Apple has announced its winning apps of 2024, with Lux Optics’ Kino winning iPhone App of the Year and Adobe Lightroom winning the Mac App award.
Apple has revealed its winners of the 2024 App Store Awards, honoring a total of 17 apps and games written by everyone from solo entrepreneurs to multinational teams. The App Store Award winners were chosen from a shortlist of 45 finalists by App Store Editors for demonstrating the highest levels of user experience, design, and innovation.
We liked Kino as soon as we saw it.
"There is a lot to like about the Lux Optics Kino Pro Video Camera app,” we wrote, “and it has plenty of pro features to take full advantage of your iPhone’s camera. It’s also easy enough for anyone to use and get great footage. The real star is Instant Grade and all the terrific options available to get a really cool look. Plus it’s only $19.99, making it a nice and affordable app for anyone looking to get into mobile filmmaking (and it isn't subscription-based).”
We did slightly caveat that with a comparison to the well-regarded (though now subscription-based) Filmic Pro, and the increasingly capable, and splendidly free, Blackmagic Camera App. But it was certainly a decent investment. And, let’s face it, the day iOS 18.2 drops with a whole range of AI features, Apple was never going to give an award to Process Zero.
Meanwhile, “Lightroom excels on Mac with its transformative photo editing capabilities,” wrote the Awards panel. Given that the software has been around since 2007, and has even split into two flavours, Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, the dev team must be doing something right. This year it piled on the AI features and the two versions reached much closer synergy on features.
“We are thrilled to honor this impressive group of developers who are harnessing the power of Apple devices and technology to deliver experiences that enrich the lives of users and have a profound impact on their communities,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The remarkable achievements of this year’s winners demonstrate the incredible ingenuity that can be unlocked through apps.”
Head here for the full list of winners.