SSPAI Review | Best New Apps to Try This Week

Welcome to this episode of SSPAI Review. You can use the table of contents to quickly jump to the sections you’re interested in. If you’ve discovered other apps worth checking out, or topics you’d like us to cover, feel free to join the discussion in the comments.

ScreenKite: A Lightweight and Efficient Screen Recording Tool

Platform: macOS
Keywords: screen recording, camera movement, focus, zoom, quick export

ScreenKite is a lightweight yet powerful screen recording app for macOS. Its key features include automatic zooming, fast export, a built-in editor, and transcription-based subtitle generation. It is particularly suitable for scenarios such as product demonstrations, software tutorials, and course recordings.

Traditional screen recording apps simply capture the screen or a window. ScreenKite takes a different approach by emphasizing its automatic zoom feature. During recording, the app detects mouse clicks and keyboard actions, automatically zooming in on relevant areas and focusing on important content, making it easier for viewers to see key operations. Notably, this feature works automatically without requiring manual post-production editing.

ScreenKite also includes a simple yet capable video editor. After completing a screen recording, users can perform basic editing directly within the app without importing the footage into other video editing software. The editor uses a traditional layout: the preview area is placed in the center, the timeline below allows manual adjustment of the automatic zoom track, and the settings panel on the right provides a variety of configuration options.

Within the background settings, users can also change the recording background. ScreenKite provides classic macOS desktop wallpapers from different versions, along with solid color and gradient backgrounds. It also offers customization options such as blur effects, padding adjustments, rounded corners, and shadow effects. The automatic zoom feature allows further customization, including zoom ratio, delay effects, and automatic cursor following. Cursor styles include pointer, text, hand, and others, with options to change colors and configure the zoom effect when clicking.

In addition, ScreenKite offers practical features such as recording with a webcam overlay and generating subtitles through transcription. For tasks like recording lessons or demonstrating product workflows, these features can significantly simplify post-production and help produce professional-looking videos quickly.

Beyond the convenience of recording, ScreenKite also exports videos very quickly. It leverages macOS’s native ScreenCaptureKit framework along with Metal hardware acceleration, enabling extremely fast export speeds. On Apple Silicon devices in particular, the performance is even more noticeable—users can obtain the finished video file just seconds after stopping the recording.

ScreenKite is currently in Beta, and all features are available for free. No account is required, and exported videos contain no watermark. You can download and try it directly from the official website.

ShizuWall: A Network Access Controller That Requires No Root and Doesn’t Occupy the VPN Channel

Platform: Android
Keywords: network access control

Although most Chinese-market devices now include built-in network access controls, if you are an AOSP enthusiast or a Pixel user who wants to manage whether an app can access the internet, your options are usually limited to rooting the device or installing tools like NetGuard that rely on the system’s VPN interface. The former has become increasingly difficult, while the latter may prevent you from connecting to your company’s internal network via VPN.

ShizuWall, an open-source utility, solves this problem in a more elegant way with the help of the “万能的 Shizuku.” The app fully adopts the Material You design language, with dynamic color support that keeps the interface clean and visually pleasing. The home screen displays a list of all installed apps, allowing you to quickly search for and select the ones whose network access you want to control.

ShizuWall implements its functionality through Shizuku by using system shell commands to toggle an app’s network access rather than intercepting data packets directly. As a result, it does not conflict with VPN functionality. You can block network access for apps that raise privacy concerns while still maintaining a VPN connection to your company’s internal servers, such as when logging into office systems.

ShizuWall provides four firewall control modes. The default and whitelist modes determine whether selected apps are blocked from or allowed to access the network—so the default mode can effectively be seen as a “blacklist.” However, in these two modes the control list can only be updated when the firewall is disabled. The “Adaptive” mode allows updating selected items while the firewall is active, though it may occasionally fail to refresh the cache successfully.

There is also a testing mode called “Smart Foreground.” In this mode, only the currently active foreground app is allowed to access the internet. As a result, messaging apps such as WeChat will not receive background messages, making this mode more suitable for secondary devices.

Beyond the core toggle controls, ShizuWall also provides ADB broadcast command support for advanced users. Combined with tools such as Tasker or Home Assistant, it enables scenario-based automation. It also supports monitoring newly installed apps, allowing you to update your control list promptly.

One thing to note is that the network permissions controlled by ShizuWall will reset after the device reboots (Shizuku itself may also lose permission after a restart), so you will need to re-enable it. If you are using a near-stock Android system or looking for a lightweight and practical network control tool, you can download ShizuWall for free on GitHub and give it a try.

