TikTok chiefs have said not confirmed when the new app will launch
- Long-rumoured Instagram rival to be called TikTok Notes
- Photos shared on TikTok today will automatically added to Notes
- TikTok already offers the ability to post photos and albums
- No release date has been confirmed
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TikTok is gearing up to launch a photo-sharing app called TikTok Notes designed to rival the social media platform Instagram. Users have reported seeing a pop-up notification warning them that any images shared on their TikTok profile will be automatically duplicated and shared in TikTok Notes when the app becomes available.
Users have the ability to opt-out of this cross-platform posting, screenshots of the pop-up shared on social news website Reddit reveal.
What is Tiktok notes?
byu/killranker5 inTiktokhelp
TikTok bosses have confirmed engineers within the company are working on a photo-based app called TikTok Notes. However, they've not confirmed when it will launch.
A new website — photo.tiktok.com — launched momentarily this week, before it was quickly pulled. Technology blog TechCrunch was first to spot the URL when it briefly appeared online.
In one picture, the message on the TikTok app reads: "Your photo posts will now be shown on TikTok".
It continues saying: "TikTok Notes, a new app for photo posts, is coming soon! Your existing and future public TikTok photo posts will be shown on TikTok Notes. If you prefer not to show your public TikTok photo posts on TikTok Notes, turn this off now."
The photo features a toggle where users can decide whether to share on the incoming Notes app or not.
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TikTok said they are working on the new app but it is not available for users yet.
A spokesperson said: "As part of our continued commitment to innovating the TikTok experience, we’re exploring ways to empower our community to create and share their creativity with photos and text in a dedicated space for those formats."
The runaway success of TikTok has forced competitors like Instagram, which is owned by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, and YouTube, under the same parent company as Google, to shift focus to shorter video clips, launching competitors Reels and YouTube Shorts respectively to avoid losing users.
And now it seems TikTok is looking at the success of photos and ephemeral Stories popular with the 2 billion monthly active users on Instagram and is looking to launch a competitor.
According to early code discovered by team at TheSpAndroid, posting a photo on TikTok will summon a prompt about the new app, stating "TikTok Photos will be launched soon..."
TikTok only launched in late 2017, but has come to dominate the short-form video market. It boasts over 1.5 billion users worldwide, including a huge proportion of younger users — some estimates suggest 47.4% of TikTok users are under 30 years-old — a critical demographic for advertisers.
As we’ve seen with the recent success of BeReal, it’s still possible for new social media services to challenge long-established players like Instagram and Facebook. TikTok Notes has the advantage of being advertised to a vast userbase of hundreds of millions of people who already love TikTok.
The app faces a number of regulatory hurdles in the United States, with lawmakers in Washington DC moving to block the social app completely unless it's sold to a US company.
