Ever since Google started allowing paid apps and games to temporarily go on sale, we've seen dozens of great deals. Perhaps in an effort to better highlight these sales, Google has added a 'Free App of the Week' section to the Google Play Store.
Seven days ago Google offered a game from Cartoon Network as its free family app of the week. Monsters At My Birthday Cake was a Zelda-inspired adventure game that, while skewing young, some of us could still find amusing for an hour or two.
Well, this week's free app is aimed at the little ones. Google is offering up a copy of Sago Mini Space Explorer, in which your kid gets to guide a dog in a spacesuit around a whimsical depiction of space.
Getting the game isn't as simple as going to Sago Mini Space Explorer's Google Play page, as there it's priced at $2.99.
Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake offers more depth than most of the previous apps Google has given away for its free family-friendly App of the Week. This title comes to us from Cartoon Network, and it's a top-down adventure game reminiscent of Zelda.
The family-oriented section of the Play Store is now offering up another free app of the week. When Google first started the giveaways, Daniel Tiger Daniel Tiger Grr-ific Feelings was the debut app. Toca Hair Salon 2 came next. This week we're looking at Dr. Panda & Toto's Treehouse.
As we now know, Google hands out these free apps using coupon codes. So if you head directly to the app's Play Store page , you will still see its regular price listed. Yeah, we know it's awkward. To get the goods for zero dollars, you must click on the Free App of the Week banner or redeem the code TOTOTREEFREE.
You may remember Google posted a new kind of app promotion last week. It offered a PBS Kids app that was usually $3 for free, which is kind of a big deal for the Play Store. Developers cannot currently make a listing free then go back to paid. It looks like Google is going to continue doing this for a bit, as there's a new free app of the week—Toca Hair Salon 2. This would be great if only the redemption process wasn't so jacked up.
Giving away free apps is sort of Amazon's thing. Each day the company offers up a different piece of software in hopes of attracting Android users away from their default app store. Now Google seems to be dipping its toes in the water and trying out something similar. Instead of a free app of the day, we can download one for the week.
The offer isn't immediately apparent when you first open the Play Store. A banner advertising "New Family Fun" appears at the bottom of the screen. Clicking that will take you over to the family section, where you should see another banner advertising a free app of the week from PBS Kids.