AI app EPIK hits No. 1 on the App Store for its viral yearbook photo feature

One different week, one different AI app going viral. This time spherical, the AI app that has surged to the very best of the App Retailer is EPIK, a photo-editing app that lets clients generate nostalgic, 90s-inspired “yearbook” pictures of themselves as one among its many templates. Very similar to completely different not too way back modern AI apps, EPIK works by having clients first add a set of selfies which EPIK then makes use of to generate the throwback yearbook pictures that features the particular person in a number of poses, with utterly completely different appears and hairstyles.

The app hails from South Korea-based Snow Corporation, a Naver subsidiary, which moreover makes the AI profile app Snow. In present weeks, EPIK has gained traction on the App Retailer as influencers from across the globe began sharing their AI-generated pictures all through social media.

On the U.S. App Retailer, EPIK is now No. 1, though it’s not pretty as modern on Google Play at No. 37.

In response to data from market intelligence company Apptopia, EPIK has seen an entire of 92.3 million lifetime installs since its August 2021 debut, along with 4.7 million downloads throughout the U.S. Nonetheless, the app started to attain traction on September 19 after which popped far more 10 days later, the company says.

For the time being, EPIK’s largest market is India, by downloads, and the U.S. is No. 6.

One different company, data.ai, sees barely lower lifetime downloads at 82 million and notes the app has generated close to $7 million in shopper spending on iOS. That’s the major time it’s ever ranked in Prime Whole apps throughout the U.S., data.ai moreover notes.

Snow Corp. didn’t return a request for comment to substantiate these figures.

Scrolling the #epik hashtag on Instagram reveals numerous greater accounts have been turning into a member of throughout the sample of posting their AI yearbook pictures, along with magnificence influencers like Samantha Batallanos (254,000 followers) and Bretman Rock (18.8 million followers), actor and rapper Tim Chantarangsu (1.5 million followers), pattern model Eva Mikulski (481,000 followers), video creators like Denyzee (526,000 followers), Missou (507,000 followers), Romy (1.5 million followers), Liz Rangel (1.5 million followers) and Hila Klein (1 million followers), Twitch streamer Pokimane (6 million followers) and many others — along with influencers from the app’s home nation and elsewhere on the earth.

To utilize EPIK’s Yearbook attribute, clients add eight-12 selfie footage which are then used to create the AI pictures.

The app warns clients that EPIK’s AI is regularly learning to boost its outcomes and by no means the entire AI outcomes will seemingly be “satisfactory.” For individuals who proceed, it says, “you’ll be deemed to have agreed to the end result,” the message states.

The app moreover implies that clients submit clear pictures with a numerous fluctuate of expressions, angles and backgrounds. After the app processes the pictures it outputs 60 utterly completely different footage. Whereas the app itself is a free receive, clients do have to pay for the AI output. They may moreover choose to pay to have the pictures generated additional shortly — regular provide ($3.99) has wait cases of as a lot as 24 hours, whereas categorical provide ($5.99) provides pictures in decrease than two hours.

Image Credit score: EPIK

Sadly for EPIK, the app has flip into so modern it might’t maintain with demand. For individuals who try to make use of the Yearbook attribute now, the app might say it’s being delayed “as we’re experiencing a speedy enhance in clients using the service. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try as soon as extra later.” Even for those who occur to get through the selfie add course of, the app might inform you the availability selections are “supplied out” and to aim as soon as extra later.

Image Credit score: EPIK

EPIK shouldn’t be the first AI image app to go viral for a clever attribute that generates outsized consideration. It follows completely different viral hits like Lensa, which offered AI-generated “magic avatars” and Remini, which hit the very best of the App Retailer this summer season season for its professional-looking AI headshots. Nonetheless many of the AI image apps aren’t ready to maintain traction after their quarter-hour of fame wears off. A report from Apptopia released earlier this year found that the preliminary group of AI image editors that began taking off remaining winter had already misplaced shopper curiosity.

For EPIK, which implies its present extreme standing might lastly be one different flash throughout the pan as clients switch on to the next AI sample.