Instagram wants to be TikTok with Reels, and now TikTok wants to be Instagram with Whee.
Like Instagram, Whee allows users to post and edit photos and message other users. It launched earlier this month in some countries to little fanfare. According to TechCrunch, as of Tuesday, the app was only downloaded on 13,000 iOS devices and a little over 10,000 times on Android devices. It has yet to breach the Top Free Apps chart in Apple‘s App Store or become one of the Top 500 Social apps in the countries it’s available in.
The app has yet to launch in the U.S. So far, it’s most popular in Malaysia, where it’s been downloaded 2,400 times. TechCrunch also found that ByteDance, TikTok and Whee’s parent company, has yet to advertise the app via Apple’s Search Ads, which boosts apps’ ranking in the App Store’s search. ByteDance’s strategy remains unclear.
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Whee’s launch is reminiscent of one of ByteDance’s other ventures, Lemon8, a Pinterest-esque photo-sharing platform that got off to a slow start but now boasts millions of downloads.
The public first heard of TikTok’s potential Instagram dupe, which was initially known as TikTok Photos, back in March.
Lemon8 launched in the middle of TikTok’s battle against the potential ban in the U.S., and now that the ban is written into law, ByteDance pushed Whee forward. But the ban will likely take all ByteDance apps down with TikTok.