Welcome to this issue of Pai Review. You can use the article’s table of contents to jump quickly to the topics you’re interested in. If you discover other apps or subjects worth discussing, feel free to share them with us in the comments.

New Apps Worth Your Attention

Although SSPAI has always been dedicated to discovering and introducing high-quality apps across all platforms, there are still many apps—with excellent design, features, interaction, and overall experience—that we have yet to spotlight. They may be older apps, or they may be newly released ones. We feature them here for you.

Panels: The “Five-Sided Warrior” of Manga Reading

• Platform: iOS / iPadOS / macOS
• Keywords: Manga

@Snow: Panels is a manga reader available across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. While its UI design is extremely clean, its feature set is anything but simple; it excels at helping users read and manage locally stored manga files.

Setting up your own reading library is the first hurdle when using this type of reader. Panels allows importing manga from multiple sources: you can use the local file manager, or import via cloud storage services like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. You can also sync local storage or third-party OPDS servers via the SMB protocol. If all of those feel too cumbersome, you can go to Settings > Web Server and enable the transfer service, then upload content through a classic browser interface.

If you aren’t sure where to get manga resources, you can also try the newly launched Panels Store. Just log in with the same account you use in the app—purchases will sync to the app automatically.

In the Library section, Panels provides a built-in Library > Series > Subseries tree structure that helps you easily organize content from different sources, series, and chapters. Thanks to iCloud Drive, Panels also supports powerful cross-device syncing, allowing you to keep reading progress and library data consistent across all your devices.

You can lock any manga or series using Face ID or a passcode to protect your more “private” collections, and you can also enable Incognito Mode to avoid having those precious items appear in public view.

Panels offers a clean yet highly customizable reading interface—how much content you see and how you turn pages can be adjusted according to your needs. Beyond preset reading modes like horizontal scroll (standard), vertical scroll, and page-curl animation, you can enable Panels View under Settings > Panels Labs. When activated, the reader analyzes panel layout automatically and presents the manga frame-by-frame, delivering a more immersive, storyboard-guided reading experience.

If you have manga that reads right-to-left, Panels lets you toggle Reverse Reading Direction with ease. For older manga, Panels also offers enhancements like sharpening, noise reduction, and moiré removal to improve readability.

In both library management and reading experience, Panels stands shoulder-to-shoulder with (and in some areas surpasses) other apps in its class. Still, there are details that could be improved. For example, although Panels supports most common formats—CBR, CBZ, CB7, PDF, and even ePUB manga—it does not support MOBI. Opening such files results in a never-ending loading spinner. Its PDF handling can also be imperfect: Panels View may misalign occasionally, and if the document has no clear pagination, you’re essentially limited to vertical scrolling. Additionally, in an era when everything is racing to add AI, Panels does not include built-in AI translation or text replacement, meaning you can’t rely on it to read untranslated raws. Even so, thanks to its excellent design and experience, Panels remains one of the best choices in its category.

Panels follows a free + in-app purchase model. Features like page-turn animations, immersive backgrounds, cloud services, Panels View, and password protection require a subscription. Pricing is ¥12/month, ¥98/year, or ¥148 one-time purchase. The monthly subscription includes a 7-day free trial, so you can test it before deciding.

You can download Panels for free on the App Store.

Mem Gallery: A Gemini-Powered Personal Memory Assistant

• Platform: Android
• Keywords: AI, Personal Assistant

@大大大K: We live in an era of overwhelming information—there is simply too much we need to remember: a webpage, a screenshot, a recording, or even just a few words in a chat that contain a schedule. Mainstream lightweight note-taking apps can help us save everything in detail, but when it comes to long-form content, it’s often difficult to read through fully. For unstructured content like images, searching later becomes even harder. So… what if we had AI to help?

