Pokémon Smile is a fun, habit-forming for good and learning about getting Hooked

We discovered the new Pokémon Smile app for my 9yo and he loves it. It’s transformed the “discussions” around brushing to a fun interactive time where he’s learning good habits. It’s funny, but he actively looks forward to brushing to see if we can catch a Pokémon. I didn’t mention, it uses augmented reality to interact and show and place elements on your head and face during the process to making it more fun.

For homework, I recommend downloading, trying it out and think about:

  • the onboarding process – were there any blockers in getting started
  • how do they get you to come back and try again
  • what audio and visual prompts are used to engage you
  • did you want to do it again?

Two things I took note of for the younger audience:

  • In order to open settings, you must hold down the button for 2+ seconds before it displays. This is targeted towards the younger audience accidentally not modifying settings if they touch and it does not react instantly but I can think of some adult interactions where this can be used as well.
  • If the “little one” tries to use it again, it throws up a warning that you have to wait 3 hours before you can do it again so you don’t overdue it.

A quick look at the app:

The main menu allows you to Get Brushing, check out the Pokémon book to learn about what you can catch after brushing as rewards – this creates a little Mystery. The yellow icon lets you play or see elements you can place on your head and as you use it more and more it unlocks additional elements.

During the brushing, you can turn on the ability to capture photos, review after brushing, decorate with additional Pokémon, and save to your photos library. This can also be disabled if you prefer not to take photos.

Check out the Official Site and you can link to download on Apple App Store or Google Play. For fun you can watch the trailer:

Learning about the Hook Model

The Hook Model uses 4 key elements: trigger, action, reward, and investment. If you want to dive deeper. watch this 13-minute video overview to understand the this practice by the author of Hooked by Nir Eyal