iOS Today 757: Apple Design Awards 2025 – Detailed Summary
Released June 19, 2025 | Hosts: Micah Sargent & Rosemary Orchard
Introduction to the Apple Design Awards
In this episode of iOS Today, hosts Micah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard delve into the Apple Design Awards 2025, celebrating outstanding apps and games that showcase creativity, innovation, and effective use of Apple technologies.
Overview of the Awards
Micah begins by distinguishing the App Store Awards, which honor popular and engaging apps, from the Apple Design Awards, which specifically recognize apps that leverage Apple’s tools to deliver exceptional design and functionality.
Micah Sargent [03:12]: "The App Store Awards are often the apps that are just popular and interesting and fun and good and they have captured attention. The Apple Design Awards are specifically for apps that make use of the tools that Apple has..."
The awards are categorized into six areas:
- Delight and Fun
- Innovation
- Interaction
- Inclusivity
- Social Impact
- Visuals and Graphics
Each category awards one app and one game, selected from 36 finalists.
1. Delight and Fun
Winner: CapWords by Happy Plan Tech (China)
CapWords is a language learning app that transforms images of everyday objects into stickers, facilitating a visual and engaging method to learn new vocabulary across nine languages. Users can take photos of items, which the app recognizes and translates, making language learning intuitive and fun.
Micah Sargent [06:00]: "So if you can imagine you're walking around and you're trying to figure out, oh, how do I ask for a donut that looks like a bagel? I can take a photo of it, it'll recognize it as a donut and it will say, here's how you say donut in that language."
Game Winner: Balatro by Local Funk (Canada)
Balatro combines elements of poker, solitaire, and deck-building games. It not only provides an entertaining experience but also educates players on poker rules and strategies through engaging gameplay.
Micah Sargent [10:02]: "This Game is available on so many platforms and I was happy to see it also get an award here on in the design awards."
2. Innovation
Winner: Play
Play is a developer-oriented app that allows users to build interactive prototypes using SwiftUI frameworks. It’s accessible to non-developers, enabling anyone to experiment with app design and seamlessly syncs across Apple devices.
Game Winner: PBJ the Musical
PBJ the Musical is a creatively themed game that retells the classic Romeo and Juliet story using condiments like ketchup and mustard. It features engaging soundtracks, clever camera work, and humorous dialogue.
Rosemary Orchard [13:24]: "Maybe, I don't know. The question is, is wood McBess be like mustard or not?"
3. Interaction
App Winner: Taobao by Zhejiang Taobao Network (China)
Taobao offers an immersive shopping experience on Apple Vision Pro, utilizing 3D models to allow users to visualize products in real-life settings. This enhances the shopping experience by enabling detailed previews and comparisons.
Game Winner: Dredge by Black Salt Games (New Zealand)
Dredge blends slow-burn horror with exploration and adventure. Players navigate eerie islands on a fishing boat, uncovering strange wildlife and unraveling a haunting mystery. The game supports seamless cross-device play across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Micah Sargent [14:50]: "I think if you are at all into kind of horror, adventure, mystery, give this game a go and see if it's for you."
Finalists Mentioned:
- IA Writer: A markdown editor praised for its simplicity and functionality.
- Mela: A recipe manager appreciated for its straightforward design.
Micah Sargent [16:00]: "I use IA Writer all the time... Mela, the recipe manager, also got a finalist option."
4. Inclusivity
App Winner: Speechify
Speechify transforms written text into audio, enhancing accessibility for individuals with dyslexia, ADHD, low vision, and others who benefit from auditory learning. It supports over 50 languages and offers hundreds of voice options, along with offline capabilities.
Rosemary Orchard [19:02]: "I really love this app. It offers Support for over 50 languages and it's got literally hundreds of voices you can choose from."
Game Winner: Art of Fauna by Clemenstasse (Austria)
Art of Fauna is a puzzle game that emphasizes accessibility with full voiceover support. It features beautifully designed puzzles that are both engaging and inclusive.
5. Social Impact
App Winner: Watch Duty by Sherwood Forestry Service
Watch Duty serves as a critical tool during wildfires in Southern California, providing real-time updates, evacuation information, and essential resources. Its reliability and clarity make it a vital application for emergency situations.
Game Winner: Neva by Devolver Digital (US)
Neva is an action-adventure game that tells the story of a girl and her wolf companion in a world experiencing environmental decline. It explores themes of friendship, leadership, and the consequences of environmental loss.
Micah Sargent [20:00]: "It's sort of like a little Red Riding Hood, but flipped on its head sort of situation."
6. Visuals and Graphics
App Winner: Feather Draw in 3D
Feather Draw in 3D allows users to convert 2D designs into 3D models, focusing on creativity and user experience on iPads with touch and Apple Pencil support. It's ideal for visualizing spatial arrangements, such as furniture placement in a new home.
Game Winner: Infinity Nikki
Infinity Nikki is celebrated for its enchanting realm of color, detail, and rendering. This open-world adventure game offers magical outfits, whimsical creatures, and immersive environments, drawing comparisons to titles like Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Rosemary Orchard [21:50]: "It's a cozy open world adventure which challenges players to collect wonderful things, is packed with magical outfits, whimsical creatures and unexpected moments."
Shortcuts Corner: Utilizing Apple Intelligence
Rosemary introduces the newly announced "Use Model in Shortcuts" feature, which integrates cloud and local AI models, including ChatGPT. She demonstrates various shortcuts such as:
- Leftover Recipes: Generates recipes based on available ingredients.
- Summarize PDF: Creates key points from lengthy PDF documents.
- Get Started with Large Language Models: Provides a fun summary of the day's weather.
Rosemary Orchard [28:14]: "I just think that that's a great way to learn how to play with shortcuts and also it's a really interesting way of learning what Apple Intelligence... can do for you."
App Caps: Weekly App Picks
Micah’s Pick: Gigapixel
Gigapixel utilizes AI to upscale and enhance photos, making them clearer and larger without significant quality loss. It offers various models, including standard upscaling and face recovery, ideal for improving old or low-resolution images.
Micah Sargent [33:37]: "Gigapixel is good for... upscaling and the restore options make it so that the photo can be a lot bigger than it is if you took it with an older camera."
Rosemary’s Pick: Dark Noise
Dark Noise is a versatile white noise app that allows users to create custom sound mixes. It supports iCloud sync, widgets, Siri Shortcuts, and audio mixing, enabling a personalized and soothing auditory environment.
Rosemary Orchard [38:52]: "I really love it... 10 out of 10 points from me because this is honestly just a solid app that I use multiple times a week and I absolutely love it."
Conclusion and Closing Remarks
The episode wraps up with information about Club TWiT, offering members ad-free content, exclusive feeds, Discord server access, and special event coverage. Both hosts share their online presence details for listeners to follow.
Rosemary Orchard [43:00]: "The best place to go is rosemaryorcher.com... and all the social media sites are there as well."
Micah Sargent [43:33]: "I'm ikasargent on many social media networks or you can head to Chihuahua.com..."
This comprehensive summary captures the essence of iOS Today 757: Apple Design Awards 2025, highlighting the standout apps and games, their innovative features, and the thoughtful discussions by Micah and Rosemary. Whether you're an Apple enthusiast or looking to discover new apps, this episode offers valuable insights into the best of Apple's developer community in 2025.