Mem Gallery is exactly such an app. Before using it, you’ll need to prepare a Gemini API key. After configuring it in Mem Gallery, you can start sharing content you want to remember. Mem Gallery supports plain text, images, links, and real-time audio recordings. You can add items directly inside the app, or share them via the Android system share menu. Once added, Mem Gallery uses Gemini to extract the key points and generate a summary.

If it’s an image, Mem Gallery analyzes everything in it—including text, main subjects, style, annotations, and more. For links, Mem Gallery summarizes the webpage text, and if the webpage contains meaningful images, it performs image analysis as well.

Mem Gallery also automatically assigns searchable tags to each note. All AI-generated summaries can be searched within Mem Gallery, making it very easy to retrieve information later.

Another interesting feature is the built-in To-Do system. Swipe right on the main screen to reveal a simple task list and calendar page. When the AI analyzes images or text, if it detects elements related to tasks or events (such as time points or work items), it automatically creates a to-do entry.

Unlike traditional natural-language task creation, tasks generated by Gemini are based on contextual and semantic understanding. Even if the text contains multiple actions—or uses vague expressions such as “the next three days” or “for two days in a row”—Mem Gallery can correctly generate daily tasks. Honestly, this is more useful than many manufacturers’ own voice assistants.

You can also set custom prompts for the AI in Settings—for example, “respond in Chinese,” “focus more on technical details,” etc.—making the summaries better aligned with your preferences. If you happen to have extra Gemini API quota, or need AI to help organize various fragments of information, you can download Mem Gallery for free on GitHub.

Water Tracker: Drink More Water, Take Care of Yourself

• Platform: Android / iOS
• Keywords: Hydration Tracking

@Peggy_: Another autumn and winter season has arrived, bringing along not only the cold but also waves of flu and viruses. As both myself and people around me succumb one after another to influenza or the common cold, we’ve all received almost identical medical advice: drink more warm water. While water doesn’t kill viruses or protect against bacterial infections, it can greatly ease throat discomfort and other symptoms after falling ill. Even though I consider myself highly aware of staying hydrated, once I get busy, it’s still easy to go half a day without drinking a single sip. That’s exactly where a hydration reminder tool like Water Tracker comes in handy.

Like many similar apps, Water Tracker’s core features are tracking water intake and reminding you to drink. But in recent years, many such apps have realized that rigid, fixed-time reminders are far from enough, and have started adding “smart reminders.” Water Tracker is no exception. You can set how long after the last logged drink the next reminder should trigger, helping you avoid the silly situation where you just drank water only to be nagged by a fixed reminder again a minute later.

When first setting up the app, you’ll need to enter basic information such as age and weight so that the app can calculate a reasonable daily hydration goal. Of course, if you have your own preference, you can set the target manually. Once you enter the main interface, Water Tracker displays your progress in a circular ring. Positioned prominently on the home screen is a quick-add button, which instantly logs a default 250 ml of water. If you always use the same cup, you can adjust this default volume in settings to match your cup’s actual capacity, making the logging process as efficient as possible.

If you need to track other beverages, you’ll need to tap “Add liquid intake” to customize further. The free version supports adding water, coffee, tea, and other common drinks; adding custom beverage types requires upgrading to the premium version. Water Tracker also features an exclusive function: “Post-exercise hydration.” We’ve all experienced moments after exercising when we want to rehydrate but have no idea how much is appropriate. With Water Tracker, this is no longer a problem—just input your workout duration, intensity, and even temperature or humidity, and the app will calculate a reasonable intake amount for recovery.

You can download Water Tracker on the Play Store. The free version is extremely generous and already enough to meet most tracking needs. It also supports writing data into the system health app. If you’re an iPhone user, you can also download the iOS version from the App Store.

Stay Browser: Bringing Chrome Extensions to HarmonyOS Devices

• Platform: HarmonyOS
• Keywords: Browser, Extensions

@Ceface: The popular Safari extension app Stay recently released a HarmonyOS version of its browser. Compared with similar products, the Stay Browser’s killer feature is its compatibility with native Chrome extensions and user script installation.

