[ { "name": "TopBuzz", "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "news", "description": "ByteDance's overseas news and video app, the English-language Toutiao. An early pre-TikTok bet, it shut in 2020 as users drained away.", "dateLaunched": "2015-08", "dateKilled": "2020-06-05", "killedReason": "Discontinued by ByteDance for chronic underperformance in the Western/overseas news market. After peaking near 36-40M MAU and ~7M combined App Store + Google Play downloads in 2018, downloads collapsed to ~1.2M in H1 2019 and to only ~20,000 globally in April 2020, with the app falling out of the top of the US App Store news category against rivals like News Break. ByteDance had unsuccessfully tried to sell TopBuzz to outside buyers in 2019, then began a gradual wind-down (halting new app versions, tapering article updates) before confirming the shutdown on Friday, June 5, 2020, saying it was \"proud of the work that we accomplished with TopBuzz, but have determined that other areas of the business should be our priority going forward.\" The move reflected ByteDance's pivot to prioritize TikTok (and, in China, Toutiao). It was part of a broader 2020 culling of underperforming overseas apps (e.g., the video app Vigo was shut down days later on June 15, 2020). SEPARATELY and AFTER the shutdown: a July 26, 2022 BuzzFeed News investigation reported allegations from four former employees that ByteDance had used TopBuzz to insert \"soft\" pro-China content (panda videos, China-travel promotion) and to suppress content critical of the Chinese government, Hong Kong protests and Xi Jinping; ByteDance called the allegations \"false and ridiculous.\" These allegations post-date and were NOT the stated cause of the shutdown.", "region": "Global / overseas, primarily US and UK (English-language); localized expansions to Japan (~Sept 2016) and Brazil (2016, incl. TopBuzz Video). Not offered in mainland China, where the equivalent product is Toutiao. At the June 2020 announcement the Japanese version was still listed on Google Play (per Reuters/Caixin), so regional removal lagged by days.", "publisher": "App Store: \"Bytedance Incorporation\" / \"Bytedance Inc.\" (App Store id 1049682098) | Google Play: \"TopBuzz Inc.\" | TOPBUZZ trademark owner: Beijing Bytedance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Bytedance Incorporation", "Bytedance Inc.", "TopBuzz Inc. (Google Play developer)", "Beijing Bytedance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司, TOPBUZZ trademark owner)" ], "appStoreId": "1049682098", "link": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3087802/tiktok-owner-bytedance-kills-news-aggregator-app-topbuzz", "aliases": [ "TopBuzz News", "TopBuzz: Breaking News & Videos", "TopBuzz Video" ], "sources": [ "https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3087802/tiktok-owner-bytedance-kills-news-aggregator-app-topbuzz", "https://technode.com/2020/06/05/bytedance-abandons-news-aggregator-app-topbuzz/", "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2020-06-06/bytedances-news-app-topbuzz-is-over-101563809.html", "https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-06-07/TikTok-owner-ByteDance-shuts-down-overseas-news-aggregator-TopBuzz-R7DJLdMChq/index.html", "https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/tiktok-owner-bytedance-shuts-down-overseas-news-aggregator-topbuzz-2020-06-05", "https://www.voachinese.com/a/tiktok-owner-bytedance-shuts-down-overseas-news-aggregator-topbuzz-20200605/5450677.html", "https://36kr.com/p/738187240612744", "https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-bytedance-topbuzz-pro-china-content", "https://fortune.com/2022/07/27/tiktok-owner-bytedance-used-news-app-to-push-pro-china-messages-say-ex-employees", "https://technode.com/2019/09/26/bytedance-looking-to-sell-its-overseas-content-aggregator-topbuzz-report/", "https://technode.com/2020/06/15/bytedance-thins-overseas-apps-further-with-closure-of-video-app-vigo/", "https://searchman.com/ios/app/us/1049682098/en/bytedance-incorporation/topbuzz-breaking-news-and-videos/", "https://appadvice.com/app/topbuzz-news-breaking-local/1049682098", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=TopBuzz+Inc.", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/TopBuzz/653423", "https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/09/that-chinese-news-aggregation-app-thats-been-driving-a-ton-of-traffic-might-become-an-american-news-aggregator-app/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Independently re-verified from scratch; the draft was already highly accurate. Genuine ByteDance product (overseas Toutiao), confirmed dead, shutdown announced/pulled June 5, 2020. KEY CORRECTION: the alias \"顶尖新闻\" (Dǐngjiān Xīnwén) is NOT an official name — every Chinese-language source (VOA Chinese, 36Kr, Baidu Baike, Zhihu) calls it \"今日头条海外版\" / \"海外版今日头条\" (Toutiao overseas version). Demoted \"顶尖新闻\" to an explicitly-flagged informal/back-translated alias and elevated \"今日头条海外版\" as the standard descriptor. The app was an English-language overseas product with no official mainland-China Chinese-market name (that role was Toutiao's). OTHER NOTES: (1) Launch August 2015 confirmed by multiple Chinese sources + Baidu Baike; App Store id 1049682098 (registered ~Sep 2015) verified live via SearchMan/AppAdvice with seller \"Bytedance Incorporation.\" (2) June 5, 2020 was a Friday — SCMP/Caixin/Reuters all reference the \"Friday\" announcement, consistent. Wind-down was gradual (2019 sale attempts, halted versions, tapering content), so no single clean \"last day of service\"; the Japanese version was still on Google Play at announcement. (3) MAU varies by source: own site claimed 36M; BuzzFeed cited 40M (2018, primarily US/UK). (4) Publisher split confirmed: App Store \"Bytedance Incorporation\"/\"Bytedance Inc.\"; Google Play \"TopBuzz Inc.\" (5) Pro-China content allegations are from BuzzFeed News (publication date July 26, 2022; widely re-reported July 27), disputed by ByteDance, post-date the shutdown — context only, not the kill reason. (6) TopBuzz briefly topped the NA App Store news category in March 2017; Vigo was shut down days later (June 15, 2020) as part of the same overseas-app culling." }, { "name": "BuzzVideo", "aliases": [ "TopBuzz Video", "バズビデオ" ], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "short video / video aggregation", "publisher": "Bytedance Pte. Ltd.", "developerEntities": [ "Bytedance Pte. Ltd. (iOS App Store / Google Play developer)", "Bytedance株式会社 (Japan subsidiary, per Feb 2018 PR Times release)", "Bytedance Ltd. (US trademark registrant, BUZZVIDEO reg. no. 5788761)", "Bytedance Inc. (Amazon Appstore listing)" ], "region": "Japan (primary), plus United States, Brazil, UK, Australia and other overseas markets; India and English-language variants existed", "dateLaunched": "2016-09", "dateKilled": "2022-12-31", "appStoreId": "1152332968 (https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/id1152332968 — Japanese iOS listing); Android package com.ss.android.article.topbuzzvideo (JP)", "description": "ByteDance's video app, launched in Japan in 2016 and renamed from TopBuzz Video in 2018. TikTok buried it; ByteDance closed it in 2022.", "killedReason": "ByteDance's official statement cited a decision made \"in light of market environment and user-needs trends.\" Japanese press attributes the decline to TikTok's rapid growth eroding BuzzVideo's relevance and to content-quality problems (notably unauthorized/illegal uploads of TV programs), consistent with ByteDance's broader 2019-2022 retreat from underperforming overseas news/video products (it sought to sell TopBuzz in 2019 and shut the TopBuzz news app in 2020). Announced October 5, 2022; service ended December 31, 2022 (23:59 JST); customer support ended March 31, 2023.", "link": "https://www.j-cast.com/2022/10/05447362.html", "confidence": "high", "notes": "Independently re-verified. Confirmed: ByteDance ownership (PR Times release from Bytedance株式会社; App Store developer Bytedance Pte. Ltd. per Sensor Tower/AppAdvice; kr-asia reporting it was ByteDance's Xigua-inspired overseas video app), Japan launch Sept 2016 as TopBuzz Video, rebrand to BuzzVideo on 2018-02-02, shutdown announcement 2022-10-05, service end 2022-12-31, support end 2023-03-31, App Store ID 1152332968, 20M+ downloads, #6 Japan ranking in early 2018. Day-level launch date in Sept 2016 not pinned (month-level confidence). IMPORTANT distinctions kept: (1) the VIDEO app (TopBuzz Video / BuzzVideo) is separate from the TopBuzz NEWS aggregator, which ByteDance shut down separately in 2020 (SCMP) — not conflated. (2) The \"TopBuzz\" brand descends from News Master/News Republic (~2015 US); the video app's clearest documented launch is Japan Sept 2016. Archive Team wiki only weakly corroborates (offline status + ByteDance ownership), so primary anchor moved to j-cast; PR Times remains the primary rebrand source. Description trimmed to killedbygoogle.com house style (218 chars).", "sources": [ "https://www.j-cast.com/2022/10/05447362.html?p=all", "https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000004.000030435.html", "https://news.livedoor.com/topics/detail/22972545/", "https://infinity-agent.co.jp/lab/buzzvideo-advertisement/", "https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/id1152332968?l=en", "https://sensortower.com/ios/jp/bytedance-pte-ltd/app/buzzvideo-bazubideo/1152332968/", "https://appadvice.com/app/buzzvideo-e3-83-90-e3-82-ba-e3-83-93-e3-83-87-e3-82-aa/1152332968", "https://kr-asia.com/thinking-different-how-bytedance-shifted-course-to-launch-tiktok-as-a-global-hit", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3087802/tiktok-owner-bytedance-kills-news-aggregator-app-topbuzz", "https://technode.com/2019/09/26/bytedance-looking-to-sell-its-overseas-content-aggregator-topbuzz-report/", "https://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/BuzzVideo", "https://trademarks.justia.com/877/36/buzzvideo-87736469.html" ] }, { "name": "Vigo Video", "status": "dead", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "Hypstar", "Vigo Lite", "Flipagram" ], "category": "Short video / short-form video social network", "publisher": "BYTEMOD PTE. LTD.", "developerEntities": [ "BYTEMOD PTE. LTD. (ByteDance overseas publishing shell, used on App Store and Google Play)", "ByteDance Ltd. (字节跳动, ultimate parent)" ], "appStoreId": "1249798762 (iOS — https://apps.apple.com/app/vigo-video-formerly-hypstar/id1249798762 ; Android package: com.ss.android.ugc.boom)", "dateLaunched": "2017-07", "dateKilled": "2020-10-31", "region": "India, Brazil, Middle East, Indonesia, Bangladesh (overseas markets only — never operated in China)", "description": "ByteDance's overseas app for 15-second clips, built from its Hypstar and Flipagram buys. ByteDance closed it in 2020 and moved users to TikTok.", "killedReason": "Strategic consolidation into TikTok. On June 14, 2020 ByteDance announced it would shut Vigo Video and Vigo Lite to focus resources on other businesses, asking users to migrate content to flagship TikTok before the apps closed by October 31, 2020. The apps had massively underperformed TikTok and were closed market by market — Brazil and the Middle East first (described as 'already discontinued' by the June 2020 announcement, i.e. early 2020), then India by October 31, 2020. The wind-down coincided with India's June 29, 2020 ban of 59 Chinese apps, which included both Vigo Video and TikTok, prompting removal from Indian app stores before the formal global shutdown. Separately, BuzzFeed News later reported (March 2022, citing four former employees) that ByteDance had used fake accounts seeded with content scraped from Instagram, Snapchat and its own Chinese apps to populate Flipagram/Vigo in 2017 — context for the product's troubled history, though not the stated reason for closure.", "link": "https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/14/vigo-video-lite-apps-shut-down-bytedance-tiktok/", "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED ACCURATE. Confidence HIGH on: ByteDance ownership (publisher BYTEMOD PTE. LTD. confirmed via Sensor Tower; Hypstar acquired July 2017, Flipagram acquired January 2017), dead status, India shutdown date (Oct 31, 2020, announced June 14, 2020), iOS App Store ID 1249798762, Android package com.ss.android.ugc.boom, India 59-app-ban inclusion (June 29, 2020 — Vigo Video explicitly named on the list), Brazil/Middle East closing first, user counts (~4M Vigo Video, ~1.5M Vigo Lite vs ~200M TikTok), TikTok-consolidation rationale, and the BuzzFeed/Flipagram scraping story (TechCrunch/BuzzFeed, surfaced March 2022). MEDIUM on launch date: 2017-07 reflects the ByteDance-era launch as Hypstar (acquired July 2017); the underlying Hypstar/Flipagram products predate this (Flipagram dates to 2013) and no source gives an exact day — 2017-07 is best-supported. MEDIUM on Brazil/Middle East shutdown timing: every source says these were closed before the June 14, 2020 India announcement ('already discontinued'); 'early 2020' is consistent but no precise date found. The 2017–2018 'Vigo Video' rebrand (Hypstar + acquired Flipagram unified) is supported by secondary sources but ByteDance issued no formal public rebrand announcement, so the exact rebrand date is fuzzy. IMPORTANT distinction confirmed: the China-side counterpart Huoshan (火山小视频) was a SEPARATE domestic app that did NOT shut down — it was renamed Douyin Huoshan (抖音火山版) in January 2020 and merged into Douyin's ecosystem. Do not conflate domestic Huoshan (alive/merged) with overseas Vigo (dead). The 火山小视频 entry in aliases is retained only as a cross-reference and is flagged as a distinct app.", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/14/vigo-video-lite-apps-shut-down-bytedance-tiktok/", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-ends-vigo-video-in-india-following-shutdowns-in-brazil-middle-east", "https://technode.com/2020/06/15/bytedance-thins-overseas-apps-further-with-closure-of-video-app-vigo/", "https://inc42.com/buzz/bytedance-pushes-users-to-tiktok-shuts-vigo-video-in-india/", "https://www.medianama.com/2020/06/223-bytedance-shutdown-vigo-video/", "https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/bytedance-scraped-fake-accounts-instagram-snapchat", "https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/04/tiktok-owner-bytedance-reportedly-scraped-content-from-instagram-snapchat-posted-flipagram", "https://apps.apple.com/sl/app/vigo-video-funny-short-video/id1249798762", "https://sensortower.com/ios/in/bytemod-pte-ltd/app/vigo-video-formerly-hypstar/1249798762/", "https://www.pressreader.com/india/deccan-chronicle/20200630/281517933393644", "https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/india-bans-tiktok-and-dozens-of-other-chinese-apps-over-security-concerns.html", "https://technode.com/2020/01/09/bytedance-rebrands-huoshan-to-support-douyin/", "https://buildd.co/startup/failure-stories/what-happened-to-flipagram" ] }, { "name": "Flipagram", "status": "rebranded", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "Vigo Video", "Hypstar" ], "category": "Short-form video / photo-video slideshow social app", "region": "US / Global (originally HQ Los Angeles, USA)", "dateLaunched": "2012-06", "dateKilled": "2018-07-17", "killedReason": "Acquired by ByteDance's Toutiao (今日头条) in early 2017 (announced Feb 1, 2017, undisclosed price). After ByteDance also bought rival Musical.ly in late 2017 and merged it into TikTok, Flipagram became redundant. ByteDance laid off the Los Angeles-based Flipagram team, removed the original Flipagram iOS app from the App Store on July 17, 2018, and folded/rebranded the product into Vigo Video (combined with its Hypstar/Hipstar app; the China-market sibling was Huoshan 火山小视频). Vigo Video itself was later wound down: closure announced June 15, 2020, with the India shutdown set for Oct 31, 2020 (Brazil and Middle East had already ceased earlier), as ByteDance consolidated resources behind TikTok; users were directed to export content to TikTok. Flipagram/Vigo was also at the center of a BuzzFeed News investigation (published April 2022) alleging ByteDance used fake accounts and content scraped from Instagram/Snapchat starting shortly after the Jan/Feb 2017 acquisition to artificially grow the app.", "description": "A US app for making music videos from photos and clips, an early TikTok forerunner. ByteDance's Toutiao bought it in 2017 and folded it into Vigo Video.", "publisher": "Cheerful, inc. (a.k.a. Flipagram, Inc.) — the product became a ByteDance/Toutiao-owned property after the Feb 2017 acquisition", "developerEntities": [ "Flipagram, Inc.", "Cheerful, inc. (Cheerful Inc.)", "Toutiao / ByteDance Ltd. (字节跳动) — owner after Feb 2017 acquisition", "Flipagram Labs Inc. / Flipgram Labs Inc. — post-ByteDance revival entity (separate, unverified link to original founders)" ], "appStoreId": "Original iOS App Store listing removed July 17, 2018; no live Apple App Store id verifiable. Android (Google Play) package was com.cheerfulinc.flipagram, published by \"Cheerful, inc.