Apple has announced the winners of the annual App Store Awards, naming the 16 best apps and games presented in the App Store in 2022.

This year’s winners represent a diverse community of developers from around the world whose apps and games have been selected by the Apple App Store editorial team for “exceptional experiences and deep cultural impact.”

This year’s App Store Award winners have reimagined our app experience with a fresh and thoughtful perspective. From self-taught soloists to international teams operating around the world, these entrepreneurs make a significant impact and represent how apps and games affect our communities and lives.

Tim Cook, Apple CEO

iPhone App of the Year is BeReal, which lets you share photos and chat with friends. It does not have filters and masks, so the pictures are as vivid as possible, close to reality. Apex Legends Mobile was named the best game for iPhone.

The iPad App of the Year was GoodNotes 5 by Time Base Technology Limited, which “takes digital note-taking to the next level with best-in-class Apple Pencil support.”

For Mac computers, MacFamilyTree 10 was the best app, which will be appreciated by genealogists, and for Apple Watch smartwatches, the Gentler Streak app was chosen.

You can see the full list of applications, including eight games, on the Apple website.

Recall that the former top manager criticized the App Store in a recent article.

Today, Xiaomi revealed interesting details about the MIUI 14 firmware, which will debut simultaneously with the Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro flagships. It turned out that its second name is “Project Blade” (Razor Project). Apparently, this name was given due to the fact that in MIUI 14 the developers tried to get rid of everything superfluous. In all senses.

Firstly, the firmware itself will be smaller: the software file size is reduced by 23% compared to the same MIUI 13 file. This means that at least MIUI 14 will download faster.

Secondly, the memory management system (RAM) in MIUI 14 works more aggressively. As a result, the user will get more free memory.

Thirdly, in MIUI 14, Xiaomi will allow you to delete any application, except for the eight main ones (dialer, SMS client, browser, standard camera application, etc.).

According to rumors, MIUI 14 should be the first MIUI 14 firmware in a long time that will not have built-in ads. However, the company has not yet confirmed this long-awaited “feature”.

Business Insider published an article titled “Apple’s App Store has become an ad-infested copycat of itself, which is not good for iPhone users or developers.”

Its author is Michael Gartenberg, a former senior marketing manager at Apple, who also worked at Gartner, Jupiter Research, and the Altimeter Group. He is also an Apple shareholder.

Unfortunately, the app store is no longer the crown jewel of the Apple ecosystem. These days, it seems like it’s more about boosting Apple’s revenue than serving customers or helping developers thrive.

But that wasn’t always the case, as Michael Gartenberg argues: “Ask any Apple executive what makes Apple special, and the answer will almost always be the Apple ecosystem—the company’s (previously) unique position in building both hardware and software with tight integration. Apple realized back in the 90s that better hardware and software didn’t matter much without apps.”

According to him, the App Store was created to provide the beautiful hardware and elegant operating system of the iPhone with thousands of applications created by programmers running their own application business. Apple carefully selected the apps it featured prominently, helping the best developers gain exposure and helping users find the best choice for their needs. Apple takes a commission for this.

Now, after 15 years of using the iPhone, I see how the app store has become a copycat of itself. The first problem I had was with the ads, which are getting more and more intrusive. I don’t mind ads in general, but the way Apple uses them in the app store has gotten really annoying. For example, when I search for an app, I get bombarded with ads for other apps and sometimes even products that are not related to what I’m looking for.

He also stated that the App Store has all sorts of applications that are “garbage”, and the recommendations work very strangely. Sometimes a person who is looking for a gambling addiction treatment app is offered a gambling app.

I remember Apple founder Steve Jobs boasting that no ads were part of Apple’s ethos. “No ads. We create products that we want for ourselves, and we just don’t need advertising,” Jobs said back in 2011. As an owner of Apple shares, I understand that Apple, driven by the ever-hungry demands of Wall Street, uses advertising to increase revenue. After all, Apple is a commercial enterprise. But as a longtime Apple customer, I mourn the days when the need for revenue didn’t take precedence over the need to serve customers.