At the end of 2012, we carried a series of posts here on Beautiful Pixels that we called our ‘Best of 2012‘. We handpicked some of the best examples of UI Designs, Interactions and Animations that we saw in 2012 and presented them to you. 2013 has been no different. In the last 12 months, not only did we see the release of iOS 7 and Google continuing to improve Android in the areas of design and UX, but we also saw a wide range of app developers churn our pixel perfect designs for apps.
When we began our journey 4 years ago (Yes! We turned 4 this year), we set out to create a place, a little haven, dedicated to beautiful user interfaces and apps that we discover every day. Since then, Beautiful Pixels has amassed a loyal readership of over 300,000 subscribers via RSS, Twitter, Facebook and other sources. We’ve also expanded our team and have started covering a lot more content in the last few months. We’d like to take a moment to thank you, our readers for their love & support towards us in these 4 years. Our special thanks goes out to all our Sponsors, Advertisers & Members, without whom we couldn’t have achieved this. Our members should be receiving a nice surprise in their inboxes this Christmas as a thank you for supporting us so far.
This year again, we’ll be bringing you our handpicked showcase of beautiful pixels via our newly christened feature — The Highlight. Starting today and all through this week, we’ll be posting a new Highlight every day covering all the apps and websites that we loved from 2013. Without further ado, here’s The Highlight – iOS 7 Redesigns.
Fantastical 2
When you think of twitter apps, you either think of Twitterrific or Tweetbot. When it comes to calendar apps, Fantastical is the king. The app looked great on iOS 6 and we all had high hopes from Fantastical 2 for iOS 7 and boy did it deliver. Fantastical 2 brought full reminders integration and the best way to manage birthdays and wish people ever. There is also a new light theme in the app. Fantastical 2 raises the bar set by its own previous version much higher. Fantastical 2 is available on the App Store for $4.99 and it is on sale for $1.99 right now.
Pocket Casts 4
Pocket Casts has absolutely nailed it when it comes to a rock solid, amazing looking and feature packed podcast app on iOS and Android. It is our favourite podcast app across both platforms and with its iOS 7 redesign, it really outclassed the competition. It has some great animations and completely came into its own with the latest redesign. Pocket Casts 4 on iOS was even a free update. Pocket Casts 4 is available on the App Store for $3.99.
Flight Track 5
We recently reviewed Flight Track 5 for iOS and really loved it. Mobiata have released the best looking flight tracking app out there. It brings your flights to the front while getting rid of any clutter. The actual tracking page is amazing and having the ability to call an airline or view its seating map for a particular flight in one tap is the icing on the cake. FlightTrack 5 was released as a separate app and is available for $4.99.
Scratch
Scratch is probably our favorite iOS redesign. The designers at Karbon did an amazing job with this one. Not only is the app absolutely breathtaking, the icon too is gorgeous to look at. Creating quick-fire notes with Scratch is a breeze and sharing them outwards is just as easy. The redesign was a free update to existing users and the app is $2.99 on the App Store.
Ecoute
PixiApps released version 2.0 of their stunning music player for iOS — Ecoute earlier this month. With this version, the entire app has been redesigned and borrows heavily from iOS 7. It uses a lot of stellar effects that are new in the latest version of iOS, including blur to display the Album Artwork. There are some really nicely done animations too, including a lovely pull-to-search animation and the Filter list. Ecoute is just $2.99 on the App Store.
Simplenote
Simplenote has always been a fantastic Notes app for iOS. It has always stayed true to its name, getting the job done for its users without any fuss. After its acquisition by Automattic, Simplenote hit it out of the park with their iOS 7 redesign (v4.0). It’s clean & manages to stay out of the way, keep the content of your notes front & center. The new design feels right at home on iOS 7 and looks absolutely great. Automattic also released an all new design for its Web version and also released a Mac app. Simplenote is a Free app on the App Store and has IAP for a Premium version with additional features.
Evernote
Apple showed off how certain big name apps would look on iOS 7, but no one was ready for what Evernote was about to release. The app looked unlike anything they had done before. It has a lovely background, parallax, lively animations and more. The app layout was changed for the better and the bottom has this quick entry bar. The theme is green as expected and it almost feels like the green iPhone 5c is a special edition Evernote phone. Evernote’s iPhone iOS 7 redesign deserves as much praise as it gets. Evernote is available Free on the App Store.
Mr Reader
Mr Reader by Oliver Fürniß is an app that makes you wonder why it is being sold for much less than it is worth. Many people switched to this when Reeder for iPad stagnated and as of version 3.0, the app got a fresh coat of iOS 7 paint and it is the only iPad RSS app you need. It has always offered more functionality than most RSS apps put together and its support for custom themes is great. You can even design your own theme in real time with a live preview using a browser and the app. Mr Reader supports Fever, Feedbin, Feedly, Feed Wrangler and more for syncing. Mr Reader is available for iPad for $3.99. You can also download a custom dark theme based on Twitterrific 5 by Mikhail here.