Google Play’s Best Apps & Games of 2024 in India

19 Nov, 2024

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Google India Team

The results are in! Google Play's Best of 2024 awards for India are here, recognizing the best apps and games on Google Play, along with the talented developers who created them.

On the apps front, this year, we once again saw a diverse range of innovative solutions addressing a variety of needs, including fashion styling, health, expense tracking, and news. Notably, 5 out of 7 winners in the Best of Play 2024 India apps list were developed by Indian companies, underscoring the strength of local innovation.

AI is revolutionizing app experiences, and India is at the forefront of this transformation. In fact, India has emerged as the global leader in AI mobile app downloads, accounting for 21% of global downloads ¹ this year. Many of these solutions come from Indian developers who are also embracing AI, with almost 1,000 apps and games in the country incorporating this technology.²

For instance, Hey Alle's "Alle - Your AI Fashion Stylist" provides personalized fashion advice based on occasion, body type, and facial features, earning it the "Best App" and "Best for Fun" awards. Headlyne, our "Best for Personal Growth" winner, uses AI to deliver personalized news, showcasing the increasing sophistication of AI in understanding individual preferences.

Sony LIV: Sports & Entmt won the Best for Large Screens award for offering a high-quality, immersive viewing experience across bigger screen devices like tablets. Other winners include apps like Fold: Expense Tracker (Best Everyday Essential), Rise: Habit List (Best Hidden Gem), Baby Daybook (Best for Watches), and Whatsapp Messenger (Best Multi-device app).

On the gaming front, the Indian gaming scene continues to thrive, with India adding 23 million new gamers in FY24, reaching a total of 590 million.³ In fact, India now boasts the world's second-largest market for mobile gaming downloads, with average weekly playtime increasing by 30%. ³

Squad Busters, the "Best Game" winner, highlights India's love for fast-paced, easy-to-learn multiplayer games that emphasize social interaction. Many winning games showcased a focus on localization, incorporating Indian storylines, characters, and culture elements into their games. SuperGaming's Indus Battle Royale, with the developer being the winner of the "Best Made in India" category for the second consecutive year, perfectly embodies this with its integration of Indian visuals and storytelling within the popular Battle Royale genre.

BGMI (Battlegrounds Mobile India), the "Best Ongoing" winner, continued to enthrall players with regular updates featuring India-centric content, including themes based on cricket, festivals, and collaborations with Indian celebrities. Bloom, the "Best Indie" winner, captivated players with its unique puzzle mechanics and a level maker feature, allowing for endless creativity. Bullet Echo, recognized as the "Best Pick Up & Play," offered quick and engaging gameplay experiences perfect for gaming on the go.

Other winners include: Clash of Clans (Best Multi-device Game), Yes, Your Grace (Best Story), Zombie Sniper War 3 - Fire FPS (Best on Play Pass), and Cookie Run: Tower of Adventures (Best for Google Play Games on PC).

Congratulations to all the winners and the entire Google Play developer community for their incredible contributions! This year we spoke with the winners of our “Best App” and “Best Made in India Game” to hear their stories. Read on for the full list of award winners in India. You can also see all the winners in the Best of 2024 section on the Play Store

Alle - Winner, Best App and Best for Fun app of 2024

In conversation with Prateek Agarwal, Co Founder & CEO, Alle

Tell us about the app and the journey of creating it. What inspired you to develop an AI-powered fashion stylist?

As founders, we observed that millions of people feel uncertain about their fashion choices, waste time browsing inefficiently, and struggle to find relevant products or styling ideas. The existing approaches not only consume valuable time and lead to suboptimal, unsatisfying decisions, but also contributes to a sense of overwhelm and frustration in the fashion discovery process. We noticed that the recent developments in Gen AI, combined with evolving consumer preferences for visual inspirational content, will create a massive opportunity to reimagine & rebuild how people discover and shop for fashion. This realisation led us to start Alle with a simple yet powerful vision: to help people express themselves confidently through their fashion choices.

Alle is your personal AI stylist, designed to simplify and elevate your fashion experience. It helps you discover outfit inspiration personalized to your unique style and preferences. Whether you're dressing for a wedding, updating your work wardrobe, or figuring out how to style a statement blazer, Alle provides expert fashion advice that feels like chatting with a knowledgeable friend. It also seamlessly connects you to exact products across multiple brands and retailers, letting you shop complete looks with ease. To complete the experience, Alle's virtual try-on feature lets you see how outfits will look on you before making a purchase, helping eliminate the uncertainty from online shopping.