The browser comes with four built-in extensions, and currently does not provide an entry for downloading or importing extensions from the device. Among them, the preinstalled “Stay HarmonyOS Edition” supports ad labeling and user script importing, eliminating the need to install Tampermonkey or Violentmonkey, which greatly lowers the usage barrier.

Installing scripts isn’t complicated. Open the Stay Browser and tap “More” > “User Scripts” > “+” in the top-right corner to install. You can add scripts through various methods: creating a new one, entering a URL, importing from local storage, or searching via Greasy Fork. If you already installed the Stay extension on Chrome or Safari, simply log in to sync previously installed scripts, bookmarks, homepage shortcuts, web filtering rules, and other data.

Scripts activate automatically upon installation. Swipe left to reveal the delete button, or use the toggle on the right to disable. Tap a script to enter its detail page, where you can edit the script, modify attributes, set blacklist/whitelist rules, and check for updates. The app feels very polished overall—not only in its support for Chrome extensions and script installation, but also in its adaptation to the full range of HarmonyOS device types. It supports phones, tablets, and foldables, and can even run directly on HarmonyOS PCs, which is quite impressive.

It’s also worth noting that the Stay Browser supports “independent webpage background mode.” Webpages added to the homepage as shortcuts can run in the background as independent apps and switch to the foreground as needed, similar to Android’s WeChat Mini Programs. Since they run independently, system-level features like split-screen and floating windows work normally. Paired with PWA websites (such as SSPAI pwa.sspai.com), it’s a perfect match.

You can download the Stay Browser from the Huawei AppGallery.

Unmissable App Updates

Beyond the “new” apps, many long-standing names in the App Store continue to iterate and evolve, adding more interesting and practical features. At SSPAI, we aim to help you sift through noteworthy app updates so you can quickly catch up with the latest developments from apps and developers.

DEVONthink To Go 4.0: AI Assistance and Custom Metadata

• Platform: iOS, iPadOS
• Keywords: Knowledge Base Tool, Database Management

@ElijahLee: Recently, the mobile knowledge-base tool DEVONthink To Go released version 4.0, bringing a wide range of new features including generative AI, custom metadata, version control, enhanced search capabilities, and support for iOS 26’s liquid-glass visual effect. With this update, it’s no longer just a mobile document folder—it’s much closer to a full-fledged mobile knowledge management hub.

First is the addition of AI. DEVONthink To Go 4 follows the footsteps of its Mac counterpart, allowing the use of various AI models to process your documents and notes. When you open any document in DTTG 4—whether PDF, Markdown, web pages, or notes—you’ll see a chat icon in the upper-right corner. From there, you can converse with the document to generate summaries, extract structure, or let AI automatically assign tags, highlights, or ratings. More advanced features even include AI-generated images to assist with visualizing your materials. In the app’s settings, you can add APIs for services like ChatGPT or Claude, or configure local models—these are required before using document-processing features.

The new version also introduces a more powerful search language, supporting suffix-search and allowing AI to help convert natural-language commands into standard search syntax. Search results can be saved as smart groups for long-term dynamic organization of your database.

The newly added custom Metadata feature lets you freely define metadata fields for your documents. By default, options include date, author, summary, status, and more—useful for tracking project progress, categorizing clients, or marking any important information. You can find this feature by going to DTTG 4’s Settings and opening the Data section. All custom metadata is searchable and syncs with the Mac version. This is especially helpful for users who need complex project management.

Version Control allows automatic or manual creation of multiple versions when editing text or PDFs, which makes rollback easy. After editing a document, you can find Versions in the information panel (“i”) at the top-right, where every saved version is listed. For sensitive or immutable files, you can use the revision-safe database, which records all modifications or deletions and allows exporting audit logs—crucial for ensuring the integrity of legal or financial documents. In the DTTG 4 settings, you can configure how many versions to retain and the storage limit; older versions will be deleted automatically once the limit is exceeded.

