UX lessons from the Kardashian App

When you think back on some of the biggest apps from the past decades, there are a few that stand out. You’ve got your social networks, your travel apps, your viral games like Pokémon Go — but I think there’s an omission from this list. That’s right, I’m referring to Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.

Released in 2014, the app still seems to be going strong, with regular updates, and on the Play Store, it’s currently sitting at over 1.1 million reviews with a 4.5-star rating. This is perhaps due in large part to the brand behind the app, but I think it’s unlikely an app could reach this number of reviews with such a strong star rating on the brand alone.

There have certainly been other celebrity and pop-culture based apps that have struggled to garner the same level of positive response from users. For example, Rupaul recently released a game app off the back of the pop culture behemoth that is Drag Race, and it has already gotten over 30k reviews on the Play Store, but it’s sitting at a 3.5-star average.

Back when it launched, the Hollywood-themed app boasted 22.8 million downloads by the end of its first-quarter alone, with more than 1.2 billion sessions and a staggering 5.7 billion minutes played. That works out to an average of just over 4 hours of game time per download, which is staggering. And in case you’re wondering, that equated to $43.4 million in this same period, not bad at all for a free-to-play (although arguably pay-to-win) game.