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With its list of Apple Design Awards finalists, Apple is celebrating indie apps and startups over bigger tech firms \u2014 including those offering AI chatbots. <\/p>\n
At a time when its App Store model has been called into question by legislators and regulators alike, Apple\u2019s annual list of what it considers the best and most technically innovative software available on its platform is turning its attention to the little guy. There\u2019s no ChatGPT to be found on Apple\u2019s list of finalists, for example. Instead, Apple favors small to midsize app makers like Copilot Money,<\/a> SmartGym<\/a>, recipe app Crouton<\/a>, creative app Procreate Dreams<\/a>, Gentler Streak<\/a> and others, as well as those from venture-backed startups like the creativity app Rooms<\/a> and the reimagined web browser Arc Search<\/a>.<\/p>\n The latter has incorporated AI with an agent that browses for you and a new feature that lets you ask questions by raising the phone to your ear to \u201cCall Arc,\u201d<\/a> but it\u2019s the only app on the list with a description that references the technology that has taken the App Store \u2014 and the tech industry at large \u2014 by storm over the past year.<\/p>\n Though ChatGPT launched last year to record downloads<\/a>, both Apple and Google avoided naming it<\/a> their \u201capp of the year.\u201d The ADAs would have given Apple another opportunity to nod to the innovation, but it\u2019s again overlooked. <\/p>\n Rather, Apple\u2019s finalist list looks to indie games like Rytmos<\/a> from Copenhagen-based Floppy Club<\/a>; a match-three puzzler finity<\/a> on Apple Arcade; The Wreck <\/a>from independent Paris-based games studio The Pixel Hunt<\/a>; The Bear<\/a> from German self-described \u201cweird bunch of creatives\u201d Mucks Games<\/a>; and others.<\/p>\n The non-game apps Apple chose to highlight this year are also often indie efforts, like Meditate<\/a>, a meditation timer from an indie developer, RhythmicWorks Software, based in India; a sun-tracking app Sunlitt<\/a>, from a small team led by indie developer Nicholas Mariniello, based in Italy; drawing app Dudel Draw<\/a> from indie outfit Silly Little Apps<\/a> in the U.S.; journaling app Bears Gratitude<\/a> by Australian developer Isuru Wanasinghe; and Things Inc.\u2019s Rooms<\/a>, a creative app for designing imaginative spaces in an 8-bit style, designed by ex-Googlers<\/a> and backed by a16z. (Apple doubly blessed Rooms, nominating it in two categories, in fact.)<\/p>\n