The books are about to close on the year that was 2013. In the past 12 months, we've seen a huge amount of new apps released for smartphones and tablets—a lot of them were hits, many slowly got a following that could help lead them into 2014, and many of them flopped. Hey, it's hard out here for an app. So, Complex has gone through the vast oceans of free and paid apps, and have picked out the highlights of the year. From apps that focus on productivity, photography, social media, and entertainment, it's difficult to create something that people will use regularly on their devices, and not something that ends up deleted after a few days, or hidden in a folder. These companies have achieved just that. Here are The Top 10 Apps of 2013.
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The books are about to close on the year that was 2013. In the past 12 months, we've seen a huge amount of new apps released for smartphones and tablets—a lot of them were hits, many slowly got a following that could help lead them into 2014, and many of them flopped. Hey, it's hard out here for an app. So, Complex has gone through the vast oceans of free and paid apps, and have picked out the highlights of the year. From apps that focus on productivity, photography, social media, and entertainment, it's difficult to create something that people will use regularly on their devices, and not something that ends up deleted after a few days, or hidden in a folder. These companies have achieved just that. Here are The Top 10 Apps of 2013.
RELATED: Holiday Gift Guide: 10 Paid Apps We Want This Year
RELATED: 10 Apps That Will Improve Your Life Right Now
RELATED: The Best Apps of 2013 (So Far)
Honorable Mention: Drake Shake
Platform: iOS; Free
Automatically place Drizzy in any of your pics, just by shaking your phone. This is going to change the way you take photographs (or selfies, at least.)
10. Vowch
Platform: iOS; Free
Vowch is a social recommendation platform that let's users literally vouch for the things they like. You vouch for things across the many spectrums of life, whether it's books, music, television, food, etc., and start building a portrait of yourself through the things you've vouched for—which, in turn, allows you to get a glimpse of other people through what they've liked. The app works with a point system that will label a user a "Boss" of a category based on the points they get by vouching.
It reminds us of how FaceBook and MySpace's "favorite" categories used to work (those are features are now largely hidden on the sites): you 'favorite' everything that you like, and people can get a feel for you based on the books, shows, and weird things you've chosen. And maybe someone else out there will like them, too.
9. VSCO Cam
With so many photography apps on the market right now trying to get your attention with quirky gimmicks, it's nice to see something that keeps things toned down, stylish, and effective. VSCO Cam (VSCO is an acronym for Visual Supply Company) lets users edit their photos in a minimalistic platform, and upload them to the VSCO Grid, a curated collection of imagery. See it in action above.
8. Lyft
Depending on where you llve, you might have heard of the ride-sharing app Uber, but Lyft is the app that's currently becoming a go-to option. Lyft debuted in San Francisco, and lets drivers use their own cars to pick up people and take them to their destinations. Made famous by the popular pink moustaches that Lyft drivers place on the front of their vehicles, Lyft is well on its way to being a major company and competitor among driving options. Even Conan O'Brien uses it.
7. Bubbli
Platform: iOS; Free
Think your selfie is cool? Well your face is blocking out everything else that's interesting, thank you very much. There's only so much that can fit into a picture—so why not capture a 360-degree picture of the entire area? No, this isn't just some panorama. Bubbli does something better than that. By opening up the app, you can scan the entire area of where you're standing, and upload what you recorded. You can then Facebook or text a link to what you recorded, and give everyone else a first hand look of the environment you're in.
Seflies ain't got nothing on this.
6. Cash
Whether we like it or not, there are times we need cash fast. If it's for the bills that kick in at the last minute toward the end of the month, or some pop up emergency when we need some gas in the tank. Square's Cash app let's you easily send money to family and friends by clicking a few buttons and sending an email—easy as that. Just download the app, sign up and link your bank account, and send money to whoever you need to through email. It also works vice versa as well. All someone has to do is download it and input their info to send you money, so there's no reason why your friends can go years without paying you for "that one time."
5. Mailbox
Platform: iOS; Free
Mailbox was so highly anticipated before it was released, that when it finally came out, they had to limit the amount of people who could download it. It was for a good reason, too. The Mailbox app designed email from the ground up to be easier, fun, and faster. You'll never forget to read an important email again, and the app will make it easier to forget all of the ones you never wanted to read.
4. BlackBerry BBM
Platform: BlackBerry, iOS, Android; Free
BlackBerry BBM used to be just that: a messaging app, only for BlackBerry. After the company survived a rough 2013, they released BlackBerry BBM for both Android and iOS. People swooped it up, and the app got more than 10 million downloads in 24 hours. Whoa.
Soon after that, they released BBM Channels, which was the company's own little exclusive answer to Tumblr. The company went up for sale a few months ago after things looked like they might have been over, but they took themselves off of the market recently, and they're trying to give things another go. BBM is a bright spot in BlackBerry's future, and hopefully they can utilize that light to push them into a strong 2014.
3. Yahoo! Weather
Yahoo! dropped one of the best weather apps—not only of this year—but ever. By not only focusing on accurate information and numbers, the company made a visually appealing app by incorporating photography and sleek design. It looked very iOS 7 before iOS 7 was even a thing. With beautiful pictures of your area weaved in the app (which are taken off of Flickr), you'll see your city displayed on your phone during sunset, afternoon, or at night, all depending on the corresponding time of day. You'll get all of the weather details you need, in a great design you couldn't get anywhere else.
2. Tinder
Tinder: It flipped the dating world on its head this year, even though the premise is simple: you vote on who you think is attractive or not, and if the person you think is attractive thinks you are too, well, then you can make things happen. This is not an original idea in the least bit. This idea literally is one of the first incarnations of Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg built a similar site called FaceMash at Harvard where people could vote on other people's attractiveness. But Tinder came on to the scene with a focused vision: to get you laid, and nothing more (unless you want it.)
1. Vine
Platform: iOS, Android, Windows; Free
"Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
The famous quote fits right in with Vine this year. When the app launched in January, it took the Internet by storm—six-second videos that could easily be put together and that didn't quite require a lot of your attention. But if you did give it a lot of attention and love for those few seconds, you could be thrown into Internet stardom.
Then, Instagram's video features came along. Once that happened, people (including this writer) thought Vine's death had been sealed. We couldn't have been more wrong. The app is alive and flourishing, largely because of its creative users, and not because of any technical feat from the design team. Vine's community is funny, artistic, and confident, and they stuck with the app when times seemed bleak. So far, Vine seems to be the app for go-to fun, which you can't find anywhere else. Bravo. Check out our collection of the best Vines from the first half of the year.
Vine is our App of the Year.
