Apple Announces App Store’s Top Apps and Games of 2023: WhatsApp, JioCinema, BGMI, and More

Productivity-focused apps, including pdf Scanner, Slow Shutter Cam, Forest: Focus for Productivity emerged as the top downloaded paid apps on iPhone.

Written by Manas Mitul, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 13 December 2023 14:35 IST

Apple Announces App Store’s Top Apps and Games of 2023: WhatsApp, JioCinema, BGMI, and More

Photo Credit: Apple

Earlier this month, Apple also revealed its 2023 App Store Award winners

Highlights

DSLR Camera was the most downloaded paid app on iPhone
Instagram and YouTube were the second and third most downloaded apps
Hitman Sniper was the top paid game on iPhone

Apple has revealed the year-end charts for the most popular apps and games on the App Store in over 35 countries and regions. Consequently, the iPhone maker has announced the most downloaded apps and games of 2023 in India, as well. Unsurprisingly, WhatsApp has emerged as the top free iPhone app, while the DSLR Camera app, which provides users professional-grade camera controls, is the top paid iPhone app of the year. Earlier this month, Apple also revealed its 2023 App Store Award winners.

The 2023 year-end charts, which can be seen on the App Store's Today tab, feature the top free and paid apps and games of the year, along with the top Apple Arcade games. WhatsApp was followed by the usual suspects, Instagram and YouTube, as the most downloaded free iPhone app of the year. Surprisingly, streaming platform JioCinema claimed the fourth spot, beating Google, Snapchat, and Google Pay.

Productivity-focused apps, including pdf Scanner, Slow Shutter Cam, Forest: Focus for Productivity emerged as the top downloaded paid apps on iPhone. On the gaming side, Battlegrounds Mobile India, popularly known as BGMI, was the most downloaded free game on iPhone. Hitman Sniper, on the other hand, was the top paid game. Ludo King and Subway Surfers rounded out the top three free iPhone games, while Minecraft and Real Flight Simulator made the top three list on the paid side.

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On iPad, JioCinema was the most downloaded free app in 2023, while illustration app Procreate was the top paid app on the Apple tablet. BGMI emerged as the top free game on iPad as well, with Minecraft as the most downloaded paid game. Over on Apple Arcade, NBA 2K23 Arcade Edition, Asphalt 8: Airborne+, and Angry Birds Reloaded were the top three most downloaded games of the year.

Apple Announces 2023 App Store Award Finalists: See the Full List

Earlier this month, hiking and biking app AllTrails was crowned as the best app on iPhone for 2023. The App Store awards also recognised apps like digital makeup sketch pad app Prêt-à-Makeup and photo editing software Photomator across Apple devices. miHoYo's latest RPG gacha title Honkai: Star Rail was named as the iPhone Game of the Year, while souls-like action RPG Lies of P emerged as the best game on Mac.

What are the most exciting titles that gamers can look forward to in 2023? We discuss some of our favourites on the latest episode of 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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Battlegrounds Mobile India

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Battle Royale

Platform Android, iOS, iPadOS

Modes Multiplayer

Series PUBG

PEGI Rating 16+

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Minecraft

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Action-Adventure

Platform Android, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation 3 (PS3), PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation Vita (PS Vita), Stadia, Xbox 360, Xbox One, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, PC: Windows, PC: macOS, PC: Linux, Fire OS, Windows Phone

Modes Single-player, Multiplayer

Series Minecraft

PEGI Rating 7+

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Further reading: App Store, Apple, iPhone, BGMI, WhatsApp, Instagram, Jio Cinema

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