noticeCOVID-19 UPDATE ASO World entire team is working remotely. we expect no disruptions in our ASO services.
Browser close
1
50% OFF FIRST ORDER
Referral Program
bonusprogram
1
50% OFF FIRST ORDER
Referral Program
bonusprogram
logo
  • App Promotion
    Keyword Installs
    Package(Direct) Installs
    Ratings & Reviews
    Guaranteed Reviews Service
    Guaranteed Keyword Ranking Service
    ASO Service
    Customized Solution
    More Services
  • ASO Tools
    Free ASO Tools
    Keyword Research Tools
  • Solutions
    By vertical
    News
    NEW
    Sports
    HOT
    Dating
    HOT
    Health & Fitness
    Ecommerce
    Fintech
    HOT
    Gaming
    Education
    Entertainment
    Travel
    Social Media
    Restaurant & Foodtech
    AI
    Productivity
    Lifestyle
    Music
    Utility
    Photo & Video
    Casino
    Business
    By Performance
    Boost App Rankings & User Acquisition
    NEW
    Improve Organic Conversions & User Experience
    NEW
    Mobile App Launch Marketing
    Increase Keyword Rankings & Organic Downloads
    solution-suffix
    Customer Stories
    Explore inspiring Customer Stories to see how businesses like yours have successfully leveraged ASO World to create powerful mobile apps.
  • ASO Academy
    Blog
    Case Studies
    Guides & Insights
    FAQs
    Glossary
  • Pricing
Login Register
logo
  • App Promotion
    Keyword Installs
    Package(Direct) Installs
    Ratings & Reviews
    Guaranteed Reviews Service
    Guaranteed Keyword Ranking Service
    ASO Service
    Customized Solution
    More Services
  • ASO Tools
  • Solutions
    By vertical
    News
    Sports
    Dating
    Health & Fitness
    Ecommerce
    Fintech
    Gaming
    Education
    Entertainment
    Travel
    Social Media
    Restaurant & Foodtech
    AI
    Productivity
    Lifestyle
    Music
    Utility
    Photo & Video
    Casino
    Business
    By Performance
    Boost App Rankings & User Acquisition
    Improve Organic Conversions & User Experience
    Mobile App Launch Marketing
    Increase Keyword Rankings & Organic Downloads
  • ASO Academy
    Blog
    Case Studies
    Guides & Insights
    FAQs
    Glossary
  • Pricing
Important Notice
Important Notice:Beware of scams using ASOWorld's name for part-time recruitment or ASO earning app activities. ASOWorld is not hiring any part-time staff. Trust only official information posted by ASOWorld.
Close the Important Notice
https://asoworld.com/blog/app-store-awards-how-can-these-apps-inspire-us

App Store Awards: How Can These Apps Inspire Us?

Apple announced the winners of the 2021 App Store Awards, recognizing the best apps and games, we'll analyze how these award-winning apps fared in terms of ASO.

Posted: Dec 24 2021
Updated: Sep 15 2025

Home Blog Mobile Game & App Insights App Store Awards: How Can These Apps Inspire Us?

In twitter faceBook rss
app store awards

Apple announced the winners of the 2021 App Store Awards, recognizing 15 of the best apps and games that help users tap into their personal passions, discover creative outlets, meet new people and experiences, and have fun. This year's winners include developers from around the world whose apps and games were selected by Apple's global App Store editorial team for delivering exceptional quality, innovative technology, creative design and positive cultural impact.

In this blog, we'll analyze how these award-winning apps and games fared in terms of ASO in 2021. Did each app follow ASO best practices? We'll also provide key takeaways to help you maximize your chances of success next year!

Applause for 2021 App Store Awards winners

Toca Life World

toca life world
Toca Life World, a children's app that Apple considers a "virtual playground," was selected as iPhone App of the Year. This year's best apps and games offer an exceptional experience across Apple devices. Ten years after its debut on the App Store, Toca Life World is a clever iteration of children's play and the art of self-expression. It allows a young user base to be creative and silly - its App Store description includes "Want to give Grandma a wild haircut? Take a sloth to the skate park?"

Interestingly, the developers of Toca Life World positioned the app in the Education category, not the Games category, and the app ranked #3 among free apps. in the 90 days before the App Store winner was announced, Toca Life Word was recommended 259 times on the App Store, including 80 times in the Today tab! !

To learn more about educational app ASO, you can check "How to Promote Educational Apps for Kids on App Marketing" of our previous articles.

