Apple has praised indie apps and startups over big tech companies in its list of finalists for the Apple Design Awards, including those offering AI chatbots.
With the App Store model under question from lawmakers and regulators, Apple annually unveils the best and most technologically innovative software available on its platform, with a focus on smaller businesses. ChatGPT, for example, is not on Apple's finalists. Instead, Apple favors apps from small and mid-sized app makers like Copilot Money, SmartGym, recipe app Crouton, creative app Procreate Dreams, and Gentler Streak, as well as venture-backed startups like creative app Rooms and reimagined web browser Arc Search.
The latter incorporates AI with an agent that browses on your behalf and a new feature that lets you ask questions by holding the phone to your ear and “calling Arc,” but it's the only app on this list that really explains the technology that's taken the App Store and the tech industry at large over the past year.
ChatGPT was released to record downloads last year, yet both Apple and Google avoided selecting it as their “App of the Year.” The ADA would have given Apple another opportunity to recognize this innovation, but once again it was overlooked.
Instead, Apple's shortlist features indie games like Rytmos from Copenhagen-based Floppy Club, match-3 puzzle game finity from Apple Arcade, The Wreck from Paris-based independent game studio The Pixel Hunt, and The Bear from Germany-based self-described “collection of quirky creators” Mucks Games.
The non-gaming apps that Apple chose to highlight this year also tend to be indie creations (in fact, Apple gave Rooms a double accolade, nominating it in two categories), including Meditate, a meditation timer from India-based indie developer RhythmicWorks Software; Sunlitt, a sun-tracking app from a small team led by Italy-based indie developer Nicholas Mariniello; Dudel Draw, a drawing app from US indie collective Silly Little Apps; Bears Gratitude, a journaling app from Australian developer Isuru Wanasinghe; and Rooms from Things Inc., a creative app designed by ex-Googlers and backed by a16z that lets you design imaginative spaces in an 8-bit style.
Wow! We're thrilled and, frankly, utterly unaware, that Rooms has been named a finalist for Apple's 2024 Design Awards. As if this accolade wasn't enough, our app appears to be the only one to be a finalist in two categories.
thank you, @appleto recognize @thing! šhttps://t.co/4KAIQEffi1
ā Jason Toff (@jasontoff) May 28, 2024
That's not to say there aren't bigger developers on the list, like South Korea's Neowiz, nominated for Lies of P, 505 Games' Death Stranding Director's Cut, Genshin developer HoYoverse's Honkai: Star Rail, and Activision's Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile. But in these cases, Apple is making its choices based on whether they use Apple technology like MetalFX or optimizations for M1 and higher chips (… or the use of in-app purchases).
Other titles nominated this year include What the Car?, NYT Games, Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Cityscapes: Sim Builder, How We Feel, Ahead: Emotions Coach, The Bear, Lost in Play, Wavelength, Little Nightmares, and several apps and games built for Vision Pro, including Blackbox, LoĆ³na, Synth Riders, djay, NBA and Sky Guide. It's worth noting that some of these were originally made for iOS and then ported to Vision Pro.
The Inclusive section also celebrates Apple's global app community, including members of the European Union, where the Digital Markets Act is currently in the works. In this section, Apple's nominees include the blind app oko (Belgium), diversity-focused Complete Anatomy 2024 (Ireland), and neurodiverse app Tiimo (Denmark), as well as games sold on digital storefront Humble Bundle, Quadline by Kovalov Ivan from Ukraine, and Crayola Adventures.