How long can it take for an app to hit 3 billion downloads and be installed on the phones of 2/3 of the world’s population? For TikTok the journey took less than 5 years. Even a couple of years ago the market of social media networks was saturated. It felt like we had everything: YouTube for mostly long videos, Instagram and Snapchat for editing and sharing photos or short clips, Facebook for chatting and spreading news, and nothing new could occur. Although TikTok was founded in 2016, it conquered the market and became viral only in March 2020, gaining 680 million market users during lockdowns. In this article, we break down how to make an app like TikTok, how long it takes and what is the key to the success of such popular solutions in the 2020s. Let’s go!