Planet of the Apps premieres on Apple Music

A new series about apps and their creators featuring Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuck, and will.i.am is available exclusively through Apple Music. The season premier is here and new episodes are aired each week.

On the show, mobile app developers pitch their ideas to a star panel of advisers while riding down and escalator. They are only given the amount of time it takes to reach the bottom of the escalator to convince the judges their idea is worth hearing more about and untimely investing in. The contestants must receive at least one yes at the bottom in order to further elaborate on their app idea otherwise they are eliminated.

If the judges think the idea is innovative and worth pursuing at the end of the total pitch, they offer the contestant their help by telling them they would like to work with them. Sometimes multiple judges want to work on a project and at that point the developer gets to choose who they want to work with. The judges themselves do not provide investing, they only mentor the developer on how to enhance their idea and take it to the next level. From there, those who make it to the final round will meet with top-tier venture capitalists investing up to $10 million over the course of the season, and receive featured placement in the App Store at the end of the show.

Although the concept of Planet of the Apps being like Shark Tank for app developers seemed to be promising, there has been a lot of criticism around the show. Viewers get the sense that none of the celebrity advisers actually know what they are talking about since none of them are actually in the technology industry and believe contestants are given bad advice. They also complain about where you can watch the show since it is only available through a music app.