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Apple's Best of the App Store in 2017: Calm, Splitter Critters, Affinity Photo and The Witness

Thursday December 7, 2017 12:10 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today published its annual Best of 2017 charts for the App Store, iTunes Store, and iBooks Store, highlighting the top media content and trends across 2017.

Apple's App Store editors chose two standout games and two standout apps for the iPhone and the iPad as their best of 2017 picks. On the iPhone, meditation app Calm and popular game Splitter Critters won top honors, while photo editing app Affinity Photo and puzzle game The Witness took the top spots on iPad.


- iPhone App of the Year: Calm
- iPhone Game of the Year: Splitter Critters
- iPad App of the Year: Affinity Photo
- iPad Game of the Year: The Witness

Apple shared apps that are part of the top Trends of the Year, which included augmented reality apps like IKEA Place and Very Hungry Caterpillar, meditation-style apps like Calm and Joyable, multiplayer games like Art of War: Red Tides and The Elder Scrolls: Legends, and modern storytelling apps like Hooked and Serial Box Publishing.

Apple has also published the top apps for 2017 across multiple App Store charts. Top free iPhone apps included Bitmoji, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram, while top paid iPhone apps included Facetune, HotSchedules, Tabs & Chords, Enlight, and the 7 Minute Workout Challenge.

On iPhone, the top games included Super Mario Run, 8 Ball Pool, Ballz, Snake vs. Block, and Word Cookies. Top paid iPhone games included Heads Up!, Minecraft, Plague Inc., Bloons TD 5, and Monopoly.

YouTube, Netflix, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Chrome were the top free iPad apps, while Procreate, Notability, Toca Life: Hospital, Toca Life: Salon 3, and GoodNotes 4 were the top paid iPad apps.

Super Mario Run, ROBLOX, Rolling Sky, Word Cookies, and Bowmasters were the top free iPad games, and Minecraft, Geometry Dash, Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location, Bloons TD 5 HD, and the Escapists were the top paid iPad games.

The full list of top iPad and iPhone apps and games, along with additional details on the top App Store content in 2017, is available through the App Store on an iOS device.

Tag: App Store
[ 40 comments ]

Top Rated Comments

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mixel
24 months ago
Affinity Photo deserves it too. It's ridiculously well thought out and finally made me rethink my Adobe subscription.
Rating: 11 Votes
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ILikeAllOS
24 months ago
An app that plays "soothing nature sounds" is considered the best iPhone app of 2017? :eek:
Rating: 9 Votes
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ersan191
24 months ago
Super weird aoty goes to something that isn't on any of the charts, is based on pseudoscience, and pretty much just plays recordings of some lady reading from a script. And I've never even heard of it until today.

Edit: Wow it even costs $12.99 per month - and the domain calm.com couldn't have been cheap. Do developers just buy these awards or something?

Maybe they do deserve an award for convincing people to pay more for a meditation app than an Apple Music subscription.
Rating: 6 Votes
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smartbot
24 months ago
I'm surprised they didn't pick Notch Remover ;)
Rating: 4 Votes
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trusso
24 months ago
I've developed my own "Calm" app. This is how it works:

First, I shut off my computer and my phone.

Then I go for a walk, or read a book.

Or sometimes, I relax and enjoy an old record, without any distractions.

And I simply repeat as desired.

Neat, huh? :)
Rating: 3 Votes
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naturalstar
24 months ago
Interesting. I’ve had Calm for a few weeks. I find it to be a useful meditation app, especially being able to control how much guided meditation you need. No complaints so far. I obviously can’t compare against thousands of apps in the App Store, but I do like that something focused on a person’s well-being was chosen. I’ve only recently heard about The Witness, will have to check it out. So many apps, so little time.

Just looked at Affinity Photo. Added to list. It’s half off right now as well.
Rating: 2 Votes
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scottcampbell
24 months ago

Wow it even costs $12.99 per month - and the domain calm.com couldn't have been cheap. Do developers just buy these awards or something?

Maybe they do deserve an award for convincing people to pay more for a meditation app than an Apple Music subscription.

Apple loves their cut of that subscription, too.
Rating: 2 Votes
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Sevendaymelee
24 months ago
Still waiting for the Free App of The Week to return.
Rating: 2 Votes
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jonnysods
24 months ago

I only use the free version. I like the stories even though I don’t know how it ends
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Why did they revoke your license? I too hate these monthly subscriptions.


The company that I bought CS6 from closed down, so Adobe decided to revoke all the licenses people PAID for. I work for myself, and I couldn't face those kinds of overheads month to month for software when I've got a biz to run and a family of five to feed.

I'm sad to see PS and AI go, but I'm loving Affinity so far.
Rating: 1 Votes
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jonnysods
24 months ago

Ouch that sucks! I've hard reports of people talking with adobe to get a discount, worth a shot!


I don't want to keep paying - I think it's time to back the underdog!
Rating: 1 Votes

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