Technologies
Apple Crowns Its Top Apps of 2025, and AI Dominates the Field
Tiimo, a visual planner for people with ADHD that uses AI, won the App of the Year award.
Apple named the 17 winners of its 2025 App Store Awards on Thursday, and AI made its presence felt. App of the Year Tiimo, created for folks with ADHD, is an AI visual planner; iPad App of the Year Detail uses AI to simplify video editing; and Mac App of the Year Essayist employs AI to ease «the time-consuming work of formatting academic papers.»
Apple began giving out App Store Awards over a decade ago, with recent App of the Year winners including Kino (2024), AllTrails (2023), BeReal (2022), Toca Life World (2021) and Wakeout! (2020).
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It’s apparent from this year’s selections that the AI juggernaut will continue growing in global influence. The Business of Apps, a B2B media and information platform, estimates that the AI app sector generated $4.5 billion in 2024 — more than half of that via ChatGPT — and that nearly 700 million people used AI apps in the first half of 2025. The website predicts that the AI app sector will exceed $150 billion in revenue by 2030.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
«Every year, we’re inspired by the ways developers turn their best ideas into innovative experiences that enrich people’s lives,» said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. «This year’s winners represent the creativity and excellence that define the App Store, and they demonstrate the meaningful impact that world-class apps and games have on people everywhere.»
‘For brains that work differently’
Tiimo is based in Copenhagen and was co-founded by Helene Lassen Nørlem and Melissa Würtz Azari to create planning tools for individuals with Autism, ADHD, neurodivergence and executive functioning differences. The company website says its app’s tools «are adaptive by design; visual, flexible, and grounded in how neurodivergent people really plan, think, and follow through,» and notes that the app is «for brains that work differently.»
The app originated as a research project exploring how tech could support neurodivergent teens, but Würtz Azaritransformed that into a business after being diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, according to the company.
Tiimo’s App of the Year honor comes a year after the app was named a finalist in the 2024 Apple Design Awards in the inclusivity category.
Würtz Azari said Tiimu succeeds because its developers «challenge that status quo» of how apps typically present calendars, to-do lists and focus tools. We «integrate focus timers into tasks, add small celebratory cues, and build subtle improvements that make it easier to stay organized,» she said.
Tackling the citations beast
Anyone who has done a research paper or term paper knows how incredibly annoying and time-consuming it is to do citations.
Essayist, the Mac App of the Year, utilizes AI to «insert citations seamlessly,» for APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian and Harvard citation styles. The app also eases the processes of adding references and formatting papers.
Video editing made AI easy
The Detail app, which Apple named iPad App of the Year, says its app can «turn podcasts, reactions and presentations into ready to share content in seconds.»
Detail says its Auto Edit feature can perform «silence removal, zoom cuts, titles, captions, music and more.»
Detail also says that its Podcast Auto Edit tool can «generate multiple long-form edits and short clips for social in a tap – —utomatically switch speakers and save hours of editing.»
The complete list of winners
As chosen from the previously announced finalists, here are the 17 winners of Apple’s 2025 App Store Awards:
iPhone App of the Year: Tiimo
iPhone Game of the Year: Pokémon TCG Pocket
iPad App of the Year: Detail
iPad Game of the Year: DREDGE
Mac App of the Year: Essayist
Mac Game of the Year: Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition
Apple Vision Pro App of the Year: Explore POV
Apple Vision Pro Game of the Year: Porta Nubi
Apple Watch App of the Year: Strava
Apple TV App of the Year: HBO Max
Apple Arcade Game of the Year: WHAT THE CLASH?
Cultural Impact Winners: Art of Fauna, Chants of Sennaar, despelote, Be My Eyes, Focus Friend, and StoryGraph
Technologies
Crank Up the Tunes With Over $200 Off the Top-Rated Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Earbuds
Woot is offering you the chance to put these Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 ANC buds in your ears for a massive 44% off, but the deal ends soon.
The Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 earbuds with ANC in anthracite black are now just $280 on Woot. That’s an impressive 44% off the usual $499 sticker price. It’s also the lowest price we’ve seen so far, but this deal won’t last long. Quantities on Woot are limited, so grab yours while the deal is still live.
The design’s comfy enough for long hauls, and the 15-minute quick charge is clutch when you’re heading out the door. The charging case even doubles as a Bluetooth transceiver, so you can plug into in-flight entertainment systems without fuss. These buds are featured in our roundup of the best wireless earbuds of the year, and audio expert David Carnoy called them «easily among the best-sounding earbuds out there,» with better ANC and a more ergonomic fit than earlier models.
If you’re picky about sound, these are worth a look. They have a snug fit, single-button controls and a case that’s been redesigned to feel more premium. They’re splash- and dust-resistant (IP54 rating), and the updated shape fits better than the Pi7 S2 and Pi5 S2. You can also tweak settings using the Bowers & Wilkins Music app for iOS and Android.
If this isn’t quite your vibe, check out our full roundup of the best headphone deals you can add to your cart now.
