Apps have got to be up there with some of our favourite things. From genius inventions to those which simply make our daily lives all the easier, we at The Practice love a good new app. So which have made it on our radar this week, and are they all there for the right reasons?

It would appear not, as the controversial app Burnbook has demonstrated recently. The anonymous app has unfortunately been making waves, after being linked to a number of cyber bullying cases. We fully support anonymous social sharing apps and sites such a Whisper and Ello, especially when they’re used in a positive manner. With Burnbook however, the name itself refers to the nasty rumour book that became the focal point of the film Mean Girls, surely giving some license to its users to approach the app in a similar way. The app’s disclaimer however does state that users “must not bully, harass, threaten or abuse anyone”. Despite this, posters have recently been making threats, bullying and targeting others on the app, instigating school closures in Oregon, Texas, and California, where abuse has been rife. And after a shooting threat was posted at a school in Oregon, parents were quick to blame the app’s premise, signing a petition calling for it to be shut down.

On a happier note, an app which has taken our fancy recently is Instagram’s Layout. Any new offering from Instagram excites us- first it was Hyperlapse, and now there’s Layout, an app which lets users create collages of their images before posting to social media. The app allows users to choose up to nine pictures from their phone album, or take new pictures to use. After playing around with Layout, there’s lots of fun to be had creating new collages, with the option to flip and mirror images too. Although the app is nothing new- (after all there are many other options out there such as Pic Collage, Frametastic, and more), the demand for “visual storytelling”, as Instagram states on its blog, is high. Plus, the app’s own layout, usability, frame options, and the fact that its being marketed by Instagram, means it will surely win a crowd of new fans.

We’re also excited by the direction that Facebook Messenger is heading in, with video sharing now being given precedence. Just last week, Facebook announced at its annual F8 Developers’ conference that it had launched new apps integrated into its Messenger platform. Forty apps are now available, (and there are more in the pipeline) with most focused on GIF and video capabilities. If you open up your Facebook Messenger app, simply click on the “…” or “more” feature next to the sticker and photo sharing icons underneath the message bar, and you will see a plethora of new sticker apps, video sharing apps, and editing apps to make your content visually appealing. With watched video content on social media escalating, it is great to see that Facebook is tapping into this area- evidently in order to ensure that Messenger’s popularity remains.

What do you think of these latest apps? And do you have any new favourites? We’d love to hear your picks, so please share them with us on Twitter @PracticeDigital and leave your comments on our Facebook page.