December 21st, 2020 by Marianna Chade

Zoom, Pokemon Go and… Explain Everything. The App Store chooses the 15 best apps of 2020

app store trend of 2020

2020 has been a challenging year for the whole world. The sudden shift towards the onlinization of most aspects of our lives was an unprecedented test for governments, institutions, companies and services. This was also reflected in the App Store Best of 2020 Awards.

The significance of the tangible (in a year lacking touch)

For the very first time, winners received their award in physical form. In times like these, when everything is going digital, it’s a nice touch (pun intended). Maybe we can’t shake hands, but can definitely appreciate this material piece (as opposed to anything virtual). And its weight!   

The award is set in 100% recycled aluminium – the same material that Apple uses to create its own products. It weighs almost 7 pounds, so you can really feel its importance. This artifact will stay with us forever, together with the engraved text on one side that says:

Trend of the Year: Leading the Classroom
Explain Everything Whiteboard
2020

The App Store award, heavy with meaning

The award was shipped to us together with a congratulatory note signed by Tim Cook. We were recognized as one of 5 most helpful apps of 2020. Explain Everything received this award alongside Caribu, an application for family remote meetings; Pokemon Go for redesigning the game for stay-at-home purposes; Shine, used for maintaining daily self-care routines; and ShareTheMeal for… well, sharing meals.

“From Shine launching a section specifically dedicated to the intersectionality of mental health and Black lives to the Explain Everything Whiteboard, which saw teachers and students meet in a virtual classroom, 2020’s best apps were targeted towards helping all of us get through the pandemic as seamlessly as possible.”

Nick Hall for Man of Many

Explain Everything was awarded for bringing a remote classroom to life.

“Explain Everything Whiteboard offered a cloud-based collaboration tool so groups of students could continue to work on projects together, even remotely. “

Source: Apple Newsroom

Explain Everything for help

Press coverage of the App Store award news has mainly highlighted Explain Everything’s participation in 2020 global education. Our recordable whiteboard has indeed been used to teach for several years now, and its main purpose has always been to help with the understanding and learning processes. In 2020, this turned out to be more needed than ever. This is also the first year in Explain Everything history when the collaborative feature was so very important, but if we hadn’t developed it earlier, it wouldn’t have been so reliable. We also proved that no matter how many new users come, we will be there – stable and ready.

“It’s something that could not be duplicated in such a short amount of time”

iJustine

Listen to iJustine’s whole mention about Explain Everything:

“It is a whiteboarding app that opens up an infinite canvas for learners and creators to brainstorm complex ideas and share feedback. The app enhances remote collaboration through interactive tools and has helped teachers navigate socially distanced and hybrid learning during the pandemic.”

Mathures Paul for Telegraph India

Take a look at the whole story about Explain Everything written in the Telegraph Inidia.

“App that allowed people to get through 2020”

Andrew Griffin for Independent

“There’s nothing quite like a whiteboard for brainstorming and collaboration. But in a time where we can’t just grab a marker and add notes, Explain Everything Whiteboard offers a digital way to map out complex ideas, from creating animations to collaborating with others around the globe. And if you want to share your thoughts with a larger audience, you can embed your whiteboard into dozens of applications and websites.”

Steven Winkelman for PC Mag

Take a look at why we don’t think we could have ever won this award without all of you – the Explainers:

https://explaineverything.com/winning-apples-trend-of-2020-leading-the-classroom/

🔮 Make sure to sign up for our 1st webinar in 2021!

Distance teaching and virtual meetings have become an inherent part of our lives in 2020. We have all incorporated technology into practically every aspect of our activities, trying to make the most of things. 

This time we want to share what we have learned, and what changes we plan to implement in 2021 to make your whiteboarding workflow even more effective and productive. Join our live session together with Piotr, our Head of Product, and Anastasia to learn more about upcoming news and platform improvements.

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