The best iPhone apps of the year, according to Apple

Periscope app
Periscope

Apple just announced the best iPhone apps of 2015.

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These apps aren't just the most-downloaded ones — they were hand-picked and ranked by Apple's App Store editors. 

This year's winners are a mix of great productivity tools, unique educational apps, powerful video and photo editing tools, and even an interactive work of fiction.

There's an app in here for everyone.

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25. Blue Apron helps you make restaurant-quality food at home

Blue Apron
A sample meal from Blue Apron Blue Apron

Blue Apron is a subscription meal-kit delivery service that sends you perfectly portioned ingredients and step-by-step instructions to make dinner from scratch. The app allows you to pick meals, customize your plan, and watch how-to videos. It also offers wine pairings for meals.

Cost: App is free, but three-meal per week subscriptions (for two people) start at $60 per week.

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24. Zova is a fitness app that features trainer-designed workouts

zova
Zova/Apple

Zova offers more than 400 circuit, strength, cardio, and yoga workouts. You can choose workouts that are as short as three minutes and as long as a half hour, and all of them can be done in a small space in your home.

Cost: A premium subscription is $7.99 and a 3-month pass is $12.99.

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23. Reuters TV gives you personalized news

Reuters TV app
Reuters/Apple

Reuters TV gives you both live and recorded video news updates. You can personalize it so you get news relevant to you, and you can customize the length of reports so you always have time to catch up. 

Price: Free

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22. Pry is a new kind of interactive novella

Screen Shot 2015 12 09 at 11.38.35 AM
Tender Claws LLC/Apple

"Pry" is an interactive fictional experience set in the mind of a character named James, who was a demolition expert during the First Gulf War.

Price: $2.99

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21. Giphy Cam will help you make and share gifs.

Giphy Cam app
Giphy, Inc./Apple

Giphy Cam is a super easy way to make gifs using your smartphone's camera. You can even add filters and effects to them. 

PriceFree

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20. Paper will help you keep all of your ideas organized

Paper by FiftyThree for iPhone iOS
iTunes

You can use paper to make a checklist, make drawings with your finger, and sketch and annotate charts. As FiftyThree, its developer notes, "Paper is like a wall of sticky notes for everything that inspires you."

Price:Free

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19. Wildcard keeps you up to date on news and entertainment

wildcard app
COOPKANICS INC./Apple

Wildcard's editors sift through the web to bring you interesting news and entertainment in an experience tailored for your smartphone.

PriceFree

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18. RefME helps you take control of citations

refme app
RefME/Apple

Creating a citation using RefMe is as easy as scanning the barcode on a book or journal. The app supports more than 7,000 different styles of citations, including APA, MLA, and Chicago. 

PriceFree

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17. Spark is an email app that will simplify your life

spark email app
Readdle

Spark filters the most important messages and groups the ones that aren't so important. It also allows you to snooze emails for later and swipe to archive and delete messages. You can also use Spark to notify you when you receive important emails.

Price: Free

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16. Fit Men Cook is an app for healthy recipes

fit men cook
Nibble Apps Ltd/Apple

Fit Men Cook offers healthy, affordable, and easy-to-prepare recipes. It has video instructions and helps you plan ahead by preparing meals that will last all week.

Price: $2.99

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15. Vee is powerful video editing software

vee for video app
Medious Limited/Apple

Vee is a simple but powerful tool that allows you to shoot and edit videos. It offers filters, effects, transitions, and video stabilization, among other features. 

Price: $3.99

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14. Timeline is a news app that that "puts today's news in context"

timeline app
Timeline.com, Inc./Apple

Timeline offers a new way to read news. The app gives gives context by offering timelines and history around big stories. 

Price:Free

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13. Jet is a new way to shop online

jet app
JET.COM, INC./Apple

Jet helps you save money by pairing items together. The more you buy, the more you save.

Price:Free

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12. Tandem will help you learn another language

tandem app
Tripod Technology GmbH

Tandem sets you up with native speakers so you can chat with them and learn learn another language. 

PriceFree

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11. Pacemaker lets you be a DJ

pacemaker app
Pacemaker Music AB/Apple

The Pacemaker app shuffles your own music — it works with iTunes and Spotify — to create your own set list. It includes some effects but you can purchase more. 

PriceFree but offers in-app purchases.

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10. The Everything Machine is a maker app for kids

The everything machine app
Tinybop/Apple

This app from developer Tinybop lets kids build and design anything they can imagine. It taps into your phone's camera, light, microphone, and sensors, and uses a simple visual interface to allow kids to make their own "machines."

Price: $2.99

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9. Lark is a nutrition and weight loss app that uses AI

lark app
Lark Technologies, Inc./Apple

Lark tracks your activities, your sleep patterns, and also your food. It's a personal health coach that uses artificial intelligence to understand what you've eaten and makes it seem like you're talking to a real person.

PriceFree

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8. Darkroom is a photo editing app that allows you to create your own filters

darkroom app
Bergen Co./Apple

Darkroom is an easy-to-use photo editing app that lets you make changes to photos without even needing to import them. If you make a mistake editing, it's no problem, as the app offers an "infinite undo history." 

PriceFree, but you can purchase add-ons. 

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7. Hopper helps you find the cheapest airfare

Hopper flights app
iTunes

Hopper looks at pricing trends and monitors flights for you to help you find the cheapest airfare. It offers on-screen notifications that suggest whether or not you should buy a ticket now or wait if it's likely to go down in price.

PriceFree

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6. HBO Now lets you to subscribe to HBO without a cable subscription

HBO Now
HBO/Apple

HBO became available this year for the first time without a cable subscription. The app allows you to watch not only current seasons of HBO shows whenever and wherever you want, but also classics like "The Wire" and "The Sopranos." You'll also find dozens of hit movies from past and present.

Price: $14.99 per month. 

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5. Instagram is the ultimate photo-sharing platform

Instagram app
iTunes

With a user base of more than 400 million people, Instagram is constantly one of the most-downloaded apps in the App Store. This year Apple called it the best app on the new iPhone 6s, because tapping on the icon on the new phone allows you to create a new post without actually opening the app.

PriceFree

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4. Workflow is an automation app

workflow app
DeskConnect, Inc/Apple

Workflow is an app that allows you to create more than 200 different actions to customize your device, like an icon on your home screen that will call a specific person, a button that will tweet the song you're listening to, or an icon that will always show you the location of the closest coffee shop.

Price: $3.99

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3. Robinhood is a free stock trading app

Robinhood
Robinhood

Robinhood, which allows people to buy and sell stocks without paying a commission fee, is a runner up for Apple's App of the Year. People have used it to buy and sell more than $1 billion in stocks, according to TechCrunch. 

PriceFree

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2. Enlight is a deluxe photo editor

enlight app
Enlight/Apple

Apple calls Enlight, a runner-up to the app of the year, "the best all-in-one photo editor." The app not only has has advanced editing features allowing you to adjust details in the photos, but it also has cool filters that make your photos look like paintings. 

Price: $3.99

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1. Periscope allows you to live stream whatever you're doing

Periscope app
Periscope

Periscope is Apple's pick for top app of the year. The Twitter-owned app allows you to broadcast and share live video of whatever you're doing. Viewers can interact with your broadcasts by sharing text and hearts. 

Price: Free

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