You’ll agree that publisher recognition of a trustmark has special meaning, whether it’s for an outstanding device or apps.
The Microsoft Store team selected the best apps in four categories: creativity, entertainment, social, and productivity. The publisher chose these apps based on user experience, design excellence, app quality, and customer value.
If you’re looking for the best social and entertainment experiences on Windows, here’s the Microsoft Store Editor’s Choice social and entertainment apps, as well as the app that earned special recognition. Read on and explore.
What are Microsoft Store app awards?
To help highlight what the Microsoft Store has to offer, the tech giant hosted an app awards contest in May 2022. People could nominate their favorite apps, and Microsoft would pick the cream of the crop.
These apps are the winners of that award ceremony in the entertainment and social categories, with one winner earning special recognition from the publisher.
Microsoft Editor’s Special Recognition Winner: Talk for Me
Talk for Me is an empowerment app that was designed to give a voice to those who have a voice, and it has succeeded in doing so by allowing users who are unable to speak to speak with their families and loved ones.
It has customizable sections like Food, People, Places, Entertainment, Phrases and more. These sections and certain words are designed as tiles to help you or a loved one put sentences together.
Plus, the dedicated keyboard feature lets you type a message and have the computer speak on your behalf.
According to the developer, several users who have PSP, CBD, ALS, have survived strokes, or have autism have benefited from Talk for Me. The app offers you all the features of other high-priced apps and it’s free.
Discharge: speak for me (free)
Microsoft Store Editor’s Choice Entertainment Apps
You’ll agree that the edge-of-the-seat thrill of a blockbuster movie or gripping web series is an experience like no other. And enjoying your favorite music and podcasts is uplifting.
While many entertainment apps offer great video and audio content, the editor of the Microsoft Store zeroed in on these worthy winners and finalists.
Disney+: The winning video
This winner of the Editor’s Choice for Video Entertainment needs no introduction. Disney+ is the streaming home for your favorite stories.
It brings you unlimited entertainment and exclusive new Originals from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic. As a subscriber, you may already be enjoying the latest releases, movies, classic movies, and TV shows. Or download originals like Loki and fan favorites like Frozen and The Simpsons.
And while there’s something for everyone, be sure to set Disney+ parental controls if you don’t want your kids to see things they shouldn’t.
Discharge: Disney+ ($7.99/month, in-app purchases available)
Hulu for Windows: Video Finalist
Hulu for Windows lets you stream everything you love. Available only in the US, Hulu is your gateway to thousands of shows and movies featuring current and classic TV, laugh-out-loud TV, cry-to-TV and more.
There’s some cool content you’ll only find on Hulu, like Dopesick, Solar Opposites, and Murders in the Building Originals. And if you’re an FX fan, you can enjoy over 50 highly acclaimed FX shows like A Teacher, American Horror Story, and Archer.
You can enjoy an ad-free experience with a Hulu Premium subscription or subscribe to Hulu + Live TV to get over 75 channels of live sports, news, and must-see events. Although Hulu’s plans will cost more from October 2022.
Discharge: Hulu for Windows (30-day free trial, $12.99/month)
Tubi: finalist video
Imagine watching thousands of hit movies, TV series, and anime for free. You can do it with Tubi, a free and 100% legal unlimited streaming service.
Enjoy your favorite shows whenever you want and with fewer commercials than regular TV. Tubi brings you award-winning movies and highly rated TV series, comedies, children’s shows, classics, and niche favorites like Korean dramas, anime, and British series.
Tubi adds free HD shows and movies every week, so you’ll never run out of entertainment to stream on the go and at home.
Discharge: Tube (Free)
Spotify: The Audio Winner
You probably know Spotify and are using it to listen to your favorite music and podcasts.
Spotify, one of the most popular music apps, lets you browse the charts or create custom, ready-to-play playlists across all genres and moods. Or you can choose from thousands of original and popular audio and video podcasts.
If you want to learn how to get the most out of this app, check out our guide on how you can make Spotify sound better by adjusting its settings.
Discharge: Spotify (free in-app purchases available)
FluentCast: finalist audio
If you can’t let a day go by without listening to new and favorite podcasts, you should check out FluentCast.
Designed for Windows 11, FluentCast, with the Fluent UI, is a beautiful, fast, responsive, free, and ad-free podcast app.
You can search and browse the most popular iTunes podcasts and import and export your podcasts as OPML files. And with playback history, you can always pick up where you left off.
FluentCast also allows you to download any episode of any podcast to enjoy offline. In addition, you can also watch video podcasts in the app, in full screen or in Picture-in-Picture.
Discharge: FluentCast (free)
Grover Pro: Audio Finalist
Grover Pro has been around for a while, but it’s still the best app for managing podcasts on Windows.
Grover Pro is quick to find podcasts and gives you the full list of episodes easily. You will find that the user interface is great and also that you can use OneDrive to sync app data across your devices.
This universal Windows app features HD video and streaming support. You can search for and subscribe to podcasts using the search box, automatically delete podcasts you’ve listened to, and also automatically download new podcasts.
Discharge: Grover Pro ($2.99)
Microsoft Store Editor’s Choice Social Apps
You probably couldn’t imagine life without fun chats with loved ones, video calls and team meetings. Here are the winners and finalists of the Editor’s Choice social apps, some you’d already be using every day.
Discord: The Social Winner
If you are a gamer, you would be familiar with Discord. But today, Discord is where you can make a home for your communities and friends.
Connect with classmates, start a community or common interest server with colleagues, or just spend time video, text, and voice chat with friends.
You can search and join the best servers that match your interests. In addition, you can also join the server of your favorite band and learn more about their life and music, and also meet other fans.
Discord has 150 million monthly active users, and four billion minutes of conversation happen on Discord every day.
Discharge: Discord (free in-app purchases available)
Telegram Desktop: Social Finalist
You should get Telegram Desktop if you want pure instant messaging that is simple, fast, secure, and synced across all your devices. Yes, you can start typing on your Windows PC and end the message from your phone.
With Telegram Desktop, your group chats can have up to 200,000 members, where you can share videos and large documents of any kind up to 2 GB each. You can even configure bots for specific tasks.
It’s also a lot of fun and you can edit photos and videos, use animated stickers and emojis and fully customize the look of your app.
Telegram has over 700 million monthly active users and is one of the top 10 most downloaded apps in the world.
Discharge: Telegram Desk (Free)
WhatsApp Desktop: Social Finalist
According to statistics and data from Statista as of 2022, WhatsApp is the most popular global mobile messaging app worldwide with approximately two billion monthly active users.
With WhatsApp Desktop, this popular chat experience comes to your Windows PC. You can seamlessly sync all your chats with your computer so you can chat on whatever device is most convenient for you.
Plus, you can chat and send and receive text, audio, and video files, even when your phone is offline.
Discharge: WhatsApp Desktop (Free)
Stay entertained and connected on Windows with the best apps
The best, proven apps offer quality, design excellence, and great value—just what you need to take your Windows experience to the next level. So try these Microsoft Store Editor’s Choice apps to fill your world with social adventures and unmatched entertainment.
