The $9.99 unlimited hints subscription was the top in-app purchase, followed by the $1.99-per-week unlimited hints option, the firm noted.ĭespite these issues, the app continues to gain traction. To date, Sensor Tower says NGL’s users have spent around $2.4 million in the app. The hints aren’t useful, either, users said in the reviews, as they only offer broad details like location and device model. NGL charges users $9.99 per week for a subscription providing unlimited hints as to who sent the questions you receive. Image Credits: NGL app reviews via Sensor Tower But in reality, no one had seen our link, as it was never live long enough to be clicked by anyone, much less by the half-dozen people who supposedly sent us messages, according to NGL. A few hours later, questions - supposedly from our friends who saw our link - appeared in the apps’ respective inboxes. This tricked the apps into thinking we were now awaiting anonymous questions from our friends. When TechCrunch recently tested NGL and its rival Sendit, we copied the provided short links into an Instagram Story that was only live for a mere moment before we took it down. In other words, both the App Store and Google Play, as well as the app developer itself, appear to be profiting from an illegitimate operation that tricks people into thinking their friends are asking questions, when some of the questions are actually automated. This is an issue because the app promises “anonymous” social interactions in the form of Q&A’s from online friends and then monetizes by offering “hints” as to who sent you those messages, which has allowed it to pull in millions. The app and some of its rivals have been accused of using bots to drive user engagement. But in the case of NGL and others, there are reasons to be concerned about its rapid adoption. But while NGL is now sitting in the top 10 in the Apple App Store, much of its current growth is being driven by Android users in markets like India and Indonesia, Sensor Tower’s data indicates.Įmerging markets can help push new apps like NGL up the charts, where they gain even more attention from consumers. The app, which is now one of a handful of unregulated and potentially problematic anonymous apps targeting teens, has been swiftly climbing the charts since its December 2021 launch. A popular anonymous social app called NGL has now topped 15 million global installs, according to new data from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower, released today.

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