Apple just picked a dozen apps you need to download right now

Next week’s WWDC get-together will focus on Apple’s relationship with the app developer community. It’s apt, therefore, that the company has just announced the winners of its yearly app design awards.

As revealed in a press release on its Newsroom site, Apple has divided the awards into the same six categories as last year, and singled out one app and one game for recognition in each. It also lists four further finalists for each category, for a theoretical total of 36 noteworthy apps and games. (In fact, some apps appear in more than one category so the total is a little lower.)

The award-winning apps and games can be for any one, or several, of Apple’s software platforms. You’ll notice lots of iPhone screenshots on the press release, but the company also recognises software for the iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and even Vision Pro. In fact, a couple of the winners are only available on the Mac and one, Primary: News in Depth, is strictly for Vision Pro.

So, if you’re struggling to sift the wheat from the chaff on Apple’s bloated app stores, you could do a lot worse than check out the following offerings:

Delight and Fun

• Winners: grug (app) and Is This Seat Taken? (game)
• Finalists: Blippo+, Metaballs, BALL x PIT, and PowerWash Simulator

Inclusivity

• Winners: Guitar Wiz (app) and Pine Hearts (game)
• Finalists: Hearing Buddy, Structured, Sago Mini Jinja’s Garden, and Sid Meier’s Civilization VII

Innovation

• Winners: NBA: Live Games & Scores (app) and Blue Prince (game)
• Finalists: D-Day: The Camera Soldier, Detail: AI Video Editor, Pickle Pro, and TR-49

Interaction

• Winners: Moonlitt: Moon Phase Tracker (app) and Sago Mini Jinja’s Garden (game)
• Finalists: The Outsiders: Athlete Tracker, Tide Guide: Charts & Tables, Grand Mountain Adventure 2, and TR-49

Social Impact

• Winners: Primary: News in Depth (app) and Consume Me (game)
• Finalists: Katha Room, Harvee, despelote, and Spilled!

Visuals and Graphics

• Winners: Tide Guide: Charts & Tables (app) and Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition (game)
• Finalists: Caradise, (Not Boring) Camera, Arknights: Endfield, and SILT

Apple says the winners will be further recognised at WWDC 2026 next week.