The Google Play Store offers somewhere in the region of 2 million apps, which makes it hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
To make it easier to celebrate the best of Play Store, Google has announced the Google Play Awards, which will showcase five nominees across 10 award categories.
The nominees have been selected by a “panel of experts” on the Google Play team, using criteria like app quality, innovation, and a recent launch or major update.
The winners from each category will be announced the the Google I/O developer conference next month.
“Google Play has sent tremendous growth over the past year, reaching more than one billion Android users across 190 countries,” says Purnima Kochikar, Director of Apps and Games Business Development for Google Play.
Kochikar continues: “As a way to recognise our incredible developer community and highlight some of the best apps and games, we’re kicking off our first-ever Google Play Awards.”
Related: Best Android Apps 2016
Without further ado, here are the nominees:
Standout Startup
Dubsmash
Hopper
Musical.ly
Robinhood
Vrse
Standout Indie
Alphabear
Alto’s Adventure
Fast like a Fox
Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector
Prune
Best Families App
Card Wars – Adventure Time
LEGO Jurassic World
My Very Hungry Caterpillar
Thinkrolls 2
Toca Nature
Best Use of Material Design
Bring!
Robinhood
The Fabluous
Todoist
Vevo
Best Use of Google Play Game Services
Sea Battle 2
Table Tennis Touch
Tapventures
TowerMadness 2
Zombie Highway 2
Related: Best Android Smartphones 2016
Early Adopter
Glide
Mechanic Escape
Minecraft: Story Mode
World Around Me
Zumper
Go Global
Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle
Freeletics Bodyweight
Memrise
Musixmatch
Pokemon Shuffle Mobile
Most Innovative
Fast like a Fox
NYT VR
SmartNews
The Fabulous
This War of Mine
Best App
BuzzFeed News
Colorfy
Houzz
TuneIn Radio
Yummly
Best Game
Alphabear
Clash of Kings
Clash Royale
MARVEL Future Fight
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
TrustedReviews App of the Week – BBC iPlayer Kids:
Any personal favourites you think were missed out? Let us know your top Android apps in the comments below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.