TikTok earlier this month launched a brand new social app known as Whee, an Instagram-like service for taking pictures to share with associates. Like Instagram, Whee additionally helps using photograph filters and consists of messaging. Nevertheless, the corporate’s plans for Whee aren’t clear, because the app has comparatively few downloads and has but to promote itself through Apple’s Search Adverts, based on new information from app intelligence agency Appfigures.
With out advertising and marketing help, new apps stay largely invisible on right now’s App Retailer. That seems to be the case for Whee, as nicely, which quietly launched June 18 in 71 international locations worldwide. As a result of lack of promotion, Whee didn’t discover its manner into the Prime Free Apps chart on Apple’s App Retailer, nor did it instantly develop into one of many Prime 500 Social apps in its supported markets, although that later modified.
Whee is related to TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, nevertheless it’s revealed by TikTok itself, not its mum or dad, based on its App Retailer itemizing.
As of Tuesday, Whee had solely gained 13,000 complete world downloads on iOS and someplace north of 10,000 Android downloads, per Google Play information. It’s additionally clearly not being pushed within the U.S. in the interim, as its high markets on iOS embody Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Peru and Indonesia. Nonetheless, these international locations are solely contributing a small variety of downloads.
For example, the No. 1 market Malaysia delivered 2,400 downloads whereas Indonesia rounded up fifth place with simply 800 installs. Due to the small numbers, these are probably downloads from individuals who randomly got here throughout Whee whereas looking out the App Retailer. In smaller markets with fewer apps, Whee made it into the Prime 500 Social apps, although by no means as excessive because the Prime 10 and largely nicely previous 50.
What’s extra, Appfigures says ByteDance hasn’t but tried to promote Whee through Apple’s Search Adverts, which assist apps rank extremely when App Retailer customers seek for apps utilizing particular key phrases. There hasn’t been any Apple Search Adverts exercise related with Whee as of but, the agency discovered. As well as, person suggestions from those that discovered Whee can also be pretty tepid, because the app has an General ranking of three.6 out of 5 globally, throughout 31 App Retailer scores, solely 10 of which have opinions.
ByteDance has not commented on its plans for Whee, however the timing of the app’s launch has raised eyebrows provided that President Biden formally signed the TikTok ban into legislation in late April after the Home handed a revised invoice that compelled both a TikTok ban or sale. (TikTok has since sued the U.S. to dam the legislation from coming into impact, which is able to not less than delay the ban for a while whereas the legality is labored out within the courts.)
Whee’s arrival might be a plan B of types that permits ByteDance to keep up a social presence within the U.S., even when TikTok’s ban is upheld.
This isn’t the primary time ByteDance has tried to generate curiosity in different social apps outdoors of TikTok. Earlier in 2023, the corporate quietly launched one other Instagram-like app, Lemon8 within the U.S. and U.Okay., and even paid TikTok influencers to submit concerning the app to be able to seed its preliminary content material. These efforts didn’t instantly repay; by November 2023, the app’s U.S. downloads on iOS had solely reached 2.5 million — nice numbers for a brand new startup, however nothing close to the scale of TikTok, which has over a billion month-to-month energetic customers, together with the 170 million within the U.S. Nevertheless, Lemon8 might be a slow-burn try at development. Right now, it’s the No. 2 Life-style app within the U.S., with practically 7.7 million iOS installs on this market.
ByteDance additionally operates one other well-liked video app, CapCut, typically used for making TikTok movies. And it briefly dabbled with a BeReal rival, TikTok Now, although that was shut down after lower than a yr. Presently, it’s testing one other Instagram competitor, TikTok Notes.
Whether or not Whee will observe the identical playbook as Lemon8 stays to be seen. But when your favourite TikTok influencer begins randomly speaking about Whee sooner or later sooner or later, bear in mind they have been in all probability paid to take action.
