Following its Best of 2014 iTunes Awards list earlier this month, which saw apps like Elevate - Brain Training and games like Threes! take the top honours in the US, Apple has released its Best of 2014 lists for the most popular apps of the year, in terms of downloads.
The Best of 2014 apps for the US are divided into iPhone and iPad downloads, further divided into top paid, top free and top grossing. Very visibly, games dominate all the lists, with only the top free apps list seeing more 'essential' apps like YouTube and Facebook rather than games.
Looking at Apple's Best of 2014 iPhone list of top paid apps in terms of downloads, we see the Heads Up! naming game taking the crown, followed by Minecraft - Pocket Edition sandbox-style survival game. The top five is rounded off by the Afterlight image editor app, the Plague Inc. epidemic simulation game, and finally, the Sleep Cycle alarm clock app. Of the top ten paid apps, six are games. You can see the full list at the end of the article.
Coming to the Best of 2014 iPhone list of top free apps, we see daily staples like Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram taking the top five spots, followed by Pandora Radio, Google Maps, Flipagram, Spotify Music and 2048 - with the last the only game on the list.
In the Best of 2014 iPad list of top paid apps, and we find the runner-up of the top paid iPhone apps at the head of the line: Minecraft - Pocket Edition. This is followed by the Cut the Rope 2 puzzle game, Heads Up! (which took the top-spot on the top paid iPhone apps list), The Room Two puzzle game, the Minecraft-style Survivalcraft game, Notability note-taking app, another Minecraft-variant - Terraria, the classic Plants vs. Zombies HD game, the Hide N Seek : Mini Game, and finally, Card Wars - Adventure Time. As you may have noted, only one app made it to the list - Notability - indicating iPad users really like their gaming.
With the Best of 2014 iPad list of top free apps, we see a lot of repeats from the top free iPhone apps list, once again populated by 'essential' apps. YouTube is right on top, followed by Netflix, Calculator for iPad Free, Skype for iPad, Microsoft Word, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, Candy Crush Saga, Google Chrome, and Clash of Clans. The list further cements the iPad's status as a mix between an entertainment, productivity, and gaming device, featuring one more game than the iPhone list as well as Microsoft Word and Netflix.
The top grossing iPhone apps were Clash of Clans, Candy Crush Saga, Game of War - Fire Age, Pandora Radio, Big Fish Casino, Hay Day, Farm Heroes Saga, Pet Rescue Saga, Slotomania, and Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. The top grossing iPad apps were Clash of Clans, Game of War - Fire Age, DoubleDown Casino, Candy Crush Saga, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Minecraft - Pocket Edition, Big Fish Casino, The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Hay Day, and GSN Casino.
In the meanwhile, Apple has released the Trends of the Year list of iTunes content for India, detailing the "sounds, games and styles that shaped 2014". It has divided the content into trending topics, such as Selfies, Legendary Games Go Mobile, Pixel Games, E-commerce, Punjabi Punch, and Girl Power.
Top 10 paid iPhone apps
Top 10 free iPhone apps
Top 10 paid iPad apps
Top 10 free iPad apps
Top 10 grossing iPhone apps
Top 10 grossing iPad apps
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