killer app
noun
: a computer application of such great value or popularity that it assures the success of the technology with which it is associated
broadly : a feature or component that in itself makes something worth having or using
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The default instant messaging system on iPhone is a killer app with no rival on Android. 
Chris Smith, BGR, 10 Aug. 2022 Doug Neubauer's Star Raiders became the killer app for these early computers, a sophisticated and epic space battle game with incredible animation that was crammed into just 8K of memory. PCMAG, 27 June 2022 Yet to many true believers, skirting those rules is DeFi’s killer app. Michael P. Regan, Bloomberg.com, 24 Sep. 2021 Speaking of consumers, what will be the killer app that gets us all wanting to put these types of devices on our faces? Joanna Stern, WSJ, 6 May 2022 Google Maps is a killer app in a car, but if manufacturers want Google Maps, Google requires them to take the Play Store, the Google Assistant, YouTube Music, and any other car apps the company makes. Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 30 Mar. 2022 Google Plex could have been a digital checking account killer app. Ron Shevlin, Forbes, 6 Dec. 2021 Analysts say demand for 5G phones would be even stronger if a proverbial killer app had emerged—a feature that makes adopting the technology virtually indispensable. John Mccormick, WSJ, 12 Oct. 2021 That realization has finally taken hold in Washington and led to growing support for what could be the killer app for this new private digital money — an official digital version of the dollar minted not in the Treasury but solely online. BostonGlobe.com, 26 June 2021 See More
Chris Smith, BGR, 10 Aug. 2022 Doug Neubauer's Star Raiders became the killer app for these early computers, a sophisticated and epic space battle game with incredible animation that was crammed into just 8K of memory. PCMAG, 27 June 2022 Yet to many true believers, skirting those rules is DeFi’s killer app. Michael P. Regan, Bloomberg.com, 24 Sep. 2021 Speaking of consumers, what will be the killer app that gets us all wanting to put these types of devices on our faces? Joanna Stern, WSJ, 6 May 2022 Google Maps is a killer app in a car, but if manufacturers want Google Maps, Google requires them to take the Play Store, the Google Assistant, YouTube Music, and any other car apps the company makes. Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 30 Mar. 2022 Google Plex could have been a digital checking account killer app. Ron Shevlin, Forbes, 6 Dec. 2021 Analysts say demand for 5G phones would be even stronger if a proverbial killer app had emerged—a feature that makes adopting the technology virtually indispensable. John Mccormick, WSJ, 12 Oct. 2021 That realization has finally taken hold in Washington and led to growing support for what could be the killer app for this new private digital money — an official digital version of the dollar minted not in the Treasury but solely online. BostonGlobe.com, 26 June 2021 See More Word History
First Known Use
1988, in the meaning defined above