What is Lemon8? TikTok’s Instagram and Pinterest competitor explained

Heard of Lemon8 and not sure if it’s worth the download, or if it’s safe to use? Well, here’s the complete guide to what the new social media app is.

TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, doesn’t just stop at the controversial video app. They own Pico, a VR headset company, as well as a new app named Lemon8.

Lemon8 is intended to be a direct competitor with Meta’s Instagram, and Pinterest. The front page looks like Pinterest, but it operates like the familiarity of an older iteration of Instagram’s app.

As well as being a competitor to Western social media, the app originally launched in 2020 in Japan as a similar app in China, Xiahongshu (Little Red Book) was gaining huge audiences.

How Lemon8 works

It also combines various – now iconic – user interface ideas from TikTok. Lemon8 is split into a “following” and “for you” page, which will serve content based on an algorithm. Much like Pinterest and Instagram, you can save posts and add them to a collection for either a mood board or general ideas for what to make for dinner.

Posting to Lemon8 is pretty much very similar to both its inspirations. Photos and videos operate like Instagram, while captions function much like Pinterest, with a bigger focus on creating interesting text to accompany your post. It even uses Pinterest’s feature of giving you Emoji prompts and lists.

ByteDance isn’t oblivious to the fact that they currently make social media stars, and Lemon8’s posting feels like a more stripped-down version of what TikTok currently does. It’s very clear that ByteDance wants Lemon8 to be filled with content creators, as a lot of the early posts hit that aesthetic of generic social media fodder.

It also appears ByteDance is gearing Lemon8 for its next big US expansion, despite the ongoing tussle between it and the US government, as the app rises in popularity in the country.

Currently, Lemon8 is in a general growing phase, with a lot of tags not reaching those massive numbers and there’s a noticeably smaller community staking their claims in the content machine as of right now.

Is Lemon8 safe?

Yes, Lemon8 is quite safe and doesn’t differ from other social media apps.

Much like TikTok and every other social media network, Lemon8 features a lengthy terms and conditions page. The general rule with these companies now is that if you’re uploading images, or supplying them with your information, you’re probably agreeing to something you’re not too fond of as well.

Facebook, Twitter, and even TikTok don’t listen to you. If you’re concerned about one social media application, like Lemon8, then you should be concerned about the rest.

In a 2021 thread, Robert G. Reeve, a content designer in financial tech, laid out exactly what was happening with your phone and social media apps. A large portion of algorithms are built via your email, not what’s around you.

I'm back from a week at my mom's house and now I'm getting ads for her toothpaste brand, the brand I've been putting in my mouth for a week. We never talked about this brand or googled it or anything like that.

As a privacy tech worker, let me explain why this is happening. 🧵

— Robert G. Reeve (@RobertGReeve) May 25, 2021

Will Lemon8 survive the Restrict Act and TikTok bans in America?

The most likely outcome would be that Lemon8 survives the banning of TikTok, as the company that publishes it is a different firm. However, if government officials deem it to be in the same category as TikTok, they will be able to ban it too.

Heliophilia Pte., Ltd. which is listed on the app’s store pages shares the same offices as TikTok in Singapore, and multiple Bytedance staff have spoken with other outlets about it as if it is theirs.