Apple has announced its editorial picks for the best apps, movies, TV shows, books, and podcasts available from its various online content stores. The App Store team noted four rising trends for 2017, including the introduction of augmented reality apps with iOS 11, a rise of real-time competitive gaming, and an increased focus on mental health and mindfulness as well as storytelling and reading. The 2017 iPhone App of the Year was the health and fitness app, Calm, while the very popular Affinity Photo won 2017 iPad App of the Year.
In games, Splitter Critters was the top iPhone pick, and the open-ended exploratory puzzler The Witness was the 2017 iPad Game of the Year.
On Apple Music, Drake’s “More Life” was the top album of the year and Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” was the top song. Disney’s Moana was the most-watched movie, with “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “Wonder Woman” coming in as runners-up. “Game of Thrones” unsurprisingly dominated the iTunes TV charts, followed by “The Walking Dead,” HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” NBC’s “This Is Us,” PBS’s “Victoria” and FX’s “The Americans.” NPR’s “Fresh Air” remained in the top podcast spot for 2017, with Apple noting that daily news podcasts like New York Times’ “The Daily” and NPR’s “UP First” also made the charts, along with true crime podcasts being popular with listeners.
In iBooks, top fiction choices included “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Big Little Lies,” and “Before We Were Yours.” In non-fiction, “Hillbilly Elegy” topped the charts. Apple also noted trends in iTunes U educational content, with computer science being a huge area of interest, with a strong focus on developing apps with Swift. Other popular iTunes U courses covered a wide range of topics including the language of music, human emotions, personal finance, and machine learning.
