodpeckers and other wildlife. The only goals are to have fun, and in that, the app is a huge success.
iPhone / iPad

Sleep Better (Free + IAP)
Runtastic made its name as an activity-tracking app – hence the name – but now it’s turning its attention to your night-time health. This app aims to track your sleep cycles, complete with a smart alarm to wake you up at the right moment – translation: not grumpytime – as well as helping you pinpoint good and bad influences on your sleep.
iPhone

Molecules by Theodore Gray (£9.99)
Publisher Touch Press had a huge hit in the iPad’s early days with its Elements app. Now it’s following up with Molecules: a beautifully-crafted app that has a book as its guts, but layers on top some wonderfully-playful simulations of 348 molecules to interact with using tactile controls.
iPhone / iPad

snowbuddy (Free)
An essential download for winter sports folk, this provides maps and weather forecasts for pistes around the world; tracks your speed and distance while skiing and snowboarding; and has some inventive social features to challenge friends, or simply (virtually) yodel at them.
iPhone

American Express Unstaged - Taylor Swift Experience (Free)
She might not be on Spotify, but Taylor Swift is certainly on the App Store with this app, based on her Blank Space single. It involves exploring a house filmed using 360-degree cameras, watching behind-the-scenes footage too. One for fans, but impressive nonetheless.
iPhone / iPad

Opinion (Free + IAP)
Podcasting is hot, Hot, HOT! again at the end of 2014, thanks to the success of true-crime podcast Serial. Opinion isn’t an app for listening to podcasts, though: it’s an app for recording and editing them yourself, before uploading them to audio service SoundCloud – or email if you prefer to host elsewhere. Its ease of use lower the barriers to online broadcasting.
iPhone

Disco Fingers (Free + IAP)
Disco Fingers is caught between two audiences: children who want to make a musical din, and adults with a smattering of knowledge of real sequencers. It’s huge fun for both, as you flick between instruments and samples, placing the cartoon fingers onto a grid to make (then share) music. In-app purchases unlock more sounds and – if you desire – help you promote your loops.
iPad

Dark Hearts (Free + IAP)
Haunting Melissa was a fascinating app when it was released in 2013: an episodic horror movie made for distribution through an app. Now it’s got a sequel, Dark Hearts. It’s innovative – it shows you some new elements when you re-watch episodes – but most importantly, it’s already shaping up as a supremely spooky story.
iPhone / iPad

Glose (Free)
Books might not be social when you’re reading them, but they can be hugely social when you’re discussing them later – ask any book group. No digital service has ever quite nailed the idea of social reading, but Glose looks like a promising attempt. It’s a standard e-reader (but a very nicely-designed one) with community features wrapped around it. Well worth checking out.
iPhone / iPad

A Hollow Body (Free)
Looking to fill time during the (long) wait between series of Sherlock? This app from the Museum of London is just the thing: a narrated walk starting near St Paul’s Cathedral, inspired by the original Sherlock Holmes stories. Note, they’re stressing it’s NOT just a guide: “You should imagine walking through a film, where you are the main characters…”
iPhone

MTV Trax (Free)
This app is the work of startup MusicQubed working with MTV, following its partnership with O2 on the similar O2 Tracks app. It’s a music app that downloads playlists of popular and new songs to your phone overnight, including the odd exclusive – One Direction’s new album this week. It’s free until early February, at which point a weekly subscription will kick in.
iPhone

Rooster Teeth (Free)
Rooster Teeth is one of the most creative studios making original videos for YouTube at the moment, and now it has an official app for fans to keep up with its output. From gaming Let’s Play videos to comedy, it’s a handy way to watch – albeit not one that’ll replace the main YouTube app for more casual viewers.
iPhone / iPad

Rytyu (£1.49)
Cynics may snort at the idea of an app that turns your typing into printable letters with a handwriting-style font, as a digital attempt to “encourage the art of letter writing”. But I love the idea, from the mini-questionnaire to identify the best font for you, to the way you can embed photos.
iPhone / iPad

Facebook Groups (Free)
Forgotten that Facebook had groups? Apparently around 700 million people are still using the feature. This new standalone app – part of Facebook’s strategy to “unbundle the big blue app” – focuses on groups: creating new ones, joining existing ones and posting to any that you’re a member of.
iPhone

Sago Mini Road Trip (£1.99)
Sago Sago is the preschool-focused sister studio to Toca Boca, with a series of apps starring its cast of colourful animals. This latest one features Jinja the cat, heading off on a succession of road trips, meeting friends – who’ll be familiar from previous apps to young Sago Sago fans – along the way. Relaxing, creative fun.
iPhone / iPad

