Load Shedding Notifier
With all the uncertainty about when South Africans will next be plunged into darkness by Eskom, the Load Shedding Notifier tries its best to keep up with Eskom’s schedule. The app is very simple to use. Download it, type an area in and click the save button. The app automatically tells you what load shedding stage Eskom is on, the times you can expect to start lighting candles and for how long to burn them.
Multiple areas can be added and one can switch between the different stages to see how each one will affect a certain area.
A grid status is also displayed, showing how strained the country’s electrical network is.
Platform: Android and iOS
Expect to pay: A free download
Stockists: Visit the store linked to your device
EskomSePush Load Shedding App
EskomSePush does much the same as the Load Shedding Notifier, but allows multiple cities to be tracked. However, they may just want to rethink the name of the app if they want wider respectability.
Platform: Android and iOS
Expect to pay: A free download
Stockists: Visit the store linked to your device
South AfriCAM
South AfriCAM enables users to add branded stickers and frames from popular lifestyle magazine titles to their posts, including Huisgenoot, YOU, Drum, Move!, TRUE LOVE, Women’s Health and Men’s Health.
In the process, they can earn JETPoints for their social influence: through the app’s built-in JET8 social currency, users are rewarded for their engagement. For every in-app like, comment, and share, users earn JETPoints, which can be used to redeem products online or over the counter across more than 2 500 retail stores in South Africa. Users are additionally awarded JETPoints for cross-posting onto external social media networks.
Platform: Android and iOS
Expect to pay: A free download
Stockists: Visit the store linked to your device
Click here to read about console quality graphics on a mobile phone, Virgin Money payments made easier, and an app that redesigns the keyboard.
NBA 2K Mobile
NBA 2K Mobile presents a new way to enjoy the best of NBA 2K on handheld devices. It delivers console quality graphics and lifelike NBA 2K action on the go.
The app lets gamers experience their favourite NBA moments, build teams and step onto the court matches. Users collect player cards to build their squads and use drills to train up their players. They can then compete in seasons to earn new rewards, participate in limited time events for exclusive cards, and rise up the leaderboards.
Platform: iOS with it the game being released on Android later this year.
Expect to pay: A free download
Stockists: Visit the App Store for downloading instructions
Virgin’s Spot 3.0
Virgin Money’s person-to-person payment app, Spot, has been upgraded to make it more accessible, with increased functionality, security and ease of use. For instance, Spot 3.0 now allows users without 3D Secure bank cards to use the app, thanks to the addition of a digital Spot Wallet that allows them to add and receive funds using their bank accounts.
Spot 3.0 also allows users to pay merchants directly using the app. Wherever they see a ‘Pay with Spot’ sign, they can click the ‘Pay a merchant’ button and scan the merchant’s QR code. Some of the merchants already signed up include Cape Town 10’s rugby tournament and an online ticket sales company, Quicket, which will allow teams and spectators to make payments using Spot on the Quicket website.
However, before customers can start making any transactions with Spot 3.0, they need to add a bank account to cash out money from their Spot Wallet. Users can also send and receive money into their Spot Wallet with no monthly subscription fees and no transaction fees.
Platform: Android and iOS
Expect to pay: A free download
Stockists: Visit the store linked to your device
SwiftKey
SwiftKey can be thought of as a predictive text input app on steroids. It uses artificial intelligence that enables it to ‘learn’ and predict what a user intends to type.
Swiftkey features autocorrect and gesture typing for faster input. In addition, a built-in GIF search engine adds images to messages and offers the ability to switch keyboards for bilingual users.
The app works by saving words and names so that, the more it is used, the more it ‘learns’ in an attempt to give you the correct word or name as you start typing. That said, it doesn’t save any sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers.
Platform: Android
Expect to pay: A free download
Stockists: Visit the Google Play Store for downloading instructions