Trophy blog
Your guide to gamification that actually works
Deep dives, case studies, and practical guides on using gamification to retain users, drive engagement, and power growth.
News & Updates
NewsTrophy Updates - July 2026
New application API keys, time restricted leaderboards, better email analytics, new batch event API and a website refresh.
Charlie Hopkins-Brinicombe
Trophy Updates - June 2026
Support for personalized streaks, data sync for enterprise customers and a notice of upcoming change to our asset domain.
Trophy Updates - May 2026
In May we introduced support for multiple environments to Trophy as well as launching multi-tenancy and releasing our OpenAPI specifications to public URLs
Introducing Trophy UI: Open-Source Gamification Components for React
Trophy's Gamification UI Kit is an open-source library of gamification UI components built on shadcn/ui and Tailwind CSS. Drop-in React components for streaks, achievements, leaderboards, points, and more — ready to copy and customize.
Gamification Guides
Gamification GuidesMobile App Churn Rate: Benchmarks, Formulas, and First-Party Retention Data
Mobile app churn rate benchmarks by industry and platform, with day 1/7/30 averages plus exclusive Trophy first-party data on a 33% vs 20% retention lift.
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Gamification GuidesBest Gamification Software in 2026: Platforms, Tools, and How to Choose
Gamification software compared for product teams: an honest 2026 buyer's guide to platforms, pricing, and the mechanics that actually drive retention.
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Gamification GuidesTools And SDKs To Build A Spotify-Wrapped-Style Feature
Compare the tools and SDKs for building a Spotify-Wrapped-style feature: the Spotify Web API, video-automation platforms, no-code builders, and Trophy's gamification infrastructure.
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Gamification GuidesAdd XP in an Afternoon: A Low-Maintenance Quickstart with Trophy
Add XP to your app in an afternoon with Trophy. Configure triggers in a dashboard, call one SDK method, and skip the custom points engine and its upkeep.
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Gamification GuidesBest Ways to Add a Leaderboard to Your App: Backend Options and SDKs Compared
Compare seven leaderboard backend options for your app: Game Center, Play Games, Firebase, Redis, PlayFab, Tinybird, and Trophy. Find the fit for your stack.
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Gamification GuidesWhat Are Gamification Solutions? A Practical Guide for Product Teams
Gamification solutions come in three types, including product infrastructure via API and SDK. Compare them and decide whether to build or buy for your app.
Read more →Growing B2C companies fast
Insights we've gathered from B2C founders at high-growth companies
The Death of Influencers: Why 2026 Belongs to Micro-Communities
Forget 100k followers. In 2026, real growth happens in high-signal micro-communities. Learn why smart brands-from fitness apps to fintech-are trading broad reach for deep engagement.
Read more →Monetizing Motivation: How to Paywall Fitness App Challenges
Turn fitness engagement into revenue by gating high-value challenges and leaderboards for premium subscribers.
Read more →Strava Segmented Leaderboards: How They Drive Engagement
Global leaderboards motivate the top 1% and demoralise everyone else. Here's how Strava's segment system fixes that — and how to build the same mechanic with Trophy.
Read more →Building a Community
CommunityThe Death of Influencers: Why 2026 Belongs to Micro-Communities
Forget 100k followers. In 2026, real growth happens in high-signal micro-communities. Learn why smart brands-from fitness apps to fintech-are trading broad reach for deep engagement.
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DesignMonetizing Motivation: How to Paywall Fitness App Challenges
Turn fitness engagement into revenue by gating high-value challenges and leaderboards for premium subscribers.
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DesignStrava Segmented Leaderboards: How They Drive Engagement
Global leaderboards motivate the top 1% and demoralise everyone else. Here's how Strava's segment system fixes that — and how to build the same mechanic with Trophy.
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PodcastWhy Programiz Built a YouTube Channel Before Launching Their SaaS
Programiz had millions of users but zero brand recognition. Discover why they spent a year putting faces to their content before launching their paid product, and what this reveals about the evolution from utility to community.
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PodcastHow One 67-Year-Old User Became Buen Provecho's Biggest Customer
While most users are young professionals or families, Buen Provecho's top user is a 67-year-old woman who orders 2-3 times daily as her walking exercise. Guillermo discusses unexpected user personas and the power of user stories.
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CommunityThe Psychology Behind 'Bloop Is for Everyone': Democratizing Influencer Marketing
In a recent conversation on the Levels Podcast, João explained how Bloop's "for everyone" philosophy challenges traditional influencer marketing assumptions and creates a more authentic, accessible system for earning through recommendations.
