Apple makes 10 iOS apps free for the 5-year anniversary (pictures)

Apple is celebrating the App Store's fifth anniversary today. As part of the celebration, Apple has lowered the cost of five apps and five games from their usual price...to free! In this slideshow, the first five apps were described as groundbreaking by Apple for the needs they filled among iOS device users. The second five are landmark games that cover many genres and bring something unique to the table.

Without further ado, here is the list of 10 apps that Apple is offering for free for a limited time. Download them now!

Day One Journal (usually $4.99) makes chronicling the journey of your life easier with tech tools that add much more than your standard diary. Of course, you can still write out the day's events, but you can also add images, show your GPS location at the time of writing, add tags to find pertinent entries, and much more.

There's also no need to worry about what device your using; Day One Journal will sync your memories (and images and locations) to all your devices so you can chronicle your life wherever you are.

Barefoot World Atlas (usually $4.99) gets kids to learn about the world around them using a beautifully animated 3D globe, with animated icons they can touch to learn more about different regions. In each area of our planet, they can touch to learn about landmarks, look at photos, and listen to music from that region. Possibly the best part is that kids can tap on text to have it read aloud as they read along.

The app is based on the acclaimed Barefoot Books World Atlas by Nicholas Crane and David Dean.

How to Cook Everything (usually $4.99) is a personal favorite cooking app that I've written about in the past, and it continues to shine with a ton of useful info for foodies everywhere. Whether you're looking for holiday recipes or a way to make something fancy out of that chicken you have in the fridge, this app makes it easy to browse by category and find something you like in seconds.

This app has it all for both beginners and experts alike, with more than 2,000 recipes, detailed cooking directions, suggestions for proper technique, hundreds of illustrated tutorials, and notes about which equipment works best.

Traktor DJ (iPhone |iPad) is the biggest price reduction of the bunch, especially for iPad. The iPhone version usually sells for $4.99, but the iPad version usually costs $19.99. So, if you've ever had any interest in touch-screen music mixing, get these apps for free while available.

What you get with Traktor DJ is a full touch-screen DJ set up. You can quickly add a song from your library, then fill the second deck with another. From there, you can make loops, add effects, record your creations, and more -- all with common iOS swipe gestures. A great tool for amateur DJs and professionals alike, it's easy to see how Traktor DJ made Apple's featured list of apps.

Over (usually $1.99) makes your images more fun with great-looking overlays you can add to spice up a photo. You can pick from tons of different stylized fonts, add artwork, and adjust the tint in your image to make your work stand out. When you're finished you can quickly share to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Instagram.

A recent update added much more, with new ways to make your pictures pop. A new Marketplace lets you browse and purchase artwork and font packs from legendary artists. If you don't want to spend the cash, you can even add your own fonts.

Badland (usually $3.99) is a relatively recent addition to the App Store, but this game is simple, completely strange, and an enormous amount of fun for kids or adults. I suppose it could be described as a race to the finish, but this action-adventure platformer has you "flying" (using some strange and fuzzy forest inhabitant) through weird fantastical environments, knocking down barriers, changing sizes, squeezing by buzzsaws, and other odd events, all to get to the end of the level as fast as possible.

Playing alone is fun by itself, but when you get into four-player multiplayer, you use the same screen to control all four players, making for some exciting no-holds-barred action. This one is easy to recommend to just about any type of iOS gamer.

Infinity Blade II (usually $6.99) for free? Yes, please! One of the biggest gaming titles for iOS, Infinity Blade II gives you touch-screen, sword-swinging action, fighting against huge medieval warriors across beautiful landscapes. CNET's Scott Stein called it the best thing to happen to the iPad. While there may be newer games that eclipse Infinity Blade II at the top, there is no question this game is a must-have for iOS gamers. Need I say more? Commence downloading.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (usually $4.99) is an atmospheric action adventure that lets you explore a strange land with a unique audiovisual style. The touch-screen controls are a joy to use as you embark on an adventure playing as a mystical warrior monk.

What struck me initially about the game when it launched was the control system. You hold your iPhone horizontally while exploring and talking to NPCs, but when it's time to fight, you turn your iPhone to its vertical position to access the fighting controls. This neat game mechanic is in a class by itself at the App Store, but that could probably be said about the game itself as well. This game is as unique as it gets, and it's great that more people will be able to experience it now that it's free.

Tiny Wings (iPhone |iPad) is one of those games that's easy to learn, but tough to master, and usually costs 99 cents for iPhone and $2.99 for iPad.

In Tiny Wings, you simply fly through the air over rolling hills, then touch to dive and grab coins. But the addictive hook for this game is all about timing. In order to last the longest and fly the highest, you have to perfectly time your dives to take advantage of the valleys below. With the right timing, you'll shoot far into the clouds for bonus points, and be able to travel as far as possible before the sun sets and your game ends.

Tiny Wings spent a lot of time over the years in the top-10 list at the App Store for good reason: it's simple, cute, and a ton of fun.

Where's my Water? (usually 99 cents) is a popular and charming physics puzzler, in which you funnel clean water to the bathtub of a fastidious little alligator named Swampy. The game quickly rose to the top of the App Store after its release because of its graphics, liquid physics, and challenging puzzle gameplay.

Where's My Water? certainly ranks among the better arcade puzzlers, sharing some similarities (fast-paced levels, an intuitive interface, and a winningly cartoony protagonist) but with a central schtick that's mostly all its own: you dig paths through dirt, creating channels for liquid to flow from one place to another.

If you haven't tried it by now, this is your golden opportunity.