It is easy to find a never-ending list of random number generators on the Google Play Store. Some of these are good and can really make your lottery experience a great deal easier. One number generator that is trying to get to the top of the list is PowerBall. In this PowerBall Android app review, we will see how the app works and whether it can bring you the convenience that comes with a great number generator.
Stand-Out Feature
If your personal strategy doesn't involve tracking what the most common Powerball numbers are, then generating random number sequences on your device can save you a lot of time when trying to decide what numbers to play in your favourite lottery. It takes away the uncertainty of wondering whether you have played this sequence before or if the numbers are random enough to stand a chance of winning. This Powerball app helps by doing all this for you.
When launching the app, you will see a simple home screen that has a row of lottery balls across the top of your screen. Underneath this is a giant red button that says Touch This. When touching this button, the numbers at the top of the screen will start changing in rapid succession and a bar above these numbers will begin to fill. This bar is titled Powerball Lucky Bar. The longer you hold in the red button, the more this bar is filled. The app recommends that you hold down this button until the bar is completely filled and turns green*. This stops the number rotation and leaves you will a completely random set of generated number.
Filling the Powerball Lucky Bar will also cause a small pop-up to appear once the numbers have been generated that tells you how many random sequences the algorithm ran through to get to the final results and how many times each of the displayed numbers featured in those sequences.
The randomization algorithm used by the develop is great and in several tests that we ran performed well at generating random number sequences that were unique and avoided repetition. Having a great algorithm is the hallmark of any good random number generator and something we expect from all the best lottery apps.
*While it is recommended that you hold the Touch This button down until the bar at the top of the screen fills, you may at any time release the button to immediately stop the number rotations and leave you with a random number sequence. During our tests we did not see any degradation of the algorithm’s ability when stopping the generation early. Therefore, we are not sure why it is recommended to hold the button until the lucky bar fills unless you would like the info on the amount of sequences the algorithm ran through to arrive at the one displayed to you. In any case, some people might find this feature somewhat fun to use.
Additional Features
One area that Powerball is severely lacking in is additional features. The only additional feature that is present in the app is a small button to the left of the generation button that is titled Winning Numbers. Tapping this opens a new page with a browser inline frame. Unfortunately, instead of seeing the latest Powerball results, we were constantly greeted with a screen that said the requested webpage could not be reached. We assume that this is because the app points to a URL that is no longer in existence. This is a great disappointment considering that this is the only additional feature that the app has to offer.
Location & Lotteries Available
As you may guess from the name of the app, the only supported lottery is the US Powerball.
User Interface & Usability
The app design is pretty—pretty basic and pretty ugly, that is. However, it allows you to do what you need to do without having to navigate unnecessary screens and keeps everything in one central place. In addition, we wish the developer would change the font used to display the generated number sequences, as the current one is quite bulky and sometimes difficult to read; a simple font would fix this up instantly.
On the upside, the app supports infinity displays by default and works well on devices that have a notch at the top of their screen.
Ads
The only ads present in the app come in the form of a banner located at the bottom of your screen. This is not intrusive and can easily be ignored.
Conclusion – PowerBall Review
PowerBall works well as a random number generator by employing a decent randomization algorithm that can compete with some of the greats. However, the developer needs to pay more attention to the design of the app in future updates. They also need to work on fixing the single extra that the app has or work on adding some more. If they can do this, then this app would be worthwhile to any Powerball fan. That being said, having a RNG dedicated to just one lottery, unless that’s the only lottery that you ever play, seems kind of pointless when there are other ones that are either universal or support many lotteries.