GAMES

Vainglory (Free + IAP)
Shown off at Apple’s iPhone 6 launch, Vainglory takes one of the most hardcore PC gaming genres – MOBA – and makes it marvellously enjoyable (yet no less hardcore) to play on a touchscreen device. At its best on iPad, it throws you into beautiful-looking three-on-three battles, with a system of in-app purchases that takes great care to avoid “pay-to-win” dynamics. The link above is for iPad, but here’s the separate iPhone version.
iPhone / iPad

World of Warriors (Free + IAP)
British firm Mind Candy is looking for a new brand to follow its Moshi Monsters, and early indications are that World of Warriors could do well. Aimed at gamers of all ages, not just kids, it sees you collecting and training historical warriors, then battling all-comers. It’s early days, but this is very promising.
iPhone / iPad

Crossy Road (Free + IAP)
It might not be the most high-profile game out this month, but Crossy Road is picking up some intense buzz among critics and players alike. It’s an “endless arcade hopper” that’s 20 times more fun than even the most rose-tinted memories of Frogger.
iPhone / iPad

Candy Crush Soda Saga (Free + IAP)
Candy Crush Saga may have peaked a little while ago, but it still has a huge audience. Those people are unlikely to be disappointed with its official sequel: yes, it’s more of the same sweet-swapping action, but with little touches – soda, bears, power-ups – that give it new appeal.
iPhone / iPad

Football Manager Handheld 2015 (£6.99 + IAP)
The Handheld version remains the best mobile football management game by far, from its neat interface to its smooth match engine. Updated for 2015 with the latest leagues and teams, it also sports a number of tweaks making it well worth the annual upgrade.
iPhone / iPad

Kingdom Rush Origins (£1.99 / £2.99)
Kingdom Rush is a rightfully-respected brand in the tower defence genre, and from what I’ve played so far, this is the best version yet. Pitched as a prequel, it’s an absorbing strategy game as you marshal your fantasy forces (and towers) to fend off onrushing enemies. The link above is for iPad, but here’s the separate iPhone version.
iPhone / iPad

The Hunger Games: Panem Rising (Free + IAP)
With The Hunger Games back in cinemas, this is a pretty good time for a new official mobile game – with publisher Kabam’s record with The Hobbit a good omen. Set in the world of The Hunger Games, this involves building a team of rebels, battling to improve their skills and exploring the world of Panem.
iPhone / iPad

The Sailor’s Dream (£2.49)
Developer Simogo is one of the most creative firms working in mobile gaming, as previous releases Year Walk and Device 6 show in spades. The Sailor’s Dream is its new release, although it’s as much about story as gameplay: a tale that you wander around exploring at your leisure.
iPhone / iPad

Framed (£2.99)
The developer of Framed’s mantelpiece is already groaning with indie festival awards, but now iOS users get to see what all the fuss is about. It’s deserved fuss too: this is part comic-strip and part sliding puzzle, as you swap panels around to affect the storyline.
iPhone / iPad

Call of Duty: Heroes (Free + IAP)
After an embarrassing weekend on my PS3 with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, I’ve established that I’m the world’s worst virtual soldier. Thankfully, Clash of Clans has taught me to be a passable strategist, which means I was less at sea in this base-building game set in the CoD universe. Its prime influence is clear, but it plays well.
iPhone / iPad

Bitcoin Billionaire (Free + IAP)
This self-confessed “idle clicker” is a slyly humorous take on the bitcoin bandwagon, as you tap-tap-tap on the screen to mine virtual (sorry not real) cryptocurrency, then splash the proceeds on furniture for your (still virtual) flat. It’s very addictive.
iPhone / iPad

Space Expedition: Classic Adventure (£1.99)
It’s a good week for indie games with plenty of character: Space Expedition blends action, puzzle-solving and attractive pixel-art graphics into a satisfying whole: it feels retro and yet thoroughly modern at the same time.
iPhone / iPad

XCOM: Enemy Within (£8.99)
Another old gaming brand coming back for another bite on mobile. 2K’s new XCOM title is billed as an “expansion” to 2012’s XCOM: Enemy Unknown, with its squad-based strategy – multiplayer included – providing plenty to get your teeth into.
iPhone / iPad

.NOON. (Free + IAP)
This is going to be your new favourite minimalist game, if you give it a chance. It’s a crafty puzzler revolving around tapping clocks when they reach noon (hence the name). You’ll need sharp reflexes to play it well.
iPhone / iPad

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (£1.99)
The original Five Nights at Freddy’s game was great, with its tale of a spooky pizza restaurant and creepy animatronic characters. The sequel looks equally impressive, as you track the characters through security camera footage, and fend them off.
iPhone / iPad

That’s my choice, but what iOS apps and games have you been using recently? Make your recommendations – or give your views on the picks above – in the comments section.