It's time for our weekly roundup of the best new iPhone and iPad apps and games to have emerged on Apple's App Store.

As ever, prices are correct at the time of writing, but may have changed by the time you read this. (Free + IAP) means in-app purchases are used within the app.

Want more apps? Browse previous Best iPhone and iPad appsroundups on The Guardian. And if you're looking for Android apps instead, browse the archives of the weekly Best Android Apps roundups.

APPS

Glow Nurture (Free)
US startup Glow’s first app helped women track their fertility cycles when trying to get pregnant. Its new companion app is for people who succeeded: it’s a pregnancy tracker providing daily updates, useful information, the ability to track everything from sleep to Kegel exercises, and the obligatory bump photo-sharing features.
iPhone

Lingua.ly (Free)
Language-learning startup Lingua.ly launched its Android app earlier this year, but now it’s available on iPhone too. It aims to teach you French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew or English by getting you to read news stories, then translating the words you don’t recognise. A clever idea, neatly done.
iPhone

Overcast: Podcast Player (Free + IAP)
Developer Marco Arment made his name in app circles with read-it-later news app Instapaper and iOS magazine app The Magazine. Now he’s turning his attention to podcasts. This is a stripped-down podcast app that lets you listen offline, create playlists and set push notifications for new episodes among other features. A single £2.99 in-app purchase unlocks all its features.
iPhone

Shakespeare300 (£1.99)
This is a good idea for anyone wanting a fast primer on Shakespeare plays: it analyses each one in a 300-word introduction and synopsis, with charts and info graphics thrown in for good measure. It’s the work of author James Reese: an accessible way in to the master playwright’s works.
iPhone / iPad

Google Analytics (Free)
If you run a website and use Google Analytics to track your traffic, some very good news this week: the service’s official app has finally come to iPhone. A clean, simple design gives you access to your key metrics, including real-time stats. Invaluable for going full nerd over your visits.
iPhone

Hours Time Tracking (£2.99)
“Time tracking seems like a simple problem… and it would be, if we were all robots,” suggests the App Store listing for this app. It’s a beautifully-designed time-tracker app, with reminders, a clear daily calendar, and the option to export all your data as CSV or PDF reports if needed for work. Really useful.
iPhone

Marvel Origins (Free + IAP)
As the name implies, this is all about the origin stories for some of Marvel’s most famous characters: Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk and the Avengers at the time of writing. Aimed at children, it has voice narration from Stan Lee, with a mixture of illustrated stories and a mini-game. Iron Man’s tale comes free, the rest are £1.99 in-app purchases.
iPhone / iPad

Destiny Companion (Free)
Destiny is the official companion app for the console game of the same name, released in beta form by developer Bungie for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 recently. You can check on your stats, communicate through forums and private messages, and get news from Bungie on new developments.
iPhone

Sympler (Free)
Sympler is the latest iOS app trying to get people to create their own video mash-ups, using a mixture of photos, videos and music. In this case, the videos can come from your iPhone or from your Vine and/or Instagram accounts, with the creation process involving tapping the screen in time to the music. Fun, but will it catch on?
iPhone

Wiper Messenger (Free)
There are dozens of messaging apps promising greater privacy for their users, in the wake of last year’s NSA revelations. Wiper is the latest, throwing in voice calls for good measure. You can ping text and photos back and forth, with its schtick being a “Wipe” option to erase whatever you’ve sent to a friend from their phone.
iPhone

Guinness World Records 2015 – Augmented Reality (Free)
It’s that time of year again: a new Guinness World Records book is out, and true to recent tradition, there’s a companion augmented reality app too. It gets you to point your iOS device’s camera at the book, then watch 3D animations, play a game and take a photo of yourself next to the tallest man in the world. Sounds like a novelty, but on past form, it’s good fun.
iPhone / iPad

GAMES

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Universal Weapon (£2.99)
A sign of mobile gaming in 2014: when a company like Marvel releases a new roleplaying game (RPG) that’s paid rather than freemium, it shouts “NO IN-APP PURCHASES” right at the start of its App Store listing. Quite the selling point, but the game’s really good too: a deep-but-accessible adventure.
iPhone / iPad

Swords & Poker Adventures (Free + IAP)
Swords & Poker isn’t a new game: it was released a long time ago as an indie game on iOS, before being acquired and revamped by publisher Konami – including making it a freemium game. The in-app purchases aren’t too aggressive, while the gameplay – basically making poker hands to deal damage to enemies – remains fun.
iPhone / iPad

Ninja UP! (Free + IAP)
Publisher Gameloft’s latest freemium game does exactly what it says in the title: you control a ninja for whom the only way is up. Specifically, up by bouncing as you trace your finger on the screen to create mini-trampolines. It’s colourful, looks to have plenty of challenge, and the pixelly ninja is a loveable hero.
iPhone / iPad

daWindci Deluxe (£1.99)
Another new old game. The original daWindci was brilliant: released for iOS in 2011, it was an action-puzzler that revolved around you drawing weather onto the screen, from rain to tornadoes. This is an all-new version with spiffier graphics and beefed-up physics, as you guide a hot-air balloon through 50 missions.
iPhone / iPad

Cooking Academy 2: World Cuisine (£1.99)
It’s not Cooking Mama, but this game from publisher Big Fish is sliced from the same ingredients as that handheld classic. It sees you cooking 60 different dishes as you travel the world, through simple, made-for-touchscreen mini-games.
iPhone / iPad

Alphabeats (£1.49 + IAP)
Described by developer Rad Dragon as a “mashup of word games and music games”, this sees you constructing words from letters that fall in time to the beat of its soundtrack, scoring as many points as you can before each song ends. A clever idea and a fun game, even if the music is likely to be new to you.
iPhone / iPad

Defenders of Suntoria (£1.49 + IAP)
I can’t resist a decent tower defence game – one of the most popular genres on mobile. Defenders of Suntoria certainly looks that: a fantasy-themed games where you lay traps and set various characters to cut onrushing goblin hordes to pieces, over 40 missions.
iPhone / iPad

Cascade (Free + IAP)
If Candy Crush Saga, Bejeweled Blitz and numerous others haven’t sated your desire for shiny match-three puzzling, Cascade may be worth a look. Another Big Fish release, it has you swapping gems and using boosts in familiar fashion, albeit promising “no friend gates, no paywalls, no shenanigans” (the in-app purchases are still included though, for boosts).
iPhone / iPad

Zombie Commando (£1.49)
“You have no choice: kill or get killed.” Which sounds a bit stark, but Zombie Commando at least looks like you’ll have fun while figuring out which is your fate. It sees you controlling a team of eight characters, each with their own unique skills, to see off impressively-large waves of the undead.
iPhone / iPad

Those are our picks, but what have you been enjoying on iOS this week? Post your recommendations (or feedback on these) in the comments section.

• 40 best iPhone and iPad games this year (so far)