Is TikTok Now still available?

TikTok Now was discontinued in June 2023, approximately nine months after its launch in September 2022. TikTok sent notifications to users on June 27, 2023, informing them that the feature would be shut down. As of 2026, TikTok Now is no longer available. The discontinuation followed the feature's failure to achieve meaningful user adoption and the broader decline of BeReal.

Why was TikTok Now discontinued?

TikTok discontinued TikTok Now in June 2023 without providing a specific public explanation. The feature had failed to gain significant traction among TikTok's user base, reflecting a mismatch between TikTok Now's format (spontaneous, unedited dual-camera capture) and TikTok's established user culture of polished, edited short-form video content. BeReal, the platform TikTok Now was designed to compete with, also experienced a significant decline in daily active users in early 2023.

When was TikTok Now launched?

TikTok Now was launched in September 2022, initially as a separate standalone app in some markets and as an in-app feature within TikTok in others. The feature was designed to compete with BeReal, a French social media application that had achieved viral growth in 2022 with its dual-camera spontaneous capture format. TikTok Now was discontinued approximately nine months after its launch, in June 2023.

Who owned TikTok Now?

TikTok Now was owned by ByteDance Ltd., the privately held Chinese technology company that also owns TikTok, Douyin, Jinri Toutiao, and CapCut. TikTok Now operated as a feature within TikTok's application rather than as a separate company or independently incorporated entity. ByteDance is privately held and not publicly traded, with investors including SoftBank Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital China, and General Atlantic.

What was TikTok Now's market position?

TikTok Now competed in the "authentic social media" segment pioneered by BeReal, which had reached approximately 73 million monthly active users at its peak in late 2022. Despite TikTok's distribution advantage of approximately 1 billion monthly active users, TikTok Now failed to achieve meaningful adoption. The feature was discontinued in June 2023 as part of a broader industry retreat from BeReal-style features, with Instagram also discontinuing its competing Candid Challenges feature.

Media & Entertainment

Who Owns TikTok Now?

TikTok Now was owned by ByteDance Ltd., a privately held Chinese multinational internet technology company headquartered in Beijing. ByteDance launched TikTok Now in September 2022 as an in-app feature within TikTok, designed to compete with BeReal's dual-camera spontaneous photo and video format. TikTok discontinued TikTok Now in June 2023, approximately nine months after its launch, after the feature failed to achieve meaningful user adoption. TikTok Now is no longer available as of 2026.

Parent Company

ByteDance Ltd.

Founded

2022

Status

Private

Headquarters

Beijing, China

TikTok Now Timeline

2012

ByteDance Ltd.

Parent company established in Beijing, China

Company Founded

2022

TikTok Now

Founded by ByteDance (internal development)

Founded

GlobalOfficial Website

Who Owns TikTok Now?

Parent Company: ByteDance Ltd.
Ownership Type: Wholly owned
Company Type: Privately Held

Brand	Parent Company	Ownership Type
TikTok Now	ByteDance Ltd.	Wholly owned

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TikTok Now on Amazon

History of TikTok Now

Founded: 2022
Founders: ByteDance (internal development)

TikTok Now's history is brief, spanning less than a year from launch to discontinuation. The feature was conceived as TikTok's competitive response to BeReal, a French social media application that had achieved viral growth in 2022 by offering a novel format: once per day, at a random time, BeReal sent users a notification prompting them to simultaneously capture photos with both their front and back cameras within two minutes. The format was designed to encourage authentic, unfiltered sharing rather than the polished, edited content that dominated Instagram and TikTok.

BeReal's growth in 2022 attracted significant attention from larger social media platforms, which recognized the format's appeal to younger users seeking more authentic social media experiences. Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok all launched competing features that replicated BeReal's dual-camera, spontaneous capture format. This pattern of large platforms copying successful features from smaller competitors had been observed repeatedly in social media, most notably with Instagram's adoption of Stories (copied from Snapchat) and Reels (copied from TikTok).

TikTok Now was launched in September 2022, initially as a separate standalone app in some markets and as an in-app feature within TikTok in others. The feature prompted users to capture 10-second videos or static photos using both their front and back cameras simultaneously, mirroring BeReal's core mechanic. TikTok Now was integrated into TikTok's existing social graph, allowing users to share their TikTok Now content with their existing TikTok followers.

The feature launched with TikTok's considerable distribution advantage, as TikTok had approximately 1 billion monthly active users at the time of TikTok Now's launch. This distribution advantage meant TikTok Now was immediately available to a vastly larger potential user base than BeReal had ever achieved. However, distribution alone proved insufficient to drive meaningful adoption of the feature.

TikTok Now failed to gain significant traction among TikTok's user base. The feature's format, which was designed for spontaneous, unedited sharing, was at odds with TikTok's established culture of highly produced, edited short-form video content. TikTok users had come to the platform for entertainment and creative expression, not for the raw authenticity that BeReal's format was designed to capture. The mismatch between TikTok Now's format and TikTok's existing user behavior limited the feature's appeal.

