ByteDance app Lemon8 sees popularity surge in US as TikTok faces potential ban

By wazup on May 6, 2024 Comments Closed / 58 views

Lemon8, which has been described as a cross between Instagram and Pinterest, is a content-curation platform featuring lengthy blog-style posts that emphasise photos over videos. Users can browse, record and engage with popular content that includes fashion, travel, food and health.

It has been the most downloaded lifestyle app on Apple’s App Store in the US since April 7, ahead of Pinterest and dating platform Tinder. It was briefly unseated by Pinterest on April 26 and 27, according to app analytics provider Data.ai.

For Android device users in the US, Lemon8 was ranked between 10th and 19th among lifestyle apps on Google Play for the past month. That put Lemon8 behind Pinterest and Amazon’s Alexa, but ahead of online publishing platform Substack.

Lifestyle app Lemon8 has seen its popularity grow on both Apple’s App Store and Google Play in the United States. Photo: Shutterstock

Initially known as “Sharee” when ByteDance launched it in Japan in March 2020, Lemon8 was introduced in the US and the United Kingdom in February last year. The app is also available across Southeast Asia including in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

In 2020, then-US President Donald Trump had signed an executive order to force ByteDance to sell its US operations over fears that user data could be passed on to China’s government. TikTok has consistently rejected that allegation.

United States President Joe Biden speaks after signing into law a US$95 billion foreign aid package and a measure to ban TikTok in the US at the White House in Washington on April 24, 2024. Photo: Agence France-Presse

ByteDance, meanwhile, has been paying TikTok influencers to promote the lesser-known Lemon8 app in the US, according to a New York Post report.

Lemon8 has also been among the top three lifestyle apps for iOS users the past month in other markets, including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, according to Data.ai. In Japan, Lemon8 ranked 20th among iOS lifestyle apps as of Monday.