AYES, Belgium

App | iPhone

oko alerts pedestrians to the state of lighted signals through haptic and audio feedback, an immediately impactful approach for those with low to no vision. It’s a smart solution to a critical safety scenario that takes full advantage of flawless VoiceOver and Dynamic Type implementation.

RED GAMES CO, LLC, USA

Game | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro

A colorful adventure that sets a new standard for inclusive and gender-neutral character-creation options, which include different skin tones, abilities, body types, pronouns, and more. Crayola Adventures offers inclusivity options across the board, including full narration for non-readers or those with reading challenges. And it’s a delight to experience for a wide range of ages, with a mix of activities that includes making decorations, solving puzzles, and reading storybooks.

Savage Interactive Pty Ltd, Australia

App | iPad

The new standard in creating 2D animations on iPad. Procreate Dreams is a marvelously designed tool that allows creatives of all kinds to animate using the extensive and familiar library of brushes, gestures, and PencilKit-enabled behaviors from the original Procreate. Its controls are effortlessly intuitive — multitouch interactions and Apple Pencil are both supported — so it’s easy to jump right in, whether you’re a career animator or brand new to the medium. As is the case with its predecessor, every interaction in Procreate Dreams feels polished, thoughtfully considered, and ready to use out of the box. If you’re looking to explore animation, it’s a dream come true.

Happy Juice Games, Israel

Game | iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro

Lost in Play feels like a graphic novel come to life. Every corner of its inventive world — from its spooky forest to its clifftop village — brims with visual imagination and handcrafted charm. And the game is filled with endearing characters (like a surprisingly snarky flock of sheep) and fun mini-games. Add in easy-to-learn interactions and compelling gameplay, and you’ve got a game worth getting lost in.

Devin Davies, New Zealand

App | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple Vision Pro

Recipe apps rise and fall on their organization and information hierarchy, and Crouton serves up a clean, tasty interface for stashing away recipes, creating grocery lists, and presenting step-by-step instructions in the kitchen — even if you’re not exactly a chef. Everything in Crouton, from the next recipe step to the name of that missing spice, is easy to find and right where you need it. And its effortless series of interactions mean people can keep their focus on the counter rather than their screen.

Floppy Club ApS, Denmark

Game | iPhone, iPad

A world music-inspired rhythm game that looks as good as it sounds. Rytmos challenges players to solve puzzles by creating pathways using simple drag gestures, and every completed level adds a new element to an evolving song. The onboarding makes gameplay instantly clear, and the gestures are simple and fun, even when the game starts delivering more and more complexity.

Gentler Stories d.o.o., Slovenia

App | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch

With its thoughtful focus on both physical and mental health, Gentler Streak is chasing the elusive goal of improving everyone’s lifestyles, no matter who or where they are. As its name suggests, the app is powered not by insistent reminders but an optimistic and encouraging vibe that takes into account not just physical fitness but mental well-being too. To make sure people focus on those goals, Gentler Streak relies on a subtle and consistently pleasing design language. Its health data is smartly organized, and its Monthly Summary view — which shows how you’re doing in relation to your history — is less about hard comparisons and more about progress.

The Pixel Hunt, France

Game | iPhone, iPad

A lush visual novel about sisterhood, motherhood, grief, and survival. The Wreck tells the story of Junon, a writer who’s abruptly called to a hospital to make a life-changing decision. The story is far from light, but it’s beautifully written and eloquently told, especially through fleeting thought bubbles that reflect the swirl and scatter of stressful situations. The Wreck may be filed under games, but it’s also a powerful, heartbreaking story, one that invites players to think about their own choices as well.

Things Inc., USA

App | iPhone, iPad

An incredible canvas for creativity, set in a nostalgic 8-bit world. Rooms is tough to categorize: It’s a blank slate for building imaginative scenes, a platform for cozy gaming, and a social space that lets you interact with thousands of other people’s creations. Rooms in Rooms are lovingly rendered and sprinkled with tons of delightful detail, and the app’s interactions, sounds, and throwback visuals strike the perfect balance between quirky and compelling. Quirky, compelling, and executed with a delightful retro twist.

NEOWIZ Corporation, South Korea

Game | Mac

A technical showpiece for Mac — and a dark, fascinating twist on a familiar tale. In this gorgeously rendered adventure, players control an robotic puppet created by Geppetto — yes, that Geppetto — who must survive a battle march through a burned-out city to find his maker. One look at the visuals reveals a world of beautiful textures, detailed lighting, and stunning effects — and visual customization options like MetalFX upscaling and volumetric fog effects let you style the ruined city to your liking. Add a coldly beautiful soundtrack and the nostalgic shadow of the original story, and you get a complete, considered, and unique experience — and that’s the truth.

Algoriddim GmbH, Germany

App | Apple Vision Pro, iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch

djay pro isn’t just a groundbreaking app; it’s an entirely new way to interact with music. With incredible technical ingenuity and best-in-class immersion, it feels fresh and new and alive. The app spins up high-quality turntables that you can scratch to your heart’s content, a cool interactive effects panel, and an array of magnificently considered environments, like the space lounge populated by dancing robots. djay pro set out to create the “flow state” sought by live DJs on the spatial canvas; they’ve come away with a smash hit.

Shapes and Stories, USA

Game | Apple Vision Pro

Blackbox on iOS challenged players to think outside the screen; Blackbox on visionOS challenges them to think about every (metaphorical) corner of the spatial canvas from its very first moments. Revealing too much about Blackbox would spoil its many surprises; suffice it to say that wonderful details abound — like the soapy floating bubbles that drive level selection.