As the Renegade dance became the new Macarena, sixteen-year-olds the most popular celebrities online, and the music industry was forever changed, TikTok took over the world fifteen seconds at a time. Now, another app promises a challenge and when entering Dubsmash for the first time, things feel familiar. A “For You” page with curated content from the begging is there. Interaction buttons to the right, with sound selection right after it, and the creating studio has the timer feature, responsible for viral transitions.
Founded in Berlin in 2014, Dubsmash had its Silicon Valley fairy-tale cut short. Reaching 50 million downloads within six months, the startup was breaking app store records at the time. Following which, the company raised capital, grew a team, and bought a new office. All the while, celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Jimmy Fallon, and even Neymar Jr. were using the app. However, things then changed and after two years in the market, the company relocated to New York, where, in the founders’ words, they stripped the company back to bare bones.
Even though new people were finding Dubsmash every day, few of them would stay. As the founders recently explained in a Fast Company piece, “User retention numbers just weren’t keeping pace with user growth, which was clearly bad in the long term,” while adding that “If you can’t keep a user on your platform, then you don’t have a product market fit—or a business.” Back then, the motto was to limp sync like the stars. You could choose audio from movies, shows, music, and internet trends and record a video over it. Other than that, no formulation of a long-term strategy was made. In contrast, TikTok came up with a different approach, presenting itself as a social networking service, where creative people could feel inspired and share their talents through original content.
How Dubsmash Compares To TikTok
As functions go, Dumbsmash still has a lot to do. It isn’t possible to indicate unwanted content, as it is on TikTok by holding the screen and selecting “not interested.” The lack of a better-developed algorithm is also no match to the artificial intelligence used by the Chinese TikTok that’s perfectly tailored to keep users engaged for hours on end. The same goes for editing tools. Yes, Dumbsmash has filters, a timer, flash, and sound selection, but it can’t access uploads from the gallery, nor change speeds, and it doesn’t make it easy for creators to earn money from followers.
On the other hand, Dumbsmash promises something TikTok has seemingly lost: safety. Dumbsmash’s new brand speech is about a safe environment where diversity thrives. In June, Dubsmash’s weekly downloads reportedly soared while TikTok continued to feel the pressure of a looming ban in the U.S. Following a ban that’s already been implemented in India, a lawsuit alleging TikTok stole user data from kids, allegations of bypassing Google Play Store’s security measures to collect user data, and of course, the possibility of a sale to a U.S.-based company to circumvent a ban. While the viral video app struggles, Dumbsmash is emerging as a possible replacement, even though the experience is not quite equal to TikTok.
