TikTok is putting mini apps into videos because reasons

News
By Oliver Haslam
last updated

Tiktok Jump Hero
Tiktok Jump Hero (Image credit: TikTok)

What you need to know

  • TikTok is adding Jumps so creators can send viewers to mini apps from within their content. -. People will be able to tap to see information about recipes, take quizzes, and more.

TikTok is looking to go beyond just video by giving creators the chance to include mini apps in their content. Users will be able to tap a button and learn more information about a subject via Wikipedia or BuzzFeed, or just take a quiz based on what they just watched. And that's just the start.

TikTok made the announcement in a Newsroom post yesterday and it seems pretty excited about what it's created.

Today we're excited to introduce TikTok Jump, a new way for creators to share engaging and informative content on TikTok. Built by third-party providers, Jumps are mini-programs and services that creators can link to within their videos. Users around the world can click these links to explore recipes, take quizzes, discover useful learning tools and much more, creating more dynamic and practical experiences for our community.

Whisk, Breathwrk, Wikipedia, Quizlet, StatMuse, and Tabelog have already bene involved in a limited beta of Kump, but TikTok says that BuzzFeed, Jumprope, IRL, and WATCHA will all be coming online in the coming weeks.

TikTok says it's hoping to make the in-app experience "more dynamic and engaging than ever" which just means we're going to spend more hours scrolling through endless videos of cats doing funny things. The only difference is that now we'll presumably be able to buy whatever that cat is playing with, too.

Speaking of buying things, don't forget that we're still in the middle of this year's Amazon Prime Day festivities! There are some great deals to be had so don't miss out!

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.