This Week's Sponsor:

Turbulence Forecast

Know before you go. Get detailed turbulence forecasts for your exact route, now available 5 days in advance.

Posts tagged with "apps"

Apple Announces 45 App Store Awards Finalists for 2024

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Today, Apple announced the finalists for its App Store Awards, a selection of apps picked by the App Store Editorial team each fall to recognize “exceptional user experience, design, and innovation from developers across the world.”

This year’s awards are a little different than in the past. 2023 was the first time finalists were announced, so that part isn’t new. But this year, Apple has expanded the number of categories from 10 to 12 and increased the finalist count from about 40 to 45 to include apps and games for Vision Pro. It’s also notable that the finalists were introduced in a press release last year by Phil Schiller, while this year’s awards are being introduced by Carson Oliver, Apple’s head of Worldwide App Store, who had this to say about the finalists:

We’re thrilled to celebrate this year’s App Store Award finalists, whose imagination and craftsmanship have produced amazing apps that users love. From games that transport players to fantastical new worlds, to apps that fuel creativity, these developers are delivering remarkable experiences that captivate and inspire.

Let’s take a look at the categories and finalists as they’re described in Apple’s press release.

iPhone App of the Year Finalists

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finalists in the iPhone App of the Year category empowered users to enhance real-life experiences through personalized tools and easy-to-use features:

Kino, for turning everyday moments into cinematic masterpieces. 

Runna, for offering tailored training plans to runners of all experience levels. 

Tripsy, for keeping travelers organized and stress-free.

iPhone Game of the Year Finalists

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finalists in the iPhone Game of the Year category brought players captivating narratives with rich visuals and compelling characters:

AFK Journey, for building enchanting fantasy worlds with striking battles. 

The WereCleaner, for delivering comical and creative gameplay. 

Zenless Zone Zero, for immersing players in action-packed storylines.

iPad App of the Year Finalists

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finalists in the iPad App of the Year category inspired imaginative play and creativity:

Bluey: Let’s Play, for delivering lovable characters and family-friendly fun.

Moises, for elevating music practice with AI-powered tools.

Procreate Dreams, for bringing animated stories to life.

iPad Game of the Year Finalists

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finalists in the iPad Game of the Year category featured dynamic storytelling and beautifully crafted worlds:

Assassin’s Creed Mirage, for transporting players into a world of narrative-driven adventure. 

Disney Speedstorm, for bringing exciting, high-speed racing experiences. 

Squad Busters, for combining the thrill of competition with welcoming, playful gameplay.

Apple Arcade Game of the Year

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finalists in the Apple Arcade Game of the Year category offered epic stories and a refresh of the classics:

Balatro+, for inventing a thrilling card game that’s like no other.

Outlanders 2, for captivating players with revamped graphics and imaginative levels.

Sonic Dream Team, for introducing new adventures to the characters players know and love.

Mac App of the Year Finalists

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finalists in the Mac App of the Year category delivered powerful tools, helping users tackle projects with ease:

Adobe Lightroom, for enhancing the photo editing process with AI-powered features. 

OmniFocus 4, for fostering focus with simplified task management.

Shapr3D, for transforming the 3D design workflow.

Mac Game of the Year Finalists

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finalists in the Mac Game of the Year category brought gamers unique protagonists, visual style, and endless fun:

Frostpunk 2, for expanding on the city-building genre.

Stray, for capturing both mystery and playfulness in its dark world. 

Thank Goodness You’re Here!, for amusing players with nonstop humor and absurdity.

Apple Watch App of the Year Finalists

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finalists in the Apple Watch App of the Year category provided convenient access to helpful tools and information, right on their wrist:

LookUp, for improving vocabularies with daily definitions.

Lumy, for connecting users to the rhythms of the sun and moon.

Watch to 5K, for giving runners a boost, all the way to the finish line.

Apple Vision Pro App of the Year Finalists

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finalists in the Apple Vision Pro App of the Year category pushed the boundaries of spatial computing:

JigSpace, for empowering users to view 3D and augmented reality models with ease. 

NBA, for redefining the future of how users watch the sports they love.

What If…? An Immersive Story, for inviting players into a new kind of Marvel experience.

Apple Vision Pro Game of the Year Finalists

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finalists in the Apple Vision Pro Game of the Year category stunned players with vibrant scenes and intuitive gameplay:

Loóna, for crafting relaxing puzzles to unwind with.

THRASHER, for introducing smooth, trailblazing controls and a mesmerizing alien world.

Vacation Simulator, for taking players to destinations filled with funny characters and even funnier activities.

Apple TV App of the Year Finalists

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finalists in the Apple TV App of the Year category brought stunning experiences to the biggest screen in the home:

DROPOUT, for providing endless laughter and fun.

