Getting lost in an online app store is both fun and overwhelming. You can grab games, music, photo filters and, of course, those swipe-friendly “friend” connectors all for an easy price of 99 cents. But are you using your mobile touchscreens to better connect yourself with La Cultura? If not, don’t worry; we’ve got a handy list of Latino mobile apps that’ll give your phone a much-needed bilingual boost.
Univision Deportes
And of course, no “Latino Man” list would be complete without a sports section. We are happy to report that the free Univision Deportes app fulfills all of your futbol, boxing and baseball cravings, with streaming broadcasts from around the world. This particular one is great if you have a tablet, as it displays matches in their entirety and scrolling crawl stats (which can be hard to read on a smartphone). Just keep in mind, you’ll need to have some good wi-fi nearby to fully experience every “GOAL.”
MiCrush
We’ve seen the dating apps for Christians, Asians, Mormons and what have you. Well, now there is one exclusively for Latinos! MiCrush lets you chat, mingle and meet up with Hispanic singles (per the tagline). It also works along the same lines as Tinder, with a swipe right to “Crush” and a swipe left to say “No, Gracias.” We’ll admit some of the concepts behind it are cheesy, but there is certainly a nice selection of Latinas who subscribe. So why not give this freebie a try?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_GdOociJJ8
Lucha Libre Matchups
What fun is visiting the app store if you don’t get yourself a game? Well we’re proud to say that Latinos have entered the button mashing market, with the creative Lucha Libre Matchups app. Using colorful masked warriors, developers 3monk3ys created an engaging puzzler that combines elements of classic Mexican wrestling and Candy Crush. Characters need to be matched up, swiped and eliminated as you compete against the computer or your own friends. This one is available in both the Apple and Android stores, for the teeny price tag of 99 cents.
SpanishDict
As much as we love our Latino roots, we are, for the most part, American and living in the good old USA. So it’s only natural that a Spanish word or two (or ten) may be forgotten throughout time. That’s where SpanishDict comes in. It’s an easy, free translator app that can instantly recover whatever cultural phrase is on the tip of the tongue. Plus, it’s got great features like “Word of the Day” and phonetic audio pronunciations.
Latino Emoji
One of the most popular Latin-themed apps, Zubi’s Latino Emoji has hundreds of colorful characters to enhance your text conversations. Pumped up for the weekend? Send out a luche libre icon. Feeling a little artsy? Share a Frida Kahlo. We love this app because it covers all kinds of cultural expressions without the derogatory stereotypes. Plus it’s made by Latino designers and is entirely free for Android and iOS users. That gives it a big brown “Thumbs Up” in our book!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdsADUQwhUk