Apple on Tuesday released its annual "Best of 2014" list for the App Store's most-downloaded and highest-grossing titles, revealing so-called "freemium" games as the year's biggest money-makers.
Like last year's Best of iTunes list, games dominated iOS App Store downloads in 2014, with Heads Up! coming in as the top paid app for iPhone and Minecraft -- Pocket Edition for iPad, according to Apple's Top Charts.
Top-ten paid apps for iPhone:
- Heads Up!
- Minecraft - Pocket Edition
- Afterlight
- Plague Inc.
- Sleep Cycle alarm clock
- Facetune
- Cut the Rope 2
- Bloons TD 5
- A Dark Room
- 7 Minute Workout Challenge
- Minecraft - Pocket Edition
Top-ten paid apps for iPad:
- Minecraft - Pocket Edition
- Cut the Rope 2
- Heads Up!
- The Room Two
- Survivalcraft
- Notability
- Terraria
- Plants vs. Zombies HD
- Hide N Seek : Mini Game With Worldwide Multiplayer
- Card Wars - Adventure Time
The year's highest grossing app for both iPhone and iPad was Clash of Clans, a popular game offered on the freemium model. In many cases, freemium games offer in-app purchases for virtual currency, character buffs or special items. According to Apple, games featuring in-app purchases accounted for nine of the top-ten grossing apps for iPhone and ten out of ten for iPad.
As for free apps, social media and messaging titles led in downloads, with Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, Youtube, Facebook and Instagram taking the top five spots.
Top-ten free iPhone apps:
- Facebook Messenger
- Snapchat
- YouTube
- Pandora Radio
- Google Maps
- Flipagram
- Spotify Music
- 2048
Top-ten free iPad apps:
- YouTube
- Netflix
- Calculator for iPad Free
- Skype for iPad
- Microsoft Word
- Facebook Messenger
- Candy Crush Saga
- Google Chrome
- Clash of Clans
Today's list follows Apple's "Best of iTunes" awards, which saw Elevate -- Brain Training take home iPhone App of the Year and Threes! as iPhone Game of the Year. Pixelmator and Monument Valley won awards for best iPad app and game, respectively.