F1 TV, for transporting fans straight into the cockpit of a race car. 

Zoom, for keeping groups connected in innovative ways.

Cultural Impact Finalists

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finalists in the Cultural Impact category brought users powerful stories and helped them bring out their best selves to create a lasting impact:

Arco, for letting players shape their own story. 

The Bear, for turning bedtime into a calming, interactive experience. 

BetterSleep, for helping users sleep — and feel — better. 

Brawl Stars, for delivering quick bites of action-packed gameplay. 

DailyArt, for inspiring curiosity about artistic masterpieces. 

Do You Really Want to Know 2, for addressing misconceptions about HIV through an endearing interactive story.

EF Hello, for empowering language learners with AI-enhanced tools.

NYT Games, for uniting puzzle lovers across generations with a daily dose of fun.

Oko, for making street-crossing safer and more accessible to all.

Partiful, for simplifying social gatherings to foster connection and community.

Pinterest, for inspiring new ideas and endless possibilities. 

The Wreck, for telling an intimate and impactful story via cinematic gameplay.

As always, it’s great to see MacStories favorites like Kino, Tripsy, Procreate Dreams, Balatro, OmniFocus, LookUp, Arco, and others among the finalists. Apple says the winners will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Creating Gradients with Your iPhone and an App Clip→

Recently on AppStories, I asked listeners to suggest apps for creating gradients. I’ve tried a few, but none have grabbed me yet, so I’d sort of given up for the time being. But then a listener suggested something totally different and amazing: a prototype App Clip that uses your iPhone’s camera to create gradients.

It isn’t a complete app. For instance, you can’t save a captured gradient to your photo library; instead, you have to take a screenshot of the gradient. That isn’t ideal, but the lack of functionality doesn’t take away from the concept, which I love.

A wallpaper made with Kandravy's App Clip.

A wallpaper made with Kandravy’s App Clip.

When the App Clip launches, it presents you with just three adjustable sliders that control things like the diffusion of the image your camera is recording and its saturation. Once you’ve framed a gradient you like, tapping the screen freezes the image so you can take a screenshot and start using the gradient as a wallpaper. Another option is to use an image from your photo library to create a gradient. Adobe has something similar baked into its Capture app for the iPhone and iPad, but it’s more complicated and only generates 640x640-pixel images that aren’t suitable to be used as wallpapers without doing additional work in another app.

The App Clip was created by Dominik Kandravy, a designer who is looking for a developer to turn the prototype into a full-blown app. I’m hoping Dominik can find someone to help because the simple elegance of the prototype is compelling.

Permalink

Control Center and Lock Screen Controls for iOS 18: A Roundup of My Favorite Indie Apps

This week, Apple released iOS and iPadOS 18 to the world. One of the main new features this year is the ability to fully customize Control Center. And not only is Control Center customizable, but it now also supports controls from third-party applications. If you open the new Controls Gallery in iOS and iPadOS 18, you will find controls and toggles from some of your favorite indie apps that have been updated to support the new release.

In addition to being available in Control Center, every one of these third-party controls can be mapped to the Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro or newer, and they can used to replace the two default controls at the bottom of Lock Screen – Flashlight and Camera – which have been there since the introduction of the iPhone X in 2017.

While you may think at first that there’s only so much you can do with a simple toggle in Control Center, the range of possibilities that this enables is actually pretty wide. That is why, today, I’m taking a look at a selection of apps that have been updated to offer their own controls for Control Center and the Lock Screen. They’re all unique, and some of them are unexpectedly powerful.

Let’s jump in.

Read more

The Latest from NPC: Next Portable Console and AppStories

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

This week, Federico and I celebrate episode 400 by considering what the future will hold for apps 400 more episodes from now.

On AppStories+, Federico reveals why he’s using the third generation AirPods.

This episode is sponsored by:

  • Balance – A thoughtfully designed personal finance and budgeting app from one of our own Club MacStories members.

On NPC, Brendon, Federico, and I cover newly announced handhelds, a gaming pillow, and other news before covering how Federico is dual booting Windows and SteamOS on his ASUS ROG Ally X and an update on retro handhelds from Brendon and me.

Read more

Designing for Today’s App Interactions→

Yesterday, Vidit Bhargava, the developer of LookUp, Word of the Day, and other apps, published an excellent story on Pixel Posts about designing for today’s app interactions. Vidit makes the excellent point that the way we use apps is changing. They’re no longer iPhone-only islands that are siloed off from other apps and devices. As Vidit explains:

Not only is the iPhone app not the center of a user’s interaction on the phone. It’s increasingly becoming one of the many parts of an ecosystem where apps are expected to scale both in terms of interface and functionality starting from something as small as an Apple Watch and going all the way up to an unbounded experience like Vision Pro.

