Creative and Puzzling Apps Top Apple's Best of 2014 Lists

Apple has published its best-of and most-downloaded lists for 2014, and it turns out it was a good year to be smart and creative in the App Store. The company's own favorite apps of the year were the mind-sharpening (or so they say) Elevate: Brain Training on iPhone and powerful image editor Pixelmator on iPad. In games, minimalist puzzler Threes takes the honors for iPhone, while perspective-bending platformer Monument Valley won on the iPad.

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

Of course, the Apple nod doesn't mean they're automatically the best selling. Minecraft and Ellen Degeneres favorite Heads Up were in the top three most paid for on both iPad and iPhone, along with Cut the Rope 2 and photo tweaking app Afterlight. As for the most-downloaded free apps, well, it's mostly what you'd expect: YouTube, Netflix, Snapchat and the recently mandatory Facebook Messenger. You can browse the rest of the lists, including top artists, songs, and movies, by opening up the App Store yourself on your Apple device.

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—Devin Coldewey