Huawei announces Apps UP’s top 20 regional shortlisted apps

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa –  Huawei, the leading tech giant, has announced the top 20 shortlisted apps for the Huawei HMS App Innovation Contest (Apps UP) flagship event. The 2021 edition of the competition received over 2,000 submissions, highlighting the interest from developers globally as well as regionally.

This year’s 20 regional shortlisted apps represent some of the Middle East & Africa’s most driven developers and coders, contributing positively to the digital ecosystem by creating seamless, intelligent, innovative applications across multiple categories.

The 20 top regional shortlisted apps were nominated based on their innovation, social value, business value, and overall user experience. The list includes the following apps: Al Mosaly, Blind Assistant, Coresthetics, Droppa, Emergency Buddy, Handyman Calculator, K53 APP, Limit, LittleAstro, Mobile Gamepad, MyTV+, Quran University, STEPPI, Scary Teacher 3D, Secura, Sleep Sounds, Real Car Race Game 3D, UniAPS, The Muslim Diary, and WashyWash.

Anyone can now vote for their favourite applications from 29th September to 10th October (GMT+8) at the competition’s website (https://bit.ly/3igFslS). Each email ID is eligible to vote up to ten times per day with a maximum of three votes per app. Public votes will account for 20% of the final results, while the judges’ votes will account for 80%.

Adam Xiao, Managing Director, HMS and Consumer Cloud Service for HUAWEI Consumer Business Group MEA, said, “This year’s regional shortlisted apps are truly inspirational and clearly showcase the immense potential of talent available here to build seamless and innovative applications that create long-term value for their users.

The strength of the submissions reaffirms our belief that the regional developer community has the skills, desire and potential to address societal challenges and create scalable solutions the world needs today.”

The 2021 edition of the Huawei HMS App Innovation Contest (Apps UP) lasted more than 100 days, covering over 200 countries and regions including China, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. 4,000 teams participated worldwide, with over 600 teams applying for the Tech Women’s Award category – the latest addition to the competition that aims to recognise outstanding women in tech. Apps UP 2021 also features categories such as Best App, Best Game, Best Social Impact App, Excellent Student Award, Best HMS Core Innovation Award, Honorable Mention, and All-Scenario Coverage Award.

Submission for the competition ended on 5th September 2021, and all the entries underwent a preliminary review by a panel of judges from Huawei and industry leaders from each region. The contest includes a reward of US$200,000 in cash prizes for each of the five participating regions – amounting to US$1 million in total – with individual prize amounts ranging from US$3,000 to US$15,000.

During the public review stage running until 10th October, fans can use the following link to vote for apps and get the opportunity to enter a lucky draw to win exclusive prizes, https://bit.ly/3igFslS. The Huawei HMS App Innovation Contest (Apps UP) winners will be announced in October.