WWDC is only a few days away, and typically the conference is the place Apple announces the winning apps of its Apple Design Awards. This year, however, the full list of 2024 winners has been announced today and will be recognized formally next week during WWDC.
Here are the apps of the year, according to Apple.
Apple shared the full list of 2024 Apple Design Awards finalists at the end of May. It included seven categories, including a brand new Spatial Computing category. Each category has two winners: a winning app and a winning game.
Best Spatial Computing apps
App Winner: djay pro
djay is an entirely new way to interact with music in a spatial environment. With remarkable technical ingenuity and best-in-class immersion, djay brings users high-definition sound quality and endless creativity for music mixing. The app features high-quality turntables, a cool interactive effects panel, and an array of magnificently considered environments, from a nighttime desert scene to a space lounge populated by dancing robots.
Game Winner: Blackbox
Blackbox on Apple Vision Pro challenges users to think about every corner of the spatial canvas. Players are greeted by engaging puzzles and clever easter eggs at every turn. The game is filled with wonderful details, and every solution feels like learning a new magic trick as puzzles gently unfold around the player and curiosity is rewarded.
Best Visuals and Graphics apps
App Winner: Rooms
Rooms offers users a blank slate for building imaginative scenes, a platform for cozy gaming, and a social space that offers interactions with thousands of other people’s creations. The rooms within the app are filled with delightful detail, and the app’s interactions, sounds, and visuals strike the balance between quirky and compelling.
Game Winner: Lies of P
Lies of P is an imaginative adventure that reimagines a classic tale, allowing players to control a robotic puppet created by Geppetto, who must survive a battle march through a burned-out city to find his maker. The visuals showcase a world of beautiful textures, detailed lighting, and stunning effects, and visual customization options like MetalFX upscaling and volumetric fog effects on Mac let users style the game to their liking.
Best Social Impact apps
App Winner: Gentler Streak Fitness Tracker
Gentler Streak aims to improve everyone’s lifestyles, no matter who or where they are. The app is powered by optimistic and encouraging reminders that factor in both physical fitness and mental wellbeing. Its health data is smartly organized and seamlessly integrated to help users thoughtfully track exercise, rest, and wellness. In a Monthly Summary view, users are shown how they are doing in relation to their history, emphasizing the focus on individual progression rather than comparison against others.
Game Winner: The Wreck
In the visual novel The Wreck, players follow alongside the story of Junon, a writer who is abruptly called to a hospital to make a life-changing decision that will impact her family forever. The game is eloquently written through deep and intimate narratives that reflect stressful situations, and invites players to think about their choices throughout a nuanced and powerful gameplay experience.
Best Innovation apps
App Winner: Procreate Dreams
Procreate Dreams is a stunning design tool that allows creatives of all kinds to create 2D animations using the extensive and familiar library of brushes, gestures, and PencilKit-enabled behaviors from the original Procreate. The controls are effortlessly intuitive, with support for both multitouch interactions and Apple Pencil. The app offers powerful animated effects, audio, and video to bring users’ creations and artwork to life.
Game Winner: Lost in Play
Filled with endearing characters and fun minigames, Lost in Play offers players a charming adventure through childhood imagination with thoughtfully crafted puzzles. This point-and-tap journey features hand-drawn graphics, easy-to-learn interactions, and compelling gameplay that ignites a childlike sense of discovery throughout.
Best Interaction apps
App Winner: Crouton
Crouton provides users with a clean interface for stashing away recipes, creating grocery lists, and presenting step-by-step instructions in the kitchen. With its effortless series of interactions, Crouton lets users keep their focus on the counter rather than the screen.
Game Winner: Rytmos
Rytmos challenges players to solve puzzles by creating pathways using simple drag gestures, and every completed level adds a new element to an evolving song. The brightly conceived onboarding makes gameplay instantly clear, and the gestures are simple and fun, even when the game starts delivering more complexity.
Best Inclusivity apps
App Winner: oko
By alerting pedestrians to the state of signal lights through haptic and audio feedback, oko is an immediately impactful app for people who are visually impaired. It is a powerful solution to a critical safety scenario that takes advantage of Apple technologies including VoiceOver and Dynamic Type.
Game Winner: Crayola Adventures
A colorful adventure game that offers a wide range of creation options for all players, Crayola Adventures brings to life character choices that include different skin tones, abilities, body types, pronouns, and full game narration. All ages can enjoy this delightful game experience, offering a mix of activities that include making decorations, solving puzzles, and reading storybooks.
Best Delight and Fun apps
App Winner: Bears Gratitude
Bears Gratitude is a simple way to encourage and embrace honest self-reflection. The journaling app provides a welcoming way to establish daily gratitude practices. Thoughtfully crafted characters within the app help create a sense of warmth and routine to support users in building happiness, one day at a time.
Game Winner: NYT Games
Through a compelling mix of titles, NYT Games has redesigned its navigation and expanded its gaming catalog. New titles like Connections are calibrated for maximum replay value, with elegant design and ease of use that result in an experience that encourages everyone to join in on the fun.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments