There’s a new app for Gen-Zers, and it’s becoming more popular every day.
Lemon8, a new photo and video-sharing app that’s owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has been installed 650,000 times in the U.S. in just the past week and a half, according to data shared with Axios from analytics firm Apptopia.
The app is currently sitting at the No. 2 spot in the Apple App Store for the top lifestyle apps. Lemon8 launched in the U.S. and U.K. in February 2023 after debuting in Japan in 2020, per Fast Company.
Image credit: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Lemon8 application on a smartphone.
According to Apptopia, Lemon8 has been downloaded 17 million times globally since its launch, but Japan remains its largest market making up 36.5% of its lifetime downloads.
However, the rise of Lemon8 follows controversy around its ByteDance parent company and national security concerns with the brand’s ties to China. TikTok, which is also owned by the same parent company, has been under scrutiny in the U.S., with several agencies even banning the app from government devices. (TikTok has 150 million users in the U.S. composed primarily of teens and young adults, per AP News.)
In March, CEO Shou Zi Chew testified to Congress, claiming all U.S. data is stored on data servers across the U.S. and Canada owned by software company Oracle.
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What Is Lemon8?
Lemon8 allows users to share videos and still photos. Its interface sort of looks like a combination of Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest — with its ability to scroll through videos and photos and a focus on lifestyle content.
According to presentations Lemon8 shared with marketing agencies in January that were obtained by The New York Times, the app’s ideal creator is female, between the ages of 22 and 26, living in New York or Los Angeles, and focused on fashion and beauty.
Like Tiktok, the app features a “For You” column with personalized recommendations and a “Following” section that highlights accounts users may choose to follow. Additionally, the app allows people to create blog-like captions where people have the space to share tips, recipes, and more insights.