There is a new frontal attack on Instagram by TikTok, with this app, currently experimental, called Whee, which aims to create a social space in which to share photos with close friends and family. ByteDance’s new experiment currently presents a basic and minimalist interface, with the possibility of also exploiting internal messaging, and is launching in a limited number of countries to test the waters and then go global.
“To express who you really are”
In this new chapter of technology giants copying each other, TikTok unceremoniously proposes a app almost completely similar to Instagram, much more so than the previous attempt called TikTok Notes. The new app is called Whee and is presented as a space “to capture and share realistic and authentic images with close friends, to express who you really are.” Scrolling through the sample screenshots you can see a linear interface similar to that of TikTok, with various contaminations from Instagram. In fact, there is a section to capture photos from the application, edit them and beautify them with filters, a personal image gallery with thumbnails and division by months and days, posts with photo captions, likes sincere messages and space for comments, an internal messaging platform between contacts and a page for notifications. Above all, the content is only visible to friends and contacts, in order to ensure greater privacy and confidentiality.
This is the official page with the Whee application in the Play Store. It is very likely, however, that you will not find a download button yet, since just over a dozen countries are part of the first batch of tests. ByteDance owners will most likely observe the downloads and usage of the app by early adopters and then decide whether to extend the software to everyone or close the project, as happened in the past with TikTok Now, the BeReal clone.
Article originally published in WIRED Italy. Adapted by Mauricio Serfatty Godoy.
