TikTok is dead for now in India. But the TikTok fever stays alive and kicking. The short-video app was addictive and had almost a supernatural kind of organic reach. You could become a star in one day. Millions of Indians were relying upon the Chinese platform for some recognition. It had become a potent medium to showcase one’s talent. Right from the time TikTok was banned, there was rush, almost chaos between several companies to launch a worthy alternative for TikTok in India. The Google Playstore in fact in today’s date is flooded with apps which openly claim to be the best substitute of TikTok. In fact, a lot of these apps look like cheap copies of TikTok. This maddening race has created a headache for the potential costumers. Yes, we are talking about you. Aren’t you already fedup looking for an app that actually works and is available in India? The truth is the market is still wide open. Some apps have made a good head-start while some others are still in the hunt.
We went through all these apps. Downloaded each of them, uploaded quality content and rated each on their performance, organic reach, interface and various other aspects. And here’s our guarantee, this post isn’t sponsored by any app that falls in this list. Here we go.
Apps like TikTok available in India –Top 5
Please note some of these apps are made in India, while some others are of foreign origin. However, not a single Chinese app has made our cut. So, it’s unlikely any of these is going to get banned.
Instagram Reels
This Instagram baby had been coming for a long time now. Perhaps, the company was waiting for that ‘best window’ to launch the product. And boy, what a window did they bag for themselves! There is a tremendous demand for an app that can match TikTok in India. And in comes Reels. The best part about Instagram Reels is that it’s not a new app. Yup, sink that in. Instagram has done the wonderful job of integrating it’s pre-existing platform with its new product. Reels exist in Instagram like a feature. But wait, doesn’t that make Reels a twin brother of stories? The answer is no.
Reels is a short video feature in Instagram that allows uploads of a maximum length of 15 seconds. You can apply effects and choose filters or just use somebody’s sound to lip sync. And it’s obvious similarity to TikTok doesn’t stop there. We uploaded a few videos on the platform and got almost thrice the views we could get on normal Instagram post. The reason we have ranked Reels number one over here is precisely because of this –organic reach. It appears Reels has brought organic reach back to Instagram and it is really working!
What more do you want? Reels backed by an established platform like Instagram offers a great scope to grab that stardom you have always been looking for. We have rated Reels on five different parameters below. Owned by a big company like Facebook, this little new thing gets a lot of survival points. It’s here to stay.
Interface
Smoothness
Organic Reach
Uniqueness
Survival Chances
Roposo
Roposo, a truly Indian app has made the cut at number 2 for primarily two reasons –it got an early start, in fact it was the first app that started making headlines once TikTok bid adieu. The second reason is closely related to the first one. The early start has helped the app generate over 50 million downloads and a registered user base of 8.5 crore users. The app is owned by a Gurgaon based company called Glance InMobi Pte.Ltd. The startup is about seven years old. However, the Roposo app got its stable release only on 10th June 2020.
Roposo boasts of a very nicely done clean interface. The colour theme is quite pleasing to eyes and looks professional –speaks of the time and effort given into developing this app. We found the app to be slightly slower in comparison to TikTok when browsing videos but trust us that was still way better than what we got on other similar apps. The slow speed could very well be excused owing to the phenomenal traffic the app has been receiving right from its start.
Feature wise the app is the closest replica of TikTok available in the market. You can do almost everything on Roposo you could do on TikTok. The best part is, there were no noticeable bugs in the latest version that could spoil our experience. However, one thing that really got her eyebrows to twitch was the organic reach. If you are uploading videos from gallery, there are high chances you wouldn’t get many views. However, videos made using the Roposo camera got us some views, not many but yeah considerable. Perhaps, it’s deliberate effort from the company to prevent users from uploading the trash from TikTok on Roposo. They want to keep it fresh and clean and we don’t see a problem there. However, this might dissuade serious content creators who record and professionally edit their videos from using the app. Let’s hope they fix it.
We found this app genuine and 100% working. It appears it’s going to last long. The app though owned by a startup is drawing some astonishing response. We don’t see any reason why it would shut down. And if it comes to that, somebody might just buy it –it’s that good. Here’s how we rated Roposo on various parameters.
Interface
Smoothness
Organic Reach
Uniqueness
Survival Chances
Trell
A surprise entry? By all possibility you haven’t heard of Trell. But there’s a reason it’s here –its uniqueness. Mix blogging and vlogging together or Wordpress and TikTok together, and the perfectly legitimate offspring is Trell.
