The Apple Design Awards (ADAs ) is an annual awards program hosted by Apple Inc. at its Worldwide Developers Conference , recognizing software and hardware from independent developers . The awards have been presented since 1997 in categories that vary each year. For the first two years of their existence, they were known as the "Human Interface Design Excellence Awards" (HIDE Awards).[ 1]
The 2008 Apple Design Awards ceremony at WWDC Since 2003, the physical award has borne an Apple logo that glows when touched. The trophy is a 3.9 in (9.9 cm) aluminum cube weighing 55.5 oz (1.57 kg) ,[ 2] [ 3] [ 4]
1997 Human Interface Design Excellence (HIDE) Award[ 1]
Category Place Product Developed by
Most Innovative
1st Kai's Power GOO 1.0 MetaTools, Inc.
2nd Starry Night Deluxe 2.0 Sienna Software, Inc.
3rd YOYO Telephone Manager for Macintosh 1.5.1 Big Island Communications, Inc
Most Elegant
1st Starry Night Deluxe 2.0 Sienna Software, Inc.
2nd CalcWorks 1.5.2 John Brochu
3rd AMBER: Journeys Beyond Changeling, Inc.
Best Look & Feel
1st YOYO Telephone Manager for Macintosh 1.5.1 Big Island Communications, Inc.
2nd Adobe Illustrator 6.0 Adobe Systems, Inc.
3rd Symantec Visual Cafe for Macintosh 1.0 Symantec Corp.
Best Overall Design
1st YOYO Telephone Manager for Macintosh 1.5.1 Big Island Communications, Inc.
2nd Starry Night Deluxe 2.0 Sienna Software, Inc.
3rd Kai's Power GOO 1.0 MetaTools, Inc.
1998
Category Place Product Developed by
Most Innovative
1st Flash 2 Macromedia
2nd Legacy of Time: The Journeyman Project 3 Presto Studios, Inc.
3rd Office 98 Macintosh Edition Microsoft Corporation
Best Look & Feel
1st Preflight Pro 1.0 Extensis Corporation
2nd PlusMaker 1.0.1 Alsoft, Inc.
3rd Virtual PC 2.0Connectix Corporation
Best Apple Technology Adoption
1st Stuffit Delux 4.5 Aladdin Systems, Inc.
2nd PowerMail 2.0 CTM Development
3rd FaceSpan 3.0 Digital Technology International
1999
Category Place Product Developed by
Best New Product
1st REALbasic 1.0 REAL Software
2nd Disk Warrior 1.0 Alsoft
Most Innovative
1st Disk Warrior 1.0 Alsoft
2nd REALbasic 1.0 REAL Software
Best Macintosh User Experience
1st Food Chain 1.0 Cajun Games
2nd REALbasic 1.0 REAL Software
Best Apple Technology Adoption
1st Cutie Mascot Jr. 1.5 Koshin Graphic Systems
2nd Virtual Game Station Connectix
2000
Category Place Product Developed by
Best New Product
1st ViaVoice Millennium Edition IBM
2nd Thinking Home 1.0 Always Thinking, Inc.
Most Innovative Product
1st LiveStage Professional Totally Hip Software Inc.
2nd Thinking Home 1.0 Always Thinking, Inc.
Best Look & Feel
1st Math Mysteries 1.0Tom Snyder Productions
2nd REALbasic 2.0 REAL Software, Inc.
Best Apple Technology Adoption
1st Thinking Home 1.0 Always Thinking, Inc.
2nd LiveStage Professional Totally Hip Software Inc.
2001
Category Place Product Developed by
Best New Mac OS X Product
1st OmniWeb 4.0The Omni Group
2nd Xtools 1.0.3 Tenon Intersystems
Most Innovative Mac OS X Product
1st Xtools 1.0.3 Tenon Intersystems
2nd MYOB AccountEdge 1.0 MYOB US, Inc.
Best Mac OS X User Experience
1st OmniWeb 4.0 The Omni Group
2nd Drive 10 1.0.0 Micromat, Inc.
Best Mac OS X Technology Adoption
1st AutoCompleter 1.0 Catchy Software
2nd REALbasic 3.2 REAL Software, Inc.
2002
Category Place Product Developed by
Best New Mac OS X Product
1st Toon Boom Studio 1.1 Toon Boom
2nd Marketcircle DayLite 1.0.1 Marketcircle Inc.