Mos: Make Your Mouse Smoother on macOS

Platform: macOS
Keywords: mouse, customization, buttons, scrolling, third-party, utility

Although using a trackpad on macOS generally provides a better experience than using a mouse, there are still many situations in daily work where a mouse is unavoidable.

Some major peripheral manufacturers (such as Logitech) provide comprehensive drivers and configuration tools for their own products. But if you’re using a mouse from another brand and want to customize scrolling behavior or button actions, you’ll have to rely on third-party applications. For example, I recently tried optimizing the experience of using the Keychron M6 on macOS. Since this mouse doesn’t have a configuration tool like Logitech Options Plus on macOS, I had to rely on third-party software to customize buttons and adjust scrolling behavior.

Mos is another open-source solution I recently discovered. It is designed specifically for configuring mouse behavior on macOS. It allows deep adjustments to scroll wheel feedback and extends into a tool that supports various custom mouse button actions. In Mos’s preferences panel, the second tab contains detailed scrolling settings. For example, it supports enabling smooth scrolling and inverted scrolling. Once enabled, additional options appear—for smooth scrolling you can enable smooth vertical scrolling, smooth horizontal scrolling, and even simulate the trackpad scrolling experience. Inverted scrolling works similarly, supporting both vertical and horizontal directions. Since I prefer the traditional scroll wheel direction, I didn’t enable inverted scrolling.

The second section of the scrolling settings focuses on general mouse behavior. For instance, the acceleration key allows you to speed up scroll wheel movement while holding the key, the transform key switches scrolling from vertical to horizontal when held, and the disable key temporarily disables smooth scrolling. These shortcuts aren’t particularly useful for my own workflow, so I left them unchanged.

The third section of the scrolling settings is particularly important. Here you can adjust parameters such as the step length of each scroll wheel movement, the tracking speed gain for continuous scrolling, and the easing duration of scrolling animations. Mos already provides fairly reasonable preset values, but you can fine-tune them according to how your mouse feels during use.

Beyond its flexible and highly customizable scrolling adjustments, Mos also allows you to customize mouse buttons. In the “Buttons” tab of the preferences panel, you can assign custom actions to various mouse buttons. For example, the two side buttons on my M6 can be mapped to Back and Forward actions—similar to how I had configured the side buttons on my previous Logitech Master 2S.

Sometimes we may also want different scrolling rules for specific applications. For instance, I prefer different scrolling behavior in my browser compared to the global settings. In Mos, you can open the “Applications” tab, add an app, then click “Scrolling” on the right side and uncheck “Inherit global settings.” This allows you to create a separate scrolling configuration for that application, such as increasing the minimum step length or speed gain.

After making all these adjustments in Mos, I finally got comfortable using the Keychron M6 on macOS. Aside from the mouse feeling a bit too light when moving, the global smooth scrolling and fine-tuned adjustments now feel much closer to the experience I had with my Logitech Master 2S. If you’re using a mouse from a smaller brand on macOS, Mos might be worth trying to fine-tune your setup. Mos is free and open-source—you can download it from the official website or install it via Homebrew.

Appboard: A Treasure Chest for Heavy App Enthusiasts

Platform: iOS, iPadOS
Keywords: apps, discovery, information, rankings

In today’s era, an app like Appboard feels a bit “retro.” That’s because it is essentially an advanced utility built around the App Store ecosystem. For industry professionals and app enthusiasts, however, it can be a very useful tool. Recently, Appboard’s Plus membership has been temporarily free, so this is a good opportunity to introduce the app.

Appboard’s core features are divided into three main categories: searching the store, quick search, and viewing rankings. The “Apps” tab serves as a centralized entry point that aggregates these functions, allowing you to access them quickly.

In the “Rankings” tab, you can choose any country or region from either a list or a map. You can then apply multiple filters based on device (iPhone or iPad), price (free or paid), and category (Apps: sports, health & fitness, medical, reference, business, books, etc.; Games: casual, sports, adventure, action, card, etc.). The result is a customized ranking list tailored to your selection.

By tapping any app in the ranking list, you can view its overview information, version release history, screenshots, description, and other details. You can also use the system translation feature to translate the description text.

Appboard also integrates with AI tools, but instead of embedding or wrapping AI features directly, it uses prompts to call external AI services for various tasks. For example, in the overview module there is a feature called “Global Rankings.” After tapping it, you can choose to query large AI models such as Claude, Kimi, or ChatGPT to retrieve the app’s ranking across different countries or regions worldwide. The results can be displayed in either list or map form, and you can export them as images or text.

Additionally, in the rankings interface you can see an “Export to AI” button in the top-right corner. Tapping it opens a prompt editing interface where you can choose preset prompts or create custom ones. The prompt, combined with the app’s detailed information, can then be exported to external AI tools for analysis.

