Every year, Google names the best apps and games from its Play Store. The awards are meant to not only highlight outstanding experiences on Android, but also to shine a light on the diverse, vibrant community of developers behind the Google Play Store. The awards are broken down by best overall app and game, best multi-device app and game, and then specific, smaller categories. Google also includes its pick of the best books for each genre from the past year. If you’re looking for a new way to pass time, then this list will be a lot like an early Christmas.



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Google Play’s best apps of 2024

Google named Partiful the single best app of the year. This app is a tool for creating and managing events — everything from a surprise birthday party to a baby shower for your bestie. It makes it insanely easy to create events, send out invitations, and even track RSVPs. All recipients need to do is click a simple link. Being social has never been this easy. Google also dubbed Max the best multi-device app, and with the amount of content available on the streaming service (including old-school favorites from Boomerang), it’s easy to see why it was the number one pick.


Google also laid out a list of the best runners-up:


Google Play’s best games of 2024

As for the best game of 2024, that honor goes to AFK Journey. This is an entertaining, time-sucking idle RPG that you’ll be able to sink hours into, especially when you never have to watch ads. Some are around, yeah, but you don’t get many bonuses for watching them. It’s not terribly pay to win, either, although given the price of items in the real money store, it’s clear the developer was targeting whales.


Meanwhile, the best multi-device game went to Clash of Clans. Yes, the mobile game has been around for over a decade and has a truly ridiculous fanbase (somewhere around 1.87 million daily users), but this year it expanded even further and became available on PC and Chromebook. At this point, you can basically play Clash of Clans anywhere you want, on practically any device.

And for the honorable mentions in the games category:




Google Play’s best books of 2024

If games aren’t your thing and you’d rather while away the hours with your nose in a good book (or a good book on your display, in this case), Google also dropped its favorites from each category. Check them out:

  • Favorite fantasy: “Dragon Rider” by Taran Matharu (ebook, audiobook)
  • Favorite thriller: “All the Colors of the Dark” by Chris Whitaker (ebook,audiobook)
  • Favorite romance: “House of Flame and Shadow’ by Sarah J Maas (ebook, audiobook)
  • Favorite fiction: “All Fours” by Miranda July (ebook, audiobook)
  • Favorite memoir: “Knife” by Salman Rushdie (ebook, audiobook)
  • Favorite horror: “The Eyes are the Best Part” by Monika Kim (ebook, audiobook)
  • Favorite graphic novel: “Homebody” by Theo Parish (ebook | audiobook)
  • Favorite cozy manga: “Breakfast with My Two-Tailed Cat” by Ai Shimizu (ebook)
  • Favorite business book: “Teams: Getting Things Done with Others” by David Allen and Edward Lamont (ebook, audiobook)
  • Favorite personal development: “Supercommunicators” by Charles Duhigg (ebook, audiobook)
  • Favorite historical fiction: “James” by Percival Everett (ebook, audiobook)


Google names its top apps and games at the end of each year, but books are new category we haven’t seen before. If you’re curious, you can take a look back and see what Google’s picks were for 2023 and earlier.

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