Most Innovative Mac OS X Product
1st Watson 1.5Karelia Software, LLC
2nd Toon Boom Studio 1.1 Toon Boom
Best Mac OS X User Experience
1st OmniGraffle 2.0The Omni Group
2nd STX 1.0 Salon Transcripts
Best Mac OS X Technology Adoption
1st OmniGraffle 2.0 The Omni Group
2nd Vektor 3 3.1.3 Manfred Schubert
Best Mac OS X Open Source Port
1st TeXShop 1.19Richard Koch, Mathematics Department, University of Oregon in collaboration with Gerben Wierda and Dirk Olmes Mathematics Department, University of Oregon
2nd SIDekick 1.1 Axel Wefers
Best Mac OS X Student Product
1st MacJournal 2.1Dan Schimpf
2nd CanCombineIcons 2.1.0 David Remahl
2003
Category Place Product Developed by
Best Mac OS X Product (Best of Show)
1st Salling Clicker 1.5 Salling Software
2nd World Book 2003 Jaguar Edition Software MacKiev
Most Innovative Mac OS X Product
1st Salling Clicker 1.5 Salling Software
2nd Starry Night Pro 4.0 SPACE.com Canada
Best Mac OS X User Experience
1st Starry Night Backyard 4.0 SPACE.com Canada
2nd Transmit 2Panic Inc.
Best Mac OS X Technology Adoption
1st World Book 2003 Jaguar Edition Software MacKiev
2nd Spell Catcher X Evan Gross
Best Mac OS X Student Product
1st Hydra 1.0.1 (now SubEthaEdit ) Martin Ott, Martin Pittenauer, Dominik Wagner, and Ulrich Bauer
2nd SignalScope 1.0.5 Benjamin Faber
Best Mac OS X Use of Open Source
1st Fugu University of Michigan
2nd VLC 0.5.3Samuel Hocevar
Best Mac OS X Server Solution
1st iNquiry 1.0 BioTeam
2nd Radmind 0.8.4University of Michigan
Best QuickTime Content Created by a Student
1st Drive By Punch Stephen Mebs
2nd Nature and Water Mario Palomera
Best QuickTime Content Created by an Individual
1st OICs MusicBox Presenting Superfluid Robert West and Michael Schaff
2nd Paraphonic Midnight Sounds Jonathan Puckey, Andreas Pihlström & Linus Wahlstedt
Best QuickTime Content Created by a Company
1st BMW Films Campaign—"The Hire" Enhanced Film Experience Fallon Worldwide
2nd The Beautiful Mistake QuickTime Player Tubatomic Studio
2004
Category Place Product Developed by
Best Mac OS X Product
1st Big Bang Chess 1.0Freeverse Software
2nd Unison (usenet client) 1.0.2aPanic Inc.
Best Product New to Mac OS
1st Contribute 2Macromedia Inc.
2nd GraphViz 1.12 (v11)Pixelglow Software
Most Innovative Mac OS X Product
1st ToySight 1.0 Freeverse Software
2nd SwordfishExpress 2.0 buyolympia.com
Best Mac OS X User Experience
1st Unison 1.0.2a Panic Inc.
2nd SOHO Business Cards 1.0 Chronos LLC
Best Mac OS X Technology Adoption
1st Big Bang Chess 1.0Freeverse Software
2nd PulpFiction 1.0 Freshly Squeezed Software
Best Mac OS X Open Source Product
1st GraphViz 1.12 (v11) Pixelglow Software
2nd PureFTPd Manager 1.2 Jean-Matthieu Schaffhauser
Best Mac OS X Server Solution
1st iNquiry 4.05d The BioTeam
2nd gridMathematica 1.1Wolfram Research, Inc.
Best Mac OS X Entertainment Product
1st Unreal Tournament 2004 MacSoft
2nd Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Blizzard Entertainment
Best Mac OS X Scientific Computing Solution
1st Mac TetrUSS v010804 NASA Langley Research Center
2nd Volocity 2.6.1 Improvision
Honorable Mention IBM XL Fortran Advanced Edition 8.1 IBM
Best Mac OS X Student Product
1st 4Peaks Alexander Griekspoor, Tom Groothuis, Oncology Graduate School Amsterdam
2nd Curvus Pro X Simon Bovet, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Best QuickTime Content for Education
1st Conflict Lab's Rotunda Conflict Lab, Inc.