You can download DEVONthink To Go 4 for free from the App Store. A paid subscription unlocks advanced features such as additional databases, AI assistance, and custom metadata, priced at ¥22/month or ¥148/year.

Controller for HomeKit: Introducing Charts and Updating the Pricing Model

• Platform: iOS / iPadOS / macOS / watchOS / tvOS
• Keywords: Apple Home, Smart Home

In addition to its annual Black Friday promotion, Controller for HomeKit (hereafter “Controller”) has released the major version 8.0 update. The long-public-tested Controller Hub has officially launched in this update, along with an entirely new Charts feature.

The Controller Hub feature has already been introduced in a previous SSPAI review, so we won’t repeat too much here. Simply put, this feature allows any supported device to become the central hub for Controller, enabling more logic-driven and complex Apple Home automation flows—something the Home app cannot accomplish on its own. The premise is that Controller must remain running in the foreground on the device acting as the hub.

The newly added Charts feature relies on the Controller Hub to record and store status logs of each Apple Home device, then presents that data as trend charts. For example, you can view your smart doorbell’s battery usage, monitor temperature and humidity changes at home, or check when accessories were turned on or off throughout the day. This helps you fine-tune your automation flows or quickly spot abnormal power consumption.

However, according to the developer’s release notes, the Charts feature is only available in Hub Mode, where Controller is responsible for logging and storing detailed device records. This introduces a certain usage threshold. Of course, even without activating Controller Hub, the app can still show detailed logs for each accessory—just in list form, which is less systematic and intuitive than charts.

Elsewhere, Controller’s built-in automation feature, Workflows, now includes a Text-to-Speech action, allowing the hub device to speak notifications or announcements as part of an automation.

With the official rollout of Controller Hub, the developer has also reorganized the app’s pricing model. The original subscription / lifetime purchase option has been renamed Controller Essentials, with the same one-time price as before. It continues to support iCloud backup and restore, detailed logging, and more powerful Apple Home automation—all unchanged for previous paid users, except that Hub Mode has been split out. A new paid tier, Controller Plus, has been added; subscribing unlocks Controller Hub, the Charts feature, and more. As of this writing, Controller is still offering its Black Friday promotional discount, available on the official website.

Pocket Casts Update: Listen to Podcasts Like Listening to Music

• Platform: iOS / iPadOS / macOS / Windows / Android / Web
• Keywords: Podcast

@ChemMood2: The classic podcast app Pocket Casts has added a playlist feature in its recent major update, allowing you to listen to podcasts just like you listen to music—by playing through custom-curated lists.

Pocket Casts supports both manually created playlists and smart playlists. To manually create a smart list, you can do so on the mobile app or web version. Then tap “Add Shows” and browse your podcast subscriptions. Swipe left on the podcast you want to add and tap “+,” then use the toolbar at the bottom of the pop-up player to add it to a playlist.

Interestingly, you can even add podcast episodes you don’t subscribe to into your playlists. In practice, the experience is very similar to adding tracks to a playlist in a music streaming service.

Aside from manually configured lists, you can also let the app generate smart playlists for you. The app will automatically collect episodes from your subscribed podcasts based on the rules you define. For example, you can create a smart playlist called “Quick Listen,” and it will gather episodes under 25 minutes from your favorite shows. As long as an episode meets this condition, it will automatically appear in your playlist—saving you the trouble of manually searching through all your subscriptions just to find short-form content.

This playlist update from Pocket Casts effectively solves a long-standing issue in podcast listening—whether episodes from different shows can play continuously through a playlist—making the podcast experience feel as smooth and effortless as listening to music.

Pocket Casts is currently free to use on mobile, with cloud storage, bookmarks, transcripts, and other premium features available through a subscription priced at ¥288.46 per year. You can get Pocket Casts from the official website.

