Apple Announces 45 App Store Awards Finalists for 2025

Source: Apple.

Today, Apple announced the finalists for the 2025 App Store Awards. The App Store Awards are Apple’s annual celebration of exceptional apps and games across 12 categories spanning the company’s platforms. It’s an excellent collection that includes solo developers, small indie teams, big companies, and many MacStories favorites.

Here’s the complete list of finalists.

iPhone App of the Year Finalists:

BandLab

LADDER

Tiimo

iPhone Game of the Year Finalists:

Capybara Go!

Pokémon TCG Pocket

Thronefall

iPad App of the Year Finalists:

Detail

Graintouch

Structured

iPad Game of the Year Finalists:

DREDGE

Infinity Nikki

Prince of Persia: Lost Crown

Mac App of the Year Finalists:

Acorn

Essayist

Under My Roof

Mac Game of the Year Finalists:

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition

Neva

Apple Arcade Game of the Year Finalists:

Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE

PGA TOUR Pro Golf

WHAT THE CLASH?

Apple Vision Pro App of the Year Finalists:

Camo Studio

D-Day: The Camera Soldier

Explore POV

Apple Vision Pro Game of the Year Finalists:

Fishing Haven

Gears & Goo

Porta Nubi

Apple Watch App of the Year Finalists:

GO Club

Pro Camera by Moment

Strava

Apple TV App of the Year Finalists:

HBO Max

PBS KIDS Video

Super Farming Boy 4K

Cultural Impact Finalists:

Art of Fauna

A Space for the Unbound

Be My Eyes

Chants of Sennaar

despelote

Focus Friend

Is This Seat Taken?

Retro

StoryGraph

Venba

Whoscall

Yuka

It’s great to see all of these developers’ hard work recognized, and I was especially pleased to see long-time MacStories favorites like Acorn by Gus Mueller of Flying Meat, The Art of Fauna by Klemens Strasser, Camo Studio by Reincubate, and Structured by the Unorderly team, plus games like Is This Seat Taken?, Gears & Goo, Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, DREDGE, and Prince of Persia: Lost Crown on the list.

As you can probably imagine, though, I’m partial to Detail’s inclusion as one of the iPad App of the Year finalists. My son Finn has worked on the app’s development team since graduating from college, and it’s fun to have an App Store Award finalist in the family.

Proud-dad bias aside, congratulations to all the finalists. It’s quite an honor to be recognized as one of the best among the millions of apps and games on the App Store.