YooSecurity has tested and reviewed these following apps and app updates.
App Releases
SD Maid SE
Platform: Android
Keywords: junk cleaner
Android gamers will know SD Maid as the granddaddy of junk file cleaners, and it’s not too much of a stretch to say that it’s been with Android for “most of its life”. However, as Android becomes more and more sophisticated, SD Maid’s overly old app architecture may have some performance issues, so developer d4rken has completely rewritten SD Maid and renamed it SD Maid SE (which can also be called SD Maid 2).
SD Maid SE adopts the new Material You design style and supports dynamic color picking on card elements, and the whole functional interface is completely different from its predecessor app, which definitely looks clearer and clearer.
SD Maid SE still offers a wide range of junk cleaning features, including app uninstallation residue, system redundancy data, app cache data, duplicate file checking, and the ability to get advanced permissions through shizuku for more in-depth cleaning. However, it should be noted that SD Maid SE is still in Beta, so it doesn’t have a lot of features compared to its predecessor, but as an iterative product, SD Maid SE will surely be improved in the future.
Right now, you can download SD Maid SE for free on Google Play, GitHub, and IzzyOnDroid, with some features required to be unlocked by purchasing the premium version. Considering the 7-year long updates to its predecessor, I’m sure it’s a great value to buy the SE Maid SE again.
Flash Copilot: Your Browser’s Super Assistant
Platform: Chrome
Keywords: browser plugin, tab management
After recently experiencing Flash Copilot, a Chrome browser plugin, I was surprised to find that this extension is more like a super toolbox – by setting the corresponding shortcuts you can realize fast bookmark search, text annotation, bilingual translation, smart outlining, history management, and global search without mouse clicks to trigger functions, thus improving the efficiency of browser usage.
Using the shortcut Alt + , you can open the settings page, which lists the keyboard shortcuts used for each function – yes, the settings item is only used to set the shortcuts and turn on the function, and the individual sub-functions don’t need to be configured twice, and can be used straight away as soon as they’re turned on.
For example, the most common global overview shortcut, Alt + Z, allows you to see tabs, history, bookmarks, etc. in an overview window, Alt + O generates an outline of the current web page, and Alt + T generates an immersive translation of a web page with English content.
Speaking of which, you must have found out that the shortcut keys actually rely on the initial letters of the English words in the action itself, so the setup is very convenient for you to form muscle memory, and after a few fiddling around, you can quickly turn on these function modules without mouse clicks. In addition to the basic features mentioned above, Flash Copilot also provides a number of tools to improve efficiency, for example, we often encounter the need to mark up a scientific document to highlight the scene, then Alt + 1 can open the markup tool, and you can select the text to highlight. If you need to edit or search for annotations, Alt + N allows you to search for the current annotation and edit it.
We all know that the bookmark manager in both Chrome and Edge is not that convenient, with Flash Copilot use the shortcut Alt + B to open the bookmark manager and quickly search for it, and if you wish to bookmark the current page, use the shortcut Alt + Shift + B to quickly add it. All in all, Flash Copilot is more like a shortcut key to enable a lot of features that require a lot of clicks, which is naturally much more efficient than using the mouse. In addition to the features mentioned above, you can also selectively enable them on the settings page according to your own needs, after all, there are too many shortcuts that are not too easy to memorize, and you can download it and use it for free on the official website. You can download and use this extension for free on the official website, which supports Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers, and you can also pay for a membership to enable more features.
Simple Counter
Platform: Android
Keywords: counter
For simple record-keeping needs, we have introduced BetterCounter in one of our earlier reviews. Whether it’s keeping track of wins and losses when playing a game, or counting items on the go, this little tool can come in handy.
Today we are going to introduce Simple Counter, which is exactly the same as Better Counter in terms of functions, but the first sight of Simple Counter is the first productive force, and it is enough to make us hate the old and new. Simple Counter has a more modern MD3 design, and the overall color of the app is more pleasing to the eyes. Compared to BetterCounter, which only has a dark theme, Simple Counter is more eye-catching because it can change colors according to our wallpaper.
In terms of functionality, Simple Counter supports adding multiple counters, and each counter additionally supports the feature of full-screen display after clicking, which is more convenient and eye-catching with the horizontal display of the counter, and is certainly very convenient if used as a game point record. The app also supports tapping the volume keys to increase or decrease the count after the full screen display, making it easier to count with one hand and adding a sense of confirmation to the count. In addition, Simple Counter allows the initial data to be negative, so the recording range is wider, and it also supports adjusting the current data at any time, which makes it even more flexible.
For short-term item counting and other scenarios, if there is an error in the counting process, it is not inevitable to start from scratch, Simple Counter provides a reset button, which is convenient for us to restore the initial record value with one click, and the addition of this feature also makes it convenient for us to reuse the previous counting items, avoiding the tedious operation of having to re-add them every time.
The addition of tags and search function is also a highlight, as the number of recorded items increases, we can simply categorize them by tags, and use the search function to achieve the purpose of quickly filtering items. It should be reminded that in Simple Counter, we should add the tags first, in order to call the previous tags when we add more items. If you are interested in Simple Counter, you can download it via F-Droid, the application is open source and completely free.
Miraa: Say Goodbye to Machine-flipped Subtitles
Platform: iOS/Android
Keywords: subtitles, foreign language learning
For some well-known reasons, it’s not so convenient for us to watch overseas streaming content, and a lot of the content on YouTube doesn’t have Chinese subtitles, so if you have a good command of English, you may be able to watch it without subtitles. However, not everyone has a good command of English, not to mention the fact that there are a lot of small-language videos on the platform, which is even more of a headache.
