TikTok's BeReal clone is now available as a standalone app outside the US.

TikTok this weekend launched its BeReal clone, TikTok Now, as a standalone mobile app in global markets outside the United States, primarily on iOS. The app offers a similar set of features to the TikTok Now experience introduced in the US app TikTok, announced last week. But as a standalone mobile app, it allows users to opt in to receiving push notifications only for those social check-ins, even if their TikTok notifications are turned off.

While the company noted that the TikTok Now experience would be offered as its own mobile app in some markets, it had yet to launch that app at the time of its announcement on Thursday, September 15, 2022. unclear which markets would have access to the feature in TikTok itself or as a standalone app, or when the app would roll out.

According to data from mobile intelligence firm Sensor Tower, the TikTok Now app was launched globally late on Sunday, September 18, 2022. Although this is a major new offering from one of the most popular apps in the world, the TikTok Now app has yet to rank in the chart of the best overall iPhone apps in any market at the time of writing.

However, it has managed to crack the top 100 social media apps for iPhone in five markets (Madagascar, Mozambique, Kenya, Malta, and Singapore) and ranks among the top 500 social media apps for iPhone in 38 country. These include Myanmar, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Germany, Qatar, Poland, Belgium, New Zealand, Guatemala, Austria, Bahrain, South Africa, Finland, Ghana, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Greece, Ireland, Azerbaijan, Israel. , Nigeria, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Algeria, Malaysia, Sweden, Italy, Morocco, Lebanon, Mexico, Denmark, Egypt, Dominican Republic and Romania.

There is also an Android version of the app live in Bermuda, but it is not listed in any other market.

This global rollout demonstrates TikTok's ambitions with this new experience, shamelessly copied from the best mobile app BeReal. Like BeReal, TikTok Now sends out a random push notification every day encouraging users to take a photo or video with their phone's forward-facing and outward-facing cameras at the same time. Users have a three-minute window to take their photos or up to 10 minutes of videos to participate. Friends can then see each other's photos in the Friends feed in the app or they can see each other's posts in an Explore feed.

It looks like TikTok thinks it can gain traction for this social format in markets where BeReal has yet to dominate. This might be difficult, however, as BeReal is currently #1 in at least 9 markets and in the top 5 overall iPhone apps in around 40 countries. Its main markets, however, are the United States, its home market of France, and the United Kingdom, according to data from Sensor Tower. That leaves much of the globe ripe for competition. (Also, it's not hard to rip off a format as basic as this, we have to point that out.)

TikTok declined to clarify its strategy around TikTok Now, including why it decided to make TikTok Now a feature in the US, but its own app almost everywhere else. Instead, the company would only say that it's "experimenting" with the experience and aims to improve TikTok Now by learning how its community is embracing the format.