Sometimes, an app goes viral overnight and climbs straight to the top of the App Store charts within days of launching.
When this happens, it’s usually either an app being pushed by a celebrity (hi, Hank Green), or based on a hot, viral TikTok trend.
Today, we’re looking at a three cool ones that came from the TikTok side of things.
Spilling the (dating) tea
Earlier this year, TikTok was flooded by a new common shared obsession: dating red flags.
The trend started in 2022 on Facebook, with hundreds of groups appearing overnight, all around the world. Girls were sharing details and asking questions on the guys they were seeing to flag the cheaters, manipulators, liars & co.
That’s how Tea appears. In December, it skyrocketed from #268 to #12 on the App Store overnight. Now they rank #1 in Lifestyle.
Following Tea’s rise, a wave of similar apps hit the scene. What began as a kind of “charity” effort on social media quickly turned into a new market for consumer-facing apps.
Tea was pulling in $400,000 a month and racking up over 2 million downloads every month.
P.S. As of today, October 21st, Tea has been removed from the App Store. A number of copycat apps have been banned too, all for the same reason: allegedly mishandling sensitive personal data.
Say it in a list
At some point, TikTok decided that the new go-to communication style for Gen Z was lists. Dozens of green screen videos using the iPhone Notes background started going viral.
Creator @mad_mitch built an 800K-follower empire across Instagram Reels and TikTok.
Then, someone saw an opportunity and jumped on it.
Lillie, one of Ditto’s co-founders, had gone viral more than once using that same list format. So, she ran with the idea. Ditto launched in April as a social app built around writing, curating, and sharing lists. The aim was to spark the kind of viral moments inside the app that had already taken off on TikTok.
We’re talking lists like “my perfect boyfriend,” “dopamine menu,” or “internship trauma”. Pretty much anything that’s funny, relatable, and highly shareable.
The Ditto team put all their focus into one main account. While they had a few viral moments, the app never really gained lasting traction. Right after launching, they hit #25 on the charts and pulled in 30,000 people on a waitlist, but once the buzz wore off, downloads and revenue quickly slowed down.
Remix 2016 Summer Vibes
Between 2022 and 2024, TikTok became a playground for DJs and bedroom producers mixing viral tracks and sharing their mashups.
You simply couldn’t log onto TikTok without hearing Adele and Snoop Dogg mixed into “Send my love like it’s hot.”
On June 3rd, Mixy officially launched. Its founder, @mixyjoe, had already been posting his own mixes leading up to the release, but only saw a few modest wins.
He didn’t give up. Soon after, he had over 60 auto-run accounts posting Mixy mashups non-stop.
The app took off fast, especially across Eastern Europe. In just one week, they hit over 3 million views.
Now, four months in, Mixy is pulling 100,000 downloads a month and generating more than $20,000 in MRR.
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