‘Cultural impact’ takes center stage as Apple announces 2022 App Store Awards
Apple on Tuesday announced this year’s 16 winners of its annual App Store Awards. Quick-hitting social network BeReal was named as the iPhone App of the Year, while Electronic Arts took the prestigious awards for iPhone Game of the Year with Apex Legends Mobile.
The yearly announcement singles out the best, most engaging, and most culturally significant software released for Apple’s main platforms across the previous 12 months. The company names an outstanding app and game for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV respectively, plus an outstanding app only for the Apple Watch. (There are games for the Apple Watch and have been a few excellent examples over the years such as Lifeline, but it’s a far more limited category than the others covered.)
Apple/Electronic Arts
In previous years Apple has concluded by naming one or more trends for the year’s outstanding releases (in 2021 it was “connection,” and in 2020 “helpfulness”) but this year took a slightly different approach. Instead, the firm commended five apps for various forms of cultural impact. A new category was also added for 2022, with League of Legends Esports Manager named the inaugural China Game of the Year.
Here is the full list of App Store Awards 2022 winners:
- 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: How We Feel, Dot’s Home, Locket Widget, Waterllama, and Inua – A Story in Ice and Time
