TikTok
It's from 2016, when you were 10.
- Maker
- ByteDance
- Type
- Short-video app
- Debuted
- 2016
- Note
- Merged with Musical.ly in 2018
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About
As of 2026, it's 10 years old.
TikTok launched in 2016 from Chinese tech company ByteDance, then swallowed the lip-syncing app Musical.ly in 2018 to become the short-video juggernaut we know today. Its real magic trick was an algorithm so eerily good at reading you that people regularly accuse it of listening to their thoughts.
It turned ordinary people into overnight stars, revived forgotten songs, sold out random products, and rewired the attention span of an entire generation into 15-second increments.
Addictive, chaotic, and impossible to put down, TikTok is the app that knows what you want to watch before you do — and the reason you looked up at 2 a.m. wondering where the evening went.
