Apple is closing in on the fifth anniversary (appiversary?) of the iOS App Store, and what better way to celebrate than with free apps?
Several top apps in the App Store went on sale today for free. These aren’t your typical attention-grabbing sales from tier-two apps, either. The apps that are going on sale tend to be highly reviewed.
Here are the standouts among the list:
- Day One: This is a journaling app I could not live without. It’s an elegantly-designed way to journal, whatever that means for you. It syncs through iCloud and Dropbox to the iPhone, iPad and Mac, though the Mac version isn’t on sale.
- Traktor DJ: This $20 DJ app has been getting rave reviews from experienced DJs and novices alike since its release on the App Store. While I haven’t had a chance to play with it all that much, it seems full-featured and simple to use all at the same time. If you have an iPad, it’s free. What are you waiting for? There is an iPhone app available for free today as well, but it’s not nearly as good.
- Tiny Wings and Tiny Wings HD: If you’ve never played this addictive little iOS game yet, you should. The concept is simple: you’re a bird with tiny wings, so you have to rely on hills to accelerate you up into the air. It’s adorable and a lot of fun.
- Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP: S&S is a gorgeous and brilliantly written game, and one of the best gaming experiences I’ve had on iOS. It’s definitely worth a try, if nothing else.
- How to Cook Everything: New York Times columnist Mark Bittman created a massive cookbook with more than two thousand recipes. This is that cookbook in app form. If you’re always looking to step up your culinary game, it’s definitely worth grabbing.
Other free apps include Infinity Blade II (its predecessor is on sale for $3), Where’s My Water, BadLand, Over, MapMyRide+ and Barefoot World Atlas.
While it’s unclear yet whether this is a part of an official Apple promotion, none of the apps have any sort of explanation listed in their description, which is usually typical of developers who put their app on sale. That would seem to indicate that something larger is going on.
We’ll update this post if more deals or an explanation pop up later today.
