These are some alternatives to TikTok in case the Supreme Court maintains the nation-wide ban

The deadline for TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the social media app is fast approaching, set for January 19, less than two weeks away. On Friday, the Supreme Court Justices will hear oral arguments to decide the fate of the popular short-form video platform.

They could delay the date set for the nationwide ban to take effect to give themselves time, or they could rule quickly. Should they find the law passed by Congress last year and signed by President Joe Biden unconstitutional, no worries for users and it will be business as usual. However, should they maintain the ban, TikTok users will have to find an alternative at some point as they watch the app become gradually unusable or immediately if the company pulls the plug in the United States as they have threatened to do.

Alternatives to TikTok

According to findings by Pew Research, a third of Americans were using TikTok by 2023, that was up from just over a fifth two years earlier. The app, which saw tremendous growth during the pandemic, now has around 170 million users according to the company.

The main problem for most of TikTok’s rival except for the largest is user numbers. For creators, that means fewer people to make content that can be monetized going viral. For users, less content that is available. Here’s a look at some TikTok alternatives presented by Trango Tech.

YouTube Shorts

YouTube has a massive user base worldwide and YouTube Shorts had around 153 million users in 2023 according to data published by Statista. One drawback is that video recording lengths are limited to 3 minutes whereas for TikTok its 10 minutes. It also has more limited editing tools than TikTok and is less interactive.

Instagram Reels

While Instagram is more interactive for users, it too has the problem that video lengths are more limited. You can upload videos of up to 15 minutes, TikTok says that you can upload videos 60 minutes long, but it is recommended to keep them less than 90 seconds. The editing toolset is more limited as well. However, you have the access to the whole of the Instagram platform and its almost 170 million users in the US.

Triller

Triller was launched a year before TikTok, but it failed to garner the cult-like following that the ByteDance app has. However, this short-form app is gaining in popularity as the ban on its rival has become more likely. Unfortunately, its user base is still considerably smaller in the United States at just 65 million according to the company, but those numbers have been questioned. The app is touted as having high-quality video output and an extensive music library at users' disposal, as well as AI-powered auto editing features that simplify creation.

Other alternatives that Trango Tech mentioned in their blog include Funimate, Likee, Snapchat and Zoomerang, just to mention a few.

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