TikTok as we know it launched internationally in September 2017 as the global version of the Chinese app Douyin, which itself came out in September 2016 in China.

Quick Scoop

  • Douyin (the original Chinese app) was released in China in September 2016 by ByteDance.
  • TikTok (the international version) “came out” globally in September 2017, which is the usual answer to “when did TikTok come out.”
  • In August 2018, TikTok merged with Musical.ly, bringing a huge wave of existing users into the app and helping it explode worldwide.

So if someone asks you “when did TikTok come out?”, the clean, one-line answer is: September 2017 for the international app , with roots in Douyin (2016) and a big boost from the Musical.ly merger in 2018.

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