Brilliant things to do on your device
4545BEST APPS FOR... Preventing food waste
Issue 631 • 11 – 24 May 2022BankTheFood
Free
Android http://www.snipca.com/41760
iOS http://www.snipca.com/41761
With many food banks struggling to keep
up with demand, this app lets you ‘follow’
facilities in your area, find out which items
they urgently need and donate supplies
accordingly to the nearest drop-off point.
You can optionally grant BankTheFood
access to your location to be notified of
local food-bank needs when you visit a
supermarket.
Best For Donating supplies to food banksNosh
Free
Android http://www.snipca.com/41764
iOS http://www.snipca.com/41765
Nosh saves you the cost and waste of
buying food you don’t need by tracking the
expiry dates of items in your fridge, freezer
and cupboards. You can either enter details
manually or scan barcodes and receipts
using your phone’s camera. The app also
lets you compile a shopping list and review
your weekly buying trends.
Best For Only buying food you needToo Good To Go
Free
Android http://www.snipca.com/41762
iOS http://www.snipca.com/41763
Too Good To Go helps reduce food waste
by telling you which local shops, cafés and
restaurants have surplus supplies. You can
then buy a goody bag of leftover grub for
as little as £2, and collect it at a specified
time. Participating businesses include
Greggs, Costa Coffee and Morrisons, as
well as plenty of independent stores.
Best For Finding cut-price surplus foodmessages with emojis, but you can turn
this off if you prefer. Go into the app’s
Settings, tap Notifications and switch off
the Reaction Notifications option for
Messages and Groups. The emoji-
reactions feature is being rolled out
gradually, so you may not see it yet.
ANDROID
Stop Google Messages
draining your battery
Many Android users are currently
experiencing a problem with the
Google Messages app, which is causing
their phones to overheat and their
batteries to drain. A recent update to
Google Messages has a bug that
occasionally leaves the Camera app
running in the background, after it’s
been opened to capture and share photos
or videos in a conversation. This results
in the camera continually drawing power
from your phone’s battery and heating
your phone up in the process.
Google has started rolling out a fix for
the problem, but in the meantime you
can stop Messages accessing your camera
without your knowledge. Go to Settings,
select Apps then ‘See all apps’ and tap
Messages. Press ‘Permissions’, choose
Camera and select either ‘Ask every time’
or ‘Don’t allow’ (see screenshot below) to
prevent Google Messages from opening
your camera in the background, or you
triggering it accidentally.
Alternatively, if your phone runs
Android 12, you should see a green dot in
the top-right corner of your screen when
the Camera app is active. Swipe down
and press the camera icon to see which
app is using it,
then close the
culprit to
preserve your
b a t t e r y.
ANDROID & iOS
Play Amazon’s new game
with your kids
Amazon has launched its first
original game for mobile devices,
as a spin-off from its Amazon Kids+
subscription service (www.snipca.
com/41738). Super Spy Ryan is based on
the animated special of the same name
and involves helping the titular character
and his friends recover stolen party gifts,
while avoiding traps and robots. The
game includes a multiplayer mode, so is a
great way to keep the kids entertained.Super Spy Ryan is free to play on
Android (www.snipca.com/41766) and
iOS (www.snipca.com/41767), and is also
available through Amazon Kids+, which
costs from £3.99 a month (£1.99 with
Prime membership).