Craft Thanksgiving Update: AI Assistant Upgrades, Android Beta Launches

• Platform: iOS / iPadOS / macOS / visionOS / Web / Windows / Android
• Keywords: Documents, Collaboration

@Vanilla: Craft’s design and interaction model truly stand in a league of their own among note-taking apps, but its feature updates have clearly lagged behind other mainstream competitors. In its latest Thanksgiving update, Craft rolled out several upgrades to its AI assistant—but it’s still a half-finished product that falls far short of being genuinely useful. In this regard, Craft really should take a few lessons from Notion AI. Below, I’ll walk you through the full update. Since Craft is participating in Black Friday promotions with the code BlackFriday25 for a lifetime 40% discount, many people may be considering subscribing. I hope you’ll read this update breakdown before making your decision.

Craft’s original AI assistant has been upgraded in two main ways:

First, its working scope now extends across the entire workspace. It can converse with all documents, collections, calendars, tasks, the code editor, and more, and can even perform cross-folder searches. Second, it now supports chat history, allowing you to review and revisit previous queries.

However, the actual experience of using the AI assistant is honestly quite disappointing.

To begin with, the functionality is rudimentary—limited to text conversations. And if you use a local small model, the generated content often feels nonsensical. Not to mention the more advanced capabilities Craft has promised but not delivered, the current version is still limited to Apple platforms. The Windows client and web version do not support the AI assistant at all.

Next, I’m using an Education Pro account, yet I cannot use the three online models—Core, Fast, and Max—in the AI assistant. According to Craft’s website, Core is powered by ChatGPT Nano 5.1, Fast uses Claude Haiku 4.5, and both models can be used as long as you have AI credits. Only Max, based on Claude Sonnet 4.5, is limited to Plus subscribers. But on both Craft for Mac and iOS, none of the three online models show up—I can only use local models. DeepSeek R1 1.5B, DeepSeek R1 7B, LLaMa 3.2 1B, and LLaMa 3.2 3B all require additional offline downloads; on iPhone, you can directly use Apple Foundation Model.

Finally, when you subscribe to Craft Plus, the service gives you 50 credits per month or 500 per year, depending on your billing cycle. With Core, 50 credits give you roughly 1,000 requests; with Fast, about 100 requests; with Max, around 30 requests. What happens when you run out? You can recharge—$10 for 250 credits, $40 for 1,000 credits, and $100 for 2,500 credits. In contrast, Notion AI offers unlimited usage of Gemini 3 Pro, Claude Sonnet 4.5, and ChatGPT 5.1, which feels far more generous.

That said, Craft’s update does introduce MCP and API support, meaning you don’t necessarily have to use Craft’s paid AI. In the sidebar under “Imagine,” you can add MCP Connections or API Connections. When setting up a connection, you must first select the related document, then use a third-party service to operate on it. For example, with MCP, you can paste Craft’s URL into ChatGPT’s Developer Mode and then directly access your Craft documents via ChatGPT. With API, you’ll need to download the AI Bundle and run Claude Code in the same local directory—after which you can use Craft’s document content to create apps, files, and more.

As for the other updates: the code editor now removes the character limit and adds soft wrapping, real-time math rendering, instant language switching, and more intelligent syntax highlighting. The whiteboard feature has also received a major overhaul. I honestly think Craft’s whiteboard module is now best-in-class. It now supports offline access and improved stability and smoothness, and the feature set was already quite rich—strong enough to stand alone as its own app.

If you’re an Android user, here’s some good-ish news: Craft has finally released an Android client on the Google Play Store. The catch? It’s not a native Android app—it’s simply the mobile web version wrapped as an APK, so it feels nearly identical to the web experience.

That’s the full rundown of Craft’s Thanksgiving update. You can download and use Craft for free from the official website or the App Store. If you need more features, you can subscribe to the Plus plan—but don’t forget the ongoing Black Friday 40% discount, and be sure to enter the code BlackFriday25 at checkout.