Tell us about Alle’s journey on Google Play.

As a new startup, Google Play has been crucial in helping us reach our early users organically. The platform's detailed analytics and crash reporting have been invaluable - they've helped us quickly identify and fix issues, improving our app stability. We've also found the review system incredibly helpful; it's given us direct feedback from users about what features they love and what they want to see next. This kind of real-time user insight has helped us ship fast and ship better.

Winning the Best App of 2024 feels surreal, especially as a young startup. It's incredible to see that users and Google Play experts believe in what we're building. This award validates our vision of creating the world's most useful AI personal stylist. It inspires us to innovate further and solve the fashion discovery problem for our users.

What are your future plans for Alle?

Our next big goal is to make Alle the ultimate destination for discovering and shopping the latest fashion trends. We're working on two key priorities: ensuring our inspiration is always ahead of the curve with the most current trends, and making every single piece in every look instantly shoppable. We want to eliminate that frustrating moment when you see something you love but can't find where to buy it.

Indus Battle Royale Mobile - Winner, Best Made in India Game of 2024

In conversation with Roby John, Co Founder & CEO, SuperGaming

Tell us about SuperGaming and the journey of bringing Indus Battle Royale to life.

At SuperGaming, our passion is creating immersive, high-quality games that resonate globally while staying true to cultural roots. Focusing on real-time multiplayer games, we’ve developed standout titles like MaskGun, which launched in 2019 and achieved nearly 100 million downloads, and Battle Stars, which found success in India.

With Indus Battle Royale, we aimed to introduce a unique theme, filling a gap for a battle royale that authentically showcases Indian art and culture while being an innovative new take on the battle royale genre. Since its launch, Indus has reached 5 million downloads, marking a significant step toward putting Indian games on the global map.

Our team spent over three years crafting Indus, with detailed characters, environments, and innovative gameplay features like our alternate win condition called “Cosmium” and our unique “Grudge” revenge system. This effort was about more than just a game—it’s a connection to our engaged community. The positive reception to its Indo-futuristic design motivates us to keep improving. The community’s enthusiasm validates our vision of Indian games thriving globally. We’re committed to evolving Indus through continuous updates and player engagement, showcasing the potential of Indian creativity in gaming.

Tell us about SuperGaming's journey on Google Play as a gaming studio.

Google Play has been an indispensable partner in SuperGaming’s journey, helping us grow from a local studio to a recognized name. It has provided us access to millions of players and a reliable payment infrastructure, fostering trust and seamless transactions. Their team’s guidance has been invaluable in optimizing monetization, refining features, and tailoring our games to resonate with India’s diverse audience. Google Play’s expertise and responsiveness have empowered us to deliver world-class gaming, pushing the boundaries of Indian gaming.

Winning the Best of 2024: Made in India award is an incredible honor, and I’d first like to congratulate our entire team. This recognition is a testament to their years of dedication, creativity, and unwavering commitment to bringing Indus to life. It’s their hard work that truly made this achievement possible. I’d also like to extend heartfelt thanks to our partners and, most importantly, to our players. Their constant feedback, enthusiasm, and support have been instrumental in shaping Indus into what it is today. This award belongs just as much to our community as it does to us. To us, this recognition is not just a milestone but also a motivation to keep pushing forward. It serves as both an encouragement and a responsibility—to continue refining the game, innovating, and delivering an even better experience for our players. We’re more committed than ever to raising the bar and making Indian gaming shine on the global stage.

What are your future plans for SuperGaming and Indus Battle Royale?

At SuperGaming, our vision is crystal clear: we aim to elevate Indus into one of the top-tier Battle Royale experiences globally. Our immediate focus is on perfecting every aspect of the game, ensuring it delivers a world-class experience that not only resonates with players around the world but also proudly reflects its Indian roots.

A core part of this journey involves establishing Indus as a competitive esports title. We see immense potential in building an ecosystem where players can showcase their skills, compete at the highest levels, and unite as a vibrant community. Esports is a key pillar of our roadmap, and we’re committed to nurturing a thriving competitive scene that brings together passionate gamers.

While our ultimate vision is to take Indian gaming content to a global audience, we’re approaching it with a step-by-step strategy. Our priority is to refine the game experience first, ensuring it’s exceptional in every way, before scaling up to the international stage. We envision Indus not just as a great game, but as a breakthrough moment in Indian gaming—one that can stand proudly alongside the biggest titles worldwide, setting new benchmarks for what Indian games can achieve and be true to our mission of "Building India's Gaming Revolution."