We are very pleased to announce that voting for the AppleVis Golden Apple Awards of 2024 is now open. We are also excited to announce the launch of a new award to recognize a developer who has made a significant and enduring impact for our community.
First launched in 2012, the AppleVis Golden Apples is an opportunity for blind, DeafBlind, and low vision users of Apple products to recognize and acknowledge the hard work and dedication which developers have put into making and maintaining great and accessible applications over the last twelve months.
Past winners of a Golden Apple include Seeing AI, Dice World, Blackbox, Zanagrams, Timecrest, and Audio Hijack. (View the full list of previous Golden Apple winners here.)
This year, we are reintroducing the Golden Apple for Developer of the Year, which was last awarded in 2018. We will also be awarding Golden Apples for Best App and Best Game.
In addition to our Golden Apples, we are very excited to announce the launch of the David Goodwin Award. Named after AppleVis Founder David Goodwin, who devoted 14 years of his life to serving our community, this annual award will recognize a developer who has made an outstanding and lasting impact for people who are blind, DeafBlind, or who have low vision over a minimum of the last three (3) years.
To be eligible for the Golden Apple for Best App or Best Game, an app must:
- Be fully accessible to blind, DeafBlind, and low vision users;
- Have been launched or significantly updated during 2024;
- Be from a developer with a demonstrated commitment to making their app(s) accessible to blind, DeafBlind, and low vision users; and
- Be best-in-class in terms of design, functionality, and operation.
To be eligible for the Golden Apple for Developer of the Year, a developer must:
- Have a demonstrated commitment to making their apps fully accessible to blind, DeafBlind, and low vision users during 2024;
- Have delivered significant new features or updates to their app(s) during 2024, particularly updates which directly benefit blind, DeafBlind, and low vision users; and
- Have been actively engaged with blind, DeafBlind, and low vision users during 2024 and established or maintained positive relationships with our community.
To be eligible for the David Goodwin Award, a developer must:
- Have actively been developing accessible applications for a minimum of three (3) years;
- Have at least one (1) fully accessible app in the App Store which is actively being developed;
- Consistently deliver app functionality which represents both excellence in design and vision accessibility implementation;
- Demonstrate an ongoing and exemplary commitment to empowering people who are blind, DeafBlind, or who have low vision; and
- Be actively engaged with blind, DeafBlind, and low vision users and consistently go above and beyond to serve the needs of our community.
The Nominees
Below are the nominees for each award:
Best App
- 1Password: Password Manager
- Anytime Podcast Player
- Drafts
- Mona for Mastodon
- Oko - Cross streets and Maps
- PiccyBot
- Seeing AI
- Tape It - Pro Audio Recorder
- Todoist: To Do List & Calendar
- VoiceVista
Best Game
- Adventure to Fate Lost Island
- AudioCat
- Azmar Quest (Old School RPG)
- Brailliance - Learn Braille
- Conjury
- Dawncaster: Deckbuilding RPG
- Eldrum: Untold - Text RPG
- Home Quest - Idle Adventure
- Land of Livia: An Epic Fantasy
- Round Logic
Developer of the Year
- Act None AB (Eldrum: Untold - Text RPG)
- AgileBits Inc. (1Password: Password Manager)
- Ben Hills (Anytime Podcast Player)
- BENVISION INC (Speakaboo: Blind AI Assistance)
- Jianfeng Wu (VoiceVista)
- Junyu Kuang (Mona for Mastodon, Spring for Twitter)
- Sevan Soukiassian (Azmar Quest (Old School RPG))
- Sparkling Design and Infotech Private Limited (PiccyBot)
- Split Atom Labs Pty Ltd (Land of Livia: An Epic Fantasy)
- Tape It Music GmbH (Tape It - Pro Audio Recorder)
- TouchMint LLC (Adventure To Fate Lost Island)
- Weather Gods Ltd (Weather Gods)
David Goodwin Award
- A Sharp, LLC (Six Ages, King of Dragon Pass)
- American Printing House for the Blind (GoodMaps Outdoors)
- Agile Tortoise (Drafts)
- Aira Tech Corp (Aira Explorer)
- Cash Reader s.r.o. (Cash Reader for the Blind)
- Dolphin Computer Access Ltd (Dolphin EasyReader)
- Envision Technologies B.V. (Envision AI)
- Flexibits Inc. (Fantastical Calendar)
- Junyu Kuang (Mona for Mastodon, Spring for Twitter)
- Kunal Sood (lire: RSS Reader)
- Library Of Congress (BARD Mobile)
- MIPsoft Oy (BlindSquare)
- National Federation of the Blind (NFB-NEWSLINE® Mobile)
- Oriol Gomez (Round Logic, Accessible Hangman, Accessible 2048, and more)
- Sneaky Crab, Inc. (Timecrest)
- TwistedWave Software Ltd. (TwistedWave Audio Editor)
- Ulysses GmbH & Co. KG (Ulysses: Writing App)
- Weather Gods Ltd (Weather Gods)
- Wooji Juice Ltd (Ferrite Recording Studio, Hokusai Audio Editor)
Is Your Personal Golden Apple Not Shortlisted?
This year, we are again offering the option to select “Other” when casting your vote. When you do this, you will be presented with a text field to enter an app, game, or developer you believe deserves special recognition. We simply ask that you first please verify the app or developer you are writing in meets the eligibility criteria for the award.
If a write-in candidate receives more votes than any nominee, it will win the award.
Thank You to our Nominating Committee
We would like to extend our appreciation to the following community leaders for serving on our 2024 Golden Apples Nominating Committee:
- Shelly Brisbin
- Judy Dixon
- Michael Feir
- John Gassman
- Jonathan Mosen
- David Redmond
- Joe Steinkamp
Important Contest Rules
Please read the below information carefully before casting your vote
- Voting for the 2024 AppleVis Golden Apple Awards is open to individuals who are blind, DeafBlind, or who have low vision; and who are not employed by and do not have any other professional affiliation with any of the shortlisted companies. To ensure that the process is fare and representative of the wishes of end-users in our community, we ask that if you do not meet the requirements set out above, that you please not vote in the AppleVis Golden Apple Awards. Thank you in advance for your understanding and for complying with this policy.
- We kindly request that during the voting period, community members refrain from creating forum threads to encourage others to vote for specific apps or developers; as this practice can undermine the spirit and fairness of a public vote by skewing results based on promotional efforts rather than genuine community preference. To help ensure a level playing field where all nominees are judged equally on their merits, any posts of this nature will be removed.
- Community members may vote one (1) time. If you experience issues submitting your vote or have any other questions, please let us know via our Contact Form and a member of our team will assist you.
- Voting will close at 14:00 UTC on Monday, December 23, 2024.
- An AppleVis Account is required to access the voting form and cast your vote. The voting form is at the end of this post, but it will only be displayed to logged in users.
- If you are not already logged into the website, you can log in here.
- If you do not yet have an AppleVis account, you can create an account on this page.
- Once logged into the website, please come back to this page to cast your vote.