We’re again once more: The 75-day extension President Trump gave TikTok this spring is over on Thursday. If TikTok’s guardian firm ByteDance does not discover a US-approved purchaser or if the deadline is not prolonged, the app could possibly be banned for US customers. However it’s not simply TikTok on the road — Lemon8, TikTok’s sister app, may be affected.
Lemon8 is owned by ByteDance, the identical guardian firm that owns TikTok. It is one of many high Way of life apps in Apple’s App Retailer, and it has greater than 10 million downloads within the Google Play retailer. The app describes itself as “a life-style neighborhood centered app.” There are some main variations between Lemon8 and TikTok you must know earlier than you dive into the app.
This is what you have to learn 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, here is what to know concerning the Supreme Courtroom’s determination, here is what may occur if a sale does not undergo and different apps customers are flocking to.
What’s Lemon8?
Lemon8 posts can comprise textual content to assist label objects within the submit.
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 frequent is that each have Following and For You tabs to point out you posts from creators you comply with and posts the app thinks you’ll like.
Lemon8’s content material is cut up into six subject tabs, plus a seventh tab known as All. The opposite tabs are Trend, Magnificence, Meals, Wellness, Journey and House. These tabs may be discovered throughout the highest of your display, and tapping into these tabs reveals you really useful and steered posts.
Posts may be swipeable photograph collections like in Instagram, or TikTok-style movies. Some creators add textual content to their photographs to label clothes or a product. Some will even embody 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 when it comes to what’s posted and the way it’s offered.
Lemon8 has lots of influencer adverts and product suggestions. It is tough 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 lots 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 a whole bunch of tens of millions on Instagram). This could possibly be as a result of Lemon8 continues 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 will help you obtain a sure way of life or aesthetic.
There’s additionally lots of writing in Lemon8. For instance, submit captions would possibly embody 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 submit. Lemon8 makes use of captions in an analogous solution to Instagram posts, however Lemon8 captions have one key distinction from Instagram: templates.
Lemon8 templates may help you shortly make, or provide you with an concept of what to incorporate in, captions.
Lemon8 permits you to use templates on your posts that will help you shortly format and to provide you an concept of what to caption your submit. There are caption templates for style, buying finds, magnificence, meals and journey.
Lemon8 jogs my memory of a mashup between the magazines Martha Stewart Residing, Muscle & Health and Journey + Leisure. You will discover some helpful ideas in Lemon8 that will help you obtain a desired aesthetic or discover some trip inspiration, however it’s not clear what’s and is not an advert.
What are folks saying about Lemon8?
Individuals’s response to Lemon8 is seemingly optimistic to this point. One TikTok creator posted a video calling Lemon8 “Pinterest, however interactive.” One other stated Lemon8 is a mix of Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok.
Nevertheless, this positivity could possibly be artificially inflated. ZDNet experiences that many TikTok posts about Lemon8 have described the app with comparable language, making some consider ByteDance paid these creators.
And a few Lemon8 creators’ claims make this idea sound extra viable. One Lemon8 creator instructed Insider that ByteDance paid them to submit on the app. Two different Lemon8 creators confirmed Insider emails that outlined the app’s fee 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 Road Journal, a leaked inside memo from Meta confirmed that Instagram engagement was declining. ByteDance executives could possibly 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 progress would possibly 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 doable that the app shall be banned alongside TikTok.
The regulation requiring the sale of TikTok could possibly be utilized usually to different apps which might be 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 doubtless will as nicely.
Must you obtain Lemon8?
Even with a shutdown looming, Lemon8 is free, so you’ll be able to obtain and check out the app now earlier than the sale deadline. Simply know the app’s posts resemble educational guides greater than memes to share, and plenty of posts really feel like ads.
What’s Lemon8’s privateness coverage?
Lemon8’s journey tab may give you inspiration on your subsequent getaway.
Most of Lemon8’s privateness coverage appears normal for social media apps. It states Lemon8 collects private and placement data to give you a greater app expertise. Some collected data consists of your IP handle and searching historical past. However a part of the app’s privateness coverage would possibly increase eyebrows.
“The private data we gather from it’s possible you’ll be saved on a server situated outdoors of the nation the place you reside,” the coverage reads. The corporate has servers all over the world, in keeping with the coverage, so your data could possibly 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 person knowledge 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 crew.
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