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Why this deal matters
These earbuds don’t go on sale often, and when they do, it’s usually not this steep of a discount. The anthracite black Pi8s are sitting at their lowest price yet, and they’re backed by solid reviews and a spot on CNET’s best earbuds list. If you’ve been waiting for a reason to splurge, this is it. We last saw this deal during Black Friday, so there’s no telling when these buds will come back on sale after this deal expires.
Technologies
Apple Reportedly Eyes ‘iPhone Ultra’ Name for Folding Phone Expected This Year
It’s another week and another bunch of rumors about the company’s first foldable phone.
It’s a new week and a new set of rumors for Apple’s first foldable phone. If Tuesday’s reports are true, the device will be called the Ultra, have a bookish shape and launch in September.
The main report comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who said the foldable is on track for a September launch, despite Nikkei Asia reporting that the phone might not launch until 2027 due to issues that cropped up during the engineering test phase.
Citing unnamed sources, Gurman said Apple will introduce the foldable phone in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. Those phones would likely go on sale about a week after being unveiled.
An Apple representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. It’s important to note that while rumors abound, Apple has confirmed none of them — not even the existence of a foldable iPhone.
Still, the earlier Nikkei Asia report was jarring enough to send Apple’s stock down 5.1% before it rebounded later, Gurman noted. The Nikkei Asia story said unexpected issues had arisen during engineering testing and that more time was needed to make «necessary adjustments.» Under a worst-case scenario, the first shipment of the foldables would not occur until 2027, the report said.
More from CNET: Foldable Phones Have Solved Nearly Every Trade-Off, Well Before Apple Debuts One
Looks like a book
Meanwhile, consumer tech reviewer Sonny Dickson posted images on X showing dummy models indicating how big the iPhone Fold, iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max might be. In the image, the foldable has an almost square shape when fully opened.
Dummy images are useful for phone accessory manufacturers — such as case-makers — so they can get a head start on mass production before the devices are launched. When phones are released, consumers are quick to order cases and other accessories, so the sizes need to be known. It is unclear whether the dummy models shown are actual mockups from Apple.
People who commented on X didn’t seem to love the dummy images, particularly because the models shown appear to lack MagSafe, Apple’s magnetic system on the back of the phone that lets chargers and other accessories snap on.
Stefan Moser wrote, «If the Fold is missing MagSafe, this will be a big NO for me.»
There were other criticisms, too.
An X user going by DasnkiCS posted that the phone looks «too wide, can’t palm that easily in normal phone use.»
And another X user, Brosnan Hoban, wrote, «Fold looks like a credit card from 2050.»
What’s in a name?
Tuesday’s other big rumor concerned the foldable’s name.
A leaker, Digital Chat Station, posted on the Chinese social site Weibo that the foldable iPhone could be called the iPhone Ultra. The post also said Chinese competitors may use the Ultra name for their own foldables to compete directly with Apple on design, specs, and price.
The predominant rumored name has been the iPhone Fold, but others have included Flip, Duo and iFold.
In March, Gurman wrote in his Power On newsletter that Apple was considering a full line of Ultra products, possibly including a foldable phone, an M6 MacBook Pro with OLED, a foldable iPad and high-end Macs. Gurman also said Apple might introduce AirPods with «computer-vision cameras» to send visual data to Siri for its AI assistant feature.
We’ve seen a steady stream of tidbits about the foldable recently. There could be a large inner screen for multitasking, and people could open apps side by side. There might also be two rear cameras, a front-facing camera and a Touch ID side button.
Whatever Apple finally comes up with, it will be playing catch-up. Other major phone-makers already have foldable phones on the market, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, the OnePlus Open, the Huawei Mate XT, the Honor Magic V5 and the Motorola Razr Ultra.
Technologies
Artemis II Astronauts Name Moon Crater After Commander Reid Wiseman’s Late Wife
The emotional moment was streamed by NASA moments after the crew made history.
On Monday, after the crew aboard Artemis II made a historic feat by breaking Apollo 13’s distance record, they made the moment even more special by proposing to name one of the craters on the moon «Carroll,» in memory of Commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife.
While contacting Mission Control, Mission Specialist and astronaut Jeremy Hansen stated that the «close-knit astronaut family» previously lost a loved one who was «the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie.»
«It’s a bright spot on the moon,» Hansen said while describing the crater during the emotional call. «And we would like to call it Carroll.»
After the request, you can see Wiseman embrace Hansen before the rest of the crew joins in for a group hug.
Carroll Wiseman died in 2020 at 46 years old from cancer. Wiseman’s NASA bio page states that Carroll «dedicated her life to helping others as a newborn intensive care unit Registered Nurse.»
Before the Artemis II mission, Wiseman posted a selfie with his two daughters on X with a caption that reads in part, «I love these two ladies, and I’m boarding that rocket a very proud father.»
Follow CNET’s coverage of the 10-day Artemis II mission as the Orion makes its way back to Earth.
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