League of Legends

league of legends
The iPhone Game of the Year didn't make the cut for Among Us -- it was League of Legends: Wild Rift, a mobile version of the 12-year-old online multiplayer battle arena made for mobile devices. Despite being ranked #12 in the App Store's Strategy category for free apps, the app is in the top 200 in the App Store's Games category.

To learn more about strategy game promotion, you can check "Among Us Game Spotlight: Some Great Points You Need to Know about Strategy Game" of our previous articles.

MARVEL Future Revolution

marvel future revolution
MARVEL Future Revolution was named the best iPad game of the year. It ranked only 152nd in the iPad role-playing category of free apps and was recommended an average of about 15 times a week before its release, with 14 of those appearing in the "Today" tab!

To learn more about role play game marketing, you can check "How to promote mobile role play (RPG) game?" of our previous articles.

LumaFusion

lumafusion
LumaFusion, the video editing app, was named Best iPad App. The app has become one of the most trusted tools for content creators in Apple's mobile ecosystem. LumaFusion makes video editing faster, easier and more portable for creators of all levels, and Craft creatively enhances efficiency and artistry with a seemingly infinite number of features in a notebook, says co-founder Terry Morgan.

To learn more about video editing app promoting, you can check "How to Promote Your Video Editing App" of our previous articles.

Trends of Apple Store 2021: connection

This year, Apple added a new annual Trends category, which identifies movements that are making a lasting impact on people's lives. The theme of this category is connection, and among us, Bumble and Canva are the three winners here.

Among Us

among us
Collaboration and competition go hand-in-hand with "Among Us!" fosters community through small contests that encourage users to talk and listen to each other through jokes, bravado and teamwork.

To learn more about mobile game social features, you can check "Social Features to Benefit Mobile Games: From UA to Engagement" of our previous articles.

Bumble

Bumble embraces this moment by adding and enhancing features designed to bridge the gap between users who want to date, build platonic friendships and expand their professional networks - all while facilitating female-driven conversations.

To learn more about dating app ASO strategy, you can check "How to Promote Dating App to Drive App Growth?" of our previous articles.

Canva

Offering elegantly simple design tools and gorgeous templates, Canva helps users tap into their entrepreneurial spirit by simplifying design for professionals, students, job seekers, community leaders and teams of all kinds.

ASO World app ranking service
Click "Learn More" to drive your apps & games business with ASO World app promotion service now.

What do these winners have in common?

Now that we've outlined some of the App Store's awards-winning apps and games, we'll summarize some of their key similarities.

● App ranking on App Store - winning apps and games were all ranked in the top 15 of their categories;
● Mainly are free apps - only 2 apps were paid, meet the most popular apps report 2021, 90% of apps are free apps;
● Be recommended by Apple - all of the winning apps and games were recommended multiple times by Apple in the 90 days leading up to the awards

All of the winning apps and games were in the top 200 of their main categories. More specifically, with the exception of Peanuts and Marvel Future Revolution, all of the winning apps and games were ranked in the top 15 of their categories before the winners were announced. Interestingly, out of the 15 winning apps, only 2 apps were paid for (LumaFusion and Myst).

Second, all of the winning apps and games were recommended multiple times by Apple in the 90 days leading up to the awards. With the exception of MARVEL Future Revolution, all of the winning apps were those that received the most features from Apple compared to their direct competitors.

Apple's year-end App Store Awards are nothing new, but the company's decision to highlight many third-party apps this year may send a new message, especially since some select products are direct competitors to Apple products (Craft Pages and LumaFusion competitor iMovie).

Often, winners represent newcomers to the App Store, people who have leveraged Apple technology in interesting ways, or people who have received special attention during the year. For example, last year's winners reflected the big hit in the app world when it came to the home workout app "Wakeout!

Discover award-winning app store optimization strategies

Apps and games on iPhone

The 2 winners of the iPhone Award were both keywords optimized. In fact, both games not only relied on their brand name or brand awareness to drive downloads, but also added relevant generic keywords to their titles or subtitles to drive additional traffic.

To learn more about keyword optimization, you can check "How to Conduct Competitive ASO Keyword Optimization Analysis" of our previous articles.

Both games also decided to implement app preview videos on their product pages designed to showcase realistic gameplay and some of the game's main characters. Interestingly, both games chose to represent a popular game character in their icons.