BeReal itself also began losing users in early 2023, with reports indicating a 61% decline in daily active users between October 2022 and March 2023. The broader "authentic social media" trend that BeReal had pioneered appeared to be fading as the novelty wore off and users returned to more established social media behaviors. This decline in BeReal's own user base further undermined the rationale for TikTok Now's continued development.

On June 27, 2023, TikTok sent notifications to users informing them that TikTok Now would be discontinued. The notification did not provide a specific reason for the discontinuation. TikTok Now was shut down approximately nine months after its official launch, making it one of the shorter-lived product experiments from a major social media platform. The discontinuation was widely reported in technology media as a reflection of the broader failure of BeReal-style features across multiple platforms.

About ByteDance Ltd.

What does ByteDance own?
ByteDance owns TikTok, the international short-video platform with over 1 billion monthly active users, and Douyin, its Chinese domestic counterpart with over 700 million daily active users. The company also owns Toutiao, CapCut, Doubao (AI chatbot), Lark (enterprise software), Volcano Engine (cloud platform), Xigua Video, and Pico (VR hardware). ByteDance's platforms collectively reach billions of users across more than 150 countries. As of January 2026, TikTok's US operations are operated by TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, in which ByteDance retains approximately 20% ownership.

Is ByteDance publicly traded?
No, ByteDance is a privately held company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and is not listed on any public stock exchange. General Atlantic's stake sale in February 2026 valued the company at $550 billion, up from $330 billion in an August 2025 employee buyback and $480 billion in a November 2025 secondary market deal. ByteDance has not announced plans for an initial public offering.

Who founded ByteDance?
ByteDance was founded by Zhang Yiming in March 2012 in Beijing, China. Zhang, a software engineer who had previously co-founded real estate platform 99fang.com, built ByteDance around the concept of algorithmic content recommendation. Liang Rubo, a co-founder and Zhang's college roommate, became CEO in 2021 when Zhang stepped down from the role to focus on strategic and research activities. Zhang remains a significant shareholder and strategic advisor.

Where is ByteDance headquartered?
ByteDance is headquartered in Beijing, China. The company's international operations, including TikTok, are managed from a separate entity headquartered in Singapore. ByteDance also maintains major offices in Los Angeles, London, Dublin, and other cities. The Singapore headquarters structure was adopted to provide a degree of operational separation between ByteDance's Chinese domestic business and its international platforms.

What is ByteDance's revenue?
ByteDance's estimated revenue for 2025 is approximately $190 billion, based on reported domestic growth of approximately 20% and international growth of nearly 50% from 2024's estimated $155 billion. International revenue now accounts for over 30% of total revenue. Net profit under IFRS fell over 70% to approximately $9 billion due to aggressive AI investment, though operating profit remained approximately $50 billion.

Who owns ByteDance?
ByteDance is a privately held company with no single publicly disclosed controlling shareholder. Zhang Yiming, the founder, holds a significant equity stake. Institutional investors including Sequoia Capital, General Atlantic, SoftBank, and Susquehanna International Group hold stakes. ByteDance has consistently maintained that it is not controlled by the Chinese government, though its Chinese domestic operations are subject to Chinese regulatory requirements.

What happened with the TikTok US ban?
Congress passed a law in 2024 requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok's US operations by January 19, 2025, or face a ban. TikTok briefly went dark on January 19, 2025. After repeated extensions by the Trump administration, ByteDance finalized a deal on January 23, 2026, creating TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX each hold 15% stakes. ByteDance retains approximately 20%. Adam Presser serves as CEO of the US entity, while TikTok CEO Shou Chew retains a board seat. Investors paid $10 billion to the US Treasury as part of the deal.

What is ByteDance's AI strategy?
ByteDance is the largest AI revenue generator in China, with projected annualized AI revenue of $4 billion from its Doubao chatbot and related services. The company is considering $70 billion in capital expenditure in 2026 for AI infrastructure, including development of its in-house SeedChip inference processor and procurement of advanced Nvidia GPUs. ByteDance has earmarked RMB 160 billion ($23 billion) specifically for AI infrastructure. The company has restructured its Lark enterprise unit to integrate with the Doubao AI team.

Founded: 2012
Headquarters: Beijing, China
Company Type: Privately Held
Revenue: approximately $190 billion (FY2025, estimated)
Employees: Approximately 75,000

Visit ByteDance Ltd. website

View full company profile for ByteDance Ltd.

Where Is TikTok Now Made / Based?

Headquarters: Beijing, China

TikTok Now Categories & Tags

Short Form Video Social Media Tiktok Defunct Bytedance

TikTok Now Sustainability & Ethics

TikTok Now was discontinued in June 2023 and did not establish independent sustainability initiatives. Its parent company ByteDance has implemented environmental and ethical programs across its broader platform ecosystem.

