There Are 3 Clear TikTok Competitors, But None Are Close To Dethroning It

As TikTok faces an uncertain future, other social video apps have tried to seize the opportunity and take the social media throne. Despite signs that appeared promising, no competitor has been successful in doing so.

According to data collected by mobile data and analytics provider App Annie, various stand-alone social video apps saw spikes in popularity in July and early August. But, none surpassed TikTok’s acclaim or its daily and weekly active users, which are both reportedly north of 50 million.

There are three clear competitors in the race to rise over TikTok: Likee, Byte and Triller. But each has a huge gap to close because all three apps are at least 50 million weekly active users behind TikTok.

• Likee is a Singapore-based social video platform very similar to TikTok. According to App Annie data, Likee had 1.9 million weekly active users across iPhone and Android users in the U.S. for the week ending August 8. Likee’s weekly active users have continued steadily increasing since.
• Byte, commonly called ‘Vine 2,’ had 1.1 million weekly active users during the same period as Likee. Previously, Byte hit No. 1 in overall iPhone downloads on July 8.
• Triller is another social video platform similar to TikTok, but it instead uses algorithms to automatically stitch user videos. Like Byte, Triller had 1.1 weekly active users during the week ending August 8. Leading up to that, Triller hit No. 1 in overall iPhone downloads on August 1.

There is no clear TikTok replacement or strong enough competitor at the moment. These apps’ popularity spikes did not close the gargantuan gap in weekly active users. Instead, these spikes hint at a stint of user panic. After all, President Trump signed the executive order against TikTok on August 6.

TikTok remains at the top and consistently ranks in the top 10 for iPhone downloads. In the meantime, other social video apps will continue working and using social campaigns to rise in popularity.

If TikTok’s users and creators are forced to leave the app and migrate elsewhere, the new top pick will be determined by preexisting social connections, innovation, and convenience. Creators will follow their friends and fellow creatives. Others may relocate to already-established social media apps like Instagram, which recently rolled out the TikTok-alike feature, Reels.

TikTok remains in the spotlight. Today, it announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration. Plus, the impending ban due to security concerns is still looming. If no U.S. company agrees to purchase TikTok from its Beijing-based owner company, the ban is scheduled to take effect September 15.