In the “Store” tab, you can browse App Stores from all countries and regions. Tapping any country or region allows you to bookmark or unbookmark it, or switch to that store. One important feature here is the store-switching function, which lets you view different App Store content and in-app purchase information without logging into an Apple ID. However, you can only browse—you cannot purchase or download apps.

By tapping the “Search” button, you can perform advanced searches within the App Store of the currently selected country or region. You can choose different languages and devices, then match results using keywords. If you are an Appboard Pro member, you can also save search keywords, manage keyword lists, and track keyword rankings.

Overall, Appboard is a feature-rich enhanced tool for exploring and analyzing apps, cleverly extending its capabilities through AI integration. You can download it for free from the App Store. The Plus membership is currently available for free, while the Pro subscription costs RMB 15 per month, RMB 128 per year, or RMB 268 for a lifetime purchase.

MoePeek: A Lightweight Pop-Up Translation Tool

Platform: macOS
Keywords: text selection, translation, lightweight

MoePeek is a lightweight pop-up translation tool recently released. If you have previously used translation features in apps like Bob or PopClip, you will likely find MoePeek’s design easy to understand. With its built-in or customizable translation engines, it allows efficient text selection translation and screenshot translation on macOS.

The installation package of MoePeek is only 5 MB, and its overall design is very similar to early versions of Bob. It currently supports text selection translation, screenshot OCR translation, clipboard translation, and manual input translation. Once launched, the app stays in the top menu bar, and you can trigger various translation functions either by clicking the menu bar icon or by using keyboard shortcuts.

After launching the app, whenever you select text on any interface, a small “translation bubble” will appear below the selected content. Moving the cursor over the bubble or pressing ⌥+D will open the translation window, displaying one or more results depending on the translation engines you have configured.

You can also press ⌥+S to activate the OCR screenshot translation feature. The app will automatically recognize text within the selected screenshot area and extract it for translation. MoePeek includes intelligent language detection and supports 14 languages, automatically switching translation directions. This means you don’t need to carefully select text of a specific language when highlighting or capturing screenshots, lowering the barrier to use.

MoePeek integrates 16 translation services, including Apple Translate, Google Translate, DeepL, and OpenAI. Among them, Google Translate, Bing Translate, Youdao Translate, and Apple Translate can be used for free. Apple Translate runs locally and requires downloading language packs in advance, while other services require configuring an API key. For LLM engines, MoePeek provides support for Ollama and LM Studio, allowing users concerned about privacy to rely on locally deployed AI models for translation.

MoePeek is not currently available on the App Store and must be downloaded from GitHub Releases. If you find existing translation tools too heavy or are trying such apps for the first time, MoePeek is a free option worth exploring.

Muviz Widgets: Create Endless Styles for Your Home Screen

Platform: Android
Keywords: widgets, music, clock, customization

Home screen customization used to be one of the hottest topics in the Android community. In recent years, with Google’s Material You and Apple’s Liquid Glass design language, a subtle retro breeze seems to be blowing again. Muviz Widgets aims to rekindle your passion for personalization and desktop styling on your Android home screen.

As the name suggests, Muviz Widgets focuses on providing a wide variety of functional and stylish widgets to enhance your home screen. It mainly includes the following categories: clock widgets inspired by different generations of Android system styles, calendar widgets, system utility widgets, and iOS-style music widgets.

Taking the clock widget as an example, you can select any style you like and tap the plus button to adjust details such as position, size, and transparency. Color customization, however, requires unlocking the premium version. The free version only offers built-in monochrome themes by default. While the aesthetics are relatively basic, you can still improve the look by adjusting transparency.

In addition to standard clock widgets, Muviz Widgets also offers more complex widgets that combine elements such as date and weather. You can even find pixel-style widgets inspired by Nothing’s design language.

Adding a music widget follows a similar process, but you will need to grant Muviz Widgets notification access so it can read the currently playing song information. The app also allows you to select the content source to display. For example, if you only want to show notifications from a specific music player, you can simply select it in the source settings. Once added, the widget dynamically adapts its color based on the currently playing music and allows you to control playback directly from the home screen.

You can download and try Muviz Widgets from the Play Store. The app’s core features are free, while unlocking additional styles and color options requires a one-time purchase of $1.99 (early-bird price).

App Brief

WPS for Pad: On March 9, Kingsoft WPS announced that WPS for Pad has officially launched on the App Store in mainland China, with support for Simplified Chinese. The app requires iPadOS 15.0 or later. According to the company, WPS for Pad closely replicates the desktop experience, with an interface largely identical to the desktop version of WPS Office. Its core functionality is aligned with the Windows client and supports seamless collaboration across mobile devices and computers.

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