\"", "link": "https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/01/chinese-news-reading-app-toutiao-acquires-flipagram", "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED ByteDance: confirmed by multiple independent reputable sources (TechCrunch Feb 1 2017; Recode/Vox; TechNode June 15 2020 which explicitly states \"Vigo was rebranded from Flipagram, a US video-sharing app ByteDance acquired in early 2017\"). Acquisition was by Toutiao, ByteDance's flagship app/parent — genuinely ByteDance-owned. Status \"rebranded\" is correct (folded/rebranded into Vigo Video rather than simply deleted; the rebrand chain itself later died, so could also be argued \"merged\"/dead — \"rebranded\" is the best single tag). Dates: launch June 2012 (high), Nov 18 2013 relaunch under Cheerful Inc. (high), acquisition announced Feb 1 2017 (high), original iOS app removed July 17 2018 (used as dateKilled; medium-high — sourced to productmint/buildd/tamaggo secondary sources, not a primary Apple record), Vigo closure announced June 15 2020 / India end Oct 31 2020 (high, TechNode + multiple Indian press). One CORRECTION vs draft: the BuzzFeed News scraping investigation was PUBLISHED April 2022 (not 2017); the alleged scraping BEGAN in 2017. Funding nuance: $70M Series B led by Sequoia; some sources tie the round to a 2014 raise/2015 disclosure. MEDIUM/LOW confidence on the Flipagram Labs Inc. revival being connected to original founders — a flipagram.app site and trademark filing exist, but no primary source confirms an original founder re-acquired the IP from ByteDance; treat as plausible but unverified. Beware unrelated namesakes (Microsoft Flipgrid, \"Flipview Flipagram\", \"Picflix - Flipagram Slideshow\") which are NOT this product.", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/01/chinese-news-reading-app-toutiao-acquires-flipagram", "https://www.recode.net/2017/1/31/14459116/flipagram-acquisition-toutiao", "https://technode.com/2020/06/15/bytedance-thins-overseas-apps-further-with-closure-of-video-app-vigo/", "https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/bytedance-scraped-fake-accounts-instagram-snapchat", "https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/04/tiktok-owner-bytedance-reportedly-scraped-content-from-instagram-snapchat-posted-flipagram", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-ends-vigo-video-in-india-following-shutdowns-in-brazil-middle-east", "https://fossbytes.com/vigo-video-shut-down-by-october-31-2020-bytedance/", "https://productmint.com/what-happened-to-flipagram/", "https://buildd.co/startup/failure-stories/what-happened-to-flipagram", "https://labusinessjournal.com/technology/flipagram-stitches-together-70-million-funding-rou/" ], "stoppedUpdating": true, "successor": "Vigo Video" }, { "name": "Musical.ly", "aliases": [ "musical.ly", "Musically" ], "status": "merged", "type": "app", "category": "Short video / social (lip-sync video)", "region": "Global, primarily US and Europe (Western markets); founded in Shanghai, China", "dateLaunched": "2014-08", "dateKilled": "2018-08-02", "publisher": "Musical.ly Inc. (2014–2017), then ByteDance Ltd. (2017–2018). Musical.ly Inc. was renamed TikTok Inc. at the merger, and the app was consolidated into TikTok (international version of Douyin).", "developerEntities": [ "Musical.ly Inc.", "ByteDance Ltd. (字节跳动)", "TikTok Inc. (renamed-from-Musical.ly successor entity)" ], "appStoreId": "835599320 (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tiktok/id835599320 — widely reported as the original Musical.ly iOS listing that was converted in-place into TikTok during the Aug 2018 merger; could not independently re-confirm via live App Store fetch, treat as plausible-but-unverified)", "description": "The 15-second lip-sync app that defined teen short video before TikTok. ByteDance bought it in 2017 and merged its ~100M users into TikTok in 2018.", "killedReason": "Strategic consolidation by parent company ByteDance. After acquiring Musical.ly in November 2017, ByteDance merged it into its sister app TikTok (international Douyin) to combine Musical.ly's strong Western/US user base with TikTok's larger Asian audience and recommendation algorithm, and to run a single global platform instead of two overlapping apps. The Musical.ly brand was retired and all users/content migrated to TikTok. In the official TikTok newsroom announcement, co-founder Alex Zhu framed it as a natural fit given the shared mission of both apps (\"excited to enter into a new chapter\"); a frequently cited quote about supporting one platform to expand local market presence is attributed in press coverage to TikTok marketing head Stefan Heinrich, not to the official newsroom release.", "link": "https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/musical-ly-and", "sources": [ "https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/musical-ly-and", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical.ly", "https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/musically-shutdown-tiktok-bytedance-1202893205/", "https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/musically-owner-bytedance-merges-app-tiktok-1131630/", "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-10/toutiao-is-said-to-buy-karaoke-app-musical-ly-for-800-million", "https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/09/chinas-toutiao-is-buying-musical-ly-in-a-deal-worth-800m-1b", "https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/10/563290820/chinese-firm-buying-lip-sync-app-musical-ly-for-up-to-1-billion", "https://pandaily.com/musical-ly-and-tiktok-merge-to-become-one-platform/", "https://www.billboard.com/pro/musically-merges-tiktok-bytedance/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Independently re-verified from scratch; all major facts confirmed by multiple independent sources (Wikipedia, official TikTok newsroom, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, NPR, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Pandaily). Founders (Alex Zhu, Luyu Yang), Shanghai HQ, user milestones (90M Jun 2016, 200M May 2017, ~100M MAU at merger), and the $800M–$1B acquisition price are well-corroborated; the exact dollar figure was never officially disclosed (range, not a point value). ByteDance acquisition: Nov 10, 2017 (announced Nov 9 US time). Merger/shutdown: official TikTok newsroom announcement dated Aug 1, 2018; migration and press coverage Aug 2, 2018 — dateKilled given as 2018-08-02 (consummation/migration). Status correctly 'merged' not 'dead': accounts/content auto-migrated, brand retired, and Musical.ly Inc. was renamed TikTok Inc. (in-place rebrand). Dropped invented alias '穆西卡尔'; dateLaunched downgraded to 2014-08 (only 'August 2014' firmly sourced); Stefan Heinrich quote is press coverage, not the official release. App Store id 835599320 plausible but not live-verified.", "verifyNotes": "VERDICT: Genuine ByteDance product — KEEP. isByteDance=true with high confidence (ByteDance acquired Musical.ly Inc. Nov 10, 2017 and merged it into TikTok Aug 1–2, 2018; Musical.ly Inc. renamed TikTok Inc.). Status 'merged' is correct — not deleted; users/content auto-migrated into TikTok, brand retired. The app does NOT still operate under its own name. Launch: August 2014 (prototype April 2014); draft's '2014-08-01' day-precision downgraded to '2014-08' as the exact day isn't reliably sourced. Kill/merger date 2018-08-02 confirmed accurate (newsroom Aug 1, migration Aug 2). Corrections: removed fabricated Chinese alias '穆西卡尔'; corrected Stefan Heinrich quote attribution (press, not official release). App Store id plausible but not live-verified." }, { "name": "Live.ly", "aliases": [ "live.ly", "Live.ly by Musical.ly" ], "status": "merged", "type": "app", "category": "Live streaming", "region": "Global (predominantly US — ~70% of installs)", "publisher": "Musical.ly Inc.", "developerEntities": [ "Musical.ly Inc.", "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "TikTok Inc." ], "appStoreId": "1085024470 (https://apps.apple.com/app/id1085024470)", "dateLaunched": "2016-07-24", "dateKilled": "2018-06", "description": "Musical.ly's live-streaming app for broadcasting video and earning gifts. ByteDance closed it in 2018 and folded the streaming into Musical.ly.", "killedReason": "Contractually required by ByteDance's November 2017 Musical.ly acquisition: a clause obligated Live.ly to shut down within six months and redirect users to LiveMe for at least 30 days, because ByteDance held a ~$50M stake in rival live-streamer LiveMe and would not run two competing properties. The standalone app was announced dead June 13, 2018 and pulled from app stores ~June 15, 2018; its live-streaming was absorbed into Musical.ly, which merged into TikTok on August 2, 2018.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live.ly", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live.ly", "https://techcrunch.com/video/musical-ly-launches-live-ly-app-for-livestreaming/", "https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/27/musical-ly-launches-live-ly-for-livestreaming/", "https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/28/live-ly-shoots-to-the-top-of-the-app-store/", "https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/13/musical-ly-kills-its-standalone-live-streaming-app-live-ly", "https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/23/musical-lys-shutdown-of-live-ly-was-contractually-obligated", "https://www.tubefilter.com/2018/07/23/musically-lively-bytedance-liveme/", "https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/musically-lively-shutdown-streaming-app-1202844719/", "https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/musically-shutdown-tiktok-bytedance-1202893205/", "https://www.engadget.com/2018-06-13-musical-ly-drops-live-ly-app.html", "https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/06/15/musically-scraps-lively/", "https://sensortower.com/ios/us/musical-ly-inc/app/live-ly/1085024470/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Qualifies for a \"Killed by ByteDance\" graveyard: Live.ly was not built in-house by ByteDance, but it was ByteDance-owned at end of life and its death was directly caused by ByteDance (the Nov 2017 Musical.ly acquisition contractually required Live.ly to shut down within 6 months and redirect users to LiveMe, in which ByteDance held a ~$50M stake). dateKilled is 2018-06, NOT 2018-08-02: the August 2, 2018 date is the separate Musical.ly→TikTok merger/rebrand; the Live.ly standalone app was announced dead June 13, 2018 and pulled ~June 15, 2018 (Engadget, Digital Music News, TechCrunch). Exact day it went fully offline is documented only as ~June 13–15, 2018. App Store ID 1085024470 corroborated by Sensor Tower and Apptopia (original developer Musical.ly Inc.). Install metrics reconcile: ~26M total installs, ~70% US, ~87% iOS (different metrics, all consistent); ~40M active users at peak; hit #1 on US App Store. Acquisition value reported ~$800M–$1B across sources." }, { "name": "News Republic", "status": "acquired-shut", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "Mobiles Republic", "AppyGeek", "AppyGamer" ], "category": "news", "region": "Global — primarily Europe (France/Germany/Italy) and US; HQ Bordeaux, France (with San Francisco office). Operated in up to ~32 languages / ~40 countries at peak.", "publisher": "Published under the developer entity \"News Republic\" (originally \"Mobiles Republic\"). Owned by Cheetah Mobile from Aug 2016, then a wholly owned subsidiary of ByteDance (Beijing Byte Dance Telecommunications Co., Ltd.) from Nov 2017. Store listings continued to show \"News Republic\" / \"Mobiles Republic\" as developer.", "developerEntities": [ "Mobiles Republic (founding company, Bordeaux, France, 2008)", "News Republic (renamed app/company)", "Cheetah Mobile (owner Aug 2016 – Q4 2017)", "ByteDance / Beijing Byte Dance Telecommunications Co., Ltd. (owner from Q4 2017)" ], "appStoreId": "392616461", "dateLaunched": "2010-12", "dateKilled": "2021-03-14", "killedReason": "Discontinued by ByteDance. The English-language version was pulled earlier (~May 2020) amid intense US–China political scrutiny of ByteDance (TikTok divestment pressure) and RFA/press reports that News Republic had censored China-sensitive content (filtering references to Tibet, the Dalai Lama, \"freedom of the press\"). The remaining (mostly European-language) versions were shut down entirely on March 14, 2021, announced to users in late Feb / early March 2021. ByteDance gave no detailed public reason; the app had failed to gain meaningful global traction and was wound down alongside ByteDance's other struggling overseas news products (TopBuzz was killed mid-2020). Folded-in acquired product quietly killed.", "description": "A French-built global news app drawing on thousands of publishers. Cheetah Mobile then ByteDance owned it; ByteDance quietly closed it in 2021.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Republic", "sources": [ "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cheetah-mobile-and-bytedance-jointly-announce-strategic-cooperation-on-personalized-content-delivery-services-300551891.html", "https://www.crunchbase.com/acquisition/bytedance-acquires-mobiles-republic--914a1ba4", "https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/02/cheetah-mobile-has-acquired-news-republic-for-57-million/", "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Republic", "https://www.mundiario.com/articulo/empresas/bytedance-cerrara-dia-14-marzo-app-news-republic/20210302155202213527.html", "https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/china/2020/china-200824-rfa05.htm", "https://www.maddyness.com/2016/08/04/mobile-cheetah-mobile-news-republic-rachat/", "https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120326006620/en/App-News-News-Republic-2.0-Launches" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: Record is accurate; genuine ByteDance product, genuinely dead. ByteDance ownership HIGH confidence (PRNewswire/Cheetah IR: US$86.6M acquisition announced Nov 8, 2017; \"News Republic will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Bytedance\"). SHUTDOWN HIGH confidence: German Wikipedia gives March 14, 2021 and quotes the in-app farewell notice thanking users over the past 10 years; Mundiario headline \"ByteDance cerrará el día 14 de marzo su app News Republic\" (dated 2021-03-02). No relaunch/revival found in 2022–2026 searches. LAUNCH: company founded 2008; flagship app first launched 2010 (one source: December 2010 — dateLaunched set to 2010-12). RENAME year disputed (2012 per de.wikipedia vs 2014 per French sources/Maddyness) — does not affect status. CHEETAH ACQUISITION: TechCrunch confirms announced Aug 2, 2016 for $57M (de.wikipedia's \"June 2016\" appears to be a completion/error; Aug 2016 announcement date retained). ENGLISH-VERSION PULL (~May 2020): RFA/globalsecurity.org confirms English app \"shuttered in U.S. markets\" amid Tibet/Dalai Lama/\"freedom of the press\" censorship reports, but does not pin the exact month — the specific \"May 2020\" date and the geopolitical kill-reason narrative are MEDIUM confidence (inferred). Third-party APK mirrors (Uptodown/APKPure/APKMirror) still host old APKs with auto-scraped \"latest update\" dates — unreliable artifacts, not evidence the service is live. appStoreId stored as numeric ID 392616461 (listing now removed/dead); Android package com.mobilesrepublic.appy." }, { "name": "BaBe (Baca Berita)", "status": "dead", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "Baca Berita", "Helo BaBe", "BaBe - Baca Berita Indonesia" ], "category": "News (AI/big-data news aggregator, Toutiao-style)", "region": "Indonesia (also reached Malaysia at peak)", "dateLaunched": "2013-10", "dateKilled": "2022-10-15", "publisher": "Originally PT Mainspring Technology (Jakarta), founder/CEO Liew Weihan. ByteDance took a controlling stake in December 2016 and full ownership in 2018. App Store app id 1015234796 (\"BaBe - Baca Berita Indonesia\"), developer page id1015234795 (\"Mainspring\"). Google Play package id.co.babe (developer \"BaBe\"; app named \"Helo BaBe - Baca Berita\" at end of life); earlier Google Play package com.babe.indonesia (developer Mainspring).", "developerEntities": [ "Mainspring Technology Ltd / PT Mainspring Technology (original developer, founded ~2012 by Liew Weihan)", "BaBe (Google Play developer name, package id.co.babe)", "ByteDance (controlling stake Dec 2016, full owner 2018)" ], "appStoreId": "1015234796 (https://apps.apple.com/app/babe-baca-berita-indonesia/id1015234796 — now delisted; developer page id1015234795 \"Mainspring\"). Google Play package: id.co.babe (also delisted).", "killedReason": "ByteDance wound down BaBe as part of retreating from standalone Indonesian content/social products. The in-app shutdown notice was dated 20 September 2022 and the app stopped operating on 15 October 2022, after which users could no longer log in; they were directed to migrate to ByteDance's Helo social app for news content. Helo itself was then shut down in Indonesia on 30 June 2023, retiring the whole BaBe/Helo content stack. No financial figure or official rationale was published; best characterized as consolidation/retreat. The August 2020 Reuters anti-China censorship scandal damaged the product's reputation but was NOT the stated cause of shutdown.", "description": "Indonesia's top news app, pulling stories from hundreds of outlets. ByteDance, its owner from 2018, closed it in 2022 and moved users to Helo.", "link": "https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/bytedance-tiktok-censorship-babe-indonesia-1234735629/", "sources": [ "https://www.jurnas.com/artikel/124152/Per-15-Oktober-2022-Aplikasi-Babe-Pamit-dari-Indonesia/", "https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/bytedance-tiktok-censorship-babe-indonesia-1234735629/", "https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/08/14/bytedance-censored-anti-china-content-in-indonesia-until-mid-2020-sources.html", "https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/8/14/chinas-bytedance-blocked-anti-china-content-in-indonesia-report", "https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3097318/chinese-tech-firm-bytedance-censored-anti-beijing-content", "https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/bytedance-blocked-anti-china-content-in-indonesian-news-app-8211-reuters-59924046", "https://qz.com/1803609/all-the-apps-run-by-tiktoks-chinese-owner-bytedance", "https://kr-asia.com/swimming-caps-motorbikes-and-investment-from-china-a-realistic-portrayal-of-chinese-vcs-in-indonesia", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-backed-news-app-babe-collaborates-with-indonesian-media-to-fight-hoaxes", "https://web.dev/babe/", "https://pandata.pandaily.com/company/bytedance", "https://makassar.tribunnews.com/2023/05/27/helo-susul-babe-tutup-aplikasi-milik-bytedance-dari-china-dan-saudara-tiktok-itu-bangkrut", "https://wartakota.tribunnews.com/2023/05/31/aplikasi-helo-indonesia-tutup-per-30-juni-2023-penggunanya-mencapai-40-juta", "https://www.appbrain.com/app/babe-baca-berita/id.co.babe", "https://apps.apple.com/app/babe-baca-berita-indonesia/id1015234796" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Final entry. Cleanups applied vs draft: (1) Description rewritten concise/neutral-wry at <=240 chars. (2) Unverified secondary App Store id 1641716289 DROPPED (no corroboration found in any source). (3) appStoreId/developer-id inconsistency cleaned (app id 1015234796 vs developer page id1015234795). All factual fields retained and confirmed: launch Oct 2013 (web.dev/babe case study, Digital News Asia, Pandaily), shutdown 15 Oct 2022 announced 20 Sept 2022 (jurnas.com, tribunnews), ByteDance controlling stake Dec 2016 + full ownership 2018 (Reuters via Variety/Jakarta Post/Al Jazeera/SCMP/S&P Global), 8M MAU & ~30M downloads end-2019 (Reuters internal presentation), censorship scandal Aug 2020. Helo (separate entry) shut down 30 June 2023. Google Play id.co.babe (\"Helo BaBe - Baca Berita\") last updated 15 July 2022, now delisted; App Store URL resolves to generic storefront, consistent with delisting." }, { "name": "Resso", "status": "dead", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "Resso Music - Songs & Lyrics", "Resso Music" ], "category": "music", "region": "India, Indonesia, Brazil", "dateLaunched": "2020-03-04", "dateKilled": "2024-01-31", "description": "ByteDance's social music app for emerging markets, built around scrolling lyrics. Folded into TikTok Music abroad; India pulled it in 2024 after a data probe.", "killedReason": "Wound down and partly rebranded as TikTok Music, then forced out of its last market by Indian regulators. Brazil and Indonesia migrated to ByteDance's new TikTok Music service (launched there July 6, 2023), with Resso discontinued in both countries on September 5, 2023. In India, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) probed ByteDance's handling of Indian user data and use of proprietary algorithms; the government ordered Apple and Google to delist Resso in December 2023. Rather than respond, ByteDance exited, shutting Resso in India effective January 31, 2024 (citing \"local market conditions\") with refunds for remaining subscriptions, and never launched TikTok Music there. The TikTok Music successor was itself shut down globally on November 28, 2024, ending ByteDance's standalone music-streaming line entirely.", "publisher": "Moon Video Inc.", "developerEntities": [ "Moon Video Inc. (New York-registered ByteDance subsidiary; listed developer-of-record on both Apple App Store and Google Play)", "ByteDance Ltd. (ultimate parent)" ], "appStoreId": "1457922673", "link": "https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/11/bytedance-is-shutting-down-its-music-streaming-service-resso-in-india/", "confidence": "high", "notes": "Apple App Store ID 1457922673 (https://apps.apple.com/app/resso/id1457922673, \"Resso Music - Songs & Lyrics\" by Moon Video Inc.); Google Play package com.moonvideo.android.resso (the \"moonvideo\" string independently corroborates Moon Video Inc. as developer-of-record). Both store listings are now delisted. Moon Video Inc. is the documented store publisher shell ByteDance used, widely cited as the reason Resso escaped India's June 2020 ban wave on Chinese apps. Peak ~40M+ MAU is a press estimate (The Information / multiple outlets, \"over 40M MAU by the start of 2023\"); treat as approximate. Beta surfaced publicly Dec 2019; free tier killed May 11, 2023. A high-numbered App Store ID (6753679116) seen in one Indonesia-locale search result is NOT a verified Resso listing — ignore it; canonical ID is 1457922673.", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/11/bytedance-is-shutting-down-its-music-streaming-service-resso-in-india/", "https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3248557/tiktok-owner-bytedance-pulls-plug-music-streaming-app-resso-india-after-government-pressure", "https://musically.com/2024/01/11/bytedance-shuts-resso-in-india-after-government-crackdown/", "https://variety.com/2020/music/news/tiktok-bytedance-india-resso-launch-1203523772/", "https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/20/03/04/1530251/resso-bytedances-music-streaming-app-officially-launches-in-india", "https://entrackr.com/2020/03/bytedance-resso-launches-in-india/", "https://www.billboard.com/business/streaming/bytedance-shuts-down-resso-music-streaming-service-india-1235580540/", "https://musically.com/2023/05/03/bytedance-shuts-down-resso-free-tier/", "https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tiktok-sister-music-app-resso-shuts-down-free-tier-goes-subscription-only/", "https://musically.com/2023/07/06/tiktok-music-streaming-service-goes-live-in-brazil-and-indonesia/", "https://www.medianama.com/2024/01/223-bytedance-shut-down-music-service-resso-india/", "https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2024/01/11/resso-india-shutdown-announcement/", "https://musically.com/2024/09/24/tiktok-music-is-shutting-down-for-good-at-the-end-of-november/", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok_Music" ] }, { "name": "TikTok Music", "status": "dead", "type": "service", "aliases": [ "Resso", "music.tiktok.com" ], "category": "Music streaming", "region": "Indonesia, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, Mexico", "dateLaunched": "2023-07-06", "dateKilled": "2024-11-28", "description": "ByteDance's paid music service and Resso's successor, tied to TikTok. ByteDance closed it after 16 months to steer listeners to Spotify and Apple Music.", "killedReason": "ByteDance chose to stop running its own standalone streaming service and instead drive music engagement through partner platforms via TikTok's \"Add to Music App\" feature, which lets users save tracks discovered on TikTok to Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. Ole Obermann, TikTok's Global Head of Music Business Development, said the company was \"closing TikTok Music at the end of November in order to focus on our goal of furthering TikTok's role in driving even greater music listening and value on music streaming services, for the benefit of artists, songwriters, and the industry.\" Contributing factors widely cited in the press: the standalone service failed to gain traction against entrenched incumbents (Spotify/Apple Music) and never expanded to large markets like the US/UK, and ByteDance faced costly music-licensing tensions (Universal Music Group's recordings license lapsed February 1, 2024 and its catalog was pulled from TikTok before a new deal was reached on May 2, 2024).", "publisher": "Moon Video Inc.", "developerEntities": [ "Moon Video Inc.", "ByteDance Ltd.", "TikTok Pte. Ltd." ], "appStoreId": "", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok_Music", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/24/bytedance-is-shutting-down-tiktok-music-globally", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok_Music", "https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2024/09/24/tiktok-music-shutdown/", "https://variety.com/2023/music/news/tiktok-launches-music-streaming-service-brazil-and-indonesia-1235662600/", "https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/386967/tiktoks-new-music-streaming-platform-launches-in.html", "https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/19/tiktok-music-launches-beta-testing-in-australia-mexico-and-singapore.html", "https://musically.com/2023/10/19/tiktok-music-emerges-from-beta-in-australia-mexico-and-singapore/", "https://www.billboard.com/pro/tiktok-universal-music-group-announce-global-licensing-deal/", "https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/universal-music-and-tiktok-strike-new-licensing-deal/", "https://alternativeto.net/news/2024/9/bytedance-to-shut-down-tiktok-music-streaming-service-globally-by-november-2024" ], "notes": "All material facts independently re-verified and corroborated across TechCrunch, Wikipedia, Variety, MediaPost, CNBC, Music Ally, Digital Music News, Billboard, and Music Business Worldwide. Launch: July 6, 2023 (Brazil + Indonesia), confirmed by Variety/MediaPost (dated 07/06/2023)/Music Ally. Closed-beta expansion to Australia/Mexico/Singapore ~July 18-19, 2023 (TechCrunch July 18; CNBC/Wikipedia July 19). Those three markets had a full public (out-of-beta) launch October 19, 2023. Shutdown announced September 24, 2024; offline November 28, 2024 (playlist-transfer deadline Oct 28, 2024; refund/data-deletion at Nov 28, 2024). Resso ceased in Brazil/Indonesia Sept 5, 2023. UMG dispute: recordings license expired Feb 1, 2024 (catalog pulled), new deal May 2, 2024. Publisher confirmed as Moon Video Inc. (the same developer entity used for Resso). UNCONFIRMED: exact numeric App Store id for the standalone TikTok Music app could not be sourced — correctly left blank. Description rewritten to killedbygoogle.com style (lifespan + cause), trimmed to <=240 chars; all factual fields and sources preserved unchanged." }, { "name": "Helo", "aliases": [ "हेलो", "Helo - Share Your Life", "Helo - Share, Follow & Chat" ], "status": "banned", "type": "app", "category": "social", "region": "India", "publisher": "Helo Holdings Limited", "developerEntities": [ "Helo Holdings Limited", "ByteDance (parent)" ], "appStoreId": "1437494436 (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/helo-share-your-life/id1437494436)", "dateLaunched": "2018-06", "dateKilled": "2021-01-27", "description": "ByteDance's social app for India, sharing memes and Bollywood clips in 14-plus languages. India banned it in 2020; ByteDance killed it in 2021 when it quit India.", "killedReason": "Banned by the Indian government. On 29 June 2020 India blocked Helo as one of 59 Chinese-origin apps (alongside TikTok, UC Browser, SHAREit, Likee, CamScanner, etc.) under Section 69A of the IT Act, citing data-security and national-sovereignty concerns following the deadly 15 June 2020 Galwan Valley India-China border clash. The interim ban was made permanent in late January 2021 (MeitY decision reported 25-26 Jan 2021, after the government found company responses to its queries unsatisfactory). With India being Helo's sole market, ByteDance announced on 27 January 2021 that it was winding down its India business and cutting its workforce (2,000+ employees affected), effectively killing the app.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helo_(app)", "sources": [ "https://www.business-standard.com/article/technology/tiktok-to-shut-down-india-business-after-continued-ban-on-its-services-121012700500_1.html", "https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/india-bans-tiktok-and-dozens-of-other-chinese-apps-over-security-concerns.html", "https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/26/india-retains-ban-on-tiktok-uc-browser-and-57-other-chinese-apps/", "https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/1/26/india-to-impose-permanent-ban-on-dozens-of-chinese-apps-reports", "https://www.gsmarena.com/india_confirms_permanent_ban_over_59_chinese_apps_including_tiktok_and_wechat-news-47400.php", "https://technode.com/2019/04/24/bytedance-in-india/", "https://technode.com/2018/11/01/indian-social-app-sharechat-takes-bytedance-to-court-over-shady-marketing-tactics-and-copyright-issues/", "https://entrackr.com/2019/05/delhi-hc-case-helo-sharechat/", "http://www.businessworld.in/article/Helo-Marks-First-Year-in-India-with-Over-50-Million-Monthly-Active-Users-and-Launch-of-Inaugural-Creator-Summit-/30-06-2019-172558/", "https://yourstory.com/2019/07/china-bytedance-helo-users-tik-tok", "https://www.gizbot.com/apps/features/is-helo-a-chinese-app-know-about-founder-country-and-company-details-068522.html", "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/helo-share-your-life/id1437494436", "https://startuptalky.com/helo-app/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Independently re-verified from scratch; draft record is accurate. (1) ByteDance ownership CONFIRMED — developed/published by Helo Holdings Limited, a ByteDance subsidiary; multiple sources (Gizbot, StartupTalky, BuzzInContent, TechNode). (2) Status CONFIRMED banned/dead — India was the sole market, ban effectively killed it; ByteDance wound down India operations 27 Jan 2021. (3) Launch June 2018 CONFIRMED (sources consistent on month/year; no reliable exact day — confidence high on month, no day available). (4) Ban dates CONFIRMED: initial 29 June 2020 under Section 69A post-Galwan; made permanent reported 25-26 Jan 2021 (TechCrunch/Al Jazeera dated 26 Jan); ByteDance India wind-down announced 27 Jan 2021 (used as dateKilled). (5) MAU: official company milestone was ~50M MAU at one-year mark (BW Businessworld/YourStory, June-July 2019); draft's \"40-50M\" is fine. (6) ShareChat suit: REFINED — filed Oct/Nov 2018, Helo redesigned Nov 2018, Delhi HC set aside the case in MAY 2019 (entrackr 2019/05), not merely 'later'. (7) App Store id 1437494436 / 'Helo - Share Your Life' CONFIRMED via multiple regional Apple listings (US/AE/QA); direct live App Store fetch again returned a generic cached China page so could not re-scrape, but id+title corroborated by search. (8) Changed primary link from the generic ByteDance Wikipedia page to the dedicated Helo (app) Wikipedia article. Per-app data-transfer evidence was never published by MeitY, so killedReason reflects the government's stated rationale, not independently proven wrongdoing." }, { "name": "LetsChat", "aliases": [ "Let'sChat", "LetsChat - Messenger", "LetsChat: With Close Friends" ], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "messaging", "region": "Africa (primarily Nigeria; also Mali, Angola, Côte d'Ivoire)", "dateLaunched": "2021-03", "dateKilled": "2024-03-23", "publisher": "Zebra Technology Limited (a ByteDance shell/team)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance", "Zebra Technology", "Zebra Technology Limited" ], "appStoreId": "iOS App Store id1624482791 (https://apps.apple.com/app/letschat-messenger/id1624482791); Google Play package com.zebra.letschat (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zebra.letschat) — Play listing removed Feb 2024", "description": "ByteDance's light WhatsApp rival for young Africans. After three years and ~7M downloads it never escaped WhatsApp; ByteDance closed it in 2024.", "killedReason": "Failed to gain traction against WhatsApp (and entrenched rivals like Telegram and Meta products) that dominate African messaging — monthly active users peaked in Dec 2021 (~440k) and kept declining despite heavy marketing. ByteDance said the decision came \"after careful consideration and evaluation of our strategic business objectives,\" redirecting resources to more promising ventures. App listings were pulled (~Feb 24–26, 2024) and operations shut down March 23, 2024.", "link": "https://restofworld.org/2024/letschat-shutdown-bytedance/", "sources": [ "https://restofworld.org/2024/letschat-shutdown-bytedance/", "https://techpoint.africa/news/tiktoks-bytedance-shuts-down-letschat-africa/", "https://pro.pandaily.com/p/bytedance-launches-social-platform", "https://chinaglobalsouth.com/analysis/bytedance-shuts-down-free-african-messaging-app-that-failed-to-challenge-whatsapp/", "https://techmoran.com/2024/04/02/bytedance-pulls-the-plug-on-african-messaging-app-letschat/", "https://stratnewsglobal.com/world-news/letschat-shuts-down-wechat-in-africa/", "https://apps.apple.com/app/letschat-messenger/id1624482791", "https://www.appbrain.com/app/letschat/com.zebra.letschat" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Launch recorded as 2021-03 — all sources say \"March 2021\"; no exact day found. App-store removal date has a minor discrepancy: Rest of World and Techpoint say Feb 26, 2024; AppBrain/secondary source says Google Play was unpublished Feb 24, 2024 — recorded as ~Feb 24–26, 2024. Operations ceased March 23, 2024 (a Saturday — consistent). Publisher confirmed: \"Zebra Technology\" on Google Play (package com.zebra.letschat) and \"Zebra Technology Limited\" on Apple App Store (id1624482791); support email help@corp.letschat.com matches across listings. Do NOT confuse with unrelated apps \"Lets Chat\" (com.mgdapps.myletschat) or \"LetsChat Messenger\" (com.letschat.messenger), nor with networking-hardware firm \"Zebra Technologies Corporation\" (a different company)." }, { "name": "TikTok Notes", "aliases": [], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "photo/text social networking (Instagram/Pinterest competitor)", "region": "Canada, Australia, Vietnam (test markets only; never released in the US or globally)", "publisher": "TikTok Pte. Ltd.", "developerEntities": [ "TikTok Pte. Ltd. (Google Play / App Store developer entity, Singapore)", "ByteDance Ltd. (parent company)", "TikTok (operating brand)" ], "appStoreId": "", "dateLaunched": "2024-04-17", "dateKilled": "2025-05-08", "description": "TikTok's photo-and-text app, a grid-feed Instagram rival. Tested only in Canada, Australia and Vietnam, it closed in 2025; ByteDance pushed users to Lemon8.", "killedReason": "Discontinued due to low engagement/adoption. ByteDance chose to consolidate its photo/lifestyle ambitions onto Lemon8 (its Instagram/Pinterest-style app, ~12.5M global MAU as of Dec 2024) rather than maintain a separate Notes app. TikTok announced the shutdown on April 1, 2025, told users to download/save their content before May 8, 2025, and directed them to continue on Lemon8. The decision coincided with US TikTok-ban uncertainty pushing ByteDance to focus on Lemon8.", "link": "https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/01/tiktok-is-shutting-down-its-instagram-competitor-tiktok-notes/", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/01/tiktok-is-shutting-down-its-instagram-competitor-tiktok-notes/", "https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/17/tiktok-starts-testing-its-instagram-competitor-tiktok-notes-in-canada-and-australia", "https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-launches-notes-photo-app-australia-canada/713541/", "https://www.fastcompany.com/91311066/tiktok-notes-is-shutting-down-as-lemon8-steps-in", "https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/2025/04/04/tiktok-to-sunset-notes-app-will-be-discontinued-on-may-8/", "https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/tiktok-pte-ltd/tiktok-notes/", "https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2024/04/18/tiktok-notes-app-being-released/", "https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/395353/tiktok-begins-launch-of-instagram-competitor-note.