If you were to guess which app would top the charts of free iOS apps, you’d probably guess Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, a game or something to do with emoji. But no, right now it’s an app no-one would ever have predicted: Google Arts & Culture.
Sadly, this unexpected popularity doesn’t reflect a sudden popular interest in either cultural artifacts or art …
Instead, the app has gone viral for two rather lower-brow reasons.
Google recently added a new feature that allows you to take a selfie and then try to find artworks featuring a portrait of someone who looks like you (or, er, not). Artnet described it.
And that feature itself seems to have grabbed attention as a result of celebrities tweeting their photo and their art world doppelganger.
Artnet also notes that a New Yorker cartoon may have played a role in publicising the app.
This google arts and culture app is pretty amazing. Feel real strong about my 40% 😳 pic.twitter.com/2iyexRkUG5
— pw (@petewentz) January 14, 2018
In a surprising twist… #GoogleArtsandCulture pic.twitter.com/6bFTQbbSq2
— Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) January 16, 2018
But who knows, some users may also find themselves enjoying the app for its original purpose.
Daily Cartoon: Tuesday, January 16th https://t.co/2KSonwylSA
— New Yorker Cartoons (@nyercartoons) January 16, 2018
Google Arts & Culture is a free download from the App Store.
