As the year draws to a close, Google Play on December 1 unveiled a list of 2022's best Android apps and games in India, across a range of categories, including those chosen by users as well as its own editorial team.
Questt, a learning platform that uses artificial intelligence to provide personalized learning paths, and gamify the learning experience for students, has been picked as the best app of 2022. Meanwhile, Flipkart's social commerce app Shopsy was chosen by users as their favourite app for the year, following a month-long voting process on the Play Store.
"Today we’ve grown to help over 2 million students with personalized learning paths. We remain focused on improving learning outcomes for millions of students in India and hope to bring a paradigm shift by making education more data-driven with the help of technology" said Questt co-founder Akhil Singh.
In terms of games, Apex Legends Mobile, the popular battle royale shooter title from Electronic Arts, was picked as the best game of 2022. On the other hand, Rovio's slingshot game Angry Birds Journey was chosen by users as their favourite game for the year.
Overall, Google has selected apps across 17 categories on the India Play Store, with many of these titles coming from local developers. It has also announced similar app choices for various countries including the United States.
In a blogpost, Google stated that these selections reflect the diverse needs of consumers in the post-pandemic era in India and other parts of the world as people "opened themselves to the possibilities and experiences in the outside world".
"We saw apps that helped people in numerous ways, including personal growth, daily tasks, creative expression, and business aspirations – while many experienced and immersed themselves in whole new worlds with delightful games" the company said.
This year, the company also introduced new categories such as 'Best Ongoing (live services) games', 'Best Story' and 'Best on Play Pass' in a bid to highlight the unique experiences games offer to consumers. Supercell's Clash of Clans, Activision Blizzard's Diablo Immortal and Bandai Namco's Very Little Nightmares respectively won the top spots in these categories.
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Apart from this, Google has picked the best apps for everyday essentials (Shopsy), personal growth (Filo), fun (Turnip), hidden gems (BabyG), and apps for good (Khyaal).
"Our goal was to build a super app for senior citizens in India that will help them with all the helpful services they’re looking for – and most importantly, a community where they can interact and belong. Khyaal started with a single chat group in 2021, and today, we have over 100K+ users on our app" said Khyaal founder Hemanshu Jain.
The tech giant also chose the best games across different categories such as multiplayer (Rocket League Sideswipe), pick up and play (Angry Birds Journey), and indies (Dicey Dungeons).