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Confidence high. Launch date is 2024-04-17 (TechCrunch broke availability and TikTok's own X announcement were both April 17; April 18 dates are follow-up coverage from Deseret/MediaPost, not the availability date). Shutdown date May 8, 2025 confirmed across TechCrunch, Fast Company, and iPhoneInCanada; shutdown announced April 1, 2025. Regions: initially Canada + Australia, later Vietnam; never US/global. ByteDance ownership confirmed (TikTok is a ByteDance product; users redirected to ByteDance-owned Lemon8). Publisher entity \"TikTok Pte. Ltd.\" (Singapore, 1 Raffles Quay) confirmed via Google Play / APKMirror developer path. App Store numeric id could NOT be verified — iOS/Play listings were pulled after shutdown and no archived numeric App Store ID surfaced; left empty rather than guessing." }, { "name": "8th Note Press", "aliases": [], "status": "dead", "type": "service", "category": "books/publishing", "description": "ByteDance's US book imprint, built to sell #BookTok romance and YA. After ~2 years and 30-odd titles it barely used its TikTok reach and closed in 2025.", "dateLaunched": "2023", "dateKilled": "2025-06", "killedReason": "Underperformance and a strategic retreat from book publishing. Over roughly two years the imprint signed only \"more than 30\" titles and drew complaints of poor communication, weak author support and pushed-back publication dates (hurting indie authors who had pulled books from Kindle Unlimited). It never sold titles through TikTok Shop and barely promoted books organically on the platform (reportedly one organic video, leaning on paid ads), exposing ByteDance's inexperience in traditional publishing. Editorial Director Allison Moore left in April 2025; agents and authors were told around May 2025 that rights would be returned, and the closure was reported in June 2025. ByteDance declined to comment, and the imprint's website and social accounts were deleted afterward.", "publisher": "Lemon Inc. (ByteDance subsidiary; USPTO trademark applicant of record)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance", "Lemon Inc. (ByteDance subsidiary, USPTO trademark applicant)", "8th Note Press", "8th Note Press x Zando (print partnership)" ], "appStoreId": "", "region": "US / English-language markets (BookTok), primarily United States", "link": "https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/23/tiktok-parent-bytedance-is-shutting-down-its-short-lived-book-publisher", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/23/tiktok-parent-bytedance-is-shutting-down-its-short-lived-book-publisher", "https://www.thebookseller.com/news/tiktok-publisher-8th-note-press-looks-set-to-close-as-authors-negotiate-rights-return", "https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief/index.html?record=5415", "https://www.tubefilter.com/2025/06/20/book-tok-tiktok-8th-note-press-publishing-end/", "https://www.vice.com/en/article/tiktok-owners-book-publisher-shutting-down/", "https://bookriot.com/tiktok-bytedance-8th-note-press-closing/", "https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/09/tiktoks-parent-bytedance-eyes-a-new-chapter-in-book-publishing/", "https://www.slashgear.com/1330019/tiktok-owner-bytedance-book-publisher-8th-note-press/", "https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/97468-zando-is-ready-for-its-next-chapter.html", "https://goodereader.com/blog/digital-publishing/tiktok-is-closing-their-publishing-program", "https://practicesource.com/tik-tok-parent-bytedance-submits-trademark-application-for-a-range-of-book-publishing-products-and-services/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Confidence high on identity/ownership and the fact of the June 2025 shutdown. ByteDance ownership is well-sourced (TechCrunch, Publishers Weekly, Tubefilter, Vice, Book Riot); the USPTO trademark applicant of record was Lemon Inc., a ByteDance subsidiary (the Lemon8 entity), not TikTok or ByteDance Ltd. directly. DATES: dateLaunched=2023 (trademark filed ~April 24, 2023; publicly reported May/July 2023; e-book imprint operational and acquiring titles 2023-2024). dateKilled=2025-06 (closure first reported by The Bookseller ~June 19, 2025, corroborated June 20-23 by Tubefilter, Publishers Weekly, TechCrunch, Vice; no official ByteDance shutdown date published, rights-return negotiations ongoing, so the precise legal wind-down date is unknown). The \"four months after launching its print side\" framing in some outlets refers to the PRINT operation (Feb 2025 first print book), not the overall imprint's lifespan. appStoreId empty: app/community-reading features were in the trademark scope and reportedly built, but no live App Store/Google Play listing or numeric id could be sourced (footprint erased post-shutdown). Title count \"more than 30\" is the figure used across sources." }, { "name": "Pixsoul", "aliases": [ "Pixsoul - Face Art Creator App", "Pixsoul Face Art Creator" ], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "Photo & Video / AI avatar (3D face/avatar \"face-pinching\" creator)", "dateLaunched": "2021-09", "dateKilled": "2022-01", "region": "Southeast Asia (confirmed Indonesia; broader SE Asia per press)", "publisher": "Bytedance Pte. Ltd.", "developerEntities": [ "Bytedance Pte. Ltd. (App Store seller, developer id1497663561)", "Bytedance Pte. Ltd. (Google Play developer; Android package com.ss.android.ai.camera)", "Facemoji / 脸萌 (ByteDance's internal camera/imaging team, ex-Faceu 激萌; acquired by ByteDance 2018) — credited by PingWest 品玩 as the developing team" ], "appStoreId": "1590845974", "description": "ByteDance's camera app turning selfies into 3D avatars. Launched in Southeast Asia in 2021, it drew little interest; ByteDance dropped it by early 2022.", "killedReason": "Lukewarm uptake; effectively abandoned with no formal shutdown announcement — ByteDance simply stopped updating it. PingWest reported (Oct 2022) that Pixsoul's performance was lukewarm and it had not been updated since Jan 6, 2022 (last version 1.3.0; APKMirror build dated Jan 8, 2022). Consistent with ByteDance quietly winding down underperforming overseas avatar/metaverse experiments (cf. Party Island). Both store listings have since been delisted.", "link": "https://technode.com/2021/09/13/bytedance-launches-avatar-app-pixsoul-in-southeast-asia/", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2021/09/13/bytedance-launches-avatar-app-pixsoul-in-southeast-asia/", "https://en.pingwest.com/w/10889", "https://www.pingwest.com/w/249512", "https://www.ithome.com/0/575/067.htm", "https://tech.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202109/18/WS6145a8bda3107be4979ee9d5.html", "https://www.geekpark.net/news/285842", "https://apps.apple.com/id/app/pixsoul/id1590845974", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ss.android.ai.camera", "https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/bytedance-pte-ltd/pixsoul-face-art-creator/", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceu" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Identity, ByteDance ownership, and \"dead/abandoned\" status are HIGH confidence. Launch date is 2021-09 (precision: TechNode's article is dated 2021-09-13, but the Chinese PingWest 品玩 piece cites App Annie showing the app went live on Google Play in \"early September\" 2021, so the exact day is not pinned). Death date is an estimate (2022-01) reflecting \"last updated Jan 6, 2022; effectively abandoned thereafter\" — no formal shutdown, so the true delisting date is unknown (later than Jan 2022). Per-platform delisting CONFIRMED: the iOS App Store URL id1590845974 redirects to Apple's curated homepage (no product page = delisted), and the Google Play URL for com.ss.android.ai.camera returns HTTP 404 (removed). Regions: Indonesia confirmed; \"Southeast Asia\" otherwise from press generalization — exact country roster not enumerated. No standalone Chinese brand name: Pixsoul was an overseas English-branded product; Chinese press refers to it as \"Pixsoul\" / a 捏脸 (face-pinching) app." }, { "name": "TikTok Lite Rewards", "aliases": [ "TikTok Lite Task and Reward programme", "Tasks and Rewards (TikTok Lite)" ], "status": "dead", "type": "service", "category": "short video", "description": "A watch-to-earn feature in TikTok Lite paying users points to watch and invite friends. EU regulators flagged addiction risks; ByteDance pulled it in 2024.", "dateLaunched": "2024-04", "dateKilled": "2024-08-05", "killedReason": "Killed by EU regulation. The European Commission scrutinized the programme under the Digital Services Act (DSA), concerned it was launched without the legally required prior risk assessment and that its watch-to-earn mechanics could stimulate addictive behaviour and harm users' (especially minors') mental and physical health. After a 17 April 2024 request for information and the opening of formal proceedings on 22 April 2024 (Case DSA.100121), TikTok voluntarily suspended the Rewards programme on 24 April 2024. On 5 August 2024 the Commission made TikTok's commitment to permanently withdraw the TikTok Lite Rewards programme from the entire EU legally binding — the first case the Commission closed under the DSA and the first time it accepted binding commitments from a designated very large online platform.", "region": "EU (launched in France and Spain; permanently withdrawn across the entire European Union)", "publisher": "TikTok Pte. Ltd. (Singapore; the host TikTok Lite app's developer/publisher) — ByteDance subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "TikTok Pte. Ltd.", "TikTok Ltd. (iOS App Store developer name)", "ByteDance Ltd. (ultimate parent)" ], "appStoreId": "6447160980 (this is the TikTok Lite host app: https://apps.apple.com/app/tiktok-lite/id6447160980 — the Rewards programme was an in-app feature, not separately listed)", "link": "https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/tiktok-commits-permanently-withdraw-tiktok-lite-rewards-programme-eu-comply-digital-services-act", "sources": [ "https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/tiktok-commits-permanently-withdraw-tiktok-lite-rewards-programme-eu-comply-digital-services-act", "https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_4161", "https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-opens-proceedings-against-tiktok-under-dsa-regarding-launch-tiktok-lite-france-and-spain", "https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-sends-request-information-tiktok-regarding-launch-tiktok-lite-france-and-spain", "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/5942/oj/eng", "https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/25/tiktok-lite-rewards-feature-suspended-eu", "https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/25/tech/tiktok-suspends-tiktok-lite-program-eu/index.html", "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-24/tiktok-halts-lite-rewards-program-fending-off-eu-suspension", "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/22/eu-threatens-to-suspend-tiktok-lite-apps-rewards-feature", "https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/22/european-union-threatens-to-suspend-tiktok-lites-rewards-program.html", "https://www.harneys.com/our-blogs/regulatory/tiktok-permanently-ends-tiktok-lite-rewards-programme-in-eu-for-dsa-compliance/", "https://apps.apple.com/app/tiktok-lite/id6447160980" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Confidence high on all key facts. EXACT DATES: Permanent withdrawal made legally binding 5 August 2024 (primary: EC press release IP/24/4161 and EC digital-strategy press release; Commission Decision C/2024/5942 of 5 Aug 2024). Voluntary suspension 24 April 2024 (confirmed by EC, TechCrunch, CNN, Bloomberg); formal proceedings opened 22 April 2024 (Case DSA.100121, per EC); EC request-for-information sent 17 April 2024. LAUNCH DATE: Sources agree on April 2024 for the Rewards programme in France and Spain (TechCrunch explicitly: ByteDance \"launched this version of TikTok Lite in France and Spain earlier this month\" — i.e. April); a few outlets loosely say the TikTok Lite app itself rolled out in \"March 2024,\" but the Rewards feature that was killed is consistently dated to April 2024 — hence dateLaunched given as 2024-04 (exact day not pinned by sources). SCOPING NOTE: This is a FEATURE/service that was killed, NOT a standalone app — the TikTok Lite app (App Store id 6447160980; Google Play com.tiktok.lite.go / com.zhiliaoapp.musically.go) remains alive outside the EU; only the watch-to-earn Rewards programme was permanently withdrawn from the EU. Type recorded as \"service.\" Whether to include in a \"graveyard\" is a judgement call since the parent app lives on, but the Rewards programme is genuinely, permanently dead in the EU and is a notable EU-regulatory kill." }, { "name": "TikTok", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "musical.ly", "A.me" ], "category": "Short-form video / social media (Photo & Video / Entertainment)", "region": "Global. Active in most markets. Permanently banned in India (since June 2020, made permanent Jan 2021). Banned in Afghanistan (Taliban, ~April 2022). Past bans now lifted in Nepal, Senegal, Somalia, Albania. US operations restructured into a US-majority-controlled joint venture (TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC), deal closed Jan 22, 2026.", "dateLaunched": "2017-09", "dateKilled": "", "publisher": "Apple App Store developer \"TikTok Ltd.\" (developer id1322881000) / Google Play developer \"TikTok Pte. Ltd.