TikTok is a social networking app that allows people to generate their own short videos and lip sync to popular audio clips. By using the built-in tools in this app, the users can create and upload unique short videos and even remix the existing videos. A user can do the whole storytelling in the 15-second video. The app also allows to capture funny and memorable moments and also lets the user comment and view the videos uploaded by other users.

Musical.ly was an app which was gaining huge popularity in the last few years. It provided the users with an ability to make videos with some background music and other audio snippets. People used the app to make videos with lip syncing and dancing to dialogues and songs. The app had more than 100 million users and brought forward many new social media influencers. It was working fine until one day in November 2017, it was shut down.

A Chinese company called Bytedance, who had published TikTok in 2016, acquired Musical.ly. After the deal, all Musical.ly users were automatically shifted to the new app that was presented to them- TikTok. Bytedance generated $2.5 billion revenue last year but it couldn’t make a profitable position in the market yet. In 2018, TikTok was the most downloaded app in 2018 and had 40 million downloads during a three month period. Like Instagram and Facebook, TikTok also made its ‘musers’ popular.

According to TechCrunch, In June 2017, TikTok which is called Douyin in China was reported having 500 million active users around the world. TikTok surpassed Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube downloads in September 2018 with 29.7 percent more downloads.

The US installs of TikTok app were up by 237 percent from 1.13 million in October 2017.

Up to late 2018, TikTok was available in 150 countries and in 75 languages. TikTok ranks first in the app store of Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia. It ranks between second to tenth in Vietnam, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, South Korea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Philippines. And eleventh to twentieth in Indonesia, Bahrain, Bhutan, Kuwait, Chad, Saint Lucia, Papua New Guinea.

TikTok had more than 300 popular influencers in its Chinese version, Douyin. But to make the app popular in international market needed different faces. The first celebrity to join was Japanese actress Kinoshita Yukina. After that, J-pop star, Kyary Pamyu and comedian Watanabe Naomi pitched in. In Thailand, the social media star Kaykai Salaider and in India Tv star, Aashika Bhatia became the faces of TikTok.

Recently, celebrities like Jimmy Fallon and Tony Hawk from the US have joined TikTok in November 2018. TikTok also had other social media apps like Weibo which it used to penetrate the market.

The marketing strategy of TikTok was simple- to entertain and engage the users. To make sure it happens, they implemented the AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology. They knew AI was gaining popularity and they could use it capture attention. The videos would no doubt interest users and get “like” or “follow” response.

The feedback from customers, they understood that AI could offer more such short videos that could attract users. TikTok made sure the users get what they want to keep them glued to the app for hours.

In order to make the user experience more interesting, TikTok launched “#gagadancemachine”. In this feature, the AI could detect the user’s motion and interact in response. Every time a feature was captured and sent around social media as a serial of the video stream. By the time the feature got viral, they launched another one to keep the user enthusiasm on. In this way, TikTok earned more and more popularity around the world.

The marking timing of product adoption lifecycle followed by TikTok for the marketing is as follows:

Recently, TikTok is launching many online safety videos in its own app called “You’re in Control”. According to TechCrunch, the videos will appear in the app and will be available through the @ticktocktips account. These videos will focus on serious safety issues like unwanted messages and being overrun in a humorous manner.

» Facial Recognition: This feature enables high-speed image capture and perfect facial feature matching for all cute, cool, silly, goofy and outrageous expressions and entertains the users in many ways.

» Quality: The app loads instantly and has a smooth interface. It does not lag, each detail is displayed perfectly.

» Mobile Studio: It is a perfect combination of artificial intelligence and image capturing. It includes rhythm synchronization, special effects and advanced technology to provide the best user experience.

» Music Library: It has a massive music library which none of the TikTok clone apps has and you get fresh editor’s pick daily.

There are many apps like Dubsmash and Facebook’s recently launched Lasso which are in the market to compete with TikTok.

However, according to a piece of news in TechCrunch, Apple has removed VoIP app clones from the app store. The app store review guidelines clearly state that you cannot release the same app multiple times. Some of the developers, unfortunately, release multiple versions of the same app in order to use different names, keywords, and categories to increase the number of downloads and revenue.

So, using the readymade script is never the solution. Maintaining the uniqueness of your app is important to stay in the competition.

Things to avoid while making a TikTok clone app (Mistake made by TikTok):

A major mistake made by TikTok cost it $5.7 million. According to TechCrunch, TikTok violated the U.S children’s privacy laws by collecting personal information of the users under 13 years of age. The Federal Trade Commission stated that the TikTok owners knew that many children across the country are using the app but still failed to seek parental consent. And since the app holds the pictures and personal information of the users, it was a threat to children’s security.

• Consolidated Dashboard for the overall managementComplete view to display analytics on Musical.ly or TikTok.
• Comprehensive user managementAdd, delete and view all the registered users on the app
• Unique CategoriesMake your app unique by adding unique categories with distinct features.
• Complete Post ManagementManage all the posts on your personal video sharing app like Musical.ly or TikTok.
• Channel managementManage all the in-app channel created by your users and other brands.
• User reporting reasonsFormation of various reasons for why a user should report according to the categories in your personalized TikTok app clone
• App DescriptionA detailed description of your TikTok clone app to make the target audience aware of the features and uses of the mobile app.

• Easy CustomizationOur app script is 100% customizable and supports a number of unique video-based media platforms. Based on your idea, we will customize the app for you.
• PCI CompliantAny additional in-app monetization features can be accepted through the app as assure of PCI compliance on your TikTok clone app.
• Prebuilt ScriptsWe have prebuilt scripts for TikTok like-app as we want to transform the solution from development to deployment quickly.
• Scalable and clean DesignWe deploy clean coding practices and use state of the art app container technology to build a robust social video sharing or dubbing software solution.
• Localization and multi-currencyWherever you want to release the apps and be it any currency preference, Coruscate can provide a customized app like Musical.ly or TikTok clone for a worldwide launch.
• ChatbotsChatbots are the future. It is essential to have a chatbot in order to make your app more customer-friendly and engaging. We build the best chatbots in the industry.
• SecurityOur designed apps are not only robust and scalable but also secure. SSL-powered API’s, keychain, JWT, reverse proxy setup etc makes sure that the security extends to each individual joining the app.

How much does developing a realistic app like Musical.ly or TikTok cost and How can Coruscate help you to develop such an app?

The cost to build an app that is exactly like TikTok would be around $10,000-$15000. However, let’s consider the app store guidelines where it is stated that spamming or repetitive versions of an app are prohibited. So, if you build an app which is the exact clone of TikTok or Musical.ly, it would either not get you a good number of the audience or it would fall flat in the market.

After a deep analysis of the Musical.ly and TikTok app, the team of 6 people from Coruscate found out the scope of an app like Musical.ly. The research was meant to find out which other features or areas can such apps dive into if we plan on building an app like Musical.ly. Our research has not only touched but also covered each of the areas of scope in detail.

Be assured, when you come to us with an idea of a TikTok clone app, our business analyst along with the technology expert and a member of the research team will guide you with all your needs. We commit to deliver perfection for all our clients. And for your app like Musical.ly, we will walk that extra mile to ensure that you are profited by it.