There's a new app in town, and its name is Byte. For users who miss the days of ultra-short video creation on Vine, Byte is here to try to fill its shoes. But, what is the Byte app and how do you use it?
Before Byte, many people looked at TikTok as the new Vine, which discontinued the ability upload videos in October 2016. While TikTok allows users to upload both 15 and 60 second videos, the thing users loved about Vine, was the challenge to create entertaining content within six seconds. Back in 2017, Dom Hofman, Vine's co-founder, announced on Twitter that he was working on a follow-up to Vine. As of January 2020, users can now try out the brand new resurrection of Vine with a platform called Byte. The app became available in the App Store and Google Play on Friday, Jan. 24. Bringing back the ability to create a six-second looping video will mean a lot to people who reminisce about those Vine days.
Byte works similarly to the original Vine. Once you download the app, you need to create an account by signing in with Google. Then, you'll choose a username and upload a profile picture.
Once you're in, you'll see the Byte home page, where you can scroll through videos. The layout does feel similar to TikTok, because you need to swipe down to scroll through content on the home page, or you can go to the search tab (represented by a magnifying glass) to search for specific videos. The tabs are easy to navigate, with the home, search, camera, activity, and profile all in a familiar order.
To search content, you can search for a specific user in the search bar or select one of the categories, such as Comedy, New & Trending, or Music. You can comment, like, share, and "rebyte" a video that you like.
To create a video, go to the camera tab. From there, you can upload a clip from your phone's gallery by clicking the icon on the far right, or you can record in the app with the shutter. There's a handy delete button right within the camera, marked with the back tab icon, so it's super simple to re-record a video.
Byte allows users to record in intervals, which is very handy. To keep recording, you need to hold down the shutter button. When you take your finger off, it pauses recording, so you can do multiple shots to create a single Byte video. The ghost button in the camera lets you see what your last shot was in case you need to line up your next shot. After you've recorded your Byte video, you can save it to your gallery and post it.
Scrolling through content on Byte, it really does feel a lot like Vine, but with a sophisticated update that takes some note from more recent social apps. The Byte app is available now, so start uploading your six-second videos and get nostalgic.
