Apple has named its picks for this year's App of the Year and Game of the Year for the iPhone and iPad while also revealing 2017's most popular apps, games, music, and more.
Owners of iPhones and iPads may be dealing with a long list of iOS 11 issues, but this year's top apps and content should remind people of the best that the mobile operating system can offer.
App Of The Year, Game Of The Year For iPhone And iPad
Apple and its employees have finalized their vote for App of the Year and Game of the Year on both iPhones and iPads.
The 2017 App of the Year for iPhones is Calm, a health and fitness app that helps users relax through meditation guides and soundtrack. Calm is free to download, but many features are only accessible after in-app purchases or subscriptions.
The 2017 Game of the Year for iPhones is Splitter Critters, a 2D puzzler where players cut and paste parts of the world to help creatures move through it. The game costs $2.99 and was recently updated to support augmented reality.
Moving to Apple's tablet, the 2017 App of the Year for iPads is Affinity Photo, a powerful photo editor capable of handling RAW files and creating unlimited layers. The app is expensive at $19.99, but because it was named App of the Year for iPads, its creators are celebrating with a 50 percent flash sale that brings the price of Affinity Photo down to $9.99.
Lastly, the 2017 Game of the Year for iPads is The Witness, another puzzle game. However, while Splitter Critters is cute and whimsical, The Witness is gorgeous and challenging, featuring dozens of locations and more than 500 puzzles for a price of $9.99.
Apple's Most Popular For 2017
For 2017, the top 5 apps on the App Store are Bitmoji, Snapchat, YouTube, Messenger, and Instagram, while the top 5 games are Super Mario Run, 8 Ball Pool, Snake VS Block, Ballz, and Word Cookies.
Apple also revealed that on Apple Music, More Life by Drake is this year's top album, while "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran is 2017's top song. On iTunes, the top 3 movies for the year are Moana, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Wonder Woman, all of which showcase powerful women on film. For iTunes TV, Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead unsurprisingly lead the pack, while for podcasts, Fresh Air again ranked first.
