We’re again once more: The 75-day extension President Trump gave TikTok this spring is over on Thursday. If TikTok’s dad or mum firm ByteDance does not discover a US-approved purchaser or if the deadline is not prolonged, the app could be banned for US customers. But it surely’s not simply TikTok on the road — Lemon8, TikTok’s sister app, may be affected.
Lemon8 is owned by ByteDance, the identical dad or mum firm that owns TikTok. It is one of many high Life-style apps in Apple’s App Store, and it has greater than 10 million downloads within the Google Play store. The app describes itself as “a way of life group centered app.” There are some main variations between Lemon8 and TikTok you must know earlier than you dive into the app.
Here is what it’s essential find out about Lemon8. Be aware: I reached out to ByteDance for this story, and the corporate didn’t reply for remark.
For extra on the TikTok ban, this is what to know in regards to the Supreme Court’s decision, this is what could happen if a sale doesn’t go through and other apps users are flocking to.
What’s Lemon8?
Lemon8 posts can comprise textual content to assist label objects within the put up.
Lemon8 is a video- and photo-sharing platform that eschews the vertical-scrolling format of TikTok in favor of a Pinterest board-style format. However what Lemon8 and TikTok do have in widespread is that each have Following and For You tabs to indicate you posts from creators you observe and posts the app thinks you’ll like.
Lemon8’s content material is break up into six subject tabs, plus a seventh tab referred to as All. The opposite tabs are Vogue, Magnificence, Meals, Wellness, Journey and House. These tabs may be discovered throughout the highest of your display screen, and tapping into these tabs exhibits you advisable and recommended posts.
Posts may be swipeable picture collections like in Instagram, or TikTok-style movies. Some creators add textual content to their pictures to label clothes or a product. Some can even embrace the worth of the merchandise within the textual content.
How is Lemon8 totally different from TikTok and different apps?
Lemon8 is totally different from different apps by way of what’s posted and the way it’s introduced.
Lemon8 has plenty of influencer advertisements and product suggestions. It is troublesome to inform what’s and is not sponsored content material, and this seems to be the norm throughout the app. TikTok additionally has sponsored content material, however often these are marked as such within the bottom-left nook.
Memes aren’t catching on in Lemon8.
There aren’t plenty of memes or jokes on Lemon8 in comparison with different apps, both. You will discover memes on Lemon8, however numerous hashtags related to “memes,” like “funnymemes” and “catmemes,” have fewer than 1 million views (versus tons of of hundreds of thousands on Instagram). This might be as a result of Lemon8 remains to be catching on within the US, however my suspicion is Lemon8 is not meant for memes. It is meant to be extra of a guidebook that can assist you obtain a sure life-style or aesthetic.
There’s additionally plenty of writing in Lemon8. For instance, put up captions may embrace directions for a recipe or a deeper breakdown of an outfit. TikTok captions can have helpful data, however these captions are extra about connecting posts to hashtags to get extra views and do not essentially add new data to the TikTok put up. Lemon8 makes use of captions in an identical method to Instagram posts, however Lemon8 captions have one key distinction from Instagram: templates.
Lemon8 templates will help you shortly make, or offer you an concept of what to incorporate in, captions.
Lemon8 helps you to use templates in your posts that can assist you shortly format and to provide you an concept of what to caption your put up. There are caption templates for trend, procuring finds, magnificence, meals and journey.
Lemon8 jogs my memory of a mashup between the magazines Martha Stewart Living, Muscle & Fitness and Travel + Leisure. You will discover some helpful suggestions in Lemon8 that can assist you obtain a desired aesthetic or discover some trip inspiration, nevertheless it’s not clear what’s and is not an advert.
What are folks saying about Lemon8?
Folks’s response to Lemon8 is seemingly constructive up to now. One TikTok creator posted a video calling Lemon8 “Pinterest, however interactive.” One other said Lemon8 is a mix of Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok.
Nonetheless, this positivity might be artificially inflated. ZDNet studies that many TikTok posts about Lemon8 have described the app with related language, making some imagine ByteDance paid these creators.
And a few Lemon8 creators’ claims make this principle sound extra viable. One Lemon8 creator instructed Insider that ByteDance paid them to put up on the app. Two different Lemon8 creators confirmed Insider emails that outlined the app’s cost construction.
Who owns Lemon8?
ByteDance, the Chinese language tech firm that owns TikTok, additionally owns Lemon8. In response to ZDNet, ByteDance is positioning Lemon8 to be an Instagram rival as extra customers cease utilizing, or abandon, Meta’s app.
In response to the Wall Street Journal, a leaked inside memo from Meta confirmed that Instagram engagement was declining. ByteDance executives might be hoping to capitalize on this by giving Instagram customers another app within the type of Lemon8. And whereas Lemon8 was launched globally in 2020, the app’s latest development may present ByteDance’s gamble is paying off.
Will Lemon8 be banned alongside TikTok?
Since Lemon8 is owned by ByteDance, which additionally owns TikTok, it is attainable that the app shall be banned alongside TikTok.
The law requiring the sale of TikTok might be utilized usually to different apps which are owned and operated by ByteDance and its subsidiaries. When TikTok shutdown operations within the US in January, Lemon8 was shutdown alongside the app. If TikTok shuts down once more, Lemon8 seemingly will as effectively.
Do you have to obtain Lemon8?
Even with a shutdown looming, Lemon8 is free, so you possibly can obtain and take a look at the app now earlier than the sale deadline. Simply know the app’s posts resemble tutorial guides greater than memes to share, and lots of posts really feel like ads.
What’s Lemon8’s privateness coverage?
Lemon8’s journey tab can provide you inspiration in your subsequent getaway.
Most of Lemon8’s privacy policy appears customary for social media apps. It states Lemon8 collects private and placement data to offer you a greater app expertise. Some collected data consists of your IP handle and looking historical past. However a part of the app’s privateness coverage may elevate eyebrows.
“The non-public data we acquire from chances are you’ll be saved on a server situated exterior of the nation the place you reside,” the coverage reads. The corporate has servers around the globe, in keeping with the coverage, so your data might be saved in any of them.
That is totally different from how Lemon8’s sister app TikTok shops some person’s knowledge. The corporate shops US-based user data in Oracle servers. TikTok CEO Shou Chew stated ByteDance staff in China can entry this knowledge, however with “sturdy cybersecurity controls and authorization approval” overseen by a US-based safety staff.
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