Apps and games on iPad

Compared to the first two games we analyzed, Marvel Future Revolution and LumaFusion had less optimized keyword choices. In particular, MARVEL's title and subtitle lack relevant generic keywords which could drive some traffic to the game. LumaFusion, on the other hand, had a well-optimized subtitle but missed opportunities in its app name; on the App Store, its title only contained the app's brand name and left 20 characters available for implementing relevant generic keywords.

Both apps also decided to implement an app preview on their App Store pages. Both videos were designed to showcase the features and gameplay within the apps, especially in the case of LumaFusion, where the app preview is a record of someone using the different features of the app.

To learn more about app previews optimization, you can check "App Store Preview Video - How to Convince Users to Download" of our previous articles.

Again, both apps decided to use landscape screenshots. Interestingly, LumaFusion adapted the screenshots of its iPhone version of the app to show portrait screenshots of the in-app user experience as intercepted from the iPhone. If the interface and functionality of your app differs between the iPad and iPhone versions, we recommend that you adapt your App Store screenshots accordingly.

To learn more about app store screenshots optimization, you can check "How to Optimize Google Play Store Screenshots" of our previous articles.

"Hot App" ASO strategy

Finally, let's take a look at the ASO strategies of two apps that won the "Hot App" award in 2021. Both apps have optimized keyword choices in the title and subtitle: in addition to the brand name, both apps include a selection of relevant terms that may drive additional traffic to their app through generic keywords. Of course, Peanuts' keyword selection is inherently more specific.

Looking at the icons of these two apps, we can see two different strategies; Canva decided to include its brand name in its icon, while Peanut chose to represent Peanuts in its icon in the form of a peanut. This peanut design, with its continuous lines on a red background, helps to convey the emotion of sharing and connecting with people to store visitors.

To learn more about app icon optimization, you can check "App Icon optimization: A practical guide to boost app conversion rate" of our previous articles.


ASO Topic Mobile Growth,iOS 18 ASO & SKAdNetwork,

SHARE THIS POST

In twitter faceBook

Get FREE Optimization Consultation

Let's Grow Your App & Get Massive Traffic!


All content, layout and frame code of all ASOWorld blog sections belong to the original content and technical team, all reproduction and references need to indicate the source and link in the obvious position, otherwise legal responsibility will be pursued.

Start Your Store Ranking Acquisition Capability Detection
Step by step to measure all of your app store optimization efforts with our ASO tools.

Categories

  • App Marketing
  • App Promotion Strategy
  • App Promotion Case Study
  • Mobile Game & App Insights
  • App Store News
  • ASO Guides
  • ASO Basics for Beginners
  • App Store Rankings
  • User Acquisition
  • Mobile App Market Trends
  • Gaming Community
  • iOS 18 ASO Hub
  • ASOWorld News
  • Guideline Of ASO World Platform
Jean L.
ASO Game News Senior Editor | Gaming Writer
Follow Jean L.:
Jean joined ASO Game News as a senior editor and gaming writer in 2022, and her work has since been featured in numerous gaming publications. When she's not writing, Jean can often be found participating in online matches or attending gaming conventions to stay connected with the latest trends.

Comments

You are not logged in yet. Please Login / Register first

Related Blogs
AI App Insights: How Musk’s Apple Controversy Shapes ASO Strategies for App Growth
Mobile Game & App Insights

AI App Insights: How Musk’s Apple Controversy Shapes ASO Strategies for App Growth

Aug 13 2025
Mobile Game Marketing Insights: How MONOPOLY GO! Hit #1 in US App Store Grossing Chart
Mobile Game & App Insights

Mobile Game Marketing Insights: How MONOPOLY GO! Hit #1 in US App Store Grossing Chart

Jul 21 2025
Promote now, and start your App adventure!
Whether you are a big company or a small startup, we can help you to promote your app in Google Play , App Store, Galaxy Store and RuStore with the lower price.
Promote now, and start your App adventure!
  • ASO
  • Email [email protected]
  • Contact Contact Us
  • twitter facebook linkedin instagram
  • SERVICE
  • Keyword Installs
  • Package(Direct) Installs
  • Ratings & Reviews
  • Guaranteed Reviews Service
  • Guaranteed Keyword Ranking Service
  • ASO Service
  • More Services
  • ASO Academy
  • Blog
  • Case Studies
  • Guides & Insights
  • FAQs
  • Glossary
  • Marketing News
  • COMPANY
  • Why ASO World
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Reseller program
ASO World © 2020-2025 All Rights Reserved
Privacy Policy Terms of Service

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking "Accept", you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.