ByteDance has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. In 2023, the company purchased over 100,000 carbon credits from Rubicon Carbon, supporting reforestation and clean energy projects. TikTok launched a #ClimateAction campaign at COP28 with a $1 million initiative to support the Verified for Climate program.

However, ByteDance faces significant environmental challenges. A 2023 analysis revealed that TikTok emitted approximately 7.6 million metric tonnes of CO2e in the US, UK, and France alone, surpassing emissions from Twitter/X and Snapchat combined. Global emissions may exceed 50 million metric tonnes. The high energy intensity stems from TikTok's engaging algorithms and high average user screen time of 45.5 minutes daily.

ByteDance has been less transparent about environmental metrics compared to competitors like Meta and Google, having yet to release detailed emissions data. As a Chinese technology company with global operations, ByteDance faces ongoing scrutiny regarding data privacy, content moderation, and ethical AI practices. TikTok Now, as a discontinued feature, did not contribute significantly to these ongoing concerns.

Awards & Recognition

TikTok Now was discontinued before achieving any significant recognition. The feature's nine-month lifespan did not allow time for industry awards or user recognition.

ByteDance and the broader TikTok platform have received various awards for innovation, user experience, and business success. TikTok's algorithm technology and content recommendation system have been recognized by technology industry organizations. The platform's rapid growth to over 1 billion monthly active users has been celebrated in business and technology publications.

TikTok's interface and user experience design have received praise for their intuitive nature and engaging format. The platform's influence on global culture, music trends, and social behavior has been acknowledged by cultural institutions and media organizations. However, none of these recognitions extend to TikTok Now specifically, which was a minor feature that failed to gain adoption.

TikTok Now Recalls & Controversies

TikTok Now itself was discontinued without major controversies directly related to the feature. However, its parent company ByteDance and the TikTok platform have faced numerous significant controversies.

Data Privacy and National Security: ByteDance has faced intense scrutiny from governments worldwide over concerns that TikTok user data could be accessed by the Chinese government. President Biden signed legislation in 2024 requiring ByteDance to either sell TikTok to a US-based owner or face a ban. The Supreme Court upheld the law in January 2025, and TikTok briefly went dark in the US before service was restored under a presidential reprieve. As of 2026, the divestiture requirement remains unresolved.

Content Moderation: TikTok has faced criticism for content moderation practices, including concerns about harmful content, misinformation, and inadequate protection for younger users. The platform has struggled with balancing free expression with safety concerns.

Mental Health Impact: TikTok has been criticized for potential negative impacts on mental health, particularly among teenage users. Concerns include addiction, body image issues, and exposure to harmful content.

Censorship Accusations: TikTok has been accused of censoring content sensitive to the Chinese government, raising questions about editorial independence and the platform's commitment to free expression globally.

Algorithm Transparency: TikTok's powerful content recommendation algorithm has been criticized for lack of transparency and potential to create echo chambers or promote harmful content.

TikTok Now Ownership: Pros & Cons

Advantages

+TikTok's distribution advantage of approximately 1 billion monthly active users gave TikTok Now immediate access to a vastly larger potential user base than BeReal or any independent competitor could achieve
+ByteDance's engineering and product development resources allowed TikTok Now to be developed and launched rapidly in response to BeReal's growth
+Integration with TikTok's existing social graph meant TikTok Now users could share content with their existing TikTok followers without needing to rebuild a separate social network
+ByteDance's willingness to discontinue TikTok Now after nine months reflected disciplined product management, avoiding continued investment in a feature that was not achieving its objectives

Considerations

-TikTok Now's format was fundamentally misaligned with TikTok's established user culture of polished, edited short-form video content, limiting the feature's appeal
-The feature's discontinuation after nine months reflected a failure to achieve meaningful user adoption despite TikTok's significant distribution advantage
-ByteDance's regulatory challenges in the United States and other markets, including the unresolved divestiture requirement, created an unfavorable environment for launching new TikTok features
-The broader failure of BeReal-style features across multiple platforms suggested that the dual-camera spontaneous capture format had limited long-term commercial viability
-TikTok Now's discontinuation may have created negative user experiences for the small number of users who had adopted the feature

Frequently Asked Questions About TikTok Now

Sources & Further Reading

Competitors to TikTok Now

These competing brands operate in the same categories and provide similar products or services. Compare key attributes to understand market positioning and competitive landscape.

Brand	Parent Company	Country	Founded	Market Position	Primary Market	Gender Target
DouyinSister Brand	Bytedance	China	2016	Mass market	Asia pacific	All Genders
CapCutSister Brand	Bytedance	China	2020	Mass market	Global	All-ages
TikTokSister Brand	Bytedance	Singapore (international operations)	2016	Mass market	Global	All Genders
TikTok AdsSister Brand	Bytedance	USA	2019	Mass market	Global	All Genders