Four Aussie apps make Apple’s best of 2012

App developers can take inspiration from Apple’s annual list of the best iOS apps, including Australian apps Virgin Australia Flight Specials, Sydney Food Trucks, OzTV and Dandelion.

Apple always chooses top apps and games of the year, determined separately from which performs best based on downloads or sales.

The iPhone app of the year is Action Movie FX, while the iPad app of the year is Paper.

Action Movie FX lets users add Hollywood effects to iPhone and iPad movies filmed by the user.

The user selects a scene, such as “hell storm missile”, and films a target. The app then adds an explosive action sequence, complete with cluster bombs and explosions, into the movie.

The Paper app, meanwhile, is described as the “easiest and most beautiful way to create on iPad”. It allows the user to complete sketches, diagrams, illustrations, notes or drawings, and share them across the web.

According to iTunes, Paper was designed “from the ground up for touch and creating on the go”, with “no fussy buttons, settings or other distractions”.

The best games, meanwhile, are Rayman Jungle Run on the iPhone, from major games studio Ubisoft, and The Room, a puzzle game with a mystery element.

Runners-up for apps included Propellerhead, software aimed at music creation, and Green Kitchen, an app featuring recipes for vegetarians and healthy eaters.

Letterpress, the game from ex-Twitter mobile developer Loren Brichter, took runner-up among iPhone games, and Walking Mars came in second on the iPad.

Three Australian apps appeared in the disruptive services category, while the fourth app, Dandelion, appeared in the “hidden gems” category.

OzTV is described as Australia’s TV guide for the iPhone and iPad. It allows users to customise channels, set reminders for shows, “check in” and share shows, and save favourite shows.

It was the first app developed by Alex Johnston and Jeff Tan-Ang, who are the founders of Melbourne-based app developer Apps Perhaps.

After working on app development in the private sector, for clients such as Yellow Pages, Johnston and Tan-Ang quit their day jobs to work full-time on OzTV.

The Dandelion app, developed by Sydney-based digital agency Protein, is a children’s interactive storybook, which allows kids and adults to discuss bullying.

“The app became the number one book app in the Australian App Store within two weeks of release, outselling Dr Seuss and Pixar,” Protein director Galvin Scott Davis says.

Sydney Food Trucks, meanwhile, locates gourmet Sydney food trucks in real time, allowing users to discover a range of quality late-night meals while they’re on the go.

It was developed by We Make Apps, a Melbourne-based app development company.

The list comes just as Google released its long-awaited Maps app, after being banished by Apple in favour of its home-grown option.

The app has rocketed straight to number one on the most-downloaded list.