As US eyes TikTok ban another ByteDance owned app hits #1 in App Store

Seemingly unphased by a potential ban in the US, TikTok owner ByteDance is successfully promoting another of its owned apps, Lemon8, to new heights.

Currently, the #1 Lifestyle app download in the US App Store, Instagram competitor Lemon 8 entered the overall U.S. App Store’s Top Charts on Monday at #10 and stayed there for several days before dropping back to #35 overall Thursday.

Before Monday, the Lemon8 app, which has been around since 2020, had never ranked in the Top 200 Overall Charts in the U.S., according to app store intelligence from data.ai.

TechCrunch reports that the new push for what ByteDance calls a “lifestyle community” appears to have come via paid promotions by TikTok influencers.

With an estimated U.S. audience of 4.5 million, it’s unclear whether Lemon8 has enough traction to become a real force. But the timing of this new marketing campaign is certainly a curious one.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.