2nd Commanding Heights WGBH Interactive
Best QuickTime Content for Promotion
1st Robbie Williams "Knebworth" QuickTime Promo Bluish, Ltd.
2nd Yamashiro Restaurant Virtual Tour Axis Images
Best QuickTime Content for Entertainment
1st FreeCaster Sports Barsark AB
2nd Bright and Shine Antonio Hui
Best Performance Demo of a Shipping Product
1st ATI Technologies Inc, ATI Animusic's Pipe Dream Demo
2nd ATI Technologies Inc, ATI Rendering with Natural Light Demo
Most Innovative Apple Technology Performance Demo
1st Advanced Analytic System Design Inc., Freefall
2nd Symbiot Symbiot iSIMS
2005[ 5]
Category Place Product Developed by
Best Mac OS X Tiger Technology Adoption
1st Transmit 3.2 Panic, Inc.
2nd iScale 1.7 equinux
Special Mention OmniOutliner 3.0.3The Omni Group
Best Mac OS X User Experience
1st Delicious Library 1.5Delicious Monster
2nd 3D Weather Globe & Atlas Max OS X Edition Software MacKiev
Best Product New to Mac OS X
1st Comic Life 1.1 plasq
2nd Delicious Library 1.5 Delicious Monster
Special Mention eDrawings for Mac 2006 SolidWorks
Best Mac OS X Entertainment Product
1st World of Warcraft Blizzard Entertainment
2nd Jammin' Racer 1.01DanLabGames
Best Use of Open Source
1st OsiriX 1.6.4Antoine Rosset, Osman Ratib, Lance Pysher, David Davies-Payne, Luca Spadola, Bruce Rakes
2nd Blender 2.36Blender Foundation
Special Mention AdiumX Evan Schoenberg, Adam Iser
Best Mac OS X Scientific Computing Solution
1st DataTank 2005-5 Visual Data Tools, Inc.
2nd OsiriX 1.6.4 Antoine Rosset, Osman Ratib, Lance Pysher, David Davies-Payne, Luca Spadola, Bruce Rakes
Special Mention Mathematica Wolfram Research
Best Mac OS X Server Solution
1st Quicksilver InfiniBand Software for Mac OS X SilverStorm Technologies (now QLogic ), Small Tree Communications
2nd Elektron 1.0.1 Corriente Networks LLC
Best Mac OS X Student Product
1st GraphClick Simon Bovet
2nd iMap 3.1 Peter Schols
Special Mention Sonic Birth Antoine Missout
2006[ 6] [ 7]
Category Place Product Developed by
Best Mac OS X User Experience
1st iSale 3.1 equinux
2nd FotoMagico 1.7Boinx Software
Best OS X Graphics
1st modo Luxology
2nd Unity Unity Technologies
Best Developer Tool
1st TextMate 1.5Allan Odgaard
2nd F-Script Philippe Mougin
Best Scientific Computing Solution
1st EnzymeX 3.1 Mekentosj
2nd FuzzMeasure Pro 2 Christopher Liscio
Best Game
1st The Sims 2 Electronic Arts
2nd WingNuts 2 Freeverse
Best Mac OS X Student Product
1st Lineform Freeverse
2nd PhotoPresenter Boinx Software
Best Widget
1st iClip Lite
2nd WeatherBug Local Weather
Best Automator Workflow
1st Build Real Estate Catalog/Ultimate Productivity Action Pack
2nd Lecture Recording Workflow 1.2 University of Michigan School of Dentistry, Trek Glowacki
2007[ 8]
Category Place Product Developed by
Best Mac OS X Leopard Application
1st Delicious Library 2 (alpha) Delicious Monster
2nd iBank 3.0aIGG Software
Best Mac OS X User Experience
1st Coda 1.0Panic Software
2nd Sandvox 1.2 Karelia Software
Best Mac OS X Developer Tool
1st CSSEdit 2.5 MacRabbit
2nd rooSwitch 1.1.8 roobasoft
Best Mac OS X Dashboard Widget
1st BART Widget Bret Victor
2nd PEMDAS 1.1 Michael Filippone
Best Mac OS X Scientific Computing Solution
1st Papers 1.0mekentosj.com
2nd SingleCrystal 1.3 CrystalMaker Software
Best Mac OS X Game
1st World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Blizzard Entertainment
2nd Wacky Mini Golf! 1.01DanLabGames
Best Mac OS X Student Product
1st Picturesque 1.0 Acquilia
2nd Pathway 1.0 Dennis Lorson
2008[ 9]
Category Place Product Developed by
Best Leopard Student Product:
1st Squirrel Axel Péju
2nd Flow 1.0.1 Brian Amerige
Best Mac OS X Leopard Graphics and Media Application
1st ScreenFlow Vara Software Ltd.
