2012 Apple Design Award Winners Announced - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

2012 Apple Design Award Winners Announced

Apple today announced the winners of its annual Apple Design Awards at WWDC. Winning developers receive a MacBook Air, an iPad, an iPod touch, and the Apple Design Award cube trophy as well as a special ADA lanyard.

For apps to be eligible for ADA nomination, they must be distributed via the Mac or iOS App Store. This year's winners come from a range of genres, encompassing everything from games to education to art to music:

iPhone

Jetpack Joyride
National Parks by National Geographic
Where’s my Water?

NewImageiPad

Paper
Bobo Explores Light
DM1 the Drum Machine

Mac

DeusEx: Human Revolution
Sketch
Limbo

Student

Little Star
daWindci

Apple has included additional information about the apps and what made them stand out on the Apple Design Awards page.

Two years ago, as part of the focus on iOS at WWDC 2010, Apple did not include Mac applications in the Apple Design Awards competition. With OS X again playing a prominent role Apple's lineup and the Mac App Store gaining momentum, Mac applications returned to the ballot in 2011.

ADA winners in 2011 included Cut the Rope, Pixelmator and djay.

Popular Stories

iCloud iPhone 17 Pro

iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Get Two New Perks on iOS 27

Thursday July 2, 2026 6:10 am PDT by
If you pay for certain iCloud+ storage plans beyond the 5GB that Apple offers for free, you will receive two more perks on iOS 27 at no additional cost. A summary of the two new iCloud+ perks on iOS 27:Increased daily usage limits for some new Apple Intelligence features, including image generation in the revamped Image Playground app. HomeKit Secure Video cameras receive generated video...
Apple Event Logo

Apple Just Released a New Product

Thursday July 2, 2026 8:04 am PDT by
Apple's first product release of summer 2026 occurred this week, but do not get too excited, as it is merely the Beats Solo Buds in a new color. Beats Solo Buds are now offered in orange through Best Buy in the U.S., with availability set to expand to 7-Eleven stores in Japan on July 4. Apple already offered orange Solo Buds in India for free with the purchase of an iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 ...
iPhone 4 on Black Feature

Apple Facing One of Its Worst Leaks Since the iPhone 4

Thursday July 2, 2026 9:53 am PDT by
Apple supplier Tata Electronics recently suffered a cyberattack that resulted in thousands of confidential files being published on the dark web, and this reportedly included some photos and documents related to the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro. We have elected not to share any of the leaked photos in this story due to the illegal nature in which they were obtained, but they can easily be found...

Top Rated Comments

dejo Avatar
184 months ago
Congratulations to all the winners!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
184 months ago
Paper absolutely deserved the award, fantastic App. Congrats to the other winners too, certainly something to be very proud of! :D
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Moonjumper Avatar
184 months ago
I can't stop playing Jetpack Joyride. Nice to see it win.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Pakaku Avatar
184 months ago
Interesting list, but is there anything particularly Mac-like about Deus Ex? Or are the ADAs just another token gesture ceremony Apple uses to vaguely signal its intents and desires, i.e. "We want all big game developers to do stuff for the Mac [and hope it runs on Intel HD Graphics 4000 [or worse]]".

As long as it's on one of Apple's stores, I guess it's valid for the award?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
184 months ago
no tweetbot? shame

i'm a little surprised by that too. but i'm glad that Jetpack Joyride is on there. fun, simple game.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
apps1991 Avatar
184 months ago
Deus Ex: Human Revolution has won a 2012 Apple Design Award. Well-deserved.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)