Not only do apps exist in the larger ecosystem of products, they are constantly interacting and communicating between them.

I couldn’t agree more. Today, I expect apps to be available on every device I use and to let me move my data between apps.

Vidit also explores the practical effect of the evolution of apps, arguing that it no longer makes sense to start by designing for the iPhone. Instead, Vidit suggests that we:

…think of “apps” as clusters of actions that help us reach or present information, and carry out processes (i.e. other actions).

The post is full of practical examples that are worth browsing through and an exploration of how to effectively design for actions. Vidit’s apps are among the best-designed apps I use, so I consider this post is a must-read for developers, designers, and anyone who is interested in where app design is heading.

Permalink

Over 300 Apps from Indie Developers Are On Sale Now

Indie App Sales is back with excellent deals on apps from many of your favorite developers. With over 300 apps to choose from, the complete list is full of gems like:

The sale periods vary by app, but most are offering discounts today and tomorrow, so check it out to grab a great deal on these excellent apps and support indie development.

WWDC 2024: The AppStories Interviews with ADA and Swift Student Challenge Distinguished Winners→

Devin Davies, the developer of Crouton.

Devin Davies, the developer of Crouton.

To wrap up our week of WWDC coverage, we just published a special episode of AppStories that was recorded in the Apple Podcasts Studio at Apple Park. Federico and I interviewed three of this year’s Apple Design Award winners:

Devin Davies.

Devin Davies.

  • Devin Davies, the creator of Crouton, which won an ADA in the Interaction category
Katarina Lotrič and Jasna Krmelj of Gentler Streak.

Katarina Lotrič and Jasna Krmelj of Gentler Streak.


- Katarina Lotrič, CEO and co-founder, and Jasna Krmelj, CTO and co-founder, of Gentler Streak, which won an ADA in the Social Impact category

James Cuda, CEO, and Michael Shaw, CTO, of Procreate.

James Cuda, CEO, and Michael Shaw, CTO, of Procreate.


- James Cuda, CEO, and Michael Shaw, CTO of Procreate, which won an ADA for (Procreate Dreams) in the Innovation category

We also interviewed two of the Swift Student Challenge Distinguished Winners:

  • Dezmond Blair, a student at the Apple Developer Academy in Detroit. His app marries his passion for biking and the outdoors with technology, which creates an immersive experience.
  • Adelaide Humez, a high school student from Lille, France. Her winning app, Egretta, allows users to create a journal of their dreams based on emotions.

In addition to being available as always in your favorite podcast app as an audio-only podcast, This special episode of AppStories is available on our new MacStories YouTube channel, which is also the home of Comfort Zone, one of the two podcasts we launched last week and other video projects.

[Subscribe here.](https://staging.macstories.net/plans)

Subscribe here.

We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week.

To learn more about the benefits included with an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page or read the AppStories+ FAQ.

Permalink

Controller for HomeKit’s Interactive Floor Plan Is the Best Way to Control Your Home Yet

Controller for HomeKit is an alternative way of controlling and setting up your HomeKit accessories, scenes, and automations from your iPhone. While the app has been around for some time, this month it received a major upgrade with a new feature that turns the app into a fun and powerful control center for your home.

Now, in Controller for HomeKit, you can leverage the iPhone’s LiDAR sensor to scan your entire home and create a 3D floor plan, on top of which you can overlay your lights, scenes, and other HomeKit accessories. The result is a fun, customizable, and interactive UI that works so well and is so intuitive that it almost feels like it belongs in Apple’s own Home app for the iPhone.

Let’s check it out.

Read more

Apple Design Award Winners Announced

Crouton (left) and Gentler Streak (right). Source: Apple.

Crouton (left) and Gentler Streak (right). Source: Apple.

Apple has announced the winners of the 2024 Apple Design Award. Just over one week ago, Apple revealed six finalists in each of seven categories.

This year’s winners include an app and game in each category for a total of 14 winners, including MacStories favorites like Crouton, Gentler Streak, and Blackbox:

Delight and Fun

Inclusivity

Innovation

Interaction

  • App: Crouton by Devin Davies (New Zealand)
  • Game: Rytmos by Floppy Club (Denmark)

Social Impact

Visuals and Graphics

  • App: Rooms by Things, Inc. (United States)
  • Game: Lies of P by NEOWIZ (South Korea)

Spatial Computing

This year’s ADAs represent a wide cross-section of apps, from solo developers to large corporations. Of course, I’m partial to the indies on the list, but overall, I think Apple’s choices this year are excellent.