MORE than four million software programs are available in the Apple and Google app stores, including games, productivity tools and weather apps.

This year, only a few stood out. Some of these apps were exceptional; others were useful or funny or just well designed. Here are my picks for outstanding apps of 2016:

NUZZEL Though Nuzzel was released in 2015, it gained more popularity this year as people realized how clever it was. The app is a news aggregator with a trick: It curates news items users may be interested in because their friends or followers on Facebook and Twitter have already read and shared them. This social angle works well and I find Nuzzel’s home page is always worth scanning.