Apple has released its year-end lists for the best apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, podcasts and more. Apple’s selections — which it claims “shaped entertainment and culture around the world this year” — are all available to buy via Apple’s platforms.
Here are some of the selections that made the cut.
iPhone “App of the Year” goes to popular sketching app Procreate Pocket. iPhone “Game of the Year,” meanwhile, goes to story-based physics puzzler Donut County.
iPad “App of the Year” is awarded to the brilliant amphibian AR app Froggipedia. On the iPad gaming front, Apple gives the iPad “Game of the Year” nod to the puzzle game Gorogoa,
Mac “App of the Year” is the image editing software Pixelmator Pro, while Mac “Game of the Year” is adventure puzzle game The Gardens Between.
Apple TV’s “App of the Year” is Sweat, while Apple TV’s “Game of the Year” is the tremendous Alto’s Odyssey.
In the music category, Apple awards Drake its “Artist of the Year” nod, while Kasey Musgraves gets “Album of the Year” for Golden Hour. “Song of the Year” is Cardi B, J. Balvin and Bad Bunny’s “I Like It.” And “Breakout Artist of the Year” is Juice WRLD.
Apple additionally hands out recommendations for podcasts, books, TV shows and movies — although this is more of a shortlist than definitive awards. You can check out the complete list here.
A solid list of recommendations
All in all, it’s a good list. Apple’s really strongly pushed the importance of curation in the App Store. To that point, the list isn’t filled with paid product placement or the most obvious commercial hits of the year.
The company does play it safe by keeping app gaming recommendations family friendly, rather than going for the more violent likes of Fortnite. (Despite Apple acknowledging that battle royale games were the year’s biggest gaming trend.) It also opts for paid premium apps, over freemium ones. That’s always nice to see!
Overall, it’s a solid collection of recommendations, which should result in a nice surge of downloads to finish the year. That’s particularly great news when you’re an indy developer — as are many of the companies behind Apple’s top apps.
What were your personal picks in these categories? Do any apps or games stand out in 2018? Leave your comments below. And make sure to check back soon at Cult of Mac, where we’ll have our own “end of year” lists going up in the coming weeks.
