When news and rumors about the possibility of a TikTok ban in the US began to spread earlier this year, interest in Lemon8, a photosharing app from TikTok's parent company ByteDance, suddenly spiked.
ByteDance quietly launched Lemon8 in the US in February. It was briefly in the top 10 free apps on Apple's App Store around its launch at the end of March and was still in the top 50 by mid-April.
With its tagline, "fresh discoveries everyday," the app promises users the chance to find recommendations and ideas related to their favorite topics, such as travel and food, by scrolling through carefully curated slideshows made by its creators. With its heavy emphasis on photos, Lemon8 is often described as a TikTok sister app that functions as "Instagram meets Pinterest."
The early success of Lemon8 had some suggesting it might become the next big thing, following the hugely viral launches of other buzzy social media apps like BeReal.
I decided to make an account and explore the app, to see if it's really as promising as many have described it to be.