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SSPAI Review | Best New Apps to Try This Week

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Moods Faster: Log Your Mood in Seconds

  • Platforms: iOS, iPadOS
  • Keywords: mood tracking, emotions, mental health

@ElijahLee: Ever since Apple Health introduced mood tracking, I’ve been using it to log how I feel each day. Moods Faster, also built around mental health features, focuses on ultra-fast mood tracking. Its core idea is simple: only when logging your emotions is effortless can you stick with it long term. The app is extremely lightweight, coming in at just 9.6 MB.

The app features a dark-themed design that blends seamlessly with the body of an iPhone 17 Pro. On the home screen, five highlighted capsule-shaped buttons represent five emotional states. By default, they are arranged from left to right as very unpleasant, unpleasant, neutral, pleasant, and very pleasant—mirroring Apple Health’s mood categories.

In Moods Faster, tapping a mood expands the capsule, and tapping the arrow completes the entry. It takes as little as two taps to log your mood—much faster than Apple Health. The app also offers home screen widgets for quick logging, making up for Apple Health’s lack of widget support.

If you want to add more detail to your entries, the app provides an Emotions field for more precise descriptions, and a Context field to link mood changes to events in your life or work. Moods Faster supports syncing with Apple Health’s mood data and also offers weekly and monthly mood trends to help you analyze emotional patterns.

In the app’s settings, you can expand the number of mood options from the default five to seven. It also allows customization of capsule themes and icons, reordering moods from positive to negative, and enabling scheduled reminders. Additional premium features include iCloud sync, full feature unlock, and avatar customization.

Moods Faster is available for free on the App Store. Paid options unlock premium features such as expanded mood options, additional themes and icons, and home screen widgets. Pricing is RMB 1/month, RMB 11/year, or RMB 28 for a lifetime purchase.

On This Day Rewind: I Know What You Shot on This Day Years Ago

  • Platforms: iOS / iPadOS / macOS
  • Keywords: photo memories

@Snow: On This Day Rewind is one of those apps that truly fits the description “small and beautiful.” With a tiny 6.2 MB install size, it focuses on doing exactly what its name suggests: grouping all photos in your system library by date and showing you where you were and what you captured on this day in past years.

The home screen is clean and “straightforward.” Unlike the system Photos app with its music-backed, heavily edited memory compilations, this app simply presents your memories through a grid of photos arranged in a waterfall layout by year in descending order. That said, On This Day Rewind doesn’t limit itself to just “today.” At the bottom, it features a liquid glass–style date selector and calendar, allowing you to jump to any day and revisit where you went and what you captured.

As its core “selling point,” the app offers several customization options for the home layout. You can adjust the number of photo thumbnails displayed per row—from one to six—and choose whether years are shown from newest to oldest or vice versa. If you only want to revisit past memories, you can disable the Include Current Year option in settings to hide photos from the current year.

Tapping a photo opens the detail view, where in addition to the image itself, you can quickly check EXIF metadata and map location, helping you recall what device, settings, and location were used to capture the moment. From here, you can also sync with the system Photos app to favorite or delete images.

The sharing feature is a thoughtful touch. In Image Share Settings, you can preset captions or date formats, and then share both the text and a photo preview with a single tap from the detail page. However, this feature currently only supports native apps like iMessage and Mail.

The app includes in-app purchases: you can subscribe for RMB 8/month or make a one-time purchase of RMB 38. The paid version removes the limitation of accessing only the past three years of history and eliminates watermarks on shared images. A 14-day free trial is available. Considering the limited use cases for the sharing feature and some current issues like dropped animation frames and occasional navigation glitches, it’s recommended to try it out before deciding to pay.

You can download On This Day Rewind for free on the App Store.

