TikTok set to rival Instagram with new photo-sharing platform.
Even as lawmakers debate banning the platform in the U.S., TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, appears to be launching a new photo-centric social media platform, according to a new report.
As discovered by the well-known app sleuth AssembleDebug, text lurking in the code of the latest version of the Chinese video-sharing giant’s Android app reveals plans for an all-new “TikTok Photos” app—taking a swipe at arch-rival Instagram and offering a major new platform for sharing photos online.
According to the discovered text, the new TikTok Photos platform will launch “soon,” and it will be possible to synchronize photo posts between regular TikTok and the new service. It also suggests that TikTok users will be automatically prompted to share their photo posts via a pop-up message in the TikTok app.
The whole text string reads as follows:
- “TikTok Photos will be launched soon, we hope to help you gain new audiences in the new app. If the switch is on, we'll sync your public photos to the new app, whether you close the pop-up or not.”
Also concealed within the current TikTok app is the new TikTok Photos icon, shown in AssmbleDebug’s capture below:
Icons for TikTok's unreleased TikTok Photos app.
Other relevant text strings within the app include:
- “Open TikTok Photos”
- “Get TikTok Photos”
- “Share this post to TikTok Photos”
- “Share”
- “Your post has been shared to TikTok Photos”
- “TikTok Photos”
- “On TikTok Photos”
- “Share to TikTok Photos”
- “Reach other like-minded people who enjoy photo posts”
- “Share photo posts to TikTok Photos”
The text strings above point to ways in which users will be able to share their TikTok photo posts to TikTok Photos without leaving their current app, encouraging them to reach new audiences by trying out TikTok Photos.
Besides “soon,” there’s no information as to when the new TikTok Photos service might launch, but Instagram should prepare for some fierce competition. It remains to be seen whether the new TikTok Photos app might skirt any potential U.S. TikTok ban.
Follow @paul_monckton on Instagram
