Led by celebrities and influencers, social media users are embracing nostalgia by sharing new yearbook-style photos, but there’s no need to revisit school for them thanks to an app named EPIK – AI Photo Editor.
EPIK – AI Photo Editor, an artificial intelligence-based photo editing application, has quickly climbed to the top of the charts on the App Store, gaining global recognition thanks to its AI Yearbook feature. Developed by the South Korea-based SNOW Corporation, EPIK produces 60 unique images of an individual based on eight to twelve selfies they provide.
To utilize the app, users upload a series of their own selfies, which EPIK then utilizes to create retro yearbook photos with various poses, styles, and hairstyles. While the app itself is free to download, accessing the generated photos comes with a pricing plan from $0.99 to $38.99.
Celebrities and influencers of different environments from all corners of the globe have been sharing their AI-generated photos on social media platforms, contributing to EPIK’s surge in popularity. It has now become the latest AI trend that breaks the social media.
Analytics Behind the Success
Especially Instagram has been instrumental in EPIK’s radically increasing popularity, as celebrities and influencers from diverse domains have actively shared and commented on their AI-generated yearbook pictures. These influencers, boasting substantial follower counts, have significantly contributed to the app’s widespread appeal which eventually led to huge peaks in downloads and revenue.
As evident from the data, EPIK’s journey to the top in terms of both revenue and downloads commenced on September 18th. Following a brief dip in revenue on September 27th, they witnessed a drastic rise in both categories on October 2nd. Consequently, EPIK firmly established itself as the reigning champion, securing the top position on the U.S. App Store.
On October 2nd, EPIK made an impressive leap of 47 places, securing the third position among free apps. Just three days later, on October 5th, it achieved a remarkable milestone by claiming the top spot in the Photo & Video category, dethroning the reigning champion, the Lapse application, another successful player in the same domain.
Interestingly, before they released the AI Yearbook feature, downloads were actually on a decline. Still, EPIK has succeeded in making a sharp U-turn and changed the dynamics of the Photo & Video app category.
The Why and How of It – Leveraging In App Events
Browsing the #epik tag on Instagram provides insight into the app’s reach, as a multitude of well-known profiles have embraced the trend and posted their AI-created yearbook pictures. Beauty influencers, actors, models, content creators, and even Twitch streamers have all enthusiastically adopted the EPIK craze, enchanting their followers with a nostalgic journey through time.
These all emphasize again that app features are continuing to play a major role on the App Store. EPIK wanted to find a ‘gimmick’ that could make their app go viral and has found that within their AI Yearbook feature. However, the real lesson here is that they have successfully announced this gimmick in their App Store listing. They did it by leveraging in app events.
In the line graph above, the blue dots represent the update dates of EPIK – AI Photo Editor. By examining the peaks in EPIK’s rankings, it becomes evident that two particular app updates played a pivotal role in the app’s remarkable success.
The climb began immediately after an update on September 17th where they released their major update as “NEW AI Yearbook released!”. Significantly, EPIK gained worldwide recognition by starting an in app event and announcing this major update related to the new AI Yearbook feature on September 18th.
After a significant climb after the first update on September 18th, two updates on October 2nd and 5th led EPIK to successfully maintain its first-place position in the highly competitive Photo & Video app category.
The Future of EPIK – AI Photo Editor
After achieving such great success in a short time, everyone in the mobile app industry now has only one question on their mind: How long will this success continue? The answer to this question will be determined by the answers to the other questions below.
- Will EPIK be able to find new ‘gimmicks’ and add new features to their applications that will make them go viral again?
- Will they be able to continue its successful app updates in the coming months?
- Will they be able to announce the new features coming to the application to a wide audience with the in app events they release?
All of the new features, updates, revenue and download numbers, category rankings, and in-app events mentioned above were collected using the intelligence tools of MobileAction, the ultimate user acquisition platform.
If you want to create a success story like EPIK in your own app by making a similar analysis, you can get information about our full-funnel solutions from our experts by scheduling a demo.
