• Apple has announced the best iPhone, iPac, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV apps of the year.
• A hiking trail app took the best iPhone app award, while Lies of P was awarded best Mac game.
• The App Store editors believe that generative AI apps will become more popular and more robust as we head into the future.

The year’s best apps on Apple devices, from iPhone to Macbook, iPad and Apple Watch, have today been announced by the tech giant. Nearly 40 apps and games from diverse usecases and themes were nominated by a team of App Store editors earlier this month, and now the team has selected a crop of winners.

“This year’s winners include developers from across the world, whose apps and games were chosen by the App Store’s Editorial team for providing users with meaningful experiences and inspiring cultural change. App Store Award winners were selected from nearly 40 finalists for delivering exceptional technical innovation, user experience, and design,” the Cupertino firm explained in an announcement.

Several different categories were established for the awards, including app of the year for iPhone, Macbook, iPad, Apple TV and Apple Watch, as well as games for each of these platforms and what Apple calls “cultural impact winners” which are apps that drive positive change through inclusive design and explore sustainability, introspection and connection across generations.

Here are the winners for the App Store Awards 2023:

• iPhone app of the year – AllTrails, an app that lets you find the best hiking, cycling and walking nature trails.
• iPad app of the year – Prêt-à-Makeup, bring makeup designs to life for beauty enthusiasts.
• Mac app of the year –  Photomator, making photo editing faster and simpler.
• Apple TV app of the year – MUBI, a quality cinema experience at home for users.
• Apple Watch app of the year – SmartGym, creates smart, targetted workouts at any skill level.

• iPhone game of the year – Honkai: Star Rail, from the creators of Genshin Impact, a sci-fi RPG adventure with anime-like cinematic action (it beat Vampire Survivor for the award).
• iPad game of the year – Lost in Play, delivering charming visuals and puzzle-solving gameplay for all ages.
• Mac game of the year – Lies of P, intense Bloodborne-like action reimagined in the fantasy of Pinocchio.
• Apple Arcade game of the year –  Hello Kitty Island Adventure, a grand platforming adventure with adorable, classic characters.

Cultural Impact winners include:

• Pok Pok, a digital toy room for preschoolers,
• Proloquo, pushing the boundaries of accessibility innovation, this app creates alternative communication tools,
• Too Good To Go, an interesting app that connects users to restaurants or grocery stores that have surplus unsold food at an affordable cost,
• Unpacking, a little game in which you unpack furniture for different rooms in the home, called “soul-soothing,”
• Finding Hannah, a colourful coming-of-age hidden object game.

Apple adds that this year, generative AI apps were the biggest trend on the App Store. “Apps started integrating AI throughout the year in a variety of ways. Although many features are still in their infancy, they gave users a chance to see, firsthand, the technology in action and come to their own conclusions about the benefits and risks,” the App Store editors write.

They add that in the coming years, we should expect more robust generative AI features in apps on the App Store.

[Image – Apple]