With nothing much to do and being stuck at home, a lot of us turn to our devices for something to do. Let’s take a look at Apple App Store Best of 2020 and see if any of them are useful.

When the lines between work and life at home blur, iPhone App of the year, Wakeout, wants you to stay limber, relax, and recharge with some simple exercises you can do at your home, home office, in your car, and at the park. It works with the Apple Watch too.

Download the app and it immediately feels like a scam. It forces you to go into a 7-day trial and a subscription for RM20.90 a month or RM154.90 annually. I despise subscription as is, I do not need another leak in my wallet, but this forced subscription scheme under the guise of a free app feels like a cheat to me.

Perhaps the iPad App of the Year will fair better. And according to the list, it is Zoom. Seriously? After Apple marketed themselves as all about security, they pick Zoom, one of the worst privacy offenders during the pandemic.

You know what? Use Google Meet instead. A lot of professionals use it instead.

Another subscription service gets the App of the Year award, this time for the Mac. I don’t have one of those, but from what I can gather, Fantastical looks like a powered-up calendar and collaboration tool.

I don’t mind the subscription so much in this context. If I am depending on an app to manage help manage my work for, I’d pay for it rather than depending on an ad-based service.

Disney+ takes the Apple TV App of the Year award. We can’t even get this app in Malaysia. The only show I would want to want on it in The Mandalorian. My question is: Did this app really beat out Apple TV+ or is Apple just being modest? I don’t know.

Soundscapes, some people swear by them and Apple think they are cool too because Apple Watch App of the Year goes to Endel. It is yet another subscription service. Ok, to be fair, you can buy the app for RM379.90, but it’s RM12.90 a month or RM109.90 annually otherwise.

Looking at the list, I wonder who Apple made it for. Maybe if it had been made as a top 5 list for each flatform it would be more relatable. As is, the appeal of these Apps of the Year is limited.