The best iPhone app this year is one that develops people's range of skills.
In the annual lookback at 2014, Apple announced Elevate as its top iPhone app for the year. There are several brain development apps out there, notably Lumosity and Peak-Brain Training, but what makes Elevate stand out from the rest, according to Apple, is its "great design, the best progress tracker, loads of interactivity and smart daily motivation reminders."
"We want to broaden the skills we cover -- help people pronounce words better, improve their grammar, read faster, calculate tips faster, get into budgeting," says Elevate founder Jesse Pickard. "We're just scratching the surface now."
Elevate has already amassed more than 5 million downloads on the Apple App Store, a notable number given the fact that it is only half a year old. The app, which also has a version for Android, is free to download, but the premium version is available for a subscription of $4.99 a month or $44.99 a year.
Elevate works by encouraging users to develop their skills in a variety of fields, such as focus, memory and writing brevity. Once a user installs Elevate on his iPhone, he first has to go through a short diagnostic quiz that allows the app to determine his strong points and areas that need improvement.
Every day, Elevate requires at least three challenges to accomplish. When the user is done with these challenges, he can move on to one of the 25 mini games designed to keep learning fun and effective.
"Elevate's games are designed in collaboration with experts in neuroscience and cognitive learning and are based on extensive scientific research," Elevate says on its iTunes page. "The more you train with Elevate, the more you'll improve critical cognitive skills that are proven to boost productivity, earning power, and self-confidence. Users who train at least four times per week have reported dramatic gains and increased confidence."
Although science is still divided as to the effectiveness of brain games, with research showing that such games can help improve people's skill in that game but often fail to carry over the skill in other tasks, Elevate is a well-designed, polished game that iPhone users continue to rave about.
"Overall a superb game -- enjoyable, captivating and a bit addictive (in a positive way)," says one reviewer named Doctor Ted.
"I think this is helpful so you can learn better and be smarter so that you don't know the answer in your class!" says another.
Also named the second best iPhone app of the year is Instagram's Hyperlapse, which allows users to create time-lapse videos using Instagram's image stabilization technology, so users can do away with the tripods and other equipment.
The number puzzle game Threes is declared the iPhone game of the year, along with Leo's Fortune.
For the iPad, the top two best apps of the year is Pixelmator, the photo editing software featured during the iPad Air 2 launch, and Storehouse, the visual storytelling app. The best two games for the iPad are the puzzle game Monument Valley and the digital card collecting game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft from the makers of World of Warcraft.
Elevate - Your Personal Brain Trainer from Elevate on Vimeo.
