Summary
- TikTok rolls out Notes, a separate app for photo and text sharing, similar to Instagram but with a Pinterest-like layout.
- Available for limited testing in Australia and Canada, Notes offers grid layout with headlines above captions for a unique experience.
- While borrowing ideas from Instagram, Notes adds its own twist with features like a two-column homepage consisting of “for you” and “following” tabs.
TikTok has been toying with an app that looks a lot like Instagram’s main feed. It’s all part of the ongoing trend where big social media platforms keep borrowing ideas from each other. After Instagram introduced “Reels” in 2020 to compete with TikTok, the latter then fired back with its own version of stories, just like Instagram, in 2022. Now, TikTok is rolling out a new photo-sharing app called Notes, but with its own twist.
The ByteDance-owned platform announced the launch of TikTok Notes through its official communications account on X (formerly Twitter). But it’s not up for grabs for everyone yet. At the moment, TikTok Notes is only up for grabs in Australia and Canada, as per Android Authority. If you happen to be in one of these countries, you can grab it from the Google Play Store or the App Store.
The Notes app is completely separate from the main TikTok app, meant specifically for sharing text and photos. So, it’s not just a tweak to the core app. As for when users in the US can get their hands on it, TikTok remains tight-lipped. Nevertheless, you can change your Play Store region to download the app.
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There are a few differences from Instagram
While Notes is seen as TikTok’s answer to Instagram’s main feed, the app’s layout looks more like Pinterest. It has a two-column grid on the homepage, kind of like a mini-Pinterest feed. From the sneak peeks in the app listings, the homepage is split into two parts. One part shows posts from people you follow, while the other is a “For You” page, similar to the core TikTok experience. Who exactly gets the spotlight on this page isn’t clear yet, but it’s probably accounts similar to the ones you already follow, handpicked by TikTok.
This layout allows TikTok Notes to break away from Instagram’s single-file feed. This means you can take a peek at a bunch of posts all at once. When you tap on one, you get to see it in full-screen mode and jump into the comments if you feel like it. Plus, you can add headlines to your images, right above your captions. It’s a neat little feature that Instagram doesn’t have built-in.
Apart from those unique features, TikTok Notes isn’t completely reinventing the wheel. It still has some features familiar from Instagram, like letting you post multiple photos in a carousel, controlling who can comment, and other stuff you’d expect from a photo-sharing app.
