Every year, Apple and Google choose the best apps available in the App Store and Play Store. Apple selects itself, Google also includes American user votes. These are the best apps of 2018, according to the two companies.
Apple App Store: The Best Apps of 2018
There are hundreds of thousands of apps in the App Store, each better than the next. However, only one can be the best. According to Apple, Procreate Pocket is the best iPhone app of 2018. Procreate Pocket is an illustration app that has been available for the iPad for some time. The developer has created the Pocket version especially for the iPhone and released it in May. The paid app supports 3D Touch, among other things, where you draw a thicker line when you press harder on the screen.
The best iPad app of 2018 is Froggipedia, Apple has decided. As the name suggests, this (paid) app is all about frogs. With Augmented Reality (AR), your iPad conjures up a frog on the table, which you can then analyze digitally. Information about the viscera is shown on the screen of the tablet. You can use the separately available Apple Pencil stylus pen as a scalpel. Froggipedia is especially interesting for school students, who don't have to dissect real frogs in this way.
Best games for iOS
Apple has also revealed the best games for the iPhone and iPad. On the smartphone, Donut Country, a paid puzzle game, is the winner. Gorogoa, also a puzzle game, wins on the iPad.
Best Apps in Google Play Store
The Play Store, the app store on Android devices, is similar to the App Store in terms of offerings. Google has also unveiled the best app of 2018, which is Drops. With Drops you learn one of the 31 supported languages step by step. The app uses short commands and simple visual elements to make learning easier and more fun. Drops is free to download.
Best Game: PUBG Mobile
The wildly popular online shooting game PUBG Mobile has been voted the best game of the year by Google. For the first time, (American only) Android users were also allowed to indicate what they think was the best Play Store game of 2018. They also opted for the free PUBG Mobile.
The Play Store customers call YouTube TV the best app of the year. YouTube TV is a paid video service that is not (yet?) available in the Netherlands.
