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People in Montana will soon need a TikTok VPN to keep accessing the app
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People living in Montana will soon need to download a VPN service to keep accessing TikTok.

Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed for the proposed ban to become law on Wednesday May 17, with the block due to be officially enforced on January 1, 2024.

The move makes Montana the first US state to ban TikTok, raising concerns over their right to free speech – so we've looked at what's at stake for the future of the Chinese social media giant in the country and how using a TikTok VPN might help.

Montana TikTok ban

Gianforte described Montana's TikTok ban as, “our shared priority to protect Montanans from Chinese Communist Party surveillance,” the BBC reported.

Perhaps the most downloaded app worldwide, TikTok has been facing growing scrutiny in the US and its allied nations recently. Politicians are especially worried about the app's link with Beijing, fearing that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could access US user data and spread nationalist propaganda.

Earlier this month, an ex-employee of TikTok's parent company ByteDance claimed the CCP had “supreme access” to all data as part of a larger wrongful layoff's lawsuit.

We will never trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points

Keegan Medrano, ACLU of Montana

In December 2022, it was the news of ByteDance employees spying on some US journalists to raise the alarm. The video-sharing app was then banned on government devices among a long list of democracies, including the US, UK, New Zealand, Canada and some EU countries.

A total block is, however, what the US is striving for with the RESTRICT Act (now passing through the Congress) – exactly what Montana appears to have now finally achieved.

At the same time, experts argue that the US government has so far failed to bring concrete  evidence of the alleged wrongdoings. Many commentators also warn of the potential consequences of making TikTok illegal in the US, arguing that the move will restrict Americans' digital rights.

“With this ban, Governor Gianforte and the Montana legislature have trampled on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use the app to express themselves, gather information, and run their small business in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment,” said Keegan Medrano, policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Montana. 

“We will never trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points.”  

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The law will prohibit TikTok from operating inside the state borders, while also requiring app stores to prevent people in Montana from downloading the app. Non-compliance punishments could reach up to $ 10,000 of starting fine, in addition to another $ 10,000 for every day the violation continues. 

“It would certainly be a costly gamble to keep download options available once the Bill comes into force and app stores would be well advised to comply,” Olexandr Kyrychenko, Partner at London-based law firm IMD Corporate, told TechRadar. 

All this might also create even worse security risks for TikTok users in Montana as 2024 starts won't be able to download any new updates and fix potential vulnerabilities.

VPN provider Private Internet Access (PIA) also believes that such a move would set a “worrisome precedent” over the future of digital freedom in the US. “Prohibiting the use of certain technologies or social media sites is a restrictive and likely ineffective way to protect US citizens’ data; who should have the right to choose whether or not they want to use these platforms.” 

According to the BBC, TikTok is expected to challenge the new law in court. 

In an official statement, the tech firm wrote: “We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana.”

In the meantime, we advise people in Montana to get a secure VPN service before the end of the year. This security software can, in fact, spoofs users' IP address location and make them appear if they're browsing from a completely different country within seconds.

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Sorry Spotify, not everything needs to be TikTok
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It makes total sense that Spotify would chase after TikTok. 

TikTok is what all the kids are into and so naturally every major brand is out here trying to capture a slice of that highly sought-after market, but Spotify's new redesign featuring videos and a vertical scroll that mimics the wildly-popular social media app prefered by Gen-Z is bound to fail just as certainly as Spotify is bound to try it anyway. We've seen this story play out a thousand times before, and it doesn't get any less sad with repetition.

It's the kind of thing that is so transparently lame that Gen-Z is bound to shrug it off if it doesn't downright laugh at it, and all Spotify is doing in the attempt is risking alienating the people who actually use the music service. 

I'm not saying that Spotify cannot try something new, it absolutely should, but let's put the emphasis on new.

Kids aren't going to use a boomer music app

Whether it's Instagram or Spotify, every legacy tech company is pretty much having a midlife crisis right now and buying the proverbial sports car thinking that this is what will make them young and appealing again, and TikTok is absolutely to blame.

There's something about a new app coming on the scene to steal away the hearts and minds and screen time of a highly desirable 12-to-18 demographic to make a legacy app question itself. Apps, like people, hate to feel like the times have passed them by. 