\" (Singapore). US operations now under TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance Ltd. (ultimate parent / developer)", "TikTok Pte. Ltd. (Singapore — Google Play developer entity)", "TikTok Ltd. (Apple App Store developer entity)", "TikTok Inc. (US operating entity; party in TikTok, Inc. v. Garland)", "musical.ly Inc. (predecessor, acquired Nov 9, 2017, merged Aug 2, 2018)", "TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC (US joint venture, deal closed Jan 22, 2026)" ], "appStoreId": "835599320 (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id835599320). Google Play package: com.zhiliaoapp.musically (legacy package name retained from musical.ly)", "description": "ByteDance's flagship global short-video app, launched in 2017 as China's Douyin abroad. Still alive; never shut down, though banned in India since 2020.", "killedReason": "NOT dead/discontinued — TikTok remains alive and operating globally; it was never shut down by ByteDance. \"Banned\" applies only to specific jurisdictions, never globally. Key restrictions: (1) INDIA — banned June 29, 2020 alongside 58 other Chinese apps after the Galwan Valley border clash; made permanent in January 2021 after the government rejected the companies' privacy/security responses (still banned). (2) US — the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) required ByteDance divestiture or ban; the Supreme Court upheld PAFACA on January 17, 2025 (TikTok, Inc. v. Garland); the app went dark for US users ~Jan 18–19, 2025 (~12 hrs) and was pulled from app stores, then restored after Trump pledged an executive order delaying enforcement. A \"qualified divestiture\" was reached: binding agreements signed Dec 18, 2025; TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC (Oracle, Silver Lake, MGX each ~15%) closed January 22, 2026, giving US/international investors ~80.1% and ByteDance below 20%. (3) Other bans: Afghanistan (Taliban, ~April 2022, active); Senegal (Aug 2023, political unrest); Somalia (Aug 2023, indecent content/misinformation); Nepal (banned Nov 13, 2023, lifted Aug 22, 2024); Albania (one-year ban after a Nov 2024 school stabbing, took effect ~March 2025, expired/lifted Feb 5, 2026; ruled unconstitutional by Albania's Constitutional Court March 11, 2026).", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok", "confidence": "high", "notes": "GRAVEYARD-FIT WARNING: TikTok is ByteDance's flagship and is ALIVE — not dead/discontinued/merged/globally-banned. For a \"Killed by ByteDance\" site this record would normally be DROPPED (status=alive). It belongs only if the site intends to document region-specific bans (India permanent, Afghanistan) or the musical.ly merger as a sub-graveyard entry. Other caveats: (1) The alias \"抖音国际版 / Douyin International\" is informal/marketing only — TikTok and Douyin are technically SEPARATE apps. (2) US JV: binding agreements signed Dec 18, 2025; deal CLOSED Jan 22, 2026 (NOT 2025). (3) Albania ban was lifted/expired Feb 5, 2026; Constitutional Court ruled it unconstitutional Mar 11, 2026. (4) International launch confirmed as September 2017 (exact day not pinned by primary sources); Douyin launched September 2016 in China. (5) musical.ly acquired Nov 9, 2017, merged into TikTok Aug 2, 2018 — confirmed. (6) Could not re-confirm Apple developer entity via App Store fetch (returned a China-region page); developer \"TikTok Ltd.\" (id1322881000) and Google Play \"TikTok Pte. Ltd.\" retained as plausible but flagged for double-check.", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok", "https://www.britannica.com/money/ByteDance", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical.ly", "https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/musically-owner-bytedance-merges-app-tiktok-1131630/", "https://www.billboard.com/pro/musically-merges-tiktok-bytedance/", "https://www.failory.com/cemetery/musical-ly", "https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/india-bans-tiktok-and-dozens-of-other-chinese-apps-over-security-concerns.html", "https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/1/26/india-to-impose-permanent-ban-on-dozens-of-chinese-apps-reports", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok,_Inc._v._Garland", "https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/01/supreme-court-upholds-tiktok-ban/", "https://time.com/7208162/tiktok-goes-dark-us-ban-takes-effect/", "https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/19/tech/tiktok-ban", "https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/tiktok-us-joint-venture-deal-close-date-oracle-silver-lake-1236612315/", "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-18/tiktok-says-it-signed-agreements-to-create-new-us-joint-venture", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok_ban_in_Nepal", "https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/8/23/nepal-lifts-tiktok-ban-after-blocking-app-over-social-harmony-concerns", "https://balkaninsight.com/2026/03/11/albanias-tiktok-ban-violated-free-expression-court-rules/bi/", "https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/en/cp_article/tiktok-in-albania-ban-ends/", "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id835599320", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zhiliaoapp.musically&hl=en_US" ] }, { "name": "CapCut", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "Viamaker", "CapCut: Photo & Video Editor" ], "category": "Video editing", "publisher": "Bytedance Pte. Ltd.", "developerEntities": [ "Bytedance Pte. Ltd. (App Store developer id 1497663561)", "Capcut Pte. Ltd. (App Store developer id 1564639092)", "ByteDance Ltd. (parent)", "Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology (original Viamaker developer, acquired by ByteDance in 2018)" ], "appStoreId": "1500855883 (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/capcut-photo-video-editor/id1500855883)", "dateLaunched": "2020-04-24", "dateKilled": "", "region": "Global (banned in India since late July 2020; briefly removed from US App Store/Play Jan 18–19, 2025, restored Feb 13, 2025; US operations placed under American-controlled JV via Jan 2026 divestiture deal)", "killedReason": "NOT discontinued by ByteDance — region restrictions only. INDIA (permanent): banned in late July 2020 (reported Aug 5, 2020) as one of ~47 \"clone\"/companion apps following India's June 29, 2020 ban of 59 Chinese apps under Section 69A of the IT Act, citing national security and data-privacy concerns amid the Galwan Valley India–China border tensions. CapCut has never been reinstated in India and remained unavailable there as of 2026. US (temporary): removed from the US Apple App Store and Google Play on the night of Jan 18, 2025 (10 PM EST; officially Jan 19) under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), alongside TikTok and other ByteDance apps (Lemon8, Hypic, Lark, Gauth, Marvel Snap). Service resumed for existing US users ~Jan 21, 2025 after President Trump's executive order delayed enforcement; both app stores restored CapCut for new downloads on Feb 13, 2025. Subsequently, the US TikTok/CapCut divestiture deal was signed off by the US and China on/around Jan 22, 2026, moving US operations into an American-controlled joint venture (Oracle, Silver Lake, MGX-led) with ByteDance retaining just under a 20% stake (the legal maximum). CapCut and Lemon8 are covered by that deal.", "description": "ByteDance's free short-video editor, born from China's Jianying. Still alive and among the world's most-used editors; only India has banned it outright.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CapCut", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CapCut", "https://inc42.com/buzz/xiaomi-browser-bytedances-capcut-among-47-chinese-apps-banned-by-india-last-week/", "https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/08/bytedance-reportedly-plans-to-release-us-specific-version-of-capcut/", "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/capcut-photo-video-editor/id1500855883", "https://apps.apple.com/gb/developer/bytedance-pte-ltd/id1497663561", "https://apps.apple.com/rw/developer/capcut-pte-ltd/id1564639092", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lemon.lvoverseas&hl=en", "https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/22/tech/tiktok-us-deal-closes", "https://www.aol.com/finance/us-china-sign-off-tiktok-210121185.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CRITICAL FRAMING: CapCut is NOT dead/discontinued — it is actively developed and one of the world's most-used video editors (1B+ Google Play downloads by Jan 2025; ~800M MAU late 2024). Status is \"alive,\" not \"banned\": CapCut is fully operational globally and in the US. If the graveyard site has a dedicated \"region-banned/restricted\" lane, CapCut belongs there (permanently banned in India only) and should NOT appear in a \"fully killed\" list. DATE NUANCES: (1) Launch 2020-04-24 = Viamaker international debut; CapCut brand dates to Dec 2020; China sibling Jianying launched May 2019 — pick the milestone the site standardizes on. (2) US removal: night of Jan 18, 2025 (10 PM EST), officially framed Jan 19. (3) India ban: corrected Wikipedia's loose \"May 2020\" — CapCut was actually in the follow-up batch of ~47 clone apps banned in LATE JULY 2020 (Inc42 published Aug 5, 2020, \"banned last week\"); the standalone TikTok+59 apps ban was June 29, 2020. PUBLISHER: confirmed two App Store entities — \"Bytedance Pte. Ltd.\" (id 1497663561) and \"Capcut Pte. Ltd.\" (id 1564639092); main app id 1500855883 (Google Play package com.lemon.lvoverseas). The Jan 22, 2026 US TikTok/CapCut divestiture deal puts US operations under an Oracle/Silver Lake/MGX-led American JV with ByteDance retaining <20%; CapCut is explicitly covered. Globally and historically it remains a ByteDance product, so isByteDance=true. dateKilled correctly left empty — product is alive." }, { "name": "Lemon8", "aliases": [ "Lemon8 - Lifestyle Community", "Sharee" ], "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "app", "region": "Global, US-market death only. Strong in Japan and Southeast Asia; US/UK launched Feb 2023. Pulled from US App Store/Play Jan 19 2025, restored Feb 13 2025, status again contested in early 2026. Remains live outside the US.", "dateLaunched": "2020", "dateKilled": "", "publisher": "Heliophilia Pte. Ltd. (Singapore)", "developerEntities": [ "Heliophilia Pte. Ltd. (Singapore-registered ByteDance-connected entity; current App Store/Play publisher; App Store developer id1645997904)", "TikTok Pte. Ltd. (listed as developer on some Android release builds; ByteDance entity)", "ByteDance Ltd. (ultimate parent)", "TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC (per Jan 23 2026 announcement, JV safeguards 'will also cover CapCut, and Lemon8' in the US; ByteDance retains 19.9% of the JV)" ], "appStoreId": "1498607143 (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lemon8-lifestyle-community/id1498607143)", "description": "ByteDance's Xiaohongshu-style lifestyle app for beauty, food and travel. US stores pulled it in 2025 under PAFACA, then restored it; still live abroad.", "killedReason": "Removed from the US App Store and Google Play on January 19, 2025 under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), which barred distribution of ByteDance-owned apps in the US after ByteDance failed to divest. Apple's support notice listed Lemon8 among 11 ByteDance apps removed (alongside TikTok, TikTok Studio, TikTok Shop Seller Center, CapCut, Hypic, Gauth, Marvel Snap, and three Lark apps). Restored Feb 13, 2025 after President Trump's executive order delaying enforcement and AG Pam Bondi's written non-enforcement assurance to Apple and Google. The Jan 23, 2026 TikTok USDS Joint Venture announcement said its safeguards \"will also cover CapCut, and Lemon8\" in the US (ByteDance retains 19.9% of the JV). Status became contested again in early March 2026: TechTimes, iDropNews and 9to5Mac (sourcing Wired) reported Apple geoblocking Lemon8 alongside CapCut/Lark/Hypic as still-ByteDance-owned, while heise.de reported the opposite, that TikTok, CapCut and Lemon8 remain available and only Chinese-market apps (Douyin, Doubao, Fanqie Novel) are blocked. The app was never globally shut down and remains live and downloadable outside the US.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon8", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon8", "https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/18/apple-lists-all-apps-it-removed-alongside-tiktok-in-the-u-s/", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3261574/bytedance-lifestyle-app-lemon8-sees-popularity-surge-us-tiktok-faces-sell-or-ban-ultimatum", "https://pandaily.com/bytedances-lemon8-exceeds-one-million-downloads-in-japan/", "https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/12/tiktok-launches-integration-with-lemon8-as-us-ban-looms", "https://newsroom.tiktok.com/announcement-from-the-new-tiktok-usds-joint-venture-llc", "https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/05/apple-reportedly-geoblocking-downloads-and-updates-of-bytedance-owned-apps-in-the-us/", "https://www.idropnews.com/news/apple-bytedance-app-store-blockade-2026/260730", "https://www.techtimes.com/articles/315009/20260306/apple-geoblocks-downloads-updates-bytedance-apps-us-says-report-tiktok-safe.htm", "https://www.heise.de/en/news/ByteDance-apps-from-China-blocked-in-US-Apple-Store-11207182.html", "https://metricool.com/lemon-8/", "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lemon8-lifestyle-community/id1498607143", "https://apps.apple.com/id/developer/heliophilia-pte-ltd/id1645997904" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "ByteDance ownership is HIGH confidence and unambiguous (Heliophilia Pte. Ltd. is a ByteDance entity; App Store listing branded \"powered by TikTok\"; on Apple's official PAFACA ByteDance-app removal list). Core US ban timeline (removed Jan 19 2025, restored Feb 13 2025) is HIGH confidence. Two date clarifications: launched in Japan in 2020 as \"Sharee\" (May per Wikipedia/SCMP, March per some CN sources), renamed Lemon8 in September 2021 — dateLaunched set to 2020 for the Sharee origin. Overall confidence is MEDIUM because the current (June 2026) live US status is genuinely contradictory across sources: heise.de says Lemon8/TikTok/CapCut are available and only Chinese-market apps are blocked, while TechTimes/iDropNews/9to5Mac (citing Wired) list Lemon8 among geoblocked apps, and metricool (Jan 30 2026) says it is stable under the JV. status=banned and dateKilled=2025-01-19 retained because the PAFACA US removal is the defining graveyard event, scoped to the US market; the app is unambiguously alive globally. 12.5M Dec-2024 MAU is a single Sensor Tower estimate. Recommend a fresh status check before publishing — fast-moving regulatory situation." }, { "name": "Hypic", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "photo / AI (AI-powered photo editor & AI art generator)", "aliases": [ "Hypic - Photo Editor & AI Art" ], "region": "Global; removed from US App Store and Google Play and US-geoblocked since 2025-01-19. Remains live and actively updated (v8.x as of 2026) in all other markets. Top markets: Indonesia and Vietnam (Google Play); Vietnam #1 and US #2 on App Store before removal.", "publisher": "Bytedance Pte. Ltd. (ByteDance's Singapore entity)", "developerEntities": [ "Bytedance Pte. Ltd. (Apple App Store developer id 1497663561; Google Play developer; Android package com.xt.retouchoversea)", "China sibling 醒图 (Xingtu) incubated by ByteDance subsidiary Shenzhen Lianmeng/Liangmeng Technology Co., Ltd. — same image-editing division behind Jianying/CapCut" ], "appStoreId": "1644042837 — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hypic-photo-editor-ai-art/id1644042837", "dateLaunched": "2022-11", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "Pulled from US app stores and US-geoblocked on the 2025-01-19 divestiture deadline under the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA). When the law took effect, Apple and Google removed all ByteDance-owned apps from US stores. Hypic was explicitly named (6th) on Apple's removal list alongside TikTok, TikTok Studio, TikTok Shop Seller Center, CapCut, Lemon8, Lark (Team Collaboration / Rooms Display / Rooms Controller), Gauth, and Marvel Snap. Earlier, the US House of Representatives ordered ByteDance apps including CapCut, Hypic, Lark and Lemon8 removed/blocked from official House devices effective 2024-08-15. Unlike TikTok and CapCut (later restored after enforcement-delay assurances in Feb 2025), Hypic was NOT restored; as of March 2026 it remained explicitly geoblocked in the US (\"This app is unavailable in the country or region you're in\"). This is a US region-ban/geoblock, NOT a global shutdown — the product itself still operates and is updated outside the US.", "description": "ByteDance's free AI photo editor, the overseas twin of China's Xingtu. US stores pulled it under PAFACA in 2025 and never restored it; it lives on elsewhere.", "link": "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hypic-photo-editor-ai-art/id1644042837", "sources": [ "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hypic-photo-editor-ai-art/id1644042837", "https://appadvice.com/app/hypic-photo-editor-ai-art/1644042837", "https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/bytedance-pte-ltd/hypic-photo-editor-ai-art/", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xt.retouchoversea", "https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/18/apple-lists-all-apps-it-removed-alongside-tiktok-in-the-u-s", "https://www.techedt.com/apple-reveals-apps-removed-from-u-s-app-store-alongside-tiktok", "https://www.aol.com/apple-releases-list-bytedance-apps-162647960.html", "https://www.yahoo.com/news/apple-releases-list-bytedance-apps-162647843.html", "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/01/21/apple-support-bytedance", "https://rollcall.com/2024/07/30/house-to-start-removing-bytedance-apps-from-official-devices/", "https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/05/apple-reportedly-geoblocking-downloads-and-updates-of-bytedance-owned-apps-in-the-us/", "https://www.techtimes.com/articles/315009/20260306/apple-geoblocks-downloads-updates-bytedance-apps-us-says-report-tiktok-safe.htm", "https://www.mactrast.com/2026/03/apple-us-reportedly-blocking-downloads-of-bytedance-owned-apps/", "https://appfigures.com/resources/insights/20251219?f=3", "https://www.yfchuhai.com/article/11791.html", "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/656896860", "https://slate.com/technology/2023/03/tiktok-bytedance-capcut-hypic-ban-marvel-snap.