ByteDance Launched Photo-Sharing App Whee, an Instagram Clone

Discovered by Android Police founder Artem Russakovskii, ‘Whee’ focuses on photo-sharing. The app’s description states, “Capture and share real-life photos that only your friends can see, allowing you to be your most authentic self. ‘Whee’ is the best place for close friends to share life moments.”

Russakovskii has also shared screenshots of the app in the Google Play Store, showing that it bears a significant resemblance to Instagram. The platform features a photo viewfinder for taking and framing pictures, the ability to send direct messages to friends, and a photo feed that users can scroll through to keep up with the content from the accounts they follow.

Interestingly, there doesn’t appear to be an iOS version of ‘Whee’ yet, which might suggest that ByteDance is targeting countries where Android is the dominant mobile operating system.

While this strategy might exclude the US from the picture (where iOS commands 55.42% of the market share), Android markets may actually be very significant for the company. After all, Android holds around 71.5% of the global market share for mobile devices. Currently, the app is available only in a few countries.

So far, ByteDance has not commented on the app launch, leaving its motivations unclear. Some speculate that the company aims to dethrone Meta as the global leader in social media. Facebook's popularity is (not so slowly) declining due to Gen Z's lack of interest, and Instagram is no longer considered a growing platform.

ByteDance has already made several attempts to catch the eyes of social media users and potentially lure them away from Instagram. Before ‘Whee,’ the company introduced ‘Notes,’ another photo-sharing app, and before that, ‘Lemon8,’ which resembled Instagram even more.

The question remains: will ByteDance eventually succeed in becoming the go-to place for global social media users?