I, too, have felt the sting of no longer being the young millennial that seemed to know what all the latest trends were. But the only thing worse than hearing 1996's Doom get called a Boomer Shooter by a 14 year-old is talking to that 14 year-old like I was one of their cohort.

And that's what all these tech companies pivoting to TikTokify themselves are doing, at its core, and kids can sniff the poser stink off the effort from half a world away. Gen Z is wedded to TikTok, and no company is shaking them, no matter how much they try.

Change is good, but not like this

A girl with the dark side tiktok promoting social network with a smartphone in hand.

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Ti Vla)

There is absolutely nothing wrong with shaking things up, and redesigns can be great. New UI experiences can streamline a service and give your user base more of what it wants, and there's always the allure of a new look.

Spotify even has a real reason to make needed changes. It's expanded well beyond just being a music streaming app, and UI changes are definitely warranted as a result.

But change has to be driven by need, and an entirely new redesign needs to emerge from the needs of the existing user base, not from an attempt to capture another one entirely. I can tell you that plenty of existing users are going to absolutely hate the new design, and they might head elsewhere. Apple Music isn't pulling this kind of thing.

So all Spotify is doing is risking existing users to dress itself up like the Steve Buscemi meme.

Change needs to come from within if it's going to work

Spotify app on a smartphone next to a pair of true wireless earbuds

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Chubo – my masterpiece)

The strangest thing about the whole obsession with TikTok is that there are plenty of social media and tech companies that already have incredibly strong brands as it is. 

As much as we've tried to get away from it in recent months, there really is nothing like Twitter out there, and Spotify has an equally strong brand ID. Why risk throwing that away just to be a TikTok clone that Zoomers can point at while rolling their eyes from the back seat of the car?

Spotify should work within that structure to find the needed change it will inevitably have to introduce, since that is ultimately what has the best chance of success. No, you might not win over the Gen Z crowd, but Spotify was never going to do that. 

Build a strong enough brand and eventually many Gen Zers might end up migrating to Spotify over time when TikTok no longer serves their needs — or when some other upstart app hits the scene and wins over whatever Gen Z's younger siblings are called and TikTok upends its entire interface to chase after that apps audience.

Hopefully, by then, Spotify and other tech brands will have learned to age gracefully like the rest of us.

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Finally, someone is limiting the time kids spend on screens and it’s TikTok?
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Even TikTok agrees teens and tweens are spending too much time on TikTok and now, somewhat surprisingly, the popular social media platform is doing something about it.

The company announced in a blog post on Wednesday a new effort to help young people manage their time on TikTok on some of the best smartphones, though it hinges on platform members telling the truth about their age. 

Soon, TikTok will set a 60-minute usage limit for all users under 18. The prompt, though, will be more of a suggestion in that the teen will only have to enter a passcode to extend their time. For those who do so and break the 100-minute barrier (who doesn't?), TikTok will soon encourage them to set up their own screen time limit for the app.

Usage rules for those under 13 will be more strict. Once they reach the 60-minute limit, a parent or guardian will have to enter a code to restore access. There is nothing in the announcement about how TikTok is verifying the age of its users.

TikTok is pairing these new limits with a collection of screentime management tools that it's adding to its Family Pairing parental management feature. They include a screen time dashboard and the ability to mute notifications. The latter should help keep TikTok phone notifications from pulling teens back onto the platform.

The moves come just two days before the US celebrates National Unplugging Day, an unofficial gadget and social media holiday where people of all ages are encouraged to put down gadgets and screens and relearn pre-digital skills like hobbies, screen-free bedtime, and face-to-face social interaction.

Whether or not you believe in unplugging, there's no arguing with the current, startling screen time trends, especially among teens and tweens.

TikTok Screen time management tools

TikTok’s new screen time management tools (Image credit: TikTok)

A growing problem

Screentime among tweens and teens has been growing for years and all but exploded during the pandemic. Common Sense Media's 2021 survey reported a 17% spike in media use between 2019 and 2021. A more recent study put kids' daily TikTok use at 80 minutes per day. That's a lot of short videos.

Parents and maybe some overstimulated teens may welcome some screentime structure but it's also worth noting that TikTok's motives might not be entirely altruistic. The company is facing heavy scrutiny from US Government officials, many of whom are calling for an outright TikTok ban. The concern, though, has nothing to do with too much screen time and everything to do with TikTok's ties to the Chinese government.

