People keep stealing Kim Kardashian's new emoji

In December 2015, Kim Kardashian released an app featuring cartoon emoji-style depictions of herself and commonly used Kardashian phrases. The app's explosive launch saw it shoot to the top of the App Store - but fans of the model have now figured out a way to use her "Kimoji" without paying.

Head to the App Store and you can buy Kimoji for $1.99 (£1.49 in the UK). Kardashian used her social media followers to promote the app, and it sold so well that it was even rumoured that it "broke the App Store" (it did not.)

However, the way Kimoji was designed allows for emoji piracy on a large scale.

Anyone who bought the Kimoji app can copy and paste the codes used for the small cartoons of Kardashian's backside, breasts, legs, and other body parts, and then distribute them to people who haven't paid for Kimoji.

This happens because Kimoji enables an external keyboard to appear on text messages, and users then copy and paste the individual images into the chat window.

There's nothing to stop someone who hasn't paid for the app from being sent, viewing, or even sending Kimoji.

Because Kimoji uses a basic copy and paste function, it's possible to send someone every single image from the app to someone, giving them the ability to use its entire library for free.

So that's what people are doing - they wait for one person to buy Kimoji, then they simply re-use the emoji they're sent.

Business Insider contacted Whalerock Industries, the developer behind the Kimoji app, for comment on this article.