This AI vision wrapper is back on top as the tanning app space heats up again for summer 2025.
After hitting $80,000 in monthly recurring revenue and over 40K downloads per month on TikTok… in under 70 days… they went completely silent around October.
They’re making their return.
This year, the landscape is more competitive.
Their content repurposing strategy didn’t go unnoticed, and several newcomers are starting to distribute their own copycats.
Your only MOAT as an AI wrapper is distribution.
Can Rayz hit a home run and dominate the vertical two years in a row?
Let’s break down those AI tanning apps’ strategies:
Rayz’s 2025 playbook
Last year, Rayz found the winning formula: short, faceless clips of attractive, tanned girls, followed by a discreet app CTA (no name).
Sounds simple… and it is.
But it wasn’t so much the format that made this strategy go viral when we first wrote about it.
It was the fact that all these girl-opening clips were “repurposed” from other random accounts (or stock footages).
The format went like this:
First, a 3-second clip of an absurdly tanned girl. Then it cuts to a screen recording where it looks like the girl in the video is using the app.
Strongly inspired by the now-famous Locket format.
At the time, they were running three accounts using this formula:
@rachel.mossssy – 28,000,000 views
@j3ss1caspam – 8,700,000 views
@charl111111e – 14,300,000 views
All three paused around October. None have been re-activated since.
Instead, they made a soft comeback with a brand new account: @abiscootss.
This account started posting 16 days ago, on April 21st. And they’re already repeating the same winning formula:
* Scroll through social profiles until they find attractive, tanned girls
* Download their videos, resize them, and cut them into a perfect 2.5-second frame
* Add a POV Gen Z hook
* Post once a day most of the week, and twice a day every now and then
So far, they’ve hit 1.2M views and counting — even though some of the videos are getting boosted with paid ads (which wasn’t happening as much the previous year).
This year, they’re repeating the same formula AND using the exact same footages.
That girl in the red bikini has already been used twice this year. It was also their most viral video:
In 2024, with 12,200,000 views, 533K likes, 2.3K comments, and 40.5K bookmarks:
Their most viral hook:
“rachel you’re gonna get skin cancer!”
It’s provocative, controversial, and it contrasts with the footage of the girl (who looks like she couldn’t care less if she tried).
It’s pure (both evil, and genius) engagement bait.
Half the comments are concerned about her health, the other half are desperate to find out the name of the app.
Rayz’s top 10 most viral hooks so far:
#1 – “rachel you’re gonna get skin cancer!” => 12.2M views
#2 – this filter shows your sun damage… => 8.3M views
#3 – “Your tan is fake” => 6M views
#4 – My perfect tanning routine>>> => 4.9M views
#5 – seeing how tan i can get before summer is over => 4M views
#6 – “u cant get tan in uv 4” => 3.1M views
#7 – help is this skin cancer?? => 3M views
#8 – “you edit your tan lines” => 1.3M views
#9 – fastest tanning routine that won’t get you skin cancer >>> => 941.2K views
#10 – “how do you get tan so easily” => 917.9K views
–
Now competitors are trying to eat into their “market” share:
Tan AI
Tan AI (released this January), saw the opportunity firsthand. Actually, he’s an indie dev that found the idea as he felt being “scammed” by Rayz.
And he went into making this viral format even simpler.
On this account @evy.blake, they started using the same aggressive/controversial hooks over (mostly AI this time) images of overly tanned girls.
Note: interesting format — run an image through ChatGPT with the prompt “increase tan…” plus the position of the glare or facial expression.
In just 20 days, they had 1.8M views, 5K comments, 9K shares.
They simplified it even further. Turned all posts into single slide slideshows.
People get so hooked on the controversial takes (i.e. unhealthy tan, racism comparison, etc), the AI part goes unnoticed in comments. Genius.
Tan AI has another account operating, but they’ve taken it on a different route.
Branded, filled with app mentions and CTAs.
Branded & direct accounts won’t work. Here’s why:
Profile
Rayz (top) looks completely organic, from profile picture to username to bio.
Tan AI’s branded account, on the other hand… No face in the profile + branded username.
Note: profile names & bios usually have minimal/negligeable impact—still. Coherent end-to-end strategies can go a long way.
App Mention
Rayz videos show the app screen but almost never mention the app name or tell viewers to download it.
Instead, they share their tanning routine through the app screen, making it feel authentic. The absence of an app name drives engagement through the roof, which then fuels even more views.
Skip the app name in the hook and let people ask in the comments. Then the next viewer will “think” that the app name was dropped organically.
That one psychological trick makes a huge difference.
Note: sometimes it does make sense to mention the app in the hook. There is no one-size-fits-all formula. But not here.
Tan AI on this branded account keeps spamming the app name right in the hook. It looks and feels like an ad from the jump.
Video Caption
Rayz uses organic captions that sound exactly like an 18-year-old girl posting a basic tanning routine.
On this account, Tan AI go all in on aggressive app CTAs that totally kill the “UGC” vibe they’re trying for. Or don’t write anything at all.
Note: captions only have minor impact, but they’re easy to overlook. If viewers feel like they’re being sold to, they’ll bounce.
And the results don’t lie:
@download.tan.ai: 192 videos since January → 207K views
vs
“for real” ugc accounts
@evy.blake: only 14 videos, started 20d ago → already 1.4M views
@abiscootss: only 18 videos, started April 21 → already 1.1M views
Sunsafe
Sunsafe is a different case. Instead of copying Rayz, they went for completely different formats.
None are performing extremely well.
1.3M views on @sunsafe.app (also operating a single account)
Sunglow
This app hasn’t launched yet.
Still, over the past month, they’ve been posting daily on TikTok and IG Reels.
Not a bad start!
They’re also doing faceless, downloaded-girl videos like Rayz and Tan AI.
Only difference: they’re using long story-text hooks:
They haven’t had a single viral hit yet (115K and 25K are good ones, though).
—
Our team’s take is that Rayz could still dominate this year.
Tan AI seems hungry to destroy them, and I wouldn’t bet against angry and hungry app builders.
We think that Sunglow’s strategy is highly scalable — they just need to push harder and on more accounts, while also unlocking those viral hooks.
Then they can just rinse and repeat.
We wish everyone a great battle. We’ll be monitoring and reporting to maximize everyone’s entertainment.
—
The Social Growth Engineers Team
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