Every year, the Apple Design Awards recognise innovation, ingenuity and technical achievement in app and game design. But they’ve also become something more: a moment to step back and celebrate the work of Apple developers across the community. We’re thrilled to announce this year’s winners.

Some titles may not be available to download in your region or on all devices.

Winners in this category provide a state-of-the-art experience through a novel use of Apple technologies that sets them apart in their genre.

NBA
Developer: National Basketball Association, United States

As if being able to watch five NBA games at once on Apple Vision Pro wasn’t revolutionary enough, this year a partnership with Spectrum added select Los Angeles Lakers games to the app in Apple Immersive Video with Spatial Audio. Watch the action from behind each team’s basket, between the benches or high up in the arena.

Blue Prince
Developer: Dogubomb, United States

This genre-defying adventure mixes exploration, puzzle-solving and narrative elements into something wholly new. Your task: Locate a secret room inside a sprawling mansion. The twist: You create the house from scratch, building each room as you go. The story unfolds everywhere, from pictures hanging on walls to hand-scribbled notes.

Winners in this category improve lives in a meaningful way and shine a light on crucial issues.

Primary
Developer: Wood Metal Rocks LLC, United States

Primary was founded by a former Associated Press journalist and is powered by experienced editors and contributors all over the globe. The app shines the spatial spotlight on breaking news and crucial issues without resorting to sensationalism or clickbait.

Consume Me
Developer: Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, United States

At its core, Consume Me is about the emotional realities of eating disorders, and it treats the subject matter with great care. This deeply personal, autobiographical life sim deftly and playfully addresses mental health, body image and self-worth, all through simple mini-games about everyday tasks, such as exercising and applying make-up.

Winners in this category feature stunning imagery, skillfully drawn interfaces and high-quality animations with a distinctive and cohesive theme.⠀

Tide Guide
Developer: Condor Digital, United States

Tide Guide’s rich full-screen charts present a boatload of weather data (hour-by-hour forecasts, water temperature, swell height) in a crisp, clear way that’s understandable to even the most landlocked. Fun fact: The app’s palette changes to match the colour of the sky throughout the day.

Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition
Developer: CD Projekt, Poland

Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition delivers a breathtakingly detailed dystopian world, one whose intricate interiors, distinctive sci-fi vehicle designs and wild character art make the experience feel glamorous, gritty and lived-in. The For This Mac setting automatically optimises frame rate and visual fidelity for each device.

Winners in this category deliver intuitive interfaces and effortless controls that are perfectly tailored to their platform.

Moonlitt
Developer: Flipping Hues Srls, Italy

If the Artemis mission piqued your interest in all things lunar, Moonlitt can keep it going. Like its sister app (and 2024 Apple Design Award finalist) Sunlitt, this app brings a simple elegance to minding the moon’s phases, its trajectory and much more. It’s an intuitive and beautiful way to keep your eyes on the skies.

Sago Mini Jinja’s Garden
Developer: Sago Mini, Canada

Sago Mini Jinja’s Garden is a masterclass in intuitive interaction – perfect for a game geared towards kids aged 3–6. With interactions that require no reading and effortless swipe-to-move controls, this joyful garden lets kids plant seeds, cook meals and harvest vegetables with minimal guidance.

Winners in this category provide a great experience for all by reflecting a variety of backgrounds, abilities and languages.

Guitar Wiz
Developer: Bijoy Thangaraj, India

Use this all-in-one guitarist’s toolkit to learn, play along with and discover different chord voicings. Robust VoiceOver integration provides spoken instructions on everything from which chords to strum in a song to how to finger a Gadd9. Guitar Wiz also supports Dynamic Type, Increase Contrast and Differentiate Without Colour.

Pine Hearts
Developer: Hyper Luminal Games Limited, United Kingdom

No good deed goes unrewarded in the wholesome world of Pine Hearts. In this surprisingly moving game, protagonist Tyke returns to a nature preserve to remember his late father – and progresses on his journey by lending a hand to other park visitors. The game communicates its inclusivity options before play begins: enhance text legibility, customise controls and adjust both motion and sensory feedback.

Winners in this category provide memorable, engaging, and satisfying experiences enhanced by Apple technologies.

grug
Developer: Ocho, Netherlands

This playful app delivers daily wisdom in Neolithic grunts. Reading daily “grugs” (affirmations such as “only walking grug find breakthrough... sitting grug find nothing”) is primal joy, and its scribbled design really pops. (Check out the hand-drawn status bar above.)⠀

Is This Seat Taken
Developer: Poti Poti Studio, Spain

A tricky puzzler dressed up as a Saturday morning cartoon, Is This Seat Taken hides its logic conundrums in a fun tale about the perils of sitting near others in buses, restaurants and other familiar places. Tap objects in each scene for playful surprises – the interface hides its own Easter eggs too.