Codex Update: Adds Computer Use, SSH Connections, Built-in Browser, and More

  • Platform: macOS
  • Keywords: AI, AI Agent, Computer Use

@Vanilla: While Codex arguably offers the best user experience among the “big three” AI model products, it still lags behind Claude in terms of feature iteration, which updates almost weekly. After OpenClaw burst onto the scene earlier this year, both Perplexity and Claude quickly followed with their own Computer Use capabilities. Ironically, OpenAI—which brought OpenClaw developer Peter onboard—only added this feature to Codex in mid-April. Though Computer Use arrives a bit late, let’s take a look at what this major Codex update brings.

Before using the Computer Use feature, make sure you’ve updated the macOS version of Codex to the latest version, then enable the corresponding plugin under “Computer Use” in the settings panel.

Back in the chat interface, if you want to manually start a Computer Use instance, simply click the plus button and select “Computer Use” from the plugins. You can then enter commands directly in the chat window. Once authorized, Codex can take control of and operate any app on your macOS system. If Codex determines that a task requires Computer Use, it will prompt you in the chat window to grant permission for specific applications. While Codex is controlling apps, the menu bar clearly shows which applications are currently being handled.

Notably, the macOS version of Codex introduces a convenient and novel way of granting system privacy and security permissions. Previously, you had to go into System Settings under “Privacy & Security,” click the plus button, and manually add apps. In the new version, Codex allows you to simply drag and drop it directly into the authorization list.

Once the necessary permissions are granted, Codex uses a virtual cursor to perform various actions—such as writing code in Xcode, editing videos in CapCut, or filling out forms in a browser. More importantly, Codex supports multiple agents running in parallel, operating independently without interfering with each other—or with your own normal usage of the Mac.

Beyond that, Codex brings a range of additional features in this update. Powered by gpt-image-1.5, its image generation capabilities have improved significantly. Codex can now process GitHub review comments, run multiple terminal tabs simultaneously, connect to remote development machines via SSH, and preview files such as PDFs, spreadsheets, and presentations directly from the sidebar.

Codex is available for free download on its official website, though the Computer Use feature is currently limited to macOS.

Road Trip Radar: Bring a Weather Radar Along for Your Drive

  • Platform: Android
  • Keywords: weather, travel radar

@大大大K: With another long holiday coming up, many people are probably already planning road trips. But driving often means passing through multiple cities or even provinces. Given the vast geography, long-distance travel inevitably comes with complex and changing weather conditions, which may require adjustments to your vehicle and plans. If there were a tool that could show weather changes along your route in real time, you could prepare in advance and avoid disruptions.

Road Trip Radar really does look like a map app at first glance: a full-screen map interface, oversized icons and buttons, and a standard Material 3 design—all of which make it feel like a minimalist third-party navigation tool. And indeed, it includes some basic map features, such as searching for addresses and nearby facilities (even supporting searches for EV charging stations). However, it lacks full route planning capabilities, so it can’t quite be called a “navigation app.” The only navigation-related elements might be the compass and speedometer displayed on the main screen.

In reality, the app is positioned as a weather radar tool, designed to help users check upcoming weather conditions during long trips or casual drives. I think it works best as a companion tool to a navigation app. After planning your route in a map app, you can launch Road Trip Radar alongside it—either as a floating window over your navigation app or by having a passenger monitor it on another device. During the drive, it displays real-time nearby radar imagery for rain and snow based on your route, and can even show changes in radar patterns within the next hour.

A thoughtful feature is its use of concentric circles, which adjust based on your location and map zoom level to indicate distances. This allows you to accurately estimate how far away severe weather is, predict when you’ll encounter it, and plan stops at service areas in advance to prepare your vehicle.

