According to TechCrunch, Apple shared its annual list of App Store Award winners on Thursday, November 20, 2025, narrowing down a list of 45 finalists from November to 17 total winners. The iPhone App of the Year is the visual AI planner Tiimo, while the iPhone Game of the Year is Pokémon TCG Pocket. Other key winners include the iPad app Detail for video editing, the Apple Watch app Strava, and Cultural Impact winners like StoryGraph and Be My Eyes. Apple specifically highlighted that the winning apps, though not branded as “AI apps,” use AI features extensively for planning, editing, recommendations, and accessibility.
Apple’s Stealth AI Strategy
Here’s the thing: Apple is clearly making a statement with this list. They’re not crowning a flashy chatbot or image generator as the app of the year. Instead, they’re showing that the most valuable and award-winning AI isn’t a standalone product—it’s the quiet, integrated intelligence that makes practical tools better. Tiimo uses it to manage your time. Detail uses it to edit your videos. Strava uses it to analyze your workouts. It’s AI as a utility, not a novelty. This feels like a deliberate framing from Apple, a company that has historically favored useful features over chasing hype. They’re basically saying, “Look, the best apps use AI to solve real problems you already have.” It’s a smarter, more mature take on the technology’s role.
What This Means For Developers
For app makers, the message is pretty clear. Building a successful app in 2025 isn’t about having “AI” slapped on your App Store page. It’s about implementing it so seamlessly that the user might not even think of it as AI. The goal is to reduce friction, automate the tedious bits, and provide personalized insights without being creepy or overwhelming. Think of Be My Eyes using AI to describe the world for blind users—that’s a profound, meaningful application that transcends gimmickry. This list sets a new benchmark. If you want Apple’s recognition (and the massive visibility boost that comes with it), you need to think about AI as a core component of your user experience, not just a marketing checkbox.
The Bigger Picture
So, is this Apple subtly downplaying the AI frenzy while simultaneously proving they get it? Probably. They’re avoiding the term “App of the Year: ChatGPT Clone #47,” but they’re placing immense value on sophisticated machine learning baked into everyday tools. It also reflects where the real market is going. Consumers are getting picky. They don’t want another AI toy; they want their existing apps to be smarter. This winner’s circle shows that the era of AI as a separate category might be ending before it even truly began. It’s just becoming part of the fabric of good software. And honestly, that’s where it provides the most value. The full list of finalists and winners is worth a glance—it’s a snapshot of what “good” looks like in the current app ecosystem.