TikTok is still owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance and many fear that the Chinese government has unfettered access to TikTok data and, therefore, all of our activities on the platform. However, TikTok has been moving all of its US data to Oracle servers based in California. The company claims that no one in the Chinese government has access to US TikTok data.

Whoever is looking at the data, there may soon be less of it to peruse if TikTok's screen time management efforts are successful.

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TikTok laat gebruikers eigen filters maken – mits ze een Mac hebben
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TikTok opent Effect House als een publieke bèta voor alle creators en ontwikkelaars om filters te ontwerpen en uitproberen.

De service is oorspronkelijk in het laatste kwartaal van 2021 gelanceerd als een gesloten bèta. Ongeveer 450 TikTok-creators maakten er gebruik van. Het relatief kleine groepje publiceerde hun zelfgemaakte effecten, die uiteindelijk in 1,5 miljard video's zijn gebruikt en voor 600 miljard aan views hebben gezorgd.

Leren tijdens creëren

Het creëren van AR-filters vraagt om redelijk technische kennis. TikTok heeft verschillende handleidingen gepubliceerd die gebruikt kunnen worden om filters te leren maken. Zo zijn er handleidingen voor het maken van een gezichtsmasker, segmentatie-effecten en 3D-gezichtstexturen. 

Er is zelfs een handleiding hoe effectieve belichting en schaduwen gecreëerd worden. Het voelt erg volledig. Het beste is nog dat het allemaal gratis is.

Wanneer je een filter klaar hebt, kan je deze indien bij het veiligheidsteam van TikTok. Zij bekijken de filter en keuren deze goed. TikTok heeft een aantal 'Effect Guidelines' opgesteld die te allen tijde nageleefd moeten worden.

Het bedrijf wil namelijk geen enkele negatieve of controversiële content. Enkele voorbeelden zijn geen aanzetten tot geweld, gebruik van drugs, seksuele content of haatdragende inhoud.

Benodigde hardware

Je kunt nu al Effect House downloaden om te beginnen met creëren. Er zitten alleen wat haken en ogen aan: de applicatie is momenteel alleen beschikbaar voor Mac-computers. Op een (Windows) pc downloaden werkt niet en als je het via een Android-telefoon probeert, krijg je de melding dat je je Mac moet gebruiken.

Een meevaller is dat de benodigde hardware niet erg geavanceerd is. Om een voorbeeld te geven: een Mac die een Intel Core i3 2,5Ghz processor en een Nvidia GeForce 710 grafische kaart bevat, volstaat. Dat is een relatief lage CPU. Het laat ons dan ook vermoeden dat de discrete grafische onderdelen het meeste zware werk doen. 

Verschillende onderdelen die TikTok noemt, zijn al bijna een decennium oud. Mocht je een enigszins recente Mac-computer hebben, kan je direct aan de slag met Effect House. 

Er bestaat een kans dat Effect House nog op minimaal een ander (mobiel) platform verschijnt. Op de 'Effect Guidelines'-pagina wordt er gesproken over de technische vereisten voor de Android-versie. TikTok heeft nog niet bekendgemaakt wanneer andere versies uitgebracht worden.

Omdat Effect House nog in het beta-stadium zit, vraagt TikTok de community om feedback te geven als zij bugs of problemen ondervinden.

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TikTok wants you to build your own AR – if you own a Mac
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TikTok is opening its Effect House tool as a public beta for all creators and developers to try out and create their own filters. 

The service was originally launched back in Fall 2021 as a closed beta with around 450 TikTok creators adopting it. That relatively small group published their own created effects, which have gone on to be used in 1.5 billion videos garnering over 600 billion views.

Learning as you create

Creating AR filters does require a certain level of technical knowledge. TikTok has provided a series of guides that people can follow to learn how to create a filter. There’s a guide on creating a Face Mask, Segmentation effects, and 3D Face textures.

And there’s even a guide on how to do effective lighting and shadows. It’s all pretty comprehensive, and the best part is that it’s all free.

When you’re done, you can submit the filter for the Trust and Safety team to look it over and approve it. TikTok has implemented a set of Effect Guidelines that everyone must follow when creating a filter.