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED INDEPENDENTLY FROM SCRATCH. (1) ByteDance ownership: HIGH confidence — publisher Bytedance Pte. Ltd. confirmed via App Store, AppAdvice, APKMirror, Google Play (com.xt.retouchoversea). Hypic is the overseas version of China's 醒图 (Xingtu), incubated by ByteDance subsidiary Shenzhen Lianmeng/Liangmeng Technology. (2) App Store ID 1644042837 confirmed. (3) Removal 2025-01-19 under PAFACA, Hypic explicitly 6th on Apple's list — confirmed by TechCrunch, Tech Edition, AOL/Yahoo. (4) Still US-geoblocked, NOT restored, as of March 2026 — Hypic explicitly named by 9to5Mac, TechTimes, MacTrast. (5) House device-removal 2024-08-15 named CapCut/Hypic/Lark/Lemon8 — Roll Call confirmed.\n\nDISCREPANCY RESOLVED: The Appfigures ASO article (2025-12-19) claims Hypic is \"currently available in the US\" / \"#12 in US App Store.\" This conflicts with the March 2026 geoblock reporting. Treated as pre-removal/cumulative download-ranking data, NOT live re-availability — the dedicated March 2026 press authoritatively confirms Hypic remains geoblocked. Status 'banned' stands.\n\nMINOR NOTES: (a) Pinyin of 醒图 is 'Xǐngtú' (xǐng = to wake/sober), not 'Xīngtú'. (b) Daring Fireball's quoted Apple support excerpt only explicitly named TikTok/CapCut/Lemon8 + 'and others'; Hypic's explicit naming comes from the fuller TechCrunch/Tech Edition list. (c) Subsidiary name appears as both 'Lianmeng' and 'Liangmeng' across sources.\n\nUNCERTAINTY: Exact launch DAY is approximate. Sources uniformly say 'end of 2022'; Android first detection ~Nov 2022, Google Play listing ~early Jan 2023. Best estimate 2022-11; could be as late as early Jan 2023. Medium confidence on precise month. dateKilled 2025-01-19 is the US removal date, high confidence." }, { "name": "Gauth", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "education", "aliases": [ "Gauthmath", "Gauth: AI Study Companion", "Gauth AI" ], "description": "ByteDance's AI homework-help app, launched in 2020 as a photo math solver and renamed Gauth in 2024. US stores pulled it under PAFACA in 2025, then restored it.", "dateLaunched": "2020-12-21", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "Not permanently killed; classified as alive (survivor / banned-and-restored, with renewed restrictions in 2026). Gauth was on Apple's official list of 11 ByteDance Ltd. apps removed from the US App Store on January 19, 2025 under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) — the same law behind the TikTok ban (the other apps: TikTok, TikTok Studio, TikTok Shop Seller Center, CapCut, Lemon8, Hypic, three Lark apps, and Marvel Snap). The apps were restored to US app stores around February 13, 2025 after the Trump administration/DOJ gave non-enforcement assurances. The TikTok US divestiture finalized in Dec 2025–Jan 2026 (Oracle/Silver Lake/MGX-led consortium, ByteDance retaining ~19.9%) covered ONLY TikTok's US business; other ByteDance apps including Gauth, CapCut and Lemon8 remained fully ByteDance-owned. In early March 2026 Apple resumed geoblocking ByteDance-owned apps for US users (download/update blocked even via Chinese App Store accounts). Reporting on the March 2026 geoblocking (9to5Mac) specifically named CapCut, Lemon8, Lark and Hypic; Gauth was not individually named, and its US App Store listing continued to show updates into mid-2026 (e.g., a June 3, 2026 update per app-analytics trackers), so Gauth's precise US download status in 2026 is contested/fluid. Outside the US, Gauth has remained continuously available throughout.", "region": "Global. Primary markets: United States, Canada, Philippines. (Removed from US app stores Jan 19, 2025; restored ~Feb 13, 2025; renewed US geoblocking of ByteDance apps began ~March 2026 with Gauth's specific status unclear.)", "publisher": "GauthTech Pte. Ltd.", "developerEntities": [ "GauthTech Pte. Ltd. (GAUTHTECH PTE. LTD.) — Singapore-based ByteDance subsidiary; App Store and Google Play developer of record", "ByteDance Ltd. / ByteDance Pte. Ltd. — ultimate parent company" ], "appStoreId": "1542571008 (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gauth-ai-study-companion/id1542571008)", "link": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3259369/tiktok-owner-bytedances-ai-homework-helper-gauth-soars-us-education-apps-market-despite-political", "sources": [ "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gauth-ai-study-companion/id1542571008", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.education.android.h.intelligence", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3259369/tiktok-owner-bytedances-ai-homework-helper-gauth-soars-us-education-apps-market-despite-political", "https://www.axios.com/2024/04/07/tiktok-bytedance-gauth-education-ai-app", "https://www.cbsnews.com/video/chinese-tiktok-owner-bytedance-runs-popular-education-app-gauth/", "https://www.implicator.ai/bytedances-homework-app-gauthmath-quietly-conquers-american-classrooms/", "https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/18/apple-lists-all-apps-it-removed-alongside-tiktok-in-the-u-s", "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/01/21/apple-support-bytedance", "https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/13/tiktok-is-back-on-the-app-store-and-the-play-store-in-the-u-s", "https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/05/apple-reportedly-geoblocking-downloads-and-updates-of-bytedance-owned-apps-in-the-us/", "https://macdailynews.com/2026/03/06/apple-blocks-u-s-users-from-downloading-bytedances-chinese-apps/", "https://appadvice.com/app/gauthmath-new-smart-calculator/1542571008", "https://www.einpresswire.com/article/546870376/the-math-solving-app-gauthmath-accumulates-over-one-million-users-in-just-6-months", "https://foxdata.com/en/app-marketing-analytics/1542571008/as/US/gauth-ai-study-companion/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "User count ~200 million (2024) is the figure most sources cite; any 300M+ claim is unverified and likely inflated. Rebrand from Gauthmath to Gauth + Gauth GPT is dated \"early 2024\" by multiple sources but no exact day was found. The informal Chinese rendering 高斯 is not an official name — Gauth/Gauthmath is marketed under its English brand even in CN contexts; included as a loose alias only. Description trimmed to graveyard style (<=240 chars); full removal/restoration/2026-geoblocking detail retained in killedReason." }, { "name": "Lark", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "Lark Suite", "Lark — Team Collaboration", "Lark — Rooms Display" ], "category": "messaging/productivity (enterprise collaboration suite)", "region": "Global (Singapore-based; still operating worldwide as of June 2026). US-specific: removed from US App Store Jan 19, 2025 under PAFACA and still geoblocked/unavailable in the US as of March 2026.", "publisher": "Lark Technologies Pte. Ltd.", "developerEntities": [ "Lark Technologies Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, ByteDance subsidiary)", "ByteDance Ltd. (ultimate parent)" ], "appStoreId": "1452166623 (Lark — Team Collaboration; https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lark-team-collaboration/id1452166623). Developer page id 1456091217. Google Play package: com.larksuite.suite", "dateLaunched": "2019-04", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "Not discontinued as a product; US-only removal under PAFACA effective Jan 19, 2025, still geoblocked as of Mar 2026; not restored when TikTok/CapCut/Lemon8 returned Feb 2025.", "description": "ByteDance's work suite for chat, video, docs and calendar, China's Feishu abroad. US stores pulled it in 2025 under PAFACA, but it stays alive worldwide.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lark_(software)", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lark_(software)", "https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/18/apple-lists-all-apps-it-removed-alongside-tiktok-in-the-u-s/", "https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/05/apple-reportedly-geoblocking-downloads-and-updates-of-bytedance-owned-apps-in-the-us/", "https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/13/tiktok-is-back-on-the-app-store-and-the-play-store-in-the-u-s/", "https://technode.com/2019/04/03/bytedance-officially-launches-productivity-tool-lark/", "https://technode.com/2021/12/23/lark-bytedances-slack-like-app-eyes-1-billion-global-revenue-in-five-years/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedances-lark-announces-organizational-adjustments-and-layoff-to-enhance-efficiency", "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/bytedances-office-tool-lark-is-reportedly-downsizing", "https://www.hawkinsight.com/en/article/layoffs-optimize-lark-ai-competitiveness", "https://www.techloy.com/these-bytedance-apps-shut-down-in-the-u-s/", "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lark-team-collaboration/id1452166623", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larksuite.suite" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CLASSIFICATION CAVEAT (confirmed): Lark is NOT a dead/shut-down product — it is alive and operating globally as of June 2026. The \"banned\" status reflects ONLY the US market. For a graveyard site, Lark belongs in the region-banned/withdrawn bucket, not \"shut down.\" An alternate framing of status=\"alive\" with a US-banned flag is equally defensible.\n\nDate confidence:\n- Launch April 2019 (international public release): HIGH — corroborated by TechNode (Apr 3, 2019), Wikipedia, EqualOcean. Note nuance: internal tool earlier (replaced DingTalk internally Nov 2018), invite-only \"early bird\" phase from ~Mar 21, 2019, public release April 2019. dateLaunched \"2019-04\" is correct.\n- US House devices ban: announced July 30, 2024, effective Aug 15, 2024: HIGH.\n- US App Store removal Jan 19, 2025 under PAFACA, all three Lark sub-apps named by Apple: HIGH (TechCrunch list verified; 11 apps total).\n- Lark NOT restored Feb 13–14, 2025: HIGH — TechCrunch/CNN/Variety restoration coverage names only TikTok/CapCut/Lemon8; 9to5Mac (Mar 5, 2026) confirms Lark still geoblocked in the US. No source found stating Lark was restored.\n- Layoffs Mar 26, 2024 (up to ~20% of ~5,000 staff, CEO Xie Xin letter): HIGH (Pandaily, Yicai Global, Hawk Insight).\n\nUS-service-suspension notice: medium-confidence corroborated via search snippet. The landian.news URL returns HTTP 404 on direct fetch, but the search snippet reproduces a verbatim Lark enterprise notice: \"Due to recent regulatory changes, we regret to inform you that our services will be temporarily unavailable in the U.S. starting from January 19th, 2025, until further notice.\" A formal Lark US service suspension notice appears to exist (medium confidence given the source page is currently inaccessible and is a single Chinese-language outlet); it is distinct from, and consistent with, the well-sourced App Store removal.\n\nApp Store IDs: 1452166623 is the main Lark — Team Collaboration iOS app; developer entity page id 1456091217. Could not load live App Store/Play pages to confirm real-time US availability (geoblocked/regional redirect), but multiple press sources confirm current US unavailability.\n\nGauth trimmed from aliases: Gauth is a SEPARATE ByteDance app removed in the same action, not a Lark alias/sub-app." }, { "name": "Marvel Snap", "aliases": [ "Marvel Snap: Hero Card Game" ], "status": "rebranded", "type": "game", "category": "Mobile/PC game (digital collectible card game)", "description": "A hit free-to-play card game by US studio Second Dinner, published worldwide by ByteDance's Nuverse. It lives on, but dropped ByteDance for Skystone Games in 2025.", "dateLaunched": "2022-10-18", "dateKilled": "2025-01-28", "killedReason": "What died was ByteDance's publishing role, not the game. ByteDance announced its exit from mainstream gaming and the wind-down of Nuverse on Nov 27, 2023, but Marvel Snap kept running under the Nuverse label. Then on Jan 19, 2025, the game's US servers went dark and the app was pulled from the US App Store and Google Play under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) — the same TikTok-divestiture law — because publisher Nuverse was a ByteDance subsidiary. Servers were restored ~Jan 21 and the app returned to US stores ~Jan 27-29. On Jan 28, 2025, Second Dinner announced it had ended the ByteDance/Nuverse arrangement, brought most operations in-house, and signed US-based Skystone Games as its new publisher — ending ByteDance's involvement.", "region": "Global. The US App Store / Google Play removal and server outage applied only to the United States (~Jan 19-29, 2025) and was fully reversed.", "publisher": "Nuverse (ByteDance's gaming subsidiary) — App Store/Google Play publisher entity from the Oct 2022 launch until Jan 2025. Store/registered entity has appeared as \"Nuverse\" and \"Nverse Game\" (CBInsights lists \"nversegame\").", "developerEntities": [ "Second Dinner Studios (developer, USA)", "Nuverse / Nverse Game (publisher, ByteDance subsidiary, 2022-2025)", "Skystone Games (publisher, USA, 2025-present)" ], "appStoreId": "1592081003", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Snap", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Snap", "https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/tiktok-bytedance-games-nuverse-1235810642/", "https://www.pcgamer.com/marvel-snap-reassures-players-it-will-continue-to-operate-despite-closure-of-publisher-nuverse-as-tiktok-parent-bytedance-looks-to-exit-gaming/", "https://technode.com/2023/11/27/bytedance-to-exit-gaming-sector-by-closing-down-nuverse/", "https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/28/tech/bytedance-layoffs-video-gaming-intl-hnk", "https://nikopartners.com/bytedance-restructures-nuverse-in-retreat-from-game-development-and-publishing/", "https://www.shacknews.com/article/137889/marvel-snap-nuverse-winding-down-bytedance-tiktok", "https://massivelyop.com/2025/01/29/marvel-snap-has-a-new-us-publisher-marvel-heroes-boss-david-breviks-skystone-games/", "https://www.gameshub.com/news/news/marvel-snap-second-dinner-publisher-2652865/", "https://www.marvel.com/games/marvel-snap", "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/marvel-snap/id1592081003" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIDENCE: high. Key framing: the GAME IS ALIVE — still operating globally, now published by Skystone Games with Second Dinner handling most publishing in-house. What \"died\" for a ByteDance graveyard is ByteDance's involvement (the Nuverse publishing relationship). Status set to \"rebranded\" to reflect the publisher change off ByteDance; \"alive\" or \"acquired-shut\" are defensible alternatives. \"banned\" would mislead, since the US ban was brief (~Jan 19-29, 2025) and fully reversed. ByteDance was only the PUBLISHER via Nuverse — it never owned the Marvel IP (Marvel/Disney) or the developer (Second Dinner). DATE NOTES: dateLaunched 2022-10-18 firmly sourced (global mobile launch + simultaneous PC early access; PC full release Aug 22, 2023). dateKilled 2025-01-28 = the Skystone announcement / formal end of the ByteDance/Nuverse relationship (Wikipedia explicit; some press dated Jan 29). Alternative kill date 2023-11-27 (ByteDance announced winding down Nuverse), but the relationship continued until Jan 2025. App Store ID 1592081003 stable across the publisher transition.", "stoppedUpdating": false, "successor": "Marvel Snap (published by Skystone Games / Second Dinner)" }, { "name": "Mobile Legends: Bang Bang", "aliases": [ "MLBB", "Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA" ], "status": "divested", "type": "game", "category": "game", "region": "Global; strongest in East & Southeast Asia and Latin America. Briefly removed from US App Store / Google Play Jan 19-21, 2025 under PAFACA.", "publisher": "Moonton (Shanghai Moonton Technology Co., Ltd.) — global App Store/Google Play developer entity (id 1160056295). US publishing transferred to Skystone Games in 2025. Elex Technology was the US distributor in earlier years.", "developerEntities": [ "Moonton / Shanghai Moonton Technology Co., Ltd. (developer & global publisher)", "Nuverse / 朝夕光年 (ByteDance gaming arm that acquired Moonton in 2021)", "ByteDance (字节跳动) (parent 2021–2026)", "Skystone Games (US publishing rights since 2025, separate US App Store app)", "Elex Technology / Elex Tech (US distributor in some regions per Wikipedia)", "Savvy Games Group (buyer; deal agreed March 2026, pending regulatory approval)" ], "appStoreId": "1160056295 (global: https://apps.apple.com/app/mobile-legends-bang-bang/id1160056295). Separate US app under Skystone: \"Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.US\" id 6741568655 (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mobile-legends-bang-bang-us/id6741568655)", "dateLaunched": "2016-07-14", "dateKilled": "2026-03-20", "description": "A free-to-play 5v5 mobile MOBA, huge in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Not shut down: ByteDance agreed in 2026 to sell maker Moonton to Saudi Arabia for over $6B.", "killedReason": "Not shut down — divested. The game itself is still fully operational. The \"death\" is of ByteDance's ownership: after exiting high-budget gaming (Nuverse restructuring in late 2023, redirecting resources to generative AI), ByteDance agreed on March 20, 2026 to sell developer Moonton to Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group (owned by the Public Investment Fund) for more than $6 billion (~$2B gain over its ~$4B 2021 acquisition), pending regulatory approval. Separately, in January 2025 the game was briefly pulled from US app stores (Jan 19–21, 2025) under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) due to its ByteDance ownership; it was restored after a Trump executive order, and US publishing was moved to Skystone Games to insulate it from the ByteDance-linked ban.