2nd FotoMagico Boinx Software Ltd.
Best Mac OS X Leopard User Experience
1st Macnification Orbicule
2nd Checkout Werck BV
Best Mac OS X Leopard Game
1st Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Aspyr Media
2nd Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Electronic Arts
Best Mac OS X Leopard Application
1st ScreenFlow Vara Software Limited
2nd Bee Docs Timeline 3D Edition Bee Documents
Best iPhone Web App
1st Remember the Milk Remember the Milk
2nd AP Mobile News Network The Associated Press
Best iPhone Game
1st Enigmo Pangea Software
Best iPhone Entertainment Application
1st AOL Radio AOL LLC
Best iPhone Social Networking Application
1st Twitterrific The Iconfactory
Best iPhone Productivity Application
1st OmniFocus The Omni Group
Best iPhone Healthcare & Fitness Application
1st MIM MIMvista Corp.
2009[ 10]
Category Product Developed by
Mac OS X Leopard Developer Showcase
Billings Marketcircle Inc.
BoinxTV v1.3Boinx Software
Things v1.1Cultured Code
Versions v1.0.3 Pico and Sofa
Best Mac OS X Student Product
Fontcase v1.1.3 Pieter Omvlee
iPhone Developer Showcase
MLB.com At Bat 2009 v1.0.1 MLB.com
Postage v1.0 RogueSheep
Topple 2 v1.1ngmoco:)
Tweetie v1.3.1atebits LLC
Best iPhone Student App
Wooden Labyrinth 3D v1.2.1 Elias Pietilä
Best iPhone OS 3.0 Beta App
AccuTerra v1.0.0 Beta AccuTerra
2014[ 15]
Category Product Developed by
Mac & iOS
Leo's Fortune 1337 and Senri
Day One Bloom Built
Blek kunabi brother
Yahoo! News DigestYahoo!
Threes! Sirvo
Cinemagraph Pro Flixel Photos
Device 6 Simogo
Storehouse-Visual Storytelling Storehouse Media
Sky Guide Fifth Star Labs
Monument Valley ustwo Studio
Student
PanoPerfect HalfPeeled LLC and TwoBros
Addimal Adventure Teachley
2016[ 17]
Category Product Developed by
Mac & iOS
Complete Anatomy 3D4Medical
Streaks Zervaas Enterprises
Zova Personal Trainer ZOVA
Frame.io - Video Review and Collaboration Frame.io
Ulysses The Soulmen GbR
Chameleon Run Noodlecake Studios Inc.
Lara Croft GO Square Enix Montreal
INKS. State of Play Games
Auxy Music Creation Auxy
djay Pro algoriddim GmbH
Student
Linum Joaquín Ramírez Vila
Dividr Josh Deichmann, Patrick Pistor, and Erik Lydick
2018[ 20]
Product Developed by
Agenda - Momenta B.V.
BANDIMAL YATATOY
Calzy Raja Vijayaraman
iTranslate Converse iTranslate
Triton Sponge Gauss Surgical, Inc.
