Have you heard about the TikTok-inspired cloned app? It is called Zynn that recently climbed to the top of the App Store by paying users to watch videos. It identical to TikTok, even the Zynn website interface design isn’t different from TikTok itself.
Zynn was reported by Mashable, as TikTok new competitor. However, it offers everything TikTok is offering aside from one major part, you get paid to watch videos on the platform that can be withdrawn directly to PayPal or receive gift cards.
It is kind of weird because Zynn gained all of its popularity without any famous name or whatsoever. We might have never heard of the name, but the truth is told, it is currently occupying the number one spot on the charts.
Not just the number spots on the Apple App store, the app which was recently launched at the beginning of May is also in the top 10 on Google’s Play Store, too, according to Sensor Tower.
The app doesn’t only pay users to watch videos, it also pays to sign-up, and referring friends can earn more cash, which is totally unlike TikTok. It is available for Android via Google Playstore and iPhone via iTunes.
Zynn is fully a TikTok clone, identical core interface, and support orientation around watching short portrait-orientation videos. And now this is where the fun part is, which is making money, which is confirmed by some Youtubers.
There is a big countdown timer with a dollar sign in the middle over every video, which fills up as you watch and gives you points, which can be redeemed later as cash or gift cards.
You can easily sign-up, but you have to get tied to some other service, such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, or your phone number, which can get access to your personal details, but Jacob via TheVerge reportedly used a burner Google Voice number.
Aside from that, there is a pyramid referral code scheme, that most people are sharing on the internet right now that pays users. If you refer 5 people from the a big banner, you get $110. You start watching a video the first time you launch the app, like TikTok.
The UI is essentially a dumbed down TikTok.
It looks like they ripped most of the initial videos too – most accounts are not from one creator, but related to a specific theme. The dates are also weird, some videos have been around since Feb/March. pic.twitter.com/GIhTSuiz8u
— Turner Novak (@TurnerNovak) May 27, 2020
Wondering how Zynn gets all its funding? Kuaishou is the creator of Zynn, and the app developer behind the platform, Owlii is a tech company that’s backed by venture capital, which was acquired by a Chinese tech company called Kuaishou.
The fundings and backings of Zynn should definitely shift the focus and face of TikTok to its direction. Kuaishou is a $30 billion startup that is the second-largest social video app in China with more than 300 million daily active users in China, second only to TikTok Chinese version, Douyin.
Few facts about Kuaishou, the company has sued Bytedance in the country claiming “unfair competition.” earned $5.7 billion in revenue last year, and was valued at $28 billion in a financing round that included some of the biggest Chinese tech companies like Baidu, and Tencent.
Tencent is the Chinese tech giant behind WeChat, and they recently invested $2billion dollars into Kuaishou, to help hold and accommodate the company behind TikTok and Douyin, ByteDance’s serious market push.
Going into the US is a direct accomplishment of the goal, but Zynn doesn’t currently show ads in the US. Note that Kuaishou’s main source of income is selling ads. Kuaishou is going after TikTok’s U.S. market dominance with Zynn.
One thing is sure, Kuaishou chose the right moment to push Zynn into the market, amid Covid-19 lockdowns. A time, where every social media, video-conferencing apps keeps getting increasing visitors and downloads. TikTok recently garnered 2 billion global downloads just last month.
