TikTok is already a competitor to Instagram when it comes to videos. However, while TikTok is a video-dominated social network, Instagram still allows users to post photos to their feeds and share 24-hour stories. It looks like TikTok is working on a new app to compete with Instagram’s photo feed.
According to TheSpAndroid, the code found in the latest version of the TikTok app contains several links to the new “TikTok Photos” app. Based on the lines of code found by the site, this new app looks a lot like Instagram, with a feed where users can share photos with their friends and family.
The lines of code found by TheSpAndroid invite users to try the new TikTok Photos app. They also suggest that users will be able to share content from the main app to the Photos app. Another line describes the app as a place to connect with “other like-minded people who love photo posts.”
There are currently no details on when and where the photos app will be released, but all indications are that an official announcement should happen very soon. This comes after many creators complained that Instagram had become more focused on videos and lost its core purpose of being a place to share photos.
TheSpAndroid also revealed the new TikTok Photos app icon, which has the same colour scheme as the original app icon, here’s what it looks like:
Meanwhile, this photos app may come at a bad time for ByteDance, the company that owns the platform. After all, this week the US House of Representatives will vote on a bill that could ban TikTok in the US. In a statement to the press last Friday, President Joe Biden said that if Congress passes the bill, he will sign it.
In response to Biden’s statement, TikTok claims that the US government is “attempting to deprive 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free expression” by attempting to ban the platform in the country. The government accuses Chinese company ByteDance of using the video-sharing app to transfer user data from around the world to the Chinese government.
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