As for data sources, the app uses MapLibre for map data, providing fairly comprehensive coverage, with some cities even supporting 3D models. Weather data comes from RainViewer, offering relatively accurate rain and snow information for reference. If you’re planning a road trip—or even gearing up for a spontaneous ride on your “motorbike”—you can download it for free via Google Play, GitHub, or F-Droid. Stay safe on the road, and checking the weather in advance is always a smart move.

macpow: View Real-Time Mac Power Consumption via a TUI Interface

  • Platform: macOS
  • Keywords: command line, system information

@化学心情下2: Perhaps due to the recent wave of AI coding, CLI and TUI tools have once again come back into the spotlight. Compared to traditional GUI applications, command-line-style tools are often more convenient both to develop and to use. For example, when checking device power consumption, component temperatures, or CPU frequencies on macOS, we used to rely on graphical apps like iStat Menus to access detailed information. Now, however, we can monitor all of this in real time through command-line tools—such as the macpow we’re introducing today.

Installing the app is very simple. If you use Homebrew for package management, just run the following two commands in the macOS terminal:

Shell
brew tap k06a/tap
brew install macpow

Then type macpow in the command line to launch and start using it.

After launching, the first thing you’ll see is a tree-structured view based on your current device. At the top, it shows overall system power consumption along with battery status. The middle section provides detailed real-time data on each component’s temperature and power usage. For instance, on my MacBook Air M4, the SoC section clearly displays the real-time frequency, temperature, and power consumption of both E-cores and P-cores. From the display, it’s easy to see that most of the current power usage is concentrated in the P-cores, while the GPU section below has relatively minimal impact on overall consumption.

macpow offers very comprehensive hardware monitoring. Temperature readings are available for components such as the CPU, GPU, ANE, memory, storage, display, and even the trackpad. Power consumption tracking also includes external accessories like Thunderbolt ports, network, Bluetooth, and USB devices. For example, one of the higher power-consuming accessories on my setup is a USB 3.1 hub, since my MacBook Air is connected to a monitor through it. Clicking on nodes in the tree view reveals more detailed information, and at the bottom, you can see real-time power fluctuations in a graph.

The lower half of the interface shows power usage by currently running software. You can view each process’s PID, memory usage, and real-time power consumption. For some applications, you can expand the tree further to inspect details like disk read/write power usage.

macpow is fully open source and free to use—you can check out the project page for more details.

June: An Open-Source and Beautifully Designed Journaling App

  • Platform: Android
  • Keywords: journaling

@Peggy_: At the beginning of this year, I suddenly decided to start keeping a journal. To some extent, it helped me become more aware of my daily life and more attuned to my emotions. But whenever I’m out and about, the traditional notebook format—which requires sitting down properly at a desk—becomes hard to maintain. It seems that combining digital journaling with paper journaling is a better way to cover our needs.

Today’s app, June, is an open-source journaling tool. In terms of functionality, it is both comprehensive and uniquely designed—so let’s take a closer look. The app’s main interface is divided into several sections: Home, Categories, and Statistics. From the Home page, you can create new entries, view recent journals, quickly search past records, or access drafts that haven’t been saved yet. The Categories page organizes entries by location, people, and tags, making it easier to revisit your journal from different perspectives. The calendar-based Statistics view provides a visual overview of your journaling activity for the month, and you can also see the emojis you’ve added to entries, giving you an at-a-glance sense of your mood on any given day.

Next, let’s focus on June’s editing interface. It supports rich text editing, with all the expected features such as adding headings of different levels, bold text, and inserting links. In the top-left corner of the editor, you’ll find options to add emojis, attach files, and assign tags. The emoji feature allows you to freely choose from a wide range of symbols.

June’s attachment feature is where it really stands out. In addition to standard options like adding images, videos, and locations, it also allows you to attach music links. June can parse links from major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music, generating a music card that appears at the top of your journal entry. This way, you can not only document your day in words but also revisit your memories later with the accompanying soundtrack.

Finally, synchronization—an essential feature, since no one wants to lose journals filled with memories and emotions. June currently supports syncing via WebDAV, allowing you to choose a service that fits your preferences. If you’re concerned about data privacy, you can also opt for local backups.

At this stage, June is already highly polished. In testing, the only issue encountered was that Spotify links were not parsed correctly; otherwise, all features worked as expected. If you’re interested, you can download and try it via its GitHub page.

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