Read more →Growing Marketplaces
PodcastHow Chefadora Solved the Two-Sided Marketplace Problem: From Mom's Kitchen to 100K Users
Starting a two-sided marketplace is notoriously difficult. You need creators to attract users, but you need users to attract creators. It's a chicken-and-egg problem that has killed countless startups. Read how Chefadora, a recipe-sharing platform made it through.
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PodcastWhy Buen Provecho Refused Investment from Grocery Chains (And How It Saved Their Business)
Guillermo Martinez explains why Buen Provecho turned down strategic investment from major supermarket chains and how that decision protected their ability to become the dominant platform in their market.
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PodcastThe Franchise Model That Didn't Work: Lessons from Entering New Markets
Guillermo Martinez explains why Buen Provecho's franchise approach to Colombia failed and why they'll never use that model again for marketplace expansion.
Read more →CommunityThe Psychology Behind 'Bloop Is for Everyone': Democratizing Influencer Marketing
In a recent conversation on the Levels Podcast, João explained how Bloop's "for everyone" philosophy challenges traditional influencer marketing assumptions and creates a more authentic, accessible system for earning through recommendations.
Read more →Engineering
EngineeringHow Trophy Aggregates Over 30 Million Streaks in ClickHouse
How we power our analytics dashboards with ClickHouse querying over 100M+ rows with 100ms latency.
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EngineeringHow to Prevent Points Farming and Gaming in Gamification Systems
Users will find ways to game your points system. Rate limiting and anomaly detection are partial defenses. Idempotent event tracking is the architectural solution — here's why, and how Trophy implements it
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EngineeringThe Gamification Data Model: How to Structure Streaks, Achievements, Points & Leaderboards
Every gamification feature has known technical problems. The harder problem is designing a data model where those features can talk to each other — and where the features you'll want later don't require a rebuild.
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EngineeringStreak Timezone & DST Handling: The Complete Implementation Guide
Naive UTC-based streak logic breaks for users in non-UTC timezones and fails silently twice a year on DST transitions. Here's the correct implementation, with code.
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EngineeringHow to Sync XP Across Devices Without Firebase (2026)
Firebase solves XP sync by treating it as a data problem. There's a better model — server-authoritative XP that any device reads from a single source of truth.
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EngineeringHow to Scale a Leaderboard Beyond Basic Redis (2026)
Redis ranking is fast and correct. Segmentation, resets, and durability are the hard parts. Here's the full production architecture — and where Trophy fits.
Read more →Gamification Case Studies
Gamification Case StudiesHow Brilliant Uses Gamification to Improve Engagement and Retention
Discover how Brilliant leverages gamification to boost retention and engagement.
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Gamification Case StudiesHow Charity Miles Leverages Gamification to Boost Retention
Learn how Charity Miles uses gamification to improve engagement and retention, and add value to its users.
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Gamification Case StudiesHow ClassDojo Uses Gamification to Improve Engagement and Retention
Explore the mechanics and tactics behind ClassDojo's gamification strategy.
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Gamification Case StudiesHow Codecademy Uses Gamification to Improve Engagement and Retention
Explore how Codecademy implements gamification to enhance user engagement and retention.
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Gamification Case StudiesCoursera Case Study: The Impact of Gamification on Retention and Engagement
Explore how Coursera implements gamification to enhance user engagement and retention.
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Gamification Case StudiesHow Elevate Uses Gamification to Improve Engagement and Retention
Elevate is a great example of how gamification can improve user engagement and retention.
Read more →Gamification Examples
Gamification Examples10 Apps That Use The Challenges Feature
Wondering how the challenges feature can enhance your app? Learn from these 10 examples of how to use it successfully.
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Gamification Examples22 Education App Gamification Examples
Curious about gamification in education apps? Check out these 22 examples of how it's done right.
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Gamification Examples10 Apps That Use The Points Feature
Explore how 10 apps are leveraging the points feature to create compelling user experiences.
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Gamification Examples10 Apps That Use The Progress Bars Feature for Gamification
Wondering how the progress bars feature can enhance your app? Learn from these 10 examples of how to use it successfully.
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Gamification Examples10 Best Examples of the Rewards Feature in Gamification
Curious about the rewards gamification mechanic? Check out these 10 examples of how it's done right.
Read more →Newsletter
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