TikTok has announced the integration of Lemon8, a dedicated photo-sharing platform, into its ecosystem. 

This will allow creators to access both apps through a unified login system while maintaining separate applications.

Lemon8, launched in Japan in 2020 and has since expanded to the United States and Southeast Asia, specializes in photo content focused on beauty, fashion, and travel. The platform provides creators with specialized tools for creating photo posts, including collages, filters, effects, stickers, and text templates.

The integration follows TikTok’s broader initiative to expand photo-sharing capabilities, which began in 2022 with photo posts featuring multi-slide carousels. The company has also tested TikTok Notes in select markets, a separate application designed specifically for sharing photos and text content.

“This integration is designed to make photo sharing more feasible and fluid for all TikTok creators, expanding their reach and engagement potential,” TikTok stated in a news release.

The unified login system enables creators to cross-share content between TikTok and Lemon8, potentially streamlining the content creation process across both platforms. TikTok users can now directly access Lemon8 using their existing TikTok credentials.

Lemon8 remains available as a standalone application on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store and TikTok users can link their accounts across both platforms.

The integration arrives as TikTok faces a nationwide U.S. ban. Lawmakers are concerned about the platform’s parent company, ByteDance, and its Chinese ownership.

Donald Trump’s recent election could alter TikTok’s fate. Although Trump initiated a call to ban the app during his first term, the president-elect took a different approach during his 2024 campaign, in which he expressed support for TikTok.

Trump criticized Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram, which suspended his accounts for two years following the January 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riot and reinstated him in July.