If you look at the latest list of finalists for the coveted "iPhone App of the Year" award, AI has been snubbed, favouring more traditional iOS apps that help users perform specific tasks like recording professional video (Kino), tailoring running plans (Runna), or organising travels (Tripsy).
AI apps like ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and those that create AI photos or videos are nowhere to be seen. Despite the roaring success and widespread adoption of ChatGPT, Apple's partner for Siri improvements, the app has been sidelined.
ChatGPT, which introduced clever new features like an Advanced Voice Mode and a Google-challenging web search function in 2024, hasn't received any official year-end accolades from Apple's App Store editorial team.
Even though ChatGPT is regularly featured in editorial suggestions on both the App Store and Google Play, it was also snubbed by Apple and Google last year. Despite becoming the fastest-growing consumer application in history in early 2023, this reached 100 million users shortly after its launch. Google, in contrast, crowned party-planning app Partiful as its app of the year.
A few AI-powered apps did sneak into Apple's other 2024 finalist lists, like those for iPad and Mac App of the Year. Among the 45 finalists across various categories in apps and games, AI-powered apps were rare. Moises, offering AI tools for practising music, was nominated for iPad App of the Year alongside kids app Bluey: Let’s Play and animation app Procreate Dreams. With its AI-powered features, Adobe Lightroom was nominated for Mac App of the Year, along with the productivity app OmniFocus 4 and the 3D design app Shapr 3D.
Among the dozen Cultural Impact finalists, only one app, the language-learning tool EF Hello, was described by Apple as enhanced by AI technology. While some finalists, like Pinterest, may use AI under the hood, their App Store marketing doesn’t promote them as “AI” apps.
If anything, Apple's curated list suggests that it favours apps that empower human creativity over those that assist with AI automation. Most finalists help users do more with their iPhone or other device without relying on AI, whether designing, organising, filming, creating, or playing.
To show you how adverse Apple is to AI applications, this year, Apple introduced a new category for its recently canned Apple Vision Pro.
The message is clear: If you are an AI app developer, don't expect Apple to hand you any trophies anytime soon.
