Apple presents App Store Best of 2020 winners

Apple celebrates 15 of the amazing apps and games that inspired the world in 2020

The App Store Best of 2020 winners recognizes 15 apps and games notable for their positive cultural impact, helpfulness, and importance. (Apple Newsroom Photo)

Apple today presented its App Store Best of 2020 winners, recognizing 15 apps and games that proved to be essential for making life easier, healthier, and more connected this year. Notable for their high quality, creative design, usability, and innovative technology, these apps and games are equally celebrated for their positive cultural impact, helpfulness, and importance.

“This year, more than ever before, some of our most creative and connected moments happened in apps. This was thanks to the amazing work of developers who introduced fresh, helpful app experiences throughout the year,” said Phil Schiller, Apple Fellow. “Around the world, we saw remarkable efforts from so many developers, and these Best of 2020 winners are 15 outstanding examples of that innovation. From helping us stay fit and mindful, to keeping our children’s education on track, to helping fight hunger, their impact was meaningful to so many of us.”

The independent developer of Wakeout! brought gentle exercise to home offices and classrooms with light-hearted and inclusive movements designed for everyone. Vast fantasy worlds in games like “Genshin Impact,” “Legends of Runeterra,” “Disco Elysium,” “Dandara Trials of Fear,” and Apple Arcade’s “Sneaky Sasquatch” delivered a great escape, while Disney+ offered a sense of unlimited possibility that many craved. Whether it was to facilitate distance learning through Zoom, create daily routines with Fantastical or lull us to sleep with Endel, the App Store Best of 2020 winners helped us live our best lives at home.

Best Apps of 2020

iPhone App of the Year: Wakeout!, developed by Andres Canella.

(Apple Newsroom Photo)

iPad App of the Year: Zoom.

(Apple Newsroom Photo)

Mac App of the Year: Fantastical, developed by Flexibits. 

(Apple Newsroom Photo)

Apple TV App of the Year: Disney+. 

(Apple Newsroom Photo)

Apple Watch App of the Year: Endel.

(Apple Newsroom Photo)

Best Games of 2020

iPhone Game of the Year: “Genshin Impact,” from miHoYo.

(Apple Newsroom Photo)

iPad Game of the Year: “Legends of Runeterra,” from Riot Games.

(Apple Newsroom Photo)

Mac Game of the Year: “Disco Elysium,” from ZA/UM.

(Apple Newsroom Photo)

Apple TV Game of the Year: “Dandara Trials of Fear,” from Long Hat House.

(Apple Newsroom Photo)

Apple Arcade Game of the Year: “Sneaky Sasquatch,” from RAC7.

(Apple Newsroom Photo)

App Trends of 2020

Apps are a reflection of culture, and in 2020, developers overwhelmingly led a trend towards helpfulness. To help users get the daily self-care they needed, and to emphasize Black well-being, Shine launched a section specifically dedicated to the intersectionality of mental health and Black lives. For teachers and students needing to reinvent the classroom experience, Explain Everything Whiteboard offered a cloud-based collaboration tool so groups of students could continue to work on projects together, even remotely. For families seeking to connect with loved ones, Caribu added dozens of interactive games and more than a thousand new books to its real-time video-calling platform. “Pokémon GO” reinvented their popular outdoor gameplay with at-home experiences. The United Nations World Food Programme’s ShareTheMeal app made it easy for users to make a difference in the lives of others, with more than 87 million meals shared to date. Around the world, app developers channeled their creative energy into helping users stay healthy, educated, connected, and entertained.

App Trend of the Year: Explain Everything Whiteboard, for helping bring remote classrooms to life. (Apple Newsroom Photo)

To commemorate these 15 apps, Apple designers brought meticulous craftsmanship to create the first-ever physical App Store Best of 2020 award. Inspired by the signature blue App Store icon, each award reveals the App Store logo set into 100 percent recycled aluminum, with the name of the winner engraved on the other side.

Fifteen exceptional developers received the first-ever physical App Store Best of 2020 award. (Apple Newsroom Photo)

Beyond the App Store editorial picks, charts for the top apps and top games of
the year are now available.