2024 is about a month away, and to celebrate the end of the year, Google has announced the winners of Google Play’s Best of 2023 Awards.
The company has introduced new categories this year like “Best with AI” and “Best Multi-device App,” so for the sake of brevity, we’ll mainly focus on the best Android apps. This expanded the list so much that we couldn’t include things like the best Chromebook apps and the best tablet apps (if you want to know, the winner for best Chromebook apps is FlipaClip, which helps people The winner of Best Tablet App is Concepts, a vector-based drawing tool).
Google says the list on its blog is focused on American winners. It is said that other countries have different winners. However, when we looked at other regions, the entries matched the US list, with one outlier that we’ll discuss later.
Android App of the Year
1. Imprint: Learn visually
Google awarded Imprint: Learn Visually the Best App of 2023 award. Imprint: Learn Visually is an educational software designed to teach you new skills and the world around you in bite-sized lessons. We offer a personalized experience where you can learn about topics that interest you, from human history to psychology. Imprint accomplishes this through eye-catching visual storytelling.
2. Spotify
Spotify takes home the award for Best Multi-Device App for streaming music in the kitchen, on your commute, on a hike, around town, and more. The company emphasizes the service’s ability to “remotely control playback on another device.” Additionally, you can download your favorite songs and listen to them offline. What’s interesting is that it’s the only music streaming app in the entire list.
3.ChatGPT
In early November, Google allowed people to vote for what they thought was the best app of the year. The winner of the Users’ Choice Award was ChatGPT, which is no surprise in our opinion. ChatGPT will take the world by storm in 2023 as one of the leading generative AI platforms, and its technology powers his Microsoft’s Bing Chat. On top of that, 2024 is shaping up to be a big year for the company.
4. Bumble for Friends: Introducing IRL
If you want to make new friends or have recently moved to another city, the company recommends installing Bumble For Friends (BFF for short) on your smartphone. Unlike the regular Bumble app, it doesn’t focus on finding dates. Instead, BFF, as its name suggests, aims to help you build genuine friendships with other locals.
5. Voidpet Garden: Mental Health
Voidpet Garden: Mental Health won the award for Best Personal Growth, which is quite unique. Its goal is to help people practice mindfulness and self-care as a way to improve their mental health. It does this in a Pokemon-esque manner by having you collect Void Pets, which are said to be creatures born from negative emotions. Grow these creatures by completing tasks, turning them into celestial dragons, each representing a positive attribute of the user.
6. Artifact: Cultivate curiosity
Artifact: Feed Your Curiosity is similar to Imprint: Learn Visually in that it’s an app that can teach users about the world, but in a different way. The service works like X’s (previously known as Twitter) Explore page by providing a stream of curated news articles from across the internet. We cover a variety of topics including the tech industry, politics, and gaming. Users also have the option to mark certain stories as clickbait for better curation.
In the UK, the winner was ReciMe, a social platform for home cooks to share their family recipes.
7. Aware: Mindfulness and Wellbeing
Aware is another mental health app like Voidpet Garden, but it takes a more grounded approach to mindfulness. This is a type of journaling software that houses “science-based exercises.” [alongside] Live Guided Sessionā. There is no need to create an account and it is completely free. No subscription required.
It’s worth mentioning that it has the lowest number of downloads of all of this roundup, although it is expected to increase exponentially since winning the Best Hidden Gem award.
8. Character AI: Chat using AI
Despite winning the Users’ Choice award, ChatGPT was effectively ignored by Google as it failed to win the Best AI crown. That honor went to Character AI, an app packed with personality-driven chatbots you can talk to. For example, Amelia he can talk to Earhart, Julius Caesar, and Poseidon, the god of the sea. People can also talk to Whiskers the Cat.
As you can probably imagine, this is not something to be taken seriously. We aim to create a fun and interactive experience, just like a video game.
9. Paw Patrol Academy
For families, Google has agreed to PAW Patrol Academy, an app that allows toddlers ages 2 to 5 to learn problem-solving skills, gain confidence, and tap into their creative side. Characters from the popular animated series appear in a variety of interactive adventures, as well as clips from specific episodes. Plus, there’s no need to connect to Wi-Fi, so kids can have fun on the go.
10.AWorld supports ActNow
Rounding out our list of Google’s best Android apps of 2023 is AWorld’s support for ActNow. The aim is to teach people how to count their carbon footprint and combat climate change, and learn how to change their lifestyles to reduce their impact on the environment. The software recommends basic activities such as planting trees and using natural products to reduce your carbon footprint. AWorld also encourages you to participate in group challenges by completing a certain number of eco-friendly actions.
That’s Google’s recommended list. If you want to know what’s at the top of iOS, check out TechRadar’s roundup of the 14 best iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches this year, according to Apple.