Apple Announces 2023 App Store Award Finalists, Featuring Duolingo, Honkai: Star Rail and More

iPhone Game of the Year finalists include retro RPG Afterplace, miHoYo’s latest Honkai: Star Rail, and the roguelike sensation Vampire Survivors.

Written by Manas Mitul, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 15 November 2023 19:56 IST

Apple Announces 2023 App Store Award Finalists, Featuring Duolingo, Honkai: Star Rail and More

Photo Credit: Apple

App Store Award finalists include over 40 app and game developers

Highlights

Awards are given out to apps across Apple’s lineup of devices
Finalists for best Mac games include Lies of P, Return to Monkey Island
Apple Watch apps Planny, SmartGym, and Tide Guide also feature

Apple has announced the 2023 App Store Award finalists. Each year, the App Store's editorial team select and spotlight some of the best apps across categories on Apple's Storefront. Apps and games on the App Store are recognised for their technical and creative achievements. This year's App Store Award finalists include over 40 app and game developers across 10 different categories. Awards are given out to apps across Apple's lineup of devices, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. Popular apps like language learning tool Duolingo, professional video editing software DaVinci Resolve, and film streaming platform Mubi have made the cut this year.

Kicking off the finalist's list is the iPhone App of the Year category. Finalists for the best iPhone apps of 2023 include the hiking app AllTrails, the language coach Duolingo, and flight tracker Flighty. The finalists for the best games on iPhone feature the retro RPG Afterplace, miHoYo's latest Honkai: Star Rail, and the roguelike sensation Vampire Survivors.

The iPad App of the Year finalists are focussed on creativity. These include sketching app Concepts, video editing software DaVinci Resolve, and makeup designs app Prêt-à-Makeup. The iPad Game of the Year category features the party game Eggy Party, the puzzle game Lost in Play, and the city builder sim Pocket City 2.

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Finalists for the best games on Mac for 2023
Photo Credit: Apple

Meanwhile, on Mac, the finalists for the best apps of the year include the graphic design app Linearity Curve, the photo editing app Photomator, and the immersive productivity app Portal. On the gaming side, the finalists for best Mac games of the year are the open-world RPG title ELEX II, the popular Soulslike Lies of P, and point and click adventure title Return to Monkey Island.

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On Apple Watch, the finalists for the best app of the year include the to-do and planner app Planny, the workouts app SmartGym, and the weather alerts app Tide Guide. The best Apple TV apps, on the other hand, include the creature collection game Bugsnax, the training and workouts app FitOn, and the streaming app Mubi.

App Store also listed finalists for the best games on the Apple Arcade service in 2023. These include city builder sim Cityscapes, the cozy adventure title Hello Kitty Island Adventure, and the puzzle embroidery app stitch. The storefront rounded up its app of the year finalists with Cultural Impact Finalists, which celebrate apps that explore new and diverse ways to connect. These finalists comprise a list of 10 apps, including the menopause support app balance, the personal finance app Copilot, the environmental impact app Endling, and more.

Apple will select the winners from these finalists. The winners in all categories will be announced in the coming weeks, the company said.

Apple launched the iPad Pro (2022) and the iPad (2022) alongside the new Apple TV this week. We discuss the company's latest products, along with our review of the iPhone 14 Pro on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Lies Of P

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre RPG

Platform PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player

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Honkai: Star Rail

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre RPG

Platform Android, PlayStation 5 (PS5), iOS

Modes Single-player

Series Honkai

PEGI Rating 12+

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Vampire Survivors

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Roguelike

Platform Android, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, iOS, PC: Windows, PC: macOS

Modes Single-player

PEGI Rating 12+

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Bugsnax

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Adventure

Platform Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows, PC: macOS

Modes Single-player

PEGI Rating 7+

Apple Announces 2023 App Store Award Finalists, Featuring Duolingo, Honkai: Star Rail and More

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Return to Monkey Island

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Adventure

Platform Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows, PC: macOS, PC: Linux

Modes Single-player

Series Monkey Island

PEGI Rating 7+

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ELEX II

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre RPG

Platform PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player

PEGI Rating 16+

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Further reading: Apple, App Store, App Store Award, iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, Vampire Survivors, Lies of P, Honkai Star Rail

Manas Mitul

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In his time as a journalist, Manas Mitul has written on a wide spectrum of beats including politics, culture and sports. He enjoys reading, walking around in museums and rewatching films. Talk to Manas about football and tennis, but maybe don’t bring up his video game backlog. More