Instagram competitor TikTok Notes is discontinued after just one year
The Photos app aimed to complement TikTok videos and attract Instagram users. But the Chinese operator now gives up on it and suggests Lemon8 instead.
TikTok will discontinue the associated photo app “TikTok Notes” on May 8, 2025. The Chinese operator writes this in a note to its users. The social media app was only launched in April 2024, initially on a trial basis in Canada, Australia, and Vietnam. The photo app TikTok Notes was an attack on Instagram, the immensely popular photo app from Facebook group Meta Platforms.
The focus of TikTok itself is on videos, although photos and images can also be shared there. Bytedance apparently wanted to separate this with TikTok Notes, although the two apps were still interlinked. But this plan apparently didn't work out. For about a week now, users of TikTok Notes have been receiving discontinuation notices from the operator, as Jonah Manzano writes on Threads. According to this, TikTok Notes will be discontinued on May 8 and the functions of the Photos app will no longer be available. However, users will be able to download their data and continue their “social media journey” with Lemon8, another app from Chinese internet and technology company Bytedance.
(Image:Â Jonah Manzano bei Threads)
The operator does not give an explicit reason for the discontinuation of TikTok Notes, but the decision “was not taken lightly,” it says. According to TikTok, Lemon8 is “a lifestyle app that offers a similar experience to TikTok Notes”, but “with even more features”. Lemon8 is similar to Instagram and Pinterest, as this app also allows users to share photos and image collections and scroll through other users' content. There are filters, effects, stickers, and text templates for your creations.
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When asked by Techcrunch, TikTok explained: “We are excited to pass on the feedback from TikTok Notes to Lemon8 as we continue to build a dedicated space for our community to share and experience photo content that will complement and enhance the TikTok experience”.
Lemon8 as an alternative to TikTok (Notes)
However, Lemon8 is not only a replacement for TikTok Notes, but has also been brought into play as a replacement for TikTok itself since the video app has been threatened with a ban in the USA. This is why TikTok users have been able to log in to Lemon8 with their TikTok data since last fall to easily migrate their content.
The future of TikTok in the USA is still open. The deadline for the sale of the Chinese app to a new American owner, which has already been extended by US President Donald Trump, expires on April 5. So far, both Bytedance and the Chinese government as the supervisory authority have rejected a sale. Most recently, Trump offered lower tariffs as a deal for a TikTok sale.
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