An app that aims to develop its users' skills and an addictive puzzle game gave Apple users the best iOS experience of the year, according to Apple's annual look back of 2014.
Elevate has only been around for six months, but it has already been downloaded from the Apple App Store more than 5 million times. However, the number of downloads is not the only criteria for choosing this year's best app. Apple has given Elevate the top honors for its "great design, the best progress tracker, loads of interactivity and smart daily motivation reminders."
Elevate is free to download, but users can download more games with a $4.99 monthly or $44.99 yearly subscription.
Garnering the prize for Game of the Year is "Threes," which is currently being offered with a 33.33 percent discount to celebrate its success. The puzzle game also received an Apple Design Award for 2014 and was an honorable mention for Excellence in Design at the Independent Games Festival at the Game Developers Conference.
Runners-up for the two top awards are Instagram's Hyperlapse time-lapse video capture app and platform adventure game "Leo's Fortune."
For the iPad, photo editing app Pixelmator took home the top honors, and the illusory adventure game "Monument Valley" was named Game of the Year for the Apple tablet.
Bringing home the runners-up trophies are visual storytelling app Storehouse and virtual game card collecting game "Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft."
Other notable apps include content apps such as Yahoo News Digest, BuzzFeed, Paper by Facebook and NYT Now by the New York Times. Brain training and educational apps also made it to the fold, including Peak - Brain Training by Brainbow and virtual chemistry laboratory Toca Labs. Also included are health and fitness apps Health Mate by Withings, maker of fitness tracker smartbands, and Human - Activity and Calorie Tracker. Other interesting paid apps are the $2.99 Nighty Night Circus virtual storybook for bedtime stories, the $4.99 TeleStory to help users write, direct and star in their own TV show, and the $2.99 Star Walk 2 - Guide to the Sky Day and Night.
Free apps that made the cut include ride-sharing app Uber, photo-filtering app Litely, shopping app Spring, 120 Sports, password manager 1Password and Yummly Recipes and Grocery Shopping List.
Apple also calls attention to its huge collection of content by naming the best music, movies and books of the year, with Beyonce being named Best Artist of the year and Taylor Swift's massively successful "1989" Best Album of 2014. Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" featuring Charlie XCX is named Best Song and Sam Smith as the best breakout star for the song "In the Lonely Hour."
Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy" is Best Blockbuster, while "The LEGO Movie" is given the thumbs up for being the best family-friendly film of 2014. Richard Linklater is the Best Director for his coming-of-age drama "Boyhood."
In the books category, Anthony Doerr's historical drama "All the Light We Cannot See" wins the Best Fiction book award and Jeff Hobbs' "The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace" grabs the Best Nonfiction award.
