Tiktok closes Instagram competitor, notes Tiktok on May 8.
The company alerts that Tiktok notes users about its decision to withdraw from the application and directs them to the Lemon8 owned by Bytedance, which is not surprising as the applications are quite similar and offer the same functionality.
“We are excited to bring comments from Tiktok Notes to Lemon8 as we continue to build a special area for our community to share and experience photo content, designed to complement and enhance the Tiktok experience,” a Tiktok spokesman said in a statement.
While Tiktok did not provide a specific reason for the closure of the application, it is likely that the company did not see much adoption for Tiktok notes and decides to push Lemon8, which had around 12.5 Million World Monthly Active Users From December 2024.
In A notice to Tiktok users notes usersTiktok says the decision to close the application “did not become light”. The notice encourages users to download and store their Tiktok data and “continue to share your creativity in Lemon8”. Tiktok says “Lemon8 is a lifestyle application that offers a similar experience with Tiktok notes” but with “even more features”.
Lemon8 began in Japan in 2020 and later expanded to markets in all US and Southeast Asia. The application is similar to Instagram and Pinterest, as it allows users to share slideshows and photo collections and browse the content through the “following” and “for you” feeds. Lemon8 offers users access to creative tools, filters, effects, stickers, text standards and more.
While Tiktok is pushing Lemon8 as an alternative to Tiktok notes, ByTedance has also tried to place the application as an alternative to Tiktok itself in view of a possible US ban.
Last November, the company allowed users to have instant access to Lemon8 with their Tiktok accounts and to unfold the ability for users to cross photos between applications. The move was considered as a way for ByTedance to move the creators to the new platform without getting them to register separately if Tiktok was going to go away.
Fast forward to date, and Tiktok continues to promote Lemon8 to implement as it is facing a new April 5 prohibition deadline.