Florence Mountains
Inside Playdead
Alto's Odyssey Snowman
Frost kunabi brother
Oddmar Mobge Ltd
2022[ 24]
Category Product Developed by
Inclusivity
Procreate Savage Interactive (Australia)
Wylde Flowers Studio Drydock (Australia)
Delight and Fun
(Not Boring) Habits Andy Works LLC (United States)
Overboard! inkle (United Kingdom)
Interaction
Slopes Breakpoint Studio (United States)
A Musical Story Glee-Cheese Studio (France)
Social Impact
Rebel Girls Rebel Girls Inc. (United States)
Gibbon: Beyond the Trees Broken Rules (Austria)
Visuals and Graphics
Halide Mark II Lux Optics (United States)
Lego Star Wars: Castaways Gameloft (Canada)
Innovation
Odio Volst (The Netherlands)
Marvel Future Revolution Netmarble Corp. (South Korea)
2026[ 28]
Category Product Developed by
Inclusivity
Guitar Wiz Bijoy Thangaraj
Pine Hearts Hyper Luminal Games Limited
Delight and Fun
grug Ocho
Is This Seat Taken Poti Poti Studio
Interaction
Moonlitt: Moon Phase Tracker Flipping Hues Srls
Sago Mini Jinja's Garden Sago Mini
Social Impact
Pimary: News in Depth Wood Metal Rocks LLC
Consume Me Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson
Visuals and Graphics
Tide Guide: Charts & Tables Condor Digital
Cyberpunk 2077 : Ultimate EditionCD Projekt
Innovation
NBA: Live Games & Scores NBA Media Ventures, LLC
Blue Prince Dogubomb
1 2 "HIDE Awards Winners" . May 14, 1997. Retrieved February 15, 2021 .↑ "Apple Design Award" . Pixelmator Team. Archived from the original on July 31, 2013. Retrieved April 4, 2018 .↑ "Sparkfactor Design portfolio" . Sparkfactor Design. Archived from the original on January 3, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2007 .↑ "Inside the Apple Design Award" . Mekentosj. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2007 .↑ Caolo, Dave (June 20, 2005). "Apple Design Awards winners 2005" . Engadget . Retrieved June 30, 2020 . ↑ O'Grady, Jason D. (August 10, 2006). "2006 Apple Design Award winners announced" . ZDNet . Retrieved June 30, 2020 . ↑ Smykil, Jeff (August 9, 2006). "Apple Design Award winners announced" . Ars Technica . Retrieved January 22, 2023 . ↑ Lurie, Dan (June 13, 2007). "Apple Design Awards 2007" . Engadget . Retrieved June 30, 2020 . ↑ Bohon, Cory (June 12, 2008). "Apple Design Awards 2008" . Engadget . Retrieved June 30, 2020 . ↑ Truta, Filip (June 11, 2009). "Apple Design Awards 2009 Announced" . Softpedia . Retrieved June 30, 2020 . ↑ Viticci, Federico (June 9, 2010). "Apple Design Awards 2010 Winners Announced" . MacStories . Retrieved June 30, 2020 . ↑ Rawson, Chris. "2011 Apple Design Award winners announced" . TUAW: The Unofficial Apple Weblog. Retrieved June 8, 2011 . {{cite web }}: CS1 maint: url-status (link )↑ Lowensohn, Josh. "Apple announces 2012 Design Award winners" . CNET. Retrieved June 11, 2012 . ↑ Viticci, Federico (June 11, 2013). "The 2013 Apple Design Award Winners" . Retrieved June 30, 2020 . ↑ "WWDC: Apple Design Awards winners for 2014" . Macworld. Retrieved June 4, 2014 .↑ Viticci, Federico (June 9, 2015). "The 2015 Apple Design Award Winners" . MacStories . Retrieved June 30, 2020 . ↑ Voorhees, John (June 14, 2016). "2016 Apple Design Award Winners Announced" . MacStories . Retrieved June 30, 2020 . ↑ "Apple Design Awards celebrate innovation and creativity" . Apple Newsroom . June 7, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2020 .↑ "Old Man's Journey, Severed among Apple Design Award 2017 winners" . GamesIndustry.biz . Retrieved February 6, 2018 .↑ "Apple Design Awards highlight excellence in app and game design" . Apple Newsroom . June 5, 2018. Retrieved June 30, 2020 .↑ "Apple Design Awards celebrate best in class design for apps and games" . Apple Newsroom . June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2020 .↑ "Apple honors eight developers with annual Apple Design Awards" . Apple Newsroom . June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2020 .↑ "Apple announces winners of the 2021 Apple Design Awards" . Apple Newsroom . June 10, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2021 .↑ "Apple announces winners of the 2022 Apple Design Awards" . June 6, 2022. Retrieved June 6, 2022 .↑ "Apple announces winners of the 2023 Apple Design Awards" . June 5, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023 .↑ "Apple announces winners of the 2024 Apple Design Awards" . June 6, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2024 .↑ "Apple unveils winners and finalists of the 2025 Apple Design Awards" . June 3, 2025. Retrieved June 3, 2025 .↑ "Apple reveals winners of the 2026 Apple Design Awards" . Retrieved June 2, 2026 .
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