Pokemon TCG Pocket was picked over Capybara Go! and Thronefall as 2025's best game on iPhone.
App Store Awards winners were picked from a list of 40 finalists
Photo Credit: Apple
Apple on Thursday released the list of its 2025 App Store Award winners, recognising 17 apps and games of the year across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV categories, for their design, innovation, user experience and cultural impact. AI planner and to-do app Tiimo emerged as the best app on iPhone in 2025, while The Pokemon Company's Pokemon TCG Pocket has been awarded the iPhone Game of the Year title. Other winners included HBO Max, Strava, Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, StoryGraph, and more.
Tiimo beat competition from the likes of music creation app BandLab and workout planner LADDER for the title of iPhone App of the Year. It, notably, was also the Apple Design Awards Finalist in 2024. For 2025's best game on iPhone, Pokemon TCG Pocket was picked over text-based roguelike RPG Capybara Go! and the strategy video game Thronefall.
“This year's winners represent the creativity and excellence that define the App Store, and they demonstrate the meaningful impact that world-class apps and games have on people everywhere,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the newsroom post announcing the 2025 App Store Awards winners.
On iPad, the AI-powered video editing app Detail was named App of the Year. It allows users to record or import a video and use its auto-edit feature to create videos and shorts. On the gaming side, Black Salt Games' DREDGE emerged as the best iPad game of the year, over Infinity Nikki and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
Academic writing app Essayist was named the App of the Year on Max, while CD Projekt Red's famous first-person action role-playing game Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition won in the gaming category. The game triumphed over Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Shadows and Neva. WHAT THE CLASH?, from Triband ApS was named as the best game on Apple Arcade, the tech giant's subscription-based gaming service.
On Apple Vision Pro, Explore POV emerged as the best app in 2025, while Porta Nubi was the Game of the Year. Strava was awarded the Apple Watch App of the Year and HBO Max was the best app on Apple TV.
In addition to apps and games on all its devices, Apple also recognised five winners in the Cultural Impact category, which acknowledges apps and games that spread a positive message.
“These apps and games were recognised for their positive impact, providing users with helpful tools, promoting understanding, and shaping a more inclusive world,” Apple said in the newsroom post.
Cultural Impact winners include puzzle app Art of Fauna, adventure video game Chants of Sennaar, first-person adventure video game despelote, accessibility app Be My Eyes, and focus timer app Focus Friend.
For details of the latest launches and news from Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo and other companies at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, visit our MWC 2025 hub.