Miraa, the latest creation from renowned developer Kaiwen Zhou, supports three ways of importing videos – YouTube share links, local videos, and album videos. Unlike Android, iOS “local videos” are not in albums, but in “files”. Importing locally is actually importing through the “Files” app, so it allows you to import content from many other web drives, as long as you download it in “Files” in advance.
Take this YouTube video below as an example. For unknown reasons the YouTube share link could not be imported, so I chose to record the screen to test it. The video is from one of my favorite YouTuber. From the translation, most of the translations are still quite close to the ‘person’ translating, instead of the old stiff machine translation. Words like subscribe, like, etc. are all translated, whereas in the old days of machine translation, like was just translated as ‘like’. In the generation of translation content at the same time, you can also click on the bottom of the “explanation” to let the AI to explain the current playback of the sentence, the AI will give a detailed interpretation, in the entertainment at the same time can also learn.
In addition to learning with subtitles, the app itself comes with podcasts in the corresponding language. The content of the podcasts are the podcasts of the selected language. You can choose one of the many podcasts you like to learn the language. Similarly, the podcasts will also display the corresponding subtitles for the user to learn, which is very convenient.
Currently, the software offers two pro plans, an annual and monthly subscription with unlimited explanations and translations, and a basic monthly subscription with a limit on the number of words that can be explained. The annual subscription is $49.99/year, the monthly subscription is $5.99/month, and the basic subscription is $0.99/month. If you don’t need a lot of explanations, the basic subscription is worth it. You can experience Miraa by downloading it for free from the App Store.
App Updates
Session Update: New Live Events, Quick Notification Actions, Siri Launch and more!
Platform: iOS/iPadOS/macOS
Keywords: Tomato Clock
Although the concept of “tomato work” has been around for a long time, there aren’t many good tomato work apps on the market, but Session is the one that caught my eye. Whether it’s the multi-platform synchronization, the excellent interaction design, or the settings such as breathing preparation, white noise, etc., Session achieves a good balance between the simple architecture and the rich functionality of this app. In the last half a month, Session has released v2.8, v2.9 and v2.10 updates, which added a lot of useful widgets, let’s take a look at them.
First of all, Session has added widgets for real-time activities and lock screen interface in v2.8, which means we can see the real-time remaining time of the session on the Spirit Island and lock screen, and you can also operate the action of “end current session” or “go into a nap” on the widgets directly after the update of v2.10.
Secondly, Session has also added quick notification actions in v2.8, which means that when the timer expires, we can take a break, complete the session, extend it for 5 minutes, or abort the session by pulling down the notification callout without going into the app itself, which makes the whole Tomato Workflow process smoother.
In v2.9, Session has redesigned the settings interface. Compared to previous versions, the settings interface is easier to navigate between functions and is visually consistent across iPhone, iPad, Mac and other devices. In v2.10, Session has redesigned the actions in the shortcut commands, and added many options related to getting the session status and operation timer, to meet the needs of more Power Users for shortcut command actions. Session also supports waking up via Siri on iPhone, Mac, and HomePod devices, which allows for a wealth of functionality to be realized with shortcut commands.
Session is free to download from the App Store, and a Pro subscription unlocks real-time syncing across devices, full log access, keyboard shortcut support, dark mode, automatic calendar event creation, and more for $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year, or you can unlock all of Session’s features with a Setapp subscription. You can also subscribe to Setapp to unlock all of Session’s features.
Planist Update: Adds Timeline and Mission Progress Bar
Platform: iOS/iPadOS /macOS
Keywords: task list, to-do list
Planist, the to-do app previously recommended by The Pie Review, has recently received a series of updates, the most important of which is the addition of a time dimension for managing tasks. Although the developer has been “slapped in the face,” there’s no denying that Planist has become more intuitive to the average user, and its usability has been significantly improved as a result.
Instead of just adding a timed reminder to an item, Planist’s time management is organized into a timeline that can be highly tied to the system schedule. In the new version, left-sliding any item and clicking the clock button can add time information to it, which includes data such as start time, item duration, and recurrence period. Click “Add to Timeline” when the configuration is complete, and the app will automatically synchronize the related matters to the system calendar.
If you want to change the time information, you need to tap the clock button on the top right corner of the app to enter the timeline mode of the corresponding plan.Planist timeline is based on the unit of “day”, and tapping on the date on the top opens up the monthly calendar to check the plan for the specified date. Long press on any entry will allow you to complete, edit or remove the corresponding item.
Functionality has been improved, but I think there is still room for improvement in operation. For example, on the plan list page, when you operate an item that has time information set, it will add an additional schedule to the app timeline and system calendar instead of modifying the original item. The app timeline display unit is currently not adjustable, and you can’t swipe up and down to seamlessly access the matter information between similar dates, which is still a bit of a hassle to use on a daily basis.
In the recently updated version 1.0.6, Planist has also added the feature of inserting a percentage (progress bar), which can be enabled by clicking the % button in the toolbar when adding items. In your daily work, you may come across some intermediate items between “completed” and “unfinished”, and the progress bar can better show the partially completed items, so that you can follow up or summarize them more clearly. However, the progress bar is currently a subjective manual adjustment, and it would be more useful if it could be associated with a certain project. You can download Planist for free from the App Store.
Other App News
The developer of the Affinity line of creative tools announces its acquisition by veteran developer Canvas.
The European Union opens a new investigation into Apple, Google, and Meta for favoritism toward their own app stores, among other things.