How to Make an App Like TikTok: Process, Tips & Features

The world of social networking has grown parallel to the growth of Internet speeds across the globe. The penetration of smartphones in some of the most remote places that were earlier thought to be impossible, has also contributed to the enormous growth of social networks.

The supremacy that apps and companies like Facebook and Twitter enjoy is a living and breathing testimony to the relevance and inevitability of social media in today’s world. It is not a thing of wonder that people have said if you do not exist on social media, you do not exist at all. The previous sentence calls good not only for individuals but also for large companies.

Social media was once compressed into an all-in-one form as Facebook. They only depended on a single social media platform for sharing the photos, videos, short text updates, long text updates, and everything possible. Every time, that has been a new form of social media that has evolved to capitalize on one of these pockets of Facebook. Twitter came in to carve away the space of microblogging. Snapchat took care of temporary content. There was no place for people to put short videos in an interactive fashion… until TikTok came in.

TikTok was developed and is owned by the Chinese tech giant, ByteDance, and it is not surprising to see that it had been the number one downloaded app both on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store in the first quarter of 2019. To this day, it has not lost its supremacy, always ranking in the Top 20 apps on both the app stores.

A few interesting statistics

The success of TikTok has to be attributed to the fact that even the younger generation now has access to smartphones. About a decade ago, smartphones were largely confined to working individuals who had access to some good money. Today, as smartphones have become more affordable and the Internet costs have also considerably reduced, it has become accessible to even teenagers, and this axis has greatly contributed to the popularity of TikTok. It is not surprising to know that the biggest chunk of users (approx. 41%) of the app belongs to the age group between 16 and 24.

TikTok has over 1.5 billion active users and 500 million monthly users ranging from every corner of the world. Between January and March 2019 alone, the app added 33 million new users. On average, TikTok users spent about 52 minutes on the app daily.

All of this does not mean that TikTok does not have adult participation. Interestingly, in the United States alone, the participation of adults on TikTok grew by 5.5 times in between October 2017 and March 2019.

Recently, TikTok was banned in India, and it resulted in a loss of a huge chunk of users. India was one of the biggest contributors given the low-cost smartphone availability and almost close to zero cost for data. This blue might have been detrimental to the growth, but it does not in any way mean that the app is any less popular.

Maybe the app might have declined in its popularity but it has only heralded to the world that there is a lot of scope for micro-video social networks. It is probably one of the reasons why Instagram came up with its version of TikTok called Reels.

The time is still right for aspiring entrepreneurs to create an app like TikTok and make a big profit out of it.

Factors contributing to TikTok’s popularity

TikTok is a perfect example of how the right combination of features at the right time can mean a lot for the brand and for its profits.

• TikTok promoted short video content that is easy to create and upload. It promoted creativity in a short span of time, and it came in at a time when the attention span of people is also quite limited. It coincided with the limits on data consumption and Internet speeds.
• It capitalized on the mindset of not millennials but GenZ, who go by the notion that being popular on social media translates into actual popularity. This had given rise to a new breed of sales and marketing through TikTok influencers.
• TikTok also saw an influx of a lot of celebrities personally marking their presence. It was better than Facebook or Twitter, where fans were unsure if the profile was managed by the actual celebrity or some representatives. The celebrities include performers like Will Smith and cricketers like David Warner, and not to mention, a huge number of Indian and Chinese film actors.
• Above everything, TikTok also paves the way for creators to make money. This is one of the biggest factors that contributed to the popularity of TikTok. Unlike Facebook, where people had to rely on their own creation from scratch, the users of TikTok could use existing soundtracks and just do a lip-synch with a few simple dance moves to become TikTok celebrities… Yes! That term exists!!

Building an app like in TikTok

As we have discussed earlier, the time is right for entrepreneurs to create an exclusive app like TikTok. You can either get it to a specific geography or a specific niche. Anything said, there are a few basic features that need to be in place to ensure the success of your social video app like TikTok.

At the end of the day, it should be remembered that TikTok is, as much as it is a video sharing app, also a social media app. Therefore, the app should have features pertaining to both social media and video upload sites.

On the social media front, the useless should be able to easily create their profiles by signing up. They can sign up either using email addresses or phone numbers or using legacy credentials like Google or Facebook.

They should be able to follow each other, and the number of followers can be considered equivalent to the number of followers on Twitter on the number of friends on Facebook. They should also be able to like and share videos. The like is symbolized by a heart symbol on TikTok. It is not essential that you should use the same language in terms of interactions, but a feature like that is absolutely essential. They should also be able to comment on the videos. This opens up avenues for people to conduct contests based on likes and comments.

As a video sharing app, TikTok should be equipped with the facility to upload videos easily. The videos predominately are in portrait mode. It should also be able to accommodate landscape videos without unnecessarily cropping the video. The video upload should be fast and straightforward. The upload should be possible either straight from the camera or by importing a video from the gallery.

The uploaded video should be easily editable. Simple edits like cropping, flipping, and rotation of videos should be made possible. There are certain features on TikTok that help control the playback speed of the video. It helps create videos in sync with a few audio samples available. Another important feature that needs to be included in your app like TikTok is the music library. This helps users do lip-synch videos and dance videos, making video creation easy and engaging.

Added to the portfolio of editing tools should be filters and effects. This is one of the most important features that enhance the marketability of the app with Gen Y and Gen Z. The filters include beauty filters, animations, and stickers. It is also recommended that your TikTok-like app also includes filters that use augmented reality. The augmented reality filters can help perform acts like alteration of eye color and hair color, edition of virtual elements like headgear and eyewear, and even changing the face of the users to appear like cats and dogs.

It was already seen that an app like TikTok is bound to be a social network. Therefore, social video apps like TikTok should feature social sharing on other platforms. Just like how Instagram posts can be made as a tweet, the posts on TikTok should automatically be posted on Facebook, Twitter, and, if possible, even on Instagram Reels by using an API. This helps expand the prospect of users. After all, the growth of one social network will usually depend on another!

In addition, there can also be advanced features like duets, where users can participate with one another in acting, lip-synching, or even filling up the gaps of videos. It is not easy to forget the fake plane challenge that was once trending on TikTok, which was an outcome of this duet feature. You can also feature live video streaming where celebrities can chat with their fans. Your social video app can also have an option to have a QR code to scan and subscribe. Adding geolocation to the app helps connect with other users in the vicinity.

Conclusion

There’s no question that the market for an app like TikTok is quite wide open and extremely lucrative. If you are one of those business aspirants who would like to create a social video sharing app like TikTok, instead of building your app from scratch, you can go for white label clones of TikTok. A white label TikTok clone script is easy to customize and helps you launch the app in the shortest possible time. Given the fact that TikTok has been subject to a lot of controversies, the market is on the lookout for an alternative, and there is no time that right now for you to launch an app like TikTok.