Google had announced last month that it will highlight some of the best apps and games at its I/O developer conference. Across 10 categories, google announced the best apps, games, and startup awards at I/O 2016. According to google, a panel of experts on the Google Play team selected the nominees according to app quality, innovation, and having a launch or major update in the last 12 months. Apart from the awards, these apps are also featured in Google's dedicated collection on Google Play - Google Play Award Winners.

The best game award was won by Clash Royale based on its informative tutorial, broad appeal, tasteful design and strong mechanism. The best families app was rewarded to Thinkrolls 2 for encouraging creativity. Alphabear was selected as the best app in Standout Indie category for focusing on the artistic design, high quality and innovative gameplay.

Pokemon Shuffle Mobile won the best app in Go Global category while Table Tennis Touch won the best app in use of Google Play Game Services. Houzz was selected as the best app for beautiful design, intuitive UX and high user appeal, quality and rating. NYT VR won the most innovative app award. Some of the other apps that won include World Around Me for the early adopter category and in the standout startup category Hopper was selected the best app.