The company doesn’t want any negative or controversial content. Examples include no threats of violence, drugs, sexual content, or hateful behavior.

Hardware requirements

You can download Effect House right now to begin creating, but there’s a catch: the app is currently only available for Mac computers. Downloading on your PC will not work and if you try to get Effect House on your Android phone, the website will tell you to use your Mac.

At least the Mac hardware minimum requirements aren't too high. To give an example, you’ll need a Mac that has an Intel Core i3 2.5Ghz processor and Nvidia GeForce 710 graphics cards. That's a relatively low-powered CPU, which leads us to believe that the discrete graphics is doing most of the heavy lifting here.

Some of the hardware listed by TikTok has been out for almost a decade, so as long as you have a relatively recent Mac computer, you’re good to go and ready to start creating.

There’s a good chance that Effect House will release outside on at least one mobile platform. In the Effect guidelines page, it mentions the technical requirements for the Android version. However, TikTok didn’t say when other versions will release.

And because Effect House is in beta, TikTok is asking its community to offer feedback if there are any bugs or problems.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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TikTok wants you to build your own AR – if you own a Mac
  • No Comments

TikTok is opening its Effect House tool as a public beta for all creators and developers to try out and create their own filters. 

The service was originally launched back in Fall 2021 as a closed beta with around 450 TikTok creators adopting it. That relatively small group published their own created effects, which have gone on to be used in 1.5 billion videos garnering over 600 billion views.

Learning as you create

Creating AR filters does require a certain level of technical knowledge. TikTok has provided a series of guides that people can follow to learn how to create a filter. There’s a guide on creating a Face Mask, Segmentation effects, and 3D Face textures.

And there’s even a guide on how to do effective lighting and shadows. It’s all pretty comprehensive, and the best part is that it’s all free.

When you’re done, you can submit the filter for the Trust and Safety team to look it over and approve it. TikTok has implemented a set of Effect Guidelines that everyone must follow when creating a filter.

The company doesn’t want any negative or controversial content. Examples include no threats of violence, drugs, sexual content, or hateful behavior.

Hardware requirements

You can download Effect House right now to begin creating, but there’s a catch: the app is currently only available for Mac computers. Downloading on your PC will not work and if you try to get Effect House on your Android phone, the website will tell you to use your Mac.

At least the Mac hardware minimum requirements aren't too high. To give an example, you’ll need a Mac that has an Intel Core i3 2.5Ghz processor and Nvidia GeForce 710 graphics cards. That's a relatively low-powered CPU, which leads us to believe that the discrete graphics is doing most of the heavy lifting here.

Some of the hardware listed by TikTok has been out for almost a decade, so as long as you have a relatively recent Mac computer, you’re good to go and ready to start creating.

There’s a good chance that Effect House will release outside on at least one mobile platform. In the Effect guidelines page, it mentions the technical requirements for the Android version. However, TikTok didn’t say when other versions will release.

And because Effect House is in beta, TikTok is asking its community to offer feedback if there are any bugs or problems.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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TikTok takes on YouTube with 10-minute videos – but will people watch?
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TikTok has enabled the ability to create videos that can last for up to 10 minutes, an increase from three and five minutes for different creators.

Over the last 18 months, the company has been testing different length videos that creators could publish, with a limit of five minutes that's been in place since 2019.

However, some creators wanted TikTok to extend the length, to better compete with YouTube and Instagram Reels. Now that it's here, though, one wonders if TikTok users want 10-minute videos to scroll through in their 'For You' feed.

Analysis: 10-minute videos may be a niche appeal

TikTok is a social platform where you scroll vertically to watch videos. While you can watch videos from users you follow, or another called 'For You' where TikTok's algorithm curates new videos from creators you don't follow, the app's appeal is to watch short videos to pass the time.

10-minute videos may be a stretch. We're getting perilously close to the range of a web movie or TV show. The 2003 series Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a good example here, where episodes could range between three and twelve minutes. To be fair, we rather enjoyed that series. With the new 10-minute-range, TikTok could start bringing more episodic series to the platform

In the near term, though, TikTok's new competitor is clearly YouTube, a platform that's already attracting some TikTok creators anxious for more time on the digital stage.

