People Are Using Pokémon Go More Than WhatsApp And Instagram
The worldwide smash hit Pokemon Go has overtaken WhatsApp, Tinder, and Instagram with the provocative new game adding $10 billion to the value of its Japanese creator, Nintendo.
As per the stats by SimilarWeb, In US, Pokémon GO was installed on more smartphones in just one day than Tinder. Not just that, the app engagement of Pokémon GO is also incredibly high. The statistics state that 60 percent of the entire users, who have Pokémon GO app on their smartphone, use the app every day. While Twitter has about 3.6 percent daily active Android users in the US, Pokémon GO has already touched 3 percent.
The following infographic shows just how passionate Android users have become with Pokémon Go. They used it for an average of 43 minutes last Friday, significantly longer than well recognized and popular apps with Instagram (25 minutes) and WhatsApp (30 minutes).Pokémon Go has been downloaded an expected 7.5 million times in the U.S. from the Google Play Store and iOS App Store as of July 11, 2016. That's very remarkable considering the app was introduced just a few days ago! More users are expected to download Pokémon Go in the coming days as it is apparently launching in Europe and Asia soon.
Outside of the US, users around the world have been trying to download Pokémon GO using an app, avoiding the official app store. Since the apps announce, traffic to apkmirror.com completely exploded, increasing from just over 600,000 visits on July 5th to over 4 million visits on July 6th.
Pokémon Go has been related to dangerous driving, broken bones, and other serious injuries as distracted users follow computer animated beings on their smartphones.
“There were real risks to playing the game and encouraged parents to warn children of the potential for danger” said by Cyber safety expert Susan McLean.
“The app is extremely clever and catchy but parents also need to be aware of the risk that it could be misused,” Ms. McLean said.
“What better way for a paedophile to attach themselves to a child than to start following where the Pokemon are or to lure them with Pokemon?
“Sex abuse of kids is a crime of opportunity and unfortunately, that’s what Pokemon Go provides.”
Dr. Kate Raynes-Goldie, Adjunct Research Fellow with Curtin University’s School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts, said while the game was free, people were paying for it through their privacy.
“Every single user is having their location tracked and recorded while they’re playing the game, and we don’t know how this information is being used, how it is being protected from hackers, or what will happen if information is requested by law enforcement,” she said
Finally, with only a few days of data, Pokémon GO has a very high app retaining rate. This is great news for the app, particularly considering that users often choose within the first 3-7 days whether or not they will uninstall a particular app.