Kino provides in-app lessons for aspiring videographers as well as film-inspired filters and advanced controls. It has been developed by Lux Optics, the company behind another professional photography app called Halide.

The other two finalists that were in the running for the top App Store award were Runna, an app that provides personalised training for running, and Tripsy, an app to create detailed travel itineraries. Notably, AI-based apps were missing from Apple’s ‘best of’ list for iPhone apps.

However, apps with integrated AI features such as Adobe Lightroom and Moises were crowned as Mac App of the Year and iPad App of the Year, respectively. Other picks by the tech giant include Lumy (Apple Watch App of the Year), F1 TV (Apple TV App of the Year), and Disney-owned What If…? An Immersive Story (Apple Vision Pro App of the Year).

In the gaming category, AFK Journey was declared as iPhone Game of the Year; followed by Supercell’s Squad Busters as iPad Game of the Year; Panic’s Thank Goodness You’re Here! as Mac Game of the Year; Puddle’s THRASHER: Arcade Odyssey as Apple Vision Pro Game of the Year; and Balatro+ from Playstack Ltd as Apple Arcade Game of the Year.

It also gave a nod to six apps that were named cultural impact winners. These standout apps include Oko, an app to help blind and low-vision users navigate, EF Hello, a language learning app, DailyArt, an art exploration app, The Wreck, a cinematic and narrative gaming app, Do You Really Want to Know 2, an educational app for HIV patients, and NYT Games which offers the ever-popular Wordle.