TikTok wants to help you limit your screen time

Source: TikTok

TikTok is an endless pit of short-form videos. If you want some help to keep yourself off the app, it will launch a new tool to offer daily limit reminders. Teenage users (between the ages of 13 and 17) will be promoted to use this screen time limiting tool if they spend over 100 minutes in the app on a single day. 

The app will also get a Digital Wellbeing-like dashboard that shows the summary of your usage. If you use Instagram, it has a similar tool. The statistics you're shown include the amount of time the app has been opened, a breakdown of your daytime and nighttime use, and an overall counter for the amount of time you spend on the app daily.

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TikTok starts testing in-app minigames

After entering a partnership with Zynga last year, TikTok is finally starting to test out minigames in its app. The test is reportedly being done in Vietnam. It will let users play within the app as part of its reported "major push" to get into gaming. It wants to release ad-supported games from TikTok parent company ByteDance's library to boost both revenue and engagement.

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TikTok tests a 'dislike' button in the comments

Source: @iniyaspip/Twitter

But it's trying out a different approach to it. The dislike option in the comments won't have a counter of how many dislikes it got. Instead, the user who "registered a dislike" will see that they have done so. TikTok's goal for this feature is to help users "feel more control" over what they're seeing. The company wants to use this community feedback to add to the factors it considers for keeping the comment section "consistently relevant and a place for genuine engagement."

Some users who are part of the test have been sharing screenshots online, showing the thumbs down button beside the heart in the comments section. They didn't want to make the number visible to "avoid creating ill-feeling between community members or demoralize creators." We aren't entirely sure how this will help out creators or improve the commenting feature on the platform. But it is still being tested, so how it's used or handled will evolve depending on whether TikTok will do a wider, official release.

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TikTok gets GIFs through Giphy partnership

TikTok adds GIFs with audio into its library or what Giphy calls Clips. The two companies have partnered to bring this feature to users of the social media app. The partnership makes sense, given that many trending videos on the app use third-party audio and videos, including hit shows and movies. Giphy has partnerships with key content creators and brands, like HBO, ABC, Hulu, Xbox, and The Roku Channel. This means TikTok users can legally use content from the Giphy library to share their reactions or other creative videos on the platform.

The app gets a new Library section in its camera interface, which will pull up the Giphy Clips available. Like adding GIFs on other social media apps, you'll see the most popular and trending Giphy Clips while getting the option to search for the perfect clip for your TikTok. You can also trim the GIFs to your desired length to add what you want to your videos.

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