TikTok

TikTok is the most musical and inspirational social media around. Formerly known as musical.ly, it wants you to sing and dance, do the tricks and troll the audience, and applause to others who do. You can download TikTok for iOS and Android and start making your content instantly.

Functionality — 5/5

It’s similar to Instagram, with accents on music and video. First: you can make your own music videos with a built-in editor, simple but effective. Second: TikTok features a large library of licensed popular tracks, so you can select the one you like and sing it along or dance to it. Third: you can view other users’ videos, subscribe, comment, like, and do all the stuff you do on social media. That’s enough to go super successful.

Design — 5/5

It’s sort of insolent to make apps like this, with videos as the background and menus over it. All the buttons are just above the video, including like counter, profile links, comments, and so on. It takes a swipe left to see the user’s profile and scrolling up and down lets you switch videos. There’s rarely an app that wastes so little space on your screen, no matter what its ratio is.

Usability — 4/5

First of all, you need to get used to it. While Instagram was a compromise between vertical view and PC-oriented horizontal, TikTok is full of vertical videos. They take all of the screen space, leaving a bit for buttons and tabs, and trusting the rest with gestures. It takes some time to get used to it, but when you do, other social media seem dull.

You can log in with your Facebook, Instagram, Google, Twitter accounts, or create a dedicated one with your email or phone. To start making your own videos, you need nothing but your phone, imagination, and artistic approach. Just record it, mix audio tracks with your live recordings with a built-in mixer, and share. You can also make videos in external editors and share it with TikTok.

The most exciting part of it is social. If you make your videos public, you can be found by tags, by location, by name, or just by recommendations. Do anything you feel amusing; someone will surely find it amazing.

Cross-Platform Use — 4/5

Purely mobile, the app is equally well done for iOS and Android, and for Amazon devices specifically. There are no desktop clients, unless you bother to install an Android emulator like BlueStacks and install TikTok into it. Still, with its vertical view, camera and mic integration, and location services, it’s logical to have it on mobiles exclusively.

In-App Purchases

There is nothing to pay for if you are a regular user. But if you want to promote your account, you can advertise it for money. Well, it can finally be a good monetization, and TikTik doesn’t require much effort for it: just be yourself and dance.

The Bottom Line

TikTok review could have taken just one line: it’s the most karaoke-oriented social media, letting you sing and dance to your favorite melodies, or share your own as well. Just be the one you are, and someone will certainly like it. TikTok won’t lie.

• Graphics 5
• Gameplay 5
• Controls 4
• Replay Value 4

Pros

Tons of funny content;
Legal music to sing and dance to;
Easy to register, log in, and start creating.

Cons

It’s mostly teenoriented (if you are too old for that);
Videos require fast Internet connection to load.