A couple of weeks ago, Apple announced the 2023 App Store Award finalists. Now, the company has unveiled the winners of the best apps of this year. According to Apple, these developers created some of the best apps across the company’s platforms. The 2023 finalists, which includes nearly 40 apps across 10 different categories, are praised by Apple for their excellence, inventiveness, and technical achievement in apps and games.
“It’s inspiring to see the ways developers continue to build incredible apps and games that are redefining the world around us,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “This year’s winners represent the limitless potential of developers to bring their visions to life, creating apps and games with remarkable ingenuity, exceptional quality, and purpose-driven missions.”
That said, these are the winners from each category
Apps
- iPhone App of the Year: AllTrails, from AllTrails, Inc.
- iPad App of the Year: Prêt-à-Makeup, from Prêt-à-Template.
- Mac App of the Year: Photomator, from UAB Pixelmator Team.
- Apple TV App of the Year: MUBI, from MUBI, Inc.
- Apple Watch App of the Year: SmartGym, from Mateus Abras.
Games
- iPhone Game of the Year: Honkai: Star Rail, from COGNOSPHERE PTE. LTD.
- iPad Game of the Year: Lost in Play, from Snapbreak Games.
- Mac Game of the Year: Lies of P, from NEOWIZ.
- Apple Arcade Game of the Year: Hello Kitty Island Adventure, from Sunblink.
Cultural Impact Winners
Alongside the 2023 App Store Award winners, Apple also recognizes apps that made a cultural impact in 2023 thanks to their ability to drive positive change through apps and games. The company says, “This year’s winners encouraged users to learn and grow in an inclusive and accessible space, contributed toward a more sustainable future, and explored self-reflection and connection across generations:”
- Pok Pok from Pok Pok: Designed with inclusivity in mind, Pok Pok is a digital toy room for kids, offering a universal space for preschoolers of all backgrounds and abilities to play, explore, and see the world as one.
- Proloquo from AssistiveWare: An accessibility app pioneer for over a decade, AssistiveWare’s Proloquo is creating augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools that help the world communicate in new ways.
- Too Good To Go from Too Good To Go: Too Good to Go enables users to minimize food waste by connecting them with restaurants and stores that have a surplus of unsold food at an affordable cost.
- Unpacking from Humble Bundle: Unpacking mixes meditative puzzles to create a soul-soothing triumph around familiar experiences of change and connection.
- Finding Hannah from Fein Games GmbH: Finding Hannah is a colorful coming-of-age, hidden-object game with inclusive and heartfelt tales that explores the power of healing and self-discovery.
I wish these apps also made the cut as 2023 App Store Award winners or finalists
While I agree with Apple that all of these apps greatly impacted users this year because of their “excellence, inventiveness, and technical achievement,” I wish some of my favorite apps also made the cut.
For example, the 2022 Apple Watch App of the Year, Gentler Streak, brought profound changes to its fitness tracker, as it now offers a complete well-being tab with insights that make working out even better. In addition, the company continues to expand its audience by bringing personalized translation for several languages and new platforms, such as the iPad – with more to come.
Another app I wish Apple had mentioned is Petey, the ChatGPT-client app for Apple Watch. With the boom of OpenAI’s platform, Petey was the first app to take advantage of GPT on the smallest screen Apple sells – and it became popular very quickly because there isn’t much innovation for Watch apps in general.
Even though Apple made a story about Generative AI and how these apps made a profound change in 2023, there were no nominees. I mean, the ChatGPT app deserved at least a mention for cultural impact.
While Apple kept naming Duolingo as an App Store Award finalist for the iPhone, I believe another app that made a great difference this year was Threads, which launched during the darkest days of Twitter (now X).
Finally, I think it’s interesting that of the games of the year, none Resident Evil was mentioned. Even though these games aren’t brand-new, it’s impressive that Capcom launched a console-level game for the iPhone – and kudos for the iPhone 15 Pro for running it marvelously.
