We set ourselves two rules for this year’s app awards: the app had to be new to the App Store and available for iPhone. Also, because we’re being very efficient, apps and games are covered in the one piece this time. Go us!
What we’ve ended up with is a superb selection of apps that range from creative fare and productivity aids to everyday essentials and entertaining games. Let’s dig in.
Winner: Arc Search (free)
Given that it’s an AI-enabled browser, it’s fair to say Arc Search tapped into the 2024 zeitgeist. But it did so in a manner that points to the best of AI: helping you to be more efficient, rather than attempting to eradicate entire creative industries.
There are two bits of magic within. The first is pinching to summarize the current page. The second is AI-based searches that return magazine-like overviews. These are beautifully designed and, importantly, retain links to sources, letting you investigate a subject further.
Arc Search might not replace Safari as your default browser. It’s not full-featured enough for that. But it might replace how you search the internet and summarize long reads. For those benefits, it’s a worthy winner.
Runner-up: Delta (free)
This app’s origins predate 2024, but this was the year it arrived on the App Store after Apple relented on its emulator ban. However, Delta wins the runner-up spot for more than letting you play NES, SNES, N64 and DS games on an iPhone.
First, it’s got the features you need, including fast-forward to skip boring bits and save states so you needn’t complete an entire game in a single sitting. But also, the attention to detail is unparalleled, from fantastic touchscreen controller skins (physical controllers are also supported) to a TV-out HDMI mode that’s superior to anything you get with any commercial AAA iPhone game.
Get Delta | EU residents must download from AltStore
Also commended
The best of the rest from 2024, in alphabetical order.
Balatro ($9.99/£9.99)
This card game combines bits of poker, solitaire and deck building into a hugely compelling concoction. Collected jokers change the rules, and so you must use them to bend games to your favor, creating combos that dispense with tricky bosses. From the start, it’s fun. Once you grasp how everything works, it’s essential.
Get Balatro | Also on Apple Arcade as Balatro+
Croissant ($19.99/£19.99 per year)
The slow death of Twitter has fragmented social networking. Croissant helps return sanity to your life if you now find yourself bouncing between sites. You can use it to create drafts and simultaneously post to Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon – and then close the app and spare yourself from getting distracted by multiple feeds.
Cue (free or $4.99/£4.99)
This app lets you write messages when you have the time and then schedule them to be sent later. It’s effective to the point you soon can’t live without it. Pay the reasonable one-off IAP and support extends to WhatsApp, along with you being able to add attachments and queue more than five messages.
Downpour (free or $4.99/£4.99)
You might like the idea of creating a game but find the reality intimidating. Downpour makes it easy, letting you quickly fashion branching narratives based on collages, images and text in a manner reminiscent of classic Mac app HyperCard. What you make isn’t going to worry Nintendo or Sony, but homemade Downpour games are nonetheless charming and easily shared online.
Dumb Phone ($9.99/£9.99 per year or $24.99/£24.99 lifetime)
Apple this year allowed you to customize Home Screens, but for some people that’s yet more distraction. Dumb Phone helps you strip things right back. Its custom widgets give you text links to a handful of apps. Tips and backgrounds further enhance the minimalist aesthetic. Ideal when you want your iPhone use to be more meaningful.
Kino ($9.99/£9.99)
This app aims to do for video what Halide did for stills. The interface is gorgeous, with manual controls, focus peaking, and a red ring around the screen that confirms when you’re recording. And there’s more for every filmmaker, from AutoMotion for a movie-like ‘film look’ to a range of built-in pro-grade cinematic presets.
Looks Like Rain ($10/£10 per year)
You might question whether there’s room for another weather app on iPhone. But Looks Like Rain is the best if you mostly care about whether it’s going to pour down. Days ahead can be browsed via bar charts. Tap a bar to explore that day in depth, including wind and temperature details.
Photon Library ($6.99/£6.99)
It’s fair to say Apple’s Photos redesign in iOS 18 has proven divisive. If you can’t get to grips with it, Photon Library gives you a more ‘classic’ view, much like how Cs Music Pro resembles the Music app from years gone by. Functionality is limited in Proton Library – there’s no editing, for example. But for browsing, it’s great.