After almost 10 years, Tumblr TV is available as a TikTok alternative for everyone

In 2015, the blog site Tumblr Tumblr has launched a GIF discovery feature called TV as an experimental product. Now, with US TikTok ban After leaving the fate of its short-form video app in limbo, Tumblr has finally rolled out Tumblr TV as one of its standard features, evolving to support video, to all of its users.

Company Tuesday announced The product release from the experimental project house known as Tumblr Labs explains how the icon will be available to everyone. New users will see the icon in a fairly prominent third position in the app. Meanwhile, existing users will be able to turn Tumblr TV on or off on their own Dashboard Icons configuration settings, Tumblr said.

The decision to turn a video product from an experience to a mainstream feature nearly 10 years after its creation had a lot to do with demand. Alternatives to TikTok following US law banning the implementation and other Chinese-owned in the country.

Although this ban is currently suspended President Trump’s interventionIt remains unclear whether TikTok will agree to the deal — though his many suitors — Keep the application live in the US after the 75-day extension expires.

as many programsTumblr noted that the number of users joining its service increased on the day of the TikTok ban on Jan. 19, a company spokesperson told TechCrunch. As a result, the blogging service saw a nearly 35% increase in iOS app installs and a 70% increase in new users joining Communities, a feature that allows users to join different groups focused on specific interests.

In fact, some newcomers have even set up Tumblr Communities, e.g TikTok RepositoryDesigned for those who want a place to backup and share their TikTok videos. Another society, TikTok Refugeeswas active with both new and returning users, the company said.

However, as a competitor to TikTok, TumblrTV falls short. Although the company has made many improvements while the service has been a Labs feature — including lightbox support, improved scrubbing, and video support — the final product doesn’t feel like TikTok, which is dominated by original creative content.

Tumblr’s video feed allows vertical scroll-based navigation across its channels (such as Arts or Sports) when viewed on mobile, similar to TikTok. But GIFs displayed in this full-screen viewing mode are inherently grainy, and many of the videos featured are not formatted for vertical viewing because they were never recorded for vertical video software.

Still, the company hopes the video feed can make TikTok users feel a little more at home if they decide to move to Tumblr.

Of course, once TikTok is back online in the US for the time being, demand for a backup app will likely decrease.