Ready to Be a Reality Show Judge?

It's hard to imagine that anyone could ever tire of seeing Adam Levine's face on The Voice, but if you're looking for a singing competition that's a little different from what we're used to, you're in luck. Rising Star is officially in business, and the big gimmick this time around is that we, the viewers, are doing all the judging in real time via a Tinder-style app that makes voting for our favorite contestants easier than American Idol has ever managed to do. If helping to decide whether someone's dream lives or dies on live TV is up your alley (and seriously, who wouldn't want to do that?), the first step you need to take is to download the Rising Star app, which is available for iOs, Windows, and Android devices.

Once the app is on your phone, you'll need to register, which is pretty simple. The only requirement is that if you have to be 13 years old — and if you're under 13 and reading this right now, go play outside. Unfortunately, the app only gives us the dreaded option of registering through Facebook or Twitter, since social media is a big tie-in to the show. Gone are the days of anonymity on the internet, guys. This is the future.

How to Use It:

It's very easy. When contestants perform live, you have the option of swiping left (or blue) if you like the performer and want to raise the wall or swiping right (or red) if you don't. And if you're over 18, your photo could appear on the wall, kind of like American Idol did during last season's results shows.

The Good:

The app's really easy to use, it doesn't take up a lot of space on your phone, and since most people are usually on their phone while watching TV anyway, it's a good way to keep viewers involved on what's going on onscreen. If Rising Star finds any real success, it wouldn't be a huge shock if other reality TV series headed more towards real time interaction soon.

The Bad:

The show (and the app) are both still pretty new concepts, so kinks are being worked out of both all the time. I haven't experienced any issues yet, but some users are complaining that it crashes a lot, especially when connecting to Facebook. If I had to guess, I'd say there'll be an update in the near future that takes care of that. Also, as far as the west coast goes? Your votes aren't really live, so that's kind of a bummer.

The biggest letdown when it comes to the app? The fact that it's pretty much useless unless the show's on. You'd think the people behind Rising Star would want us to spend as much time as possible using their app, right? So why not build in some functionality that we can use to waste time on days of the week that aren't Sunday?

If only the app had a way to allow us to mindlessly crush candy for hours at a time. Oh, there's already an app for that? My bad.

Image: ABC