# When Did TikTok Come Out? A Short History of TikTok

> When did TikTok come out? Douyin launched in China in 2016, TikTok launched worldwide in 2017 and merged with Musical.ly in 2018. Key dates and how big TikTok is now.

Canonical: https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/when-did-tiktok-come-out
Last updated: 2026-10-28

Category: TikTok. 

TikTok came out in **September 2017**, when ByteDance launched it outside China. It was made by **ByteDance**, which had launched the Chinese version, **Douyin**, a year earlier in September 2016. TikTok became popular in the US after **2 August 2018**, when ByteDance merged it with Musical.ly, the lip-sync app it had bought, and moved every Musical.ly account into TikTok.

## TikTok timeline: the key dates

| Date | What happened |
| --- | --- |
| March 2012 | Zhang Yiming founds ByteDance in Beijing |
| August 2014 | Musical.ly, a lip-sync video app, launches |
| September 2016 | ByteDance launches Douyin in China (first called A.me) |
| September 2017 | ByteDance launches TikTok internationally |
| November 2017 | ByteDance buys Musical.ly for close to $1 billion |
| 2 August 2018 | Musical.ly merges into TikTok; its users move over |
| 2020 | TikTok's pandemic boom; India bans the app; first US ban attempt |
| September 2021 | TikTok passes 1 billion monthly users |
| 2022 | 10-minute video uploads; TikTok Shop expands |
| April 2024 | US law requires ByteDance to sell TikTok's US business |
| 19 January 2025 | TikTok goes dark in the US for about a day |
| 22 January 2026 | TikTok USDS Joint Venture takes over TikTok in the US |

## When was TikTok made?

TikTok was built in 2016 and 2017 by ByteDance, based on Douyin, which was developed in about 200 days and launched in September 2016. TikTok was designed as the international version, with separate servers and content from Douyin. ByteDance's founder, Zhang Yiming, wanted a short-video app that could grow outside China, which Douyin, built for the Chinese market, couldn't.

## Why did TikTok and Musical.ly merge?

Musical.ly was already big with teenagers in the US and Europe, while TikTok was strong in Asia. Buying Musical.ly gave ByteDance an instant Western audience. In August 2018, the Musical.ly app updated into TikTok, keeping users' accounts and videos. That's why some people remember TikTok "coming out" in 2018: it's when it appeared on most American phones.

## How TikTok grew

TikTok's For You feed was the big difference. Instead of showing you posts from people you follow, it learns from what you watch and serves videos from anyone. That meant a brand-new account could get millions of views, which pulled in creators fast. Lockdowns in 2020 accelerated everything, and TikTok has been one of the most downloaded apps in the world in most years since.

## How many videos are on TikTok?

TikTok doesn't publish a total, but it's in the many billions. Its quarterly transparency reports give a sense of the scale: in recent years TikTok has removed well over 100 million videos a quarter for breaking its rules, and those are a small share of everything uploaded. TikTok says it has more than 1 billion monthly users worldwide.

## TikTok today

TikTok is now a mix of short video, longer uploads, photo posts, LIVE and shopping. Videos have grown from 15 seconds at launch to 60 seconds, then 3 and 10 minutes; see [how long a TikTok can be](https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/how-long-can-a-tiktok-be). In the US, it's run by a joint venture led by Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX; our guide to [who owns TikTok](https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/who-owns-tiktok) explains the deal.

If you post on TikTok for a business, Schedule For You can publish [TikTok videos and photo posts](https://scheduleforyou.com/tiktok) on schedule alongside Reels and Shorts, so you're not opening three apps to post one video.

## Frequently asked questions

### When did TikTok come out in the US?
TikTok was available in the US from 2017, but most Americans first used it after Musical.ly merged into it on 2 August 2018.

### Who created TikTok?
ByteDance, the company founded by Zhang Yiming in 2012. ByteDance's team built Douyin first and then TikTok as the international version.

### Is TikTok the same as Musical.ly?
TikTok absorbed Musical.ly in 2018. Musical.ly accounts became TikTok accounts and the Musical.ly app stopped existing.

### Is TikTok the same as Douyin?
They look similar and are both made by ByteDance, but they're separate apps with separate content and rules. Douyin is only for China; TikTok isn't available there.

### How old is TikTok?
TikTok launched in September 2017, so it turned nine in 2026. Douyin is a year older.

## Related

- [All guides](https://scheduleforyou.com/blog)
- [Pricing](https://scheduleforyou.com/pricing)