Just like Roposo, Trell is totally made in India. And in fact, there were certain parameters in which Trell outperformed its higher ranged Indian compatriot. Trell is faster. Perhaps because it’s yet to see a boom like Roposo? It also has a cleaner, smoother and bug-free interface. We especially loved how easily you could blog on Trell and get noticed. The Vlogging experience was no different. Your short videos are going generate some easy reach on this platform.
We uploaded a couple of videos and a blog and while we doubt on the genuineness of the outcome but hey we got 10 followers and hundreds of views in a day of joining Trell. Sounds fantastic? Wait for more. Trell lets you connect and pin all your social media handle to the profile. And yes, the browsing experience on Trell was so much better. We could scroll through the feed just like that –no lag.
Trell doesn’t come with a lot of filters or effects. It doesn’t ask you to do silly stupid stuff like TikTok. In fact, in its current form the app is doing a wonderful job of promoting intellectually stronger content. A hundred points for that –Trell ‘TikTok of smarter people’.
The owners at Trell have a history of generating users. The app started off as an Instagram handle and exploded in less than a year. The team behind Trell is super talented and it appears the platform is going places.
Interface
Smoothness
Organic Reach
Uniqueness
Survival Chances
Elyments -Indian Facebook?
Elyments made a lot of headlines when it was launched by India’s vice president. But is it so good that a leader powerful like his highness launches the app? The answer is yes. Eleyments has huge potential and it’s getting a lot of love since its launch. In fact, their servers crashed multiple times in the process. But hey, let’s take it as a good news. We can comfortably say, Elyments is Indian Facebook or maybe better. We wound the interface cleaner and smoother than Facebook. But wait, if it’s similar to Facebook why is the app in a list of apps like TikTok? The answer is in two words –‘organic reach’.
Elyments is a new platform and just the sheer scale of it suggests it’s here to stay. It’s totally going to be big and if that is going to happen you must jump into the bandwagon. After all what do you want from an app like TikTok? You want to get famous, reach as many people as you can. With Elyment you can do exactly the same and hold on, connect with your Chadhdhi Buddies too!
You can post just anything on Elyments, hashtag it up and hope for somebody to see it. In fact, we posted some limited content and gained a few followers. Since the platform is new it’s wide open and the organic reach is just not dead here. It might not magically make you a star in one day but it might just help you grow slowly and steadily and trust us that’s a chance you want to take.
Interface
Smoothness
Organic Reach
Uniqueness
Survival Chances
Snack Video
The last one to make the list is last just because it made a late entry otherwise Snack Video has potentially everything to be right on the top. It’s going to take time to grow, grab that user base and we might just push it up in an updated list. Out of all the apps we have mentioned so far we are betting all our money on this claim –it’s faster and smoother. The browsing experience is just so good. You can go through videos with a lazy swipe and it won’t lag!
Just like the browsing experience, the video uploading game of Snack Video is just top notch. There are multiple filters, effects and music –just everything that might turn you nostalgic about TikTok. And nothing bugs. It appears the app was well funded and tested before it was pushed out in Indian market. These guys are pumping some heavy money into advertisement. You might just bump into an ad on your favourite social media all day. Again, we bet they are well funded and are here to stay.
The interface if not the best is easily comparable to the best available in the market. It’s just so professional. And though we didn’t have the time to test its organic reach, the videos we browsed through suggested they have some good algorithm going behind. It’s not a cheap copy. It looks super authentic. All the comments on videos appear genuine and there is not bot game in here. The app won us over in this regard.
It amazed us how it managed to generate so many authentic users in such a short time. Our prediction is Snack Video is going to make it big. Go for it. And yes, it’s just like TikTok in all regards. But we wonder what would we call the users of Snack Video like we say ‘Tiktoker’. Uhh, maybe Snacker? Leave it to you.
Interface
Smoothness
Organic Reach
Uniqueness
Survival Chances
Here we have put together a loop video comparing interfaces of apps like TikTok with the same internet connection done at the same time at same location.
There is a new app every week on Playstore. But you just don’t need to dive into each of them. Most appear like cheap copies developed from the same piece of code. There were some notable omissions from the list because of different reasons. YouTube has its own short video game up and running but its limited to users with a certain number of subscribers.. huh elitist YouTube. A few Indian apps like MOJ, ShareChat, Chingari didn’t make the cut for us because honestly they resemble an underprepared kid who is appearing for board exams. Hope they get better. We won’t mind expanding the list. Hope we helped.
