5 apps every international K-Pop fan needs to download

These apps will bring you a step closer to your favourite K-Pop idols, virtually at least.

Love K-Pop? Try these apps. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

K-Pop (Korean Pop) is a global phenomenon. The language barrier hasn't stopped this pop genre to cross borders. As crazy and addictive K-Pop is, it also has its limitations, especially for international fans. K-Pop acts have been doing their bit in touring globally but their reach is still limited to select countries.

However, this hasn't stopped fans from following their favourite K-Pop groups religiously, and utilising every possible way to enhance their experiences. If you're an international K-Pop fan then these are the apps you need to enrich your K-Pop craze.

V LIVE

V LIVE is a Korean broadcasting app where you can follow official accounts of K-Pop groups and catch them live. This is probably the closest you can get to your favourite K-Pop idols virtually. The app is free to download and use. You will first need to login with an existing ID of Facebook, LINE, Twitter, WeChat, and more. The homepage and explore feed shows videos from various K-Pop idols.

While the app is free, you can also make purchases for accounts that you follow. Doing so will give you access to 'unique' content from your favourite K-Pop idols. During live broadcasts, you can show your love by showering 'hearts' and post comments. It's understood that the live broadcasts would be conducted in Korean language. However there is an option for subtitles and if you're lucky, you may just find English subtitles.

Download: iOS, Android

SNOW

Snow is a Snapchat-like app but tailor-made for Korea. It's more of a combination of features from Snapchat and Instagram offered in a really cute package. You can add filters, stickers, and AR filters to your pictures. Snow also lets you create a GIF, Boomerang and hands-free videos. What's interesting is that you can add music to your videos. Snow has its own library of English and K-Pop songs to choose from which are offered in a few seconds clip. You can find popular K-Pop songs like Mic Drop and DNA by BTS, CLAP by Seventeen, and As if it's your last by Black Pink. Also, Snow keeps updating with stickers of K-Pop groups. Right now, the app has BTS-themed stickers.

Download: iOS, Android

Amino

Amino isn't a K-Pop specific app but it has a large presence of this pop culture. This app is a platform for users to create communities with similar interests and likes. You can create and join communities for books, music, and food, among others. Likewise, there are many communities for K-Pop idols in Amino, which are created and used mostly by international fans. Here, you can chat with fans from different corners of the world and share the latest updates on your fan following. Within the app, you can create your own feed with picture gallery, posts, and quizzes about your K-Pop idols.

Download: iOS, Android

K-Pop Piano Game

There's a K-Pop version for the popular Piano Tiles game. Titled 'KPOP Piano Game', this game is available for Android only. Here you can play the piano pieces of popular K-Pop songs. There are different levels to choose from such as endless tiles, limited tiles, and rhythm tiles which come in easy and hard mode. In the beginning you will be able to play random songs, and just one song of choice which is EXO's Ko Ko bop. After earning enough points, you will be able to purchase from the list of songs provided. You can also choose to play the game in guitar mode. You can also login using your Google Play Games account.

Download: Android

Spotlight Kpop

You must have heard of musical.ly, the app which lets your lip sync and record videos. While there are many copy apps of musical.ly, there's one for K-Pop as well. Called Spotlight Kpop, this app is available for iOS users with an Android version coming soon. You can create an account and start recording videos by lip syncing to your favorite K-Pop songs. Since it's a community app, you can check top users and their videos, and also follow the ones you like. There are cute stickers and filters that you can apply for your videos.

Download: iOS