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TikTok might be developing its own "TikTok Photos" app, according to text and images published by a known Android feature leaker and reverse engineer.
The purported app will allow existing TikTok users to get started with TikTok Photos by importing or syncing their publicly posted photos already on TikTok to the new app.
By diving into TikTok app version 33.8.4, a leaker known as AssembleDebug claims to have uncovered strings of code that show TikTok users may soon be able to share their posts to TikTok Photos, download the TikTok Photos app, and open that app.
The leaker, who typically shares information about potential upcoming features from Google, also published images that may be the TikTok Photos app's logo. It looks like a red "P," with another cyan mark below it. According to the post, TikTok Photos is currently being built for Android and iOS and is slated to launch "soon."
TikTok has ventured beyond videos before. In late 2022, TikTok launched a photo carousel feature for mobile users called "Photo Mode," which displays user-selected images in an Instagram Stories-like fashion.
If a standalone TikTok Photos app is indeed in the works, it would be well-positioned to compete with Meta's Instagram. TikTok Photos would be ironic, considering Instagram launched its short-form vertical videos feature "Reels" after TikTok gained traction in the US. As the two apps compete for user attention, leakers suggested last month that Instagram may launch a Snapchat-like "Friend Map" feature that would allow users to see select accounts' locations.
Considering TikTok has logged billions of downloads across iOS and Android, it's possible the app could successfully pull users over en masse to TikTok Photos—as long as it doesn't get banned in the US first.