As we close out the year, Apple has gone through and rounded up the best iPhone apps and games for 2022 as part of its annual App Store awards. And the results, well they ain’t too surprising, with photo-sharing app and social media platform BeReal emerging as this year’s big winner, taking out the award for iPhone App of the Year with its USP of (branded) authenticity.
Not all the apps that took out top honours at the Apple App Store awards are completely vapid. One of five “Cultural Impact” winners is the wellness app How We Feel, which was designed by various scientists, therapists, designers and engineers, led by Pinterest co-founder Ben Silbermann, as a bit of a real-time journal for users to navigate their day-to-day emotions.
“This year’s App Store Award winners reimagined our experiences with apps that delivered fresh, thoughtful, and genuine perspectives,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a 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.”
While BeReal may be the iPhone app of the year on a store that has over 4.5 million apps and games, the internet is rife with complaints about the “progressive” social media platform being ridiculously glitchy and constantly freezing. There have also been numerous privacy concerns. Although mostly there’s the issue of the app just being incredibly boring with a gimmick that runs stale in a few days.
In its marked attempt at being the anti-Instagram, BeReal has overcorrected and instead makes everyone’s lives look incredibly boring, sending them a notification and a two-minute timer pushing them to capture a post of their current situation. Their “current situation” meaning whenever they are scrolling their phones, so BeReal’s feeds are mostly just people lying in bed, procrastinating at work and transiting.
The rest of the Apple App Awards list is mostly productivity apps and viral games like Apex Legend Mobile (iPhone Game of the Year) and Moncage (iPad Game of the Year)
Here are all the winners of the App Store Awards, picked by based on curation by the App Store editors as well as certain metrics like design and how much the app adds to a user’s everyday life.
Apple App Store Awards 2022
iPhone App of the Year: BeReal
iPad App of the Year: GoodNotes 5
Mac App of the Year: MacFamilyTree 10
Apple TV App of the Year: ViX
Apple Watch App of the Year: Gentler Streak
iPhone Game of the Year: Apex Legends Mobile
iPad Game of the Year: Moncage
Mac Game of the Year: Inscryption
Apple TV Game of the Year: El Hijo
Apple Arcade Game of the Year: Wylde Flowers
China Game of the Year: League of Legends Esports Manager
Cultural Impact Winners:
