RedNote, the Chinese app to which TikTok users are emigrating due to its probable ban

The 170 million monthly users it has TikTok In the United States they are in a situation without living. ByteDanceowner of the popular short video social network, You have until this Sunday the 19th to get rid of TikTok or face its ban in the United States. The deadline is about to end and, except for a last-minute surprise (which ByteDance has already assured that it will not be Elon Musk, despite the rumors), every day it seems more likely that TikTok will become a banned application in the USA. Users, logically, look for alternatives. And among them another app of Chinese origin stands out RedNote, to which many users are migrating TikTok before its eventual closure. This app, known in China as XiaohongshuMandarin for ‘little red book’, is the most downloaded free app in the Apple App Store in the United States.

RedNote, owned by Xingyin Information Technologyis not a clone of TikTok and although much of its content is also based on short videos uploaded by users, It reminds more of Instagram or Pinterest than the ByteDance app. It was launched in 2013 and currently has 300 million of monthly active users, the 79% women. In 2024, its valuation reached $17 billion and its profits are projected to exceed $1 billion, Bloomberg reported.

Although RedNote is designed primarily for Chinese users and was initially seen as an answer to Instagram, the platform’s combination of lifestyle content, short videos, photographs and community-building tools is convincing the so-called ‘TikTok refugees’ who are flocking to the appas reported by TechCrunch. It also stands out for its social shopping optionswhich probably explains why its user base is predominantly female.

The language problem in RedNote

Getting started, in Mandarin, with RedNote. Alfredo Biurrun.

It’s not easy to get started with RedNote. Once downloaded, the app is displayed completely on Mandarinwith no option to switch to another language in the initial steps. Before you can do this, you have to choose your gender, age, and whether you sign up with your phone number or a Google account. Despite the difficulty of the language, everything is quite intuitive up to this point, but the problem comes when you enter RedNote and all the app options, in addition to much user content, are in the Chinese language. The same thing happens when accessing the web version.

To change it to English, Spanish is not available, you have to go to the app settingsa challenge for those who do not know Mandarin that can be solved with the help of an explanatory video like the following one.

Once the main obstacle has been overcome, although not completely because from time to time the app still shows you messages in Mandarin, RedNote shows you a feed of content, in the style of Pinterestand 3 main tabs: Followwhere the accounts that the user follows appear, Explorethe one that opens by default, and Nearby to identify other accounts based on your location.

RedNote, now in English.
RedNote, now in English.Alfredo Biurrun.

Below these three main tabs, RedNote displays a series of filters or channels with dozens of lifestyle categories to select content types. In the toolbar at the bottom you will find the options for Home, Messagesthe user profile and another key to its success Store. Shop, however and despite the change of language to English, shows its content in Mandarin and the prices of products, of all kinds, in yuanwhich makes the process not only of purchase but of exploration significantly difficult for those who do not know the language.

App options, Shop section and user profile.
App options, Shop section and user profile. Alfredo Biurrun.

For now, if you want to be able to follow content creators from the United States on TikTok, you can locate them in the application using the hashtag #TikTokRefugee.