Apple announces App Store Awards 2022: Check out the winners
What's the story
Apple has announced the App Store Award winners for 2022. The company has also revealed the most downloaded apps and games, both in the free and paid categories.
This year, the iPhone Game of the Year was bagged by Apex Legends Mobile, a free battle royale game while the iPhone app of the year was BeReal, a social media app.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Apple has been following the custom of rewarding the best apps for almost a decade now.
The awards are for apps developed for all of its platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.
Last year, the best iPhone app was Toca Life World, a free video game and the best iPad app was LumaFusion, a paid video-editing app.
Details
Gentler Streak was the Apple Watch App of the year
GoodNotes5 was classified as the iPad app of the year while Moncage was the iPad game of the year.
MacFamily Tree 10 and Vix ranked as the best Mac and Apple TV apps, respectively. Coming to the gaming category, Inscryption and El Hijo were the best games on the Mac and TV platforms.
Meanwhile, the Apple Watch App of the year was Gentler Streak.
Cultural impact
Apple selected 5 apps as Cultural Impact Winners
Among the Cultural Impact Winners are How We Feel, an app that checks the emotional well-being of the users and Locket Widget, which allows users to share live photos directly to the lock screen of their contacts.
The rest three are Dot's Home, a narrative-driven video game; Waterllama, an app that tracks your hydration; and Inua-A Story in Ice and Time, a video game.
Stats
Here's the list of most downloaded apps in the US
Apple also revealed the top downloaded apps and games for 2022.
TikTok, YouTube, and WhatsApp ranked as the top three free apps while ProCreate Pocket, HotSchedules, and The Wonder Weeks were the top paid apps.
In the gaming category-Wordle, Subway Surfers, and Roblox were the most downloaded free games while Minecraft, HeadsUp!, and Bloons TD 6 were the top paid ones.
Official words
Here's what Apple CEO said about the awards
"This year's App Store Award winners reimagined our experiences with apps that delivered fresh, thoughtful, and genuine perspectives," said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple in an official statement.
"From self-taught solo creators to international teams spanning the globe, these entrepreneurs are making a meaningful impact, and represent the ways in which apps and games influence our communities and lives."