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Longer videos on TikTok may help some creators in the topics they create, such as making pancakes, throwbacks to old TV shows, or a documentary on certain topics.

But 10-minute videos will require users to sit down and focus on what they're watching, instead of mindlessly scrolling through. On the other hand, these longer videos are entirely optional. It's possible that you won't see 10-minute TikToks in your feed. You might also choose to help the algorithm filter them out for you by not pausing to watch any of them. After all, who has an hour to spare for TikTok?

As for Tiktok, these extended videos are a sign that it wants some of its creators to cover topics that can only be explained in relatively long-form videos. Their success in that effort will depend on how users will respond to the change.

And as TikTok comes for YouTube, YouTube is coming for TikTok, too. YouTube has its own take on TikTok called Shorts, where creators can release shorter content, but it's a feature still in its early stages.

While TikTok takes on the video giant, it's also tackling its own monetary issues, making sure creators feel compensated so they don't jump to the potentially more lucrative YouTube.

The monetization efforts compared to YouTube are reportedly very small, which has meant that creators such as hankschannel are moving away from TikTok for more income on Google's video platform.

Essentially, TikTok's faced with a multi-pronged effort to excite and keep active creators: longer videos for more creative freedom and new monetization efforts to match the creators' extra effort with better revenue streams.

It's only then that the company has a chance to go head to head with YouTube, but it also depends on whether more creators and users will jump ship to TikTok and its new 10-minute video opportunity.

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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra isn’t a TikTok machine and I’m a little disappointed
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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is not ready to be my TikTok creation platform.

That’s right, I TikTok. Don’t look at me like that. There are lots of middle-aged people lip-synching, dancing, showing off hacks, and demonstrating oddball skills on the wildly popular social media platform.

My channel is not filled with dances or songs. It’s mostly a hodgepodge of conversations with myself, visual tricks, tech stuff, and a lot of me experiencing the latest trending filter. Lately, I’ve been using a lot of filters, which rely on augmented reality to transform my face into animals, movie characters, optical illusions. They’re harmless fun.

While I can find filters that do work, some of the newest, coolest and maybe most sophisticated ones do not work on Samsung’s premier smartphone.

TikTok fail screens

TikTok filter fail screens on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Image credit: Future)

This came as something of a surprise to me. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is an excellent and powerful Android 12 phone. It has a great collection of powerful cameras, including two 10 MP telephotos, 108MP wide and 12Mp ultrawide on the back, and a 40MP camera on the front.

It’s that last camera that I rely on for TikTok work. It’s more than capable of shooting standard TikTok videos. However, every time I try to use a new, trending filter like Raindrop control (which lets you freeze raindrops by using hand motions), or SYMMETRY (which lets you see what you’d look like if both sides of your face were exactly the same – for me the answer was Voldemort), the app informs me, “This effect doesn’t work with this device.”

Even simple filters like the “Your Decade,” which guesses your birth decade theoretically based on how you look (though I think it may be random), don’t work.

Listen, I like to spend a portion of each evening losing myself in the TikTok stream. It’s mind-numbing, entertaining, and kind of relaxing. When I see a fun filter, I like to try it out. I don’t always post the often-embarrassing results, and my draft folder is filled with unpublished efforts.

There’s real joy in consuming TikTok video on the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s high-definition 6.8-inch AMOLED, 120Hz-capable display, which only intensifies the frustration when I can’t test drive a new filter.

But why?

From a technical perspective, this, at least on the surface, makes little sense. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 40MP front-facing camera is capable of some light AR work. There’s literally an AR Zone in the Camera app that lets me doodle in AR on my face, turn my whole head into an AR emoji, and do other AR-based tricks.

There are, when it comes to the front camera, limitations. In the AR Doodle, it will only support face doodles. Plus, even though the phone can plop a dinosaur head emoji on my body that can follow my head's movement and some facial expressions, it’s not that precise.

AR options in Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

AR options in Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Image credit: Future)

If I were to compare what’s possible with Apple’s TrueDepth Module on the front of its iPhone 13 line with what the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s single front-facing camera is capable of, I’d call the Samsung effort a 1.0 version.

Ever since Apple introduced that depth-sensing module, its front-facing camera’s AR capabilities have grown substantially. When the iPhone 13 Pro paints my face with Mardi Gras makeup, the effect is realistic and disturbing. As I’m sure you know the camera is fully capable of supporting all of TikTok’s latest filters and effects.

