Apple Announces its Best Designed Apps of 2016

Apple has continued an old tradition onto this year’s WWDC event: announcing its 12 best designed apps of the year. The list includes ten developer apps along with two student-submitted ones.

The list features apps ranging from productivity to medical study and games. Here’s the list of best-designed apps of the year:

• Auxy Music Creation (Free)
• Chameleon Run ($2)
• Complete Anatomy (Free)
• Dividr (student-developed) (Free)
• dJay Pro ($20)
• Frame.io (Free)
• INKS ($2)
• Lara Croft Go ($5)
• Linum (student-developed) (Free)
• Streaks ($4)
• Ulysses ($45)
• Zova (Free)

The games on the list include Lara Croft Go, Chameleon Run, INKS, and both the student apps: Dividr and Linum.

Lara Croft Go is a turn-based puzzle game, second in the series to Hitman Go. It takes a popular series and dashes it with a swift, new formula. Chameleon Run is another automatic runner with vivid visuals and multi-touch. INKS, meanwhile is a unique twist to the pinball formula, sending out sparks of color and ink whenever something is touched, creating a result more suited to an art gallery.

Linum is a free app with a simple interface and goal, which is to pass the level with as few moves as possible. Dividr is another game with a simple interface, which incorporates 3D Touch.

The remaining apps are from a cocktail of categories. Auxy is a music-centric app which was lauded for its non-intrusive interface and modern appearance. dJay Pro was another music app, which had previously won in 2011 too, as it “sets new benchmarks for performance, features, use of Apple technology, multi-device support, and accessibility”.

Then you have Complete Anatomy, a medical app for Apple’s tablets which sets new standards with its detailed reproduction of the human anatomy. It certainly looks like an app worthy not only of medical students but much more. Then you have Frame.io, a video collaboration app with support for 3D Touch, feedback and a highly simple interface.

Ulysses is a writing app which syncs between your Mac, iPad and iPhone to provide an uninterrupted writing experience across the board. You have Zova, a training app which high-resolution content to act as your one-stop shop for fitness guidance. Lastly, you have Streaks, a to-do list app which puts as much emphasis on fitness and gym as it does on other routine habits.

Here is a description of all these apps from Apple themselves.

Most of these apps also utilized Apple’s Swift programming language, which it markets for its speed and freedom. It is also open-source so anyone can start using it. At the WWDC, Apple even announced a specialized version for kids called Swift Playgrounds which teaches kids how to code in a fun and intuitive way.