We’re always hunting for the App Store’s hidden gems so we can recommend apps that go beyond the obvious and elevate your iPhone experience. But our annual awards take things further, celebrating the very best. Here, then, are our favorite new iPhone apps from 2025.
Winner: Obscura Studio ($2/£2 per month or $65/£65 lifetime)
Do we need another iPhone photo editor? Obscura Studio makes a powerful case that we do. And because it’s from the creator of the superb Obscura Camera, this editor brings a similar sense of refined elegance to post-processing.
You can start things off by choosing from a range of filmic filters that instantly give your images mood and character. Dig deeper and you can tweak controls for grain, curves, tinting, and more, to capture the precise look you want. Edits can be saved as reusable custom filters, helping you carve out consistent visual styles.
This is a rare app that gets the balance right, offering immediacy, power, and an interface that doesn’t get in the way. In a crowded field of photo editors, Obscura Studio stays perfectly in focus.
Runner-up: Odyz (free or $4/£4 per year)
Apple Photos lets you explore your photos on a map of the world. Odyz takes that idea further, and is a must-have for the well-travelled photography fan.
Photos are pinned to a 3D globe, but you can also explore trips via a straightforward timeline. Meanwhile, a ‘passport’ slowly builds, totting up distances travelled, continents and countries visited, and photos taken.
All this is generously provided for free, with no ads and no accounts required. A small optional annual fee adds custom themes and Home Screen widgets, and seems like a good way to reward the app’s creators for their efforts.
Also commended
The best of the rest from 2025, in alphabetical order.
Graintouch ($10/£10)
If you ever tried animation app Looom, it will come as no surprise that the same team’s take on a drawing app is similarly offbeat. Its constraints and approach can feel puzzling at first, but stick with Graintouch and it becomes a delightful doodling companion. And because it’s like nothing else out there, this app has a knack for nudging you into new creative territory.
Project Indigo (free)
Exercise a little caution when using this new camera app from Adobe, but do give it a try. The app leans heavily on computational photography, aiming for more natural-looking images, improved low-light performance, and more detailed zoomed shots. It doesn’t always nail the result, but when Project Indigo gets things right the results are closer to what your eyes saw and better Apple’s Camera.
Tapestry (free or $20/£20 per year or $80/£80 lifetime)
This app deftly weaves your online worlds into a unified timeline. That means all your social posts, blogs, YouTube channels, and more, in one place. It’s a great option if you’re tired of jumping between apps for fear of missing something good. And when everything in one spot feels like too much, Tapestry’s custom feeds let you focus purely on what matters to you right now.
WalkStar (free or $10/£10 per year or $40/£40 lifetime)
Sometimes the best app ideas are the simplest ones, executed to perfection. That’s very much WalkStar, which invites you to load songs from Apple Music onto a virtual cassette. The twist: the music stops when you do. It’s not subtle, but it’s effective at keeping you moving. Whether you’re out for a hike or a quick stroll, WalkStar turns inertia into motivation, one track at a time.