Need some answers

I’ve contacted Samsung for more details on why the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra doesn’t support all these filters and will update this post with the company’s response. Perhaps they’ll tell me it’s just a matter of a software update, but I doubt it. That lone camera can only do so much with software to understand the real-world depth and create a realistic marriage between artificial reality and my face.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s rear camera array includes a laser to assist with autofocus. It does that by reading the depth information of a subject and their environment. I’d have to assume that if Samsung had drilled one additional hole in the screen next to the 40MP front camera for a laser, it might also have brought that depth info to the front of the phone, and then better support all those TikTok filters.

So, while you’re passing harsh judgment on my TikTok activities, maybe spare some for a brand-new, innovative phone that somehow forgets to fully support the world’s most popular social media platform.

As for me, I guess I’ll stick to my iPhone 13 Pro in my unending quest to become TikTok famous.

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Reddit update apes TikTok to show you things you’ve not subscribed to
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Reddit has released an update to its mobile app for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices that adds a Discover tab, allowing you to find new content and subreddits that you've not come across before, similar to TikTok's 'For You' tab.

The platform is a place of many communities that can apply to many franchises, products, and brands. Its users, or Redditors as the company calls them, usually subscribe to these, which are called subreddits.

But across the site and the app, you would usually find new categories and topics by the algorithm showcasing trending content on the main page, or by searching for something manually.

However, Reddit is aware that there are better ways for its Redditors to discover new content thanks to this update, available for iOS and Android.

Analysis: About time, Reddit

It can be difficult to find new content on Reddit, compared to other social media apps such as TikTok and Instagram.

While the website had a design refresh 2018, it didn't go far enough when making it clear how you could navigate subreddits, or being accessible for new users.

With its app for iOS and Android, Reddit feels much better to navigate thanks to its different design compared to the website. But Apollo, a third-party app does the same function with an even better interface.

The new Discover feature is going to help close the gap for Reddit against Apollo here, but the next step should be how this can work for its website, which arguably still houses a design that's from the late nineties.

If it can attempt another redesign of its site that makes it easier to navigate to new users, alongside making existing content look more appealing, Reddit may appeal to an even bigger userbase than it has now.

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I used to think I was too old for TikTok, but now I’m using it for wedding ideas
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This week (February 18) marks two years since I was engaged, and since then my devices have been full of apps containing ideas for every part of the wedding.

From the flowers to the colors of the tables at the Wedding Reception we had sorted out plans for everything – putting in a level of work would make you wish you eloped and dealt with the family fallout soon after they find out.

But we had been struggling with some music ideas – especially for when our guests are finding their seats, and unfortunately, my idea of a track from Metal Gear Solid was rejected.

This is where TikTok came to the rescue for me, where discovering artists with covers and their own spin on other tracks has made us both completely redo the Wedding playlist, both for the church and the Wedding reception.

A For You page of Wedding ideas

For those unaware, TikTok is an endless vertical scroll of videos, that its algorithm sources from its millions of users. It could be clips of TV shows from the 90s, or 'life hacks' of how to clean the grill in your oven to name just two of the countless examples of what you can find.

But if you're looking for something specific without the algorithm trying to find something for you, it's the Discover page that shines here.

Typing in 'covers' or 'mashup' brings you a bunch of results of songs that you didn't think would ever work, but they do. This particular track is something that my fiance and I are already planning on using for the day.

@veggibeats

♬ Only girl in september – veggibeats

It's content that I've never found on other social platforms. Facebook is less of a feed and more of photos and 'announcements' from those you've not spoken to in years, while Instagram is more about looking at Instagram Stories to pass the time, regardless of its efforts into short-form video as of late.

But TikTok scratches an itch I didn't know I had – where creators are giving me ideas to use for one of the most important days of my life. It's an app that, at the moment anyway, doesn't cause unnecessary discourse for certain topics, or shoehorns in paid options as I'm scrolling through Gayle and Notorious B.I.G. covers.

The app is already at the front of my iPhone home screen because of this, and once the wedding is accomplished – if there are more covers to as good as the above to find – it's not a stretch to think it may keep me around for a good while longer.

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