Instagram want to be Tick Tock with Reels, and now TikTok wants to be Instagram with Whee.
Like Instagram, Whee lets users post and edit photos and send messages to other users. Launched earlier this month in some countries, Whee hasn’t made much of a splash. According to TechCrunch, As of Tuesday, the app has only been downloaded on 13,000 iOS devices and just over 10,000 times on Android devices. It has not yet topped the ranking of the best free applications in Appleon the App Store or become one of the top 500 social apps in the countries in which it is available.
The app has yet to launch in the US. So far, it’s most popular in Malaysia, where it’s been downloaded 2,400 times. TechCrunch also found that ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok and Whee, has yet to promote the app through Apple’s search ads, which boost apps’ rankings in the App Store’s search. ByteDance’s strategy remains unclear.
Speed of Light Mashable
The launch of Whee is reminiscent of one of ByteDance’s other ventures, Lemon8a Pinterest-like photo-sharing platform that started slowly but now has millions of downloads.
The public first heard about TikTok’s potential Instagram dupe, originally known as TikTok Photosin March.
Lemon8 launched amid TikTok’s battle against a possible US ban, and now that the ban is enshrined in lawByteDance pushed Whee forward. But the ban This will probably remove all ByteDance apps with TikTok.
