Apple’s best apps of 2022 that help people stay engaged and connected

by James · December 2, 2022

Apple shortlisted the top 16 apps and games for 2022 that it says have inspired consumers to “engage more deeply with the world, expand their imaginations, and stay connected with friends and loved ones.”

The winners represent a diverse community of developers from around the world whose apps and games on Apple’s App Store were selected for delivering “exceptional experiences” and having a “profound cultural impact”.

El Hijo. All photos: Apple

Apps were selected on different platforms such as iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. The list also included five cultural impact winners who have had a lasting effect on people’s lives and influenced the culture of 2022, the company said.

“This year’s winners recreated our experiences with apps that offered fresh, thoughtful and genuine perspectives,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement provided by Apple.

“From self-taught solo creators to international teams around the world, these entrepreneurs are making a meaningful impact and represent the ways apps and games impact our communities and lives.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook. AP

Launched in 2008, Apple’s App Store is currently home to 1.8 million apps and is visited by more than half a billion people every week in 175 regions.

Apple’s shortlist of the 16 best apps and games of 2022 includes:

Table of Contents

Softer line

This exercise and fitness tracker allows users to find a personal balance between exercise and rest.

It responds to users’ readiness and suggests daily exercise actions that keep them within healthy activity levels. Rest and active recovery are part of the actions that keep the streak going, the app developers said.

The Gentler Streak App. Photos: Apple

It displays real-time heart rate zones and the effect of exercise while exercising, allowing users to adjust the intensity of their workouts to avoid exhaustion or increase them if necessary.

How we feel

This free app was created to help people better understand their emotions and find strategies to help them navigate them in the moment. It asks users to tap into their emotional well-being with the simple daily check-in.

Designed in collaboration with Yale University’s Center for Emotional Intelligence, How We Feel helps people find the right word to describe their feelings, while tracking sleep, exercise and health to spot patterns over time.

How We Feel app. Photo: Apple

Moncage

The game is a puzzle adventure set inside a mysterious cube, where each side of the cube houses a unique world, including an old factory, a lighthouse, an amusement park, and a church.

At first glance, they may seem random and unrelated, but upon closer inspection, users are “struck by the subtle and intricate ways these worlds connect,” the developer said.

Users can use their imagination and intelligence to find the connection and find all possible interactions between different sides of the cube. Behind the puzzles lies a story with a surprising twist for players to uncover.

Be real

This social app allows users to share their everyday life in photos with friends. Every day at a different time, everyone is notified at the same time that they must take and share a photo within two minutes.

The BeReal app. Photo: Apple

It’s a “new and unique way to discover who your friends really are in their daily lives”, the company said.

GoodNotes 5

This app allows users to access digital notes that are synced across devices using iCloud.

Users can search their handwritten notes, typed text and document outlines. They can create unlimited folders and subfolders, or mark favorites to keep everything organized. They can also add hyperlinks to external websites, videos and articles to build their knowledge map.

The GoodNotes 5 app. Photo: Apple

Wild flowers

Play as Tara, who comes to a rural island to help her grandmother and the family farm.

Users can explore a world of magical kingdoms, beautiful beaches and mysterious forests. They can transform the Wylde family farm into a productive place with fresh vegetables and fruit trees.

They can also use their wands and broomsticks to use magical abilities to tend the farm, control the weather and change the seasons.

Dot’s Home

This app is a production of the Rise-Home Stories project – a creative collaboration between multimedia storytellers and housing and land justice advocates who have come together over three years to rethink the past, present and future of our communities by transforming the stories we tell about them.

Dot’s Home game. Photo: Apple

It is a single-player, narrative-driven video game that follows a young black woman in Detroit living in her grandmother’s home as she travels through time to relive key moments in her family’s history where race, place, and home collide in difficult choices.

Medallion widget

This app displays live photos of users’ best friends on the home screen. Users and their best friends will see new photos of each other every time they unlock their phone.

“It’s a little glimpse into what everyone is up to throughout the day,” the company said.

Water llama

With its colorful design and guidance, Waterllama makes meeting hydration goals fun. It uses creative challenges, reminders and cuddly characters to keep users on track.

The Waterllama app. Photo: Apple

How big is the App Store?

Over the years, the App Store has become an engine of economic growth for the app and game development community, enabling $643 billion in billings and sales during 2020.

Developers have earned more than $260 billion through the sale of digital goods and services since the launch of the marketplace, the company said in January.

It helps creators and learners of all ages and backgrounds connect with the tools and information they need to build innovative products.