TikTok gets optimized for larger screens and foldable devices

TikTok, the popular video-based social media app, has just received an upgrade which allows it to work better on larger screens and foldable devices. As part of the upgrade, the app has a more clear video feed with better clarity, there are streamlined navigation bars at the top and bottom of the screen for easier navigation, and there is now support use in landscape or portrait.

Explaining the changes, TikTok wrote:

1. Clear video feed: Enjoy a more refined video feed that showcases content with enhanced clarity.
2. Streamlined navigation bars: Navigate through TikTok effortlessly with sleek navigation bars at the top and bottom of the screen for easy access to your favorite features and tabs.
3. Support for landscape or portrait use: It doesn't matter how you hold your device, TikTok will now work in landscape or portrait orientation.

While this is a great start, the company said it looks forward to further experimentation. It said that it wants to take a look at Topic Feeds which lets you explore videos based on category.

Since companies like Samsung started introducing foldable phones, Google has been improving its developer tools to better support this form factor so that companies like TikTok can release updates like these to their apps.

Luckily for TikTok, foldable devices still aren’t mainstream yet due to their hefty price tag but over time they will probably become more affordable for people and apps will need to be ready.

In terms of availability TikTok did not announce a release map for how it would push out this update but phrases like “People can now watch…” in the announcement suggest everyone should receive it imminently - admittedly, it will only be of much interest to users with tablets or foldable devices.

In the past, TikTok made it so users could use the website on the desktop, however, this experience was much more clunky compared to mobile which it was originally designed for. Users will need to judge for themselves whether they like this update for tablets and foldable devices.

Source: TikTok