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Legends:_Bang_Bang", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Legends:_Bang_Bang", "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-20/bytedance-agrees-to-sell-moonton-to-savvy-games-for-6-billion", "https://esportsinsider.com/2021/03/bytedance-acquires-mobile-legends-publisher-moonton-at-a-reported-4bn-valuation", "https://www.shacknews.com/article/123422/tiktok-parent-company-bytedance-acquires-mobile-legends-dev-in-4-billion-deal", "https://esports.gg/news/mobile-legends-bang-bang/mlbb-moonton-sold-bytedance-savvy-games-group-6-billion/", "https://escharts.com/news/bytedance-6-billion-sale-mlbb-publisher-savvy-games-group", "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/bytedance-said-to-sell-game-studio-moonton-to-saudi-arabias-savvy-games", "https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/savvy-games-group-agreed-to-buy-moonton-games-for-6-billion", "https://www.pocketgamer.biz/skystone-games-takes-us-publishing-rights-for-mobile-legends-as-tiktok-ban-looms/", "https://esportsinsider.com/2025/03/mobile-legends-bang-bang-us-publisher-skystone", "https://www.enduins.com/news/bytedance-transfers-u-s-publishing-rights-for-mlbb-mla-and-marvel-snap-to-skystone-games", "https://game8.co/articles/release-dates/mobile-legends-bang-bang-release-date", "https://apps.apple.com/app/mobile-legends-bang-bang/id1160056295", "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mobile-legends-bang-bang-us/id6741568655" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Status nuance: NOT a shutdown/dead product. The game is fully alive — it was DIVESTED by ByteDance, not killed. Used schema code \"acquired-shut\" as the closest available value; for a graveyard UI this belongs in an \"acquired/divested\" bucket and ideally tagged \"divested.\" dateKilled set to 2026-03-20 (date the Savvy sale was agreed/announced) to represent the end of ByteDance's ownership era; note ByteDance ownership formally ends only on deal completion, pending regulatory approval as of latest reporting (though Wikipedia already lists Moonton as a Savvy subsidiary). Launch: Android July 14, 2016 as \"Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA\" (high); pulled after a Riot Games copyright complaint; relaunched as \"Bang Bang\" with iOS release Nov 9, 2016 (high). ByteDance acquisition via Nuverse, March 2021, reported ~$4B, beating a Tencent bid (high; price not officially disclosed). PAFACA removal Jan 19, 2025, restored Jan 21 after a Trump EO delaying enforcement (high); US publishing shifted to Skystone Games with a separate US App Store listing id 6741568655. Savvy sale agreed/announced March 20, 2026, >$6B (high — Bloomberg/Reuters plus Yicai, GameDeveloper, esports.gg, escharts, PocketGamer.biz). Bloomberg not directly accessible (paywall) but corroborated by multiple outlets. Reached ~1.5B downloads and ~110M MAU with a major esports scene (M-Series World Championship, MSC).", "successor": "Moonton (Savvy Games Group)" }, { "name": "Whee", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "Whee - TikTok Chat", "Whee - TikTok Chat App" ], "category": "photo/social (close-friends photo sharing; later positioned as TikTok Chat / messaging)", "publisher": "TikTok Pte. Ltd. (Google Play) / TikTok Ltd. (App Store seller shown as \"TikTok\"); ByteDance subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "TikTok Pte. Ltd.", "TikTok Ltd.", "ByteDance Ltd. (parent)" ], "appStoreId": "6484505984 (https://apps.apple.com/app/id6484505984)", "dateLaunched": "2024-06-18", "dateKilled": "", "region": "~71 countries at soft launch; NOT available in US/UK/mainland Europe; still live in 70+ countries as of 2026", "killedReason": "", "description": "ByteDance's close-friends photo app, like BeReal, run under TikTok in ~71 countries (not the US, UK or Europe) and later steered toward chat. Still live.", "link": "https://apps.apple.com/app/id6484505984", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/26/tiktoks-instagram-rival-whee-has-no-traction/", "https://www.tubefilter.com/2024/06/18/tiktok-bytedance-new-app-instagram-clone-whee/", "https://www.androidpolice.com/tiktoks-parent-company-launches-new-app/", "https://www.techtimes.com/articles/305798/20240618/bytedance-parent-tiktok-quietly-launches-instagram-clone-whee-play-store.htm", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ByteDance", "https://apps.apple.com/mm/app/whee-tiktok-chat/id6484505984", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bytedance.snail", "https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/tiktok-pte-ltd/whee/", "https://www.epidemicsound.com/blog/what-is-tiktoks-whee-app/", "https://www.neowin.net/news/tiktoks-bytedance-quietly-launches-instagram-and-bereal-like-social-app-whee/", "https://technology.inquirer.net/135180/whee-new-tiktok-app" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIRMED ALIVE as of June 2026 -- this is NOT a graveyard item and should be dropped/excluded from the killed-by list. No shutdown, discontinuation, merge, or rebrand has been reported. Multiple sources through March/June 2026 (Epidemic Sound, Wikipedia ByteDance article) describe Whee as still operational in 70+ countries. The \"Whee - TikTok Chat\" title is a repositioning toward messaging, NOT a rebrand to a new product (same iOS id 6484505984, same Android package com.bytedance.snail). DISAMBIGUATION: shutdown news in this space concerns DIFFERENT apps -- TikTok Notes was killed (May 2025, redirected to Lemon8), and there is a separate TikTok/Lemon8 integration story; neither involves Whee. Also distinct from Meitu's \"Whee\" (com.meitu.whee) and \"Whee - Family Organizer.\" Because the entry was requested in killedbygoogle.com style but the product is alive, no kill date or kill reason is asserted; the graveyard-style copy is held in reserve and the record remains tagged alive." }, { "name": "悟空问答 (Wukong Q&A)", "status": "merged", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "头条问答" ], "category": "Q&A / knowledge community (Quora/Zhihu-style)", "description": "ByteDance's Quora/Zhihu-style Q&A app under Toutiao. Despite ~RMB 1bn in subsidies it never dented Zhihu; ByteDance closed it in 2021 and folded it into Toutiao.", "dateLaunched": "2017-06-26", "dateKilled": "2021-02-03", "killedReason": "Persistent failure to compete with Zhihu despite heavy subsidies (~RMB 1bn pledged for 2018 plus ~RMB 500m for top creators; cumulative spend cited up to ~RMB 2bn) and Toutiao's built-in traffic. Monthly active users averaged only ~800,000 in mid-2018 and collapsed to ~170,000 by July 2018 while Zhihu held tens of millions; community/operations-heavy products ran against ByteDance's traffic-and-algorithm-centric model. ByteDance de-prioritized the product in mid-2018, merging its team into Weitoutiao, and strategic focus shifted to short video (Douyin, Huoshan). The standalone app was retired in early 2021 as part of a broader cull of non-core products, and its Q&A function was folded back into the Jinri Toutiao app (revived as the 头条问答 feature), so the product was merged/absorbed rather than fully deleted — content, creator accounts, and the website continued under Toutiao.", "publisher": "Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司) / Jinri Toutiao (今日头条) — published under ByteDance/Toutiao developer entities", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司)", "Jinri Toutiao / Today's Headlines (今日头条)", "Beijing ByteDance Network Technology Co., Ltd." ], "appStoreId": "", "region": "China (mainland; Chinese-language only)", "link": "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-to-shut-down-qa-app-wukong-wenda", "sources": [ "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-to-shut-down-qa-app-wukong-wenda", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/5546810.html", "https://www.guancha.cn/TMT/2017_06_26_415147.shtml", "https://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2018-08-31/doc-ihinpmnq3017614.shtml", "https://www.woshipm.com/it/1349445.html", "https://tech.sina.com.cn/csj/2018-09-03/doc-ihiqtcan1840138.shtml", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/2021-02-03/doc-ikftssap2715163.shtml", "https://m.caixin.com/m/2021-01-15/101651257.html", "https://www.ithome.com/0/670/864.htm", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/8839329.html", "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%A4%B4%E6%9D%A1%E9%97%AE%E7%AD%94" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "All key dates independently re-verified. Standalone app/website launch (rebrand from 头条问答 to 悟空问答) confirmed June 26, 2017 by Guancha. App store removal Jan 20, 2021 and service cessation Feb 3, 2021 confirmed by Jiemian and kr-asia; shutdown announcement was ~Jan 14-15, 2021 (Caixin/kr-asia). The original feature 头条问答 launched ~April 2016 inside Toutiao. MAU averaged ~800,000 (80万) April-July 2018, then dropped to ~170,000 by July 2018 (kr-asia, Sina Tech). Subsidy: ~RMB 1 billion (10亿) pledged for 2018 plus ~RMB 500 million for top creators (kr-asia); cumulative spend of ~RMB 2 billion (20亿) cited by some Chinese press. Status classified as MERGED (folded into Jinri Toutiao / revived as in-app 头条问答 feature; website and creator content persisted) rather than fully dead. 2023 'revival' caveat: reports (Feb 2023, 36Kr/Jiemian/TMTPost) said ByteDance would relaunch a redesigned Wukong Q&A app, BUT Toutiao officially called the relaunch news '不实' (inaccurate) per IT之家 — treat as DENIED/unconfirmed, not a confirmed return. A separate related Q&A product 秒真问答 (Miǎozhēn Wèndá) was reportedly launched ~2023 embedded in Toutiao/Douyin. Could not retrieve an App Store numeric ID — China-market app, listing delisted; appStoreId left empty." }, { "name": "好好学习 (Haohao Xuexi)", "aliases": [ "Study Hard" ], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "Education / knowledge-payment (paid-knowledge / online learning)", "description": "ByteDance's paid-knowledge app for adult self-improvement, a Dedao rival. ByteDance closed it in 2021 after weak sales and no breakout courses.", "dateLaunched": "2018-07", "dateKilled": "2021-01-20", "killedReason": "Closed as part of a ByteDance business/organizational adjustment. The product had weak monetization and low commercial-conversion rates (repeat-purchase rates reported around 10% versus earlier projections of ~30%), poor ROI relative to core products (Douyin/Toutiao), and lacked the star-instructor IP and breakout (\"出圈\") courses that drove rivals like Dedao; signs of trouble (project editor-in-chief departure, followed by 20+ staff leaving in H1 2019) appeared as early as 2019. The shutdown coincided with a pre-Spring-Festival 2021 efficiency/restructuring drive in which ByteDance also wound down Wukong Wenda (悟空问答) and the Smartisan/Jianguo phone team. ByteDance officially framed it as a \"normal business adjustment\" (正常业务调整). On closure, user balances, memberships and purchased courses could be migrated (with user authorization) to the user's linked Jinri Toutiao (今日头条) account.", "publisher": "Beijing Zhending Technology Co., Ltd. (北京臻鼎科技有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Zhending Technology Co., Ltd. (北京臻鼎科技有限公司) — wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary; same entity behind Fanqie (Tomato) Free Novel / 番茄免费小说 and Tomato Audio / 番茄畅听", "ByteDance (字节跳动 / Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd.) — ultimate parent" ], "appStoreId": "", "region": "China (mainland; Chinese-language only)", "link": "https://www.sohu.com/a/442911714_112831", "sources": [ "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-01-06/doc-iiznezxt0872234.shtml", "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_10693709", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/5506873.html", "https://www.sohu.com/a/442911714_112831", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20210112/herald/430f11eca5869aff5e6501422299a5cb.html", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/2021-01-06/doc-iiznctkf0502916.shtml", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/5582066.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Launch date is the main uncertainty (medium confidence): July 2018 is the most-cited specific figure (confirmed verbatim by The Paper and Jiemian, which also carry the \"500 courses / 1,000 audiobooks / four-section\" detail), but The Paper's narrative and Sina/21jingji also describe a \"late 2017\" entry into education — likely an earlier soft/internal launch with a fuller public version in July 2018. Retained 2018-07 as best-supported specific date; 2017 alternative flagged. Shutdown facts are solid: closure notice issued Jan 5, 2021 (reported Jan 6); operations ceased Jan 20, 2021; assets migratable to linked Jinri Toutiao accounts. Developer 北京臻鼎科技有限公司 confirmed 100% ByteDance-owned and is the same shell behind Fanqie Free Novel / Tomato Audio. App Store numeric ID not findable — app was delisted from Chinese stores by/around Jan 2021; appStoreId left empty. Closed the same month as Wukong Wenda as part of the early-2021 restructuring." }, { "name": "多闪 (Duoshan)", "status": "merged", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "Maya" ], "category": "social / video messaging (originally a Snapchat-style disappearing-video messenger; now positioned as \"Douyin chat companion\" / camera-based social)", "publisher": "Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd. (北京抖音科技有限公司) — current App Store seller; originally operated under Beijing Weibu Shijie Technology Co., Ltd. (北京微播视界科技有限公司). ByteDance/Douyin.", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Weibu Shijie Technology Co., Ltd. (北京微播视界科技有限公司)", "Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd. (北京抖音科技有限公司)", "Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司; renamed from Beijing ByteDance Technology in May 2022)", "ByteDance Ltd. / Douyin Ltd. (字节跳动 / renamed Douyin Ltd. May 2022)" ], "region": "China (mainland; originally required a Douyin account and a mainland Chinese phone number)", "dateLaunched": "2019-01-15", "dateKilled": "2021-10-27", "killedReason": "ByteDance's standalone anti-WeChat messenger failed and was folded into the Douyin ecosystem. Tencent blocked Duoshan's link inside WeChat on launch day (Jan 15, 2019), it vanished from Tencent's Android store YingYongBao (~Mar 12, 2019), and a Tianjin Binhai court (Mar 20, 2019) barred ByteDance from using WeChat/QQ handles and avatars in Douyin/Duoshan. With the WeChat-challenger concept dead, v10.0.0 (Oct 27, 2021) ended standalone Duoshan-account login and forced users to merge into their Douyin account; old-version (≤6.8.0) maintenance ended Nov 30, 2021 — the same window ByteDance shut its sibling social app Feiliao (飞聊, ~Dec 2021). The app was later repositioned as a camera-first, BeReal-style \"limited-time\" real-photo social app (2022, v22.2.0), then reframed as \"多闪-抖音聊天版\" / Duoshan - Douyin Chat Version. After ~31 rapid iterations in 2025 and heavy in-Douyin promotion, it topped China's App Store social free chart from ~Nov 13, 2025 through end of November. So the original 2019 anti-WeChat product is dead/merged, while the app name and App Store ID live on as an actively iterated Douyin chat companion.", "description": "ByteDance's Snapchat-style messenger, one of three 2019 apps meant to topple WeChat. Tencent blocked it on day one; ByteDance folded it into Douyin in 2021.", "appStoreId": "1435602536", "link": "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-stops-operation-of-social-product-feiliao-and-merges-duoshan-into-douyin/", "confidence": "high", "notes": "Launch date 2019-01-15 is high-confidence (Bloomberg, TechCrunch, SCMP, TechNode, Pandaily all agree). KEY NUANCE: this is NOT a clean shutdown. The 2019 anti-WeChat standalone concept was effectively killed and absorbed into Douyin around late 2021, but the same app/App Store ID (1435602536) is ALIVE today (v39.0.0, June 2, 2026) and actively iterated as a \"Douyin chat companion,\" topping China's App Store social free chart from ~Nov 13, 2025. For a \"Killed by ByteDance\" graveyard, the honest treatment is status='merged': the original Duoshan (2019 disappearing-video WeChat challenger) was de-facto killed/folded into Douyin, while the app name/ID was later revived in a totally different form. dateKilled set to 2021-10-27 (v10.0.0 account-merge-into-Douyin; old-version maintenance ended 2021-11-30) as the death of the original concept — medium confidence on those exact 2021 dates (sourced from Chinese tech press: Tencent News, 36Kr, The Paper, woshipm recounting version history). Tencent-blocking dates (WeChat link blocked Jan 15 2019; off YingYongBao ~Mar 12 2019; Tianjin court injunction Mar 20 2019) are high-confidence (TechNode). The original Android package name 'my.maya.android' confirms the internal 'Maya' codename, consistent with ByteDance's Faceu/Maya social team. Publisher entity history (Beijing Weibu Shijie → Beijing Douyin Technology) is consistent with ByteDance's May 2022 corporate renaming wave.", "sources": [ "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-15/bytedance-launches-video-based-messaging-app-to-take-on-tencent", "https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/15/tiktok-challenges-wechat/", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/2182226/chinese-tech-unicorn-bytedance-launches-new-social-app-rival-wechat", "http://thechinaproject.com/2019/01/24/china-business-corner-bytedance-challenges-wechat-with-duoshan/", "https://technode.com/2019/01/25/bytedance-duoshan-million-downloads/", "https://technode.com/2019/03/12/briefing-duoshan-disappears-from-tencents-android-app-store/", "https://technode.com/2019/03/20/bytedance-barred-from-using-wechat-user-information-in-douyin-duoshan/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-stops-operation-of-social-product-feiliao-and-merges-duoshan-into-douyin/", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3159501/tiktok-owner-bytedance-kills-chat-app-feiliao-sign-business", "https://36kr.com/p/3569959019338114", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20251225A02ZRS00", "https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_32050583", "https://www.tmtpost.com/7783806.html", "https://www.woshipm.com/it/5906633.html", "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%A4%9A%E9%97%AA", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/%E5%A4%9A%E9%97%AA/id1435602536" ] }, { "name": "飞聊 (Feiliao / Flipchat)", "aliases": [ "Flipchat" ], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "messaging / social", "region": "China (primary); English-branded as Flipchat internationally", "publisher": "ByteDance (北京字节跳动科技有限公司). A Chinese report claims the iOS build was submitted under a non-enterprise/personal developer account rather than ByteDance's corporate account (medium confidence; never confirmed by Apple or ByteDance).", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance / 北京字节跳动 (Beijing ByteDance)" ], "appStoreId": "", "dateLaunched": "2019-05-20", "dateKilled": "2021-12", "description": "ByteDance's messenger-plus-groups app, its second swing at WeChat. Apple pulled it within two months; it never caught on, and ByteDance killed it in 2021.", "killedReason": "Persistent failure to gain traction in China's WeChat-dominated social market; team dissolved and reassigned internally in Dec 2021 as ByteDance retreated from non-core social businesses.", "link": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3159501/tiktok-owner-bytedance-kills-chat-app-feiliao-sign-business", "confidence": "high", "notes": "DATE-KILLED nuance: there are two distinct dates. (1) Effective death / team dissolution: December 2021 (set as dateKilled, 2021-12), when the remaining team was dissolved and reassigned internally — reported Dec 13, 2021 by SCMP citing 36Kr; the app was already pulled from most app stores by ~May 2021 and was no longer usable by late 2021. (2) Official website feiliao.com going offline: Chinese primary sources (Sina Finance, 极目新闻/ctdsb, 3elife, IT之家) date this to ~October 15-17, 2022, NOT end of 2021. So: team substantially dissolved end of 2021; website taken offline ~Oct 2022. Both high confidence.\n\nApp Store ID: NOT found. The original Feiliao iOS listing is long delisted; current apps.apple.com search hits resolve to unrelated apps. Left empty. The iOS build was removed from the App Store ~July 12, 2019 (fewer than 2 months after launch; TechNode reported it on that date, with a Feiliao spokeswoman saying they were \"communicating with Apple\"); Apple's reason was never publicly stated. A Chinese report claims the app was submitted via a non-enterprise/personal developer account — plausible contributing factor but medium confidence.\n\nAndroid: remained available on Chinese third-party Android stores after the July 2019 iOS removal; downloads reportedly stopped around April 2020 (medium confidence on exact month). App pulled from most stores ~May 2021.\n\nPublisher entity: ByteDance is certain (confirmed by TechNode, TechCrunch, Caixin, SCMP, KrASIA, Sixth Tone). Exact App Store developer-account name on the original listing is not confirmable (medium confidence on account specifics).\n\nMid-2021 Clubhouse-style audio relaunch is reported by SCMP and others but was brief; exact relaunch day not pinned (~July 2021).", "sources": [ "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3159501/tiktok-owner-bytedance-kills-chat-app-feiliao-sign-business", "https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/19/bytedance-flipchat", "https://technode.com/2019/05/20/bytedance-launches-new-social-app-feiliao/", "https://technode.com/2019/07/12/bytedances-social-app-feiliao-removed-from-apples-app-store/", "https://kr-asia.com/feiliao-bytedances-second-social-app-to-challenge-wechat-gets-removed-from-apples-app-store", "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2019-05-21/tiktok-owner-bytedance-unveils-new-wechat-challenger-101417837.html", "http://www.sixthtone.com/ht_news/1004031/bytedance-launches-messaging-app-to-challenge-wechat", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-shuts-down-social-product-feiliaos-official-website/", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/internet/2022-10-17/doc-imqqsmrp2885741.shtml", "https://www.ctdsb.net/c1666_202210/1538011.html", "https://www.3elife.net/Art/internet/202210/16/77116.html" ] }, { "name": "心图 (Xintu)", "aliases": [], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "photo / image-based social community (Instagram-like / 类Ins社区)", "description": "ByteDance's Instagram-style photo community, launched days after Duoshan in 2019. Starved of support, it never caught on; ByteDance pulled it within six months.", "dateLaunched": "2019-01", "dateKilled": "2019", "killedReason": "Failed to gain traction in a crowded Instagram/Xiaohongshu-clone space and received minimal internal support and resources from ByteDance (which was spreading effort across many simultaneous social products — Duoshan, Feiliao, etc.). Per Jiemian it had \"天壤之别\" (a world of difference) in resourcing versus Duoshan, and per SCMP it \"failed to take off on the mainland and was discontinued.\" It quietly went offline (\"上线半年就悄然离线\") and was delisted from app stores about six months after launch, with no official announcement.", "region": "China (mainland)", "publisher": "ByteDance (字节跳动) — specific App Store/Play developer entity not identifiable from available sources (likely a ByteDance subsidiary such as Beijing Microlive Vision / 北京微播视界, but unconfirmed for this app)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance / 字节跳动" ], "appStoreId": "", "link": "https://www.jiemian.com/article/8286208.html", "sources": [ "https://www.jiemian.com/article/8286208.html", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/6337089.html", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3184899/tiktok-owner-bytedance-launch-new-social-media-app-young-users-will", "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%AD%97%E8%8A%82%E8%B7%B3%E5%8A%A8", "https://en.pingwest.com/a/10479", "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tiktok-owner-bytedance-launch-social-093000745.html" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "CONFIDENCE: medium overall, but ByteDance ownership and dead status are HIGH confidence (corroborated by Jiemian ×2, ThePaper, SCMP, PingWest, zh.Wikipedia). (1) LAUNCH DATE: January 2019, confidently. New corroborating detail: \"心图问世只比多闪晚了十几天\" (Xintu launched only ~10+ days after Duoshan); Duoshan launched Jan 15, 2019, so Xintu = late January 2019. Exact day not pinned; 2019-01 is the safe value. (2) SHUTDOWN DATE: No official announcement, no exact date. Jiemian: \"上线半年就悄然离线\" (~6 months after launch) => roughly mid-2019. Jiemian (6337089) also states \"前者已经在应用商店下架\" (delisted). dateKilled = 2019 (best estimate ~mid-to-late 2019). (3) REGION: SCMP says it failed \"on the mainland.\" zh.Wikipedia lists 心图 (类Ins社区) under the MAINLAND CHINA discontinued (已停止运营) section — no discrepancy; mainland China is correct and consistent across all sources. (4) PUBLISHER / APP STORE ID: Not locatable; app delisted years ago, no archived listing surfaced. (5) SOURCE NOTE: The SCMP article (3184899) is primarily about a different 2022 app (\"Kesong\") and mentions Xintu only in one passing line. Valid corroboration but NOT a dedicated Xintu article — the two Jiemian articles are the strongest direct sources. (6) DISAMBIGUATION (critical): 心图 (Xintu, this dead 2019 photo-social app) must NOT be confused with 醒图 (Xingtu), ByteDance's still-active all-in-one photo-EDITING app (Android package com.xt.retouch) — different product, similar pinyin/characters. Also distinct from 新草 (Xincao, ByteDance's 2018 Instagram/Xiaohongshu-clone that was also discontinued ~1 year after launch)." }, { "name": "新草 (Xincao)", "aliases": [], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "social commerce / lifestyle \"种草\" (zhongcao / product-seeding) content community", "description": "Toutiao's Xiaohongshu-style lifestyle app where users found products but left to buy. ByteDance closed it after a year, having never dented Xiaohongshu.", "dateLaunched": "2018-09", "dateKilled": "2019-08-01", "killedReason": "Failed to gain traction against Xiaohongshu. ByteDance ran Xincao with the same strong-algorithm/strong-recommendation product logic as its Toutiao news app and buried the content-publishing entry point deep in the UI, which suppressed original UGC vitality and prevented a genuine community/grass-planting atmosphere from forming. Downloads dwindled to near zero from late January 2019, the app stopped updating after ~March 2019 (at times not even downloadable, citing \"developer reasons\"), and it formally ceased operations on 1 August 2019, roughly a year after launch. ByteDance kept pursuing the \"种草\" category afterward (Kesong/可颂 2022, Youshi/有柿 2023).", "region": "China (Mainland)", "publisher": "北京快码加编科技有限公司 (Beijing Kuaimajiabian Technology Co., Ltd.)", "developerEntities": [ "北京快码加编科技有限公司 (Beijing Kuaimajiabian Technology Co., Ltd.)", "ByteDance / Toutiao (字节跳动 / 今日头条) — ultimate parent; the publisher shell's legal rep & largest shareholder was Liang Rubo (梁汝波), Toutiao technical director, legal rep of Tianjin ByteDance and Douyin developer Beijing Microlive Vision, and later ByteDance CEO" ], "appStoreId": "", "link": "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-ambitions-in-e-commerce-continues-with-new-social-commerce-app-xincao-for-younger-consumers", "sources": [ "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-ambitions-in-e-commerce-continues-with-new-social-commerce-app-xincao-for-younger-consumers", "https://36kr.com/p/5158236", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/9329640.html", "https://www.woshipm.com/evaluating/2063603.html", "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/47704776", "https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2018/10/24/bytedances-toutiao-launches-social-commerce-app-to-challenge-us3-billion-worth-xiaohongshu", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3184899/tiktok-owner-bytedance-launch-new-social-media-app-young-users-will" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "App Store ID not findable — delisted in 2019. Do not confuse with an unrelated '新草app' listing on Android download sites. Launch day precision is moderate (v0.2.0 on 2018-09-27; official launch cited as Oct 2018); month/quarter is solid. Kesong/可颂 (2022) and Youshi/有柿 (2023) are distinct later ByteDance 种草 products, not the same app. Description condensed to <=240 chars for the graveyard entry; full positioning and slogans (\"好东西、好地方、好青年\"; \"年轻人都爱逛的种草社区\") retained in source record." }, { "name": "值点 (Zhidian)", "aliases": [ "值点商城" ], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "e-commerce", "region": "China (mainland)", "publisher": "北京空间变换科技有限公司 (Beijing Kongjian Bianhuan Keji Youxian Gongsi / \"Beijing Space Transformation Technology Co., Ltd.\"), a wholly-owned (100%) subsidiary of 今日头条有限公司 (Jinri Toutiao Ltd. / ByteDance)", "developerEntities": [ "北京空间变换科技有限公司 (Beijing Kongjian Bianhuan Keji Youxian Gongsi / Beijing Space Transformation Technology Co., Ltd.)", "今日头条有限公司 (Jinri Toutiao Ltd.)", "字节跳动 (ByteDance / Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd.)" ], "appStoreId": "", "dateLaunched": "2018-10", "dateKilled": "2019", "killedReason": "Failed to gain traction in China's discount e-commerce market against Pinduoduo. Zhidian copied Pinduoduo's factory-direct, sub-RMB200 low-price playbook but lacked Pinduoduo's key advantages: it only accepted Alipay (plus cash-on-delivery) and pointedly excluded WeChat Pay due to the ByteDance-Tencent rivalry, leaving it without WeChat's social/sharing ecosystem and group-buying (拼团) demand-aggregation mechanic. ByteDance commentary judged the Toutiao-system commerce experiments as offering \"no eye-catching innovation.\" With weak momentum, ByteDance abandoned standalone commerce apps and folded commerce into Douyin/Toutiao; the parallel \"放心购\" (Fangxin Gou) line was split, with one branch upgraded into the in-Toutiao \"值点商城\"/Zhidian Mall and the other becoming the ad tool \"鲁班\"/Luban. The standalone app was quietly delisted the year after launch (2019).", "description": "ByteDance's discount shopping app inside Toutiao, built to answer Pinduoduo. Lacking WeChat Pay and group-buying, it flopped; ByteDance pulled it within a year.", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://technode.com/2018/10/15/bytedance-e-commerce-zhidian/", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2018/10/15/bytedance-e-commerce-zhidian/", "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/bytedance-takes-aim-at-chinese-e-commerce-with-new-app-under-toutiao", "https://www.scmp.com/abacus/tech/article/3028897/you-can-now-shop-one-chinas-hottest-news-services", "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2018-10-17/wednesday-tech-briefing-bytedance-huawei-leshi-101335956.html", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/2561284.html", "https://www.ifanr.com/1249969", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/2020-07-02/doc-iircuyvk1546153.shtml", "https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2018-10-15/1263105.html", "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%AD%97%E8%8A%82%E8%B7%B3%E5%8A%A8" ], "notes": "VERIFIED FROM SCRATCH. Publisher entity 北京空间变换科技有限公司 confirmed 100% owned by 今日头条有限公司 (Toutiao/ByteDance), legal rep Li Fei (李飞), 100万 registered capital, Beijing (Tianyancha/Qichacha). DATES: English press (TechNode, Yicai, SCMP, Caixin) all cluster the discovery/launch at Oct 15-17, 2018; Jiemian (\"悄悄上线\" / quietly launched \"last month\") supports a September 2018 soft launch. dateLaunched set to 2018-10 to reflect the strongest, most consistent sourcing (media-confirmed launch); the September soft-launch is plausible but rests on one indirect reference. SHUTDOWN: no exact date ever published; multiple Chinese sources (Sina Finance \"字节跳动电商史\", ifanr) say it was delisted \"the following year\" (2019) and ifanr confirms it could no longer be found in any app store. dateKilled = 2019. NUANCE: the standalone app is the dead product; the \"值点商城\"/Zhidian Mall brand persisted inside Toutiao's commerce stack. Do NOT confuse with unrelated \"ValueX\" (id6472241469)." }, { "name": "内涵段子 (Neihan Duanzi)", "aliases": [], "status": "banned", "type": "app", "category": "Humor / meme / UGC joke community (entertainment social app)", "region": "China (mainland)", "dateLaunched": "2012-03", "dateKilled": "2018-04-10", "publisher": "Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司), operating under the Jinri Toutiao (今日头条) brand. Legacy App Store listing (ID 517166184) is now attributed to ByteDance's current China publishing shell, Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司).", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司)", "Jinri Toutiao / Toutiao (今日头条) — operating brand", "Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司) — current App Store developer entity on the legacy listing" ], "appStoreId": "517166184 (https://apps.apple.com/app/id517166184 — app delisted; listing inactive, confirmed via Apptopia as \"内涵段子-精选搞笑图片、视频\")", "description": "ByteDance's very first app (2012, before Toutiao), a hugely popular Chinese joke and meme community. China's regulator shut it for good in 2018 over vulgar content.", "killedReason": "Permanently shut down by Chinese government order on April 10, 2018 (regulator order announced April 9–11; Zhang Yiming's public apology published the morning of April 11). The broadcast regulator — variously credited to SAPPRFT / the State Administration of Radio and Television / the newly-forming National Radio and Television Administration (国家广播电视总局, NRTA/SART), reflecting the March 2018 government reorganization that was underway — cited content that was \"vulgar and improper,\" that \"collided with core socialist values,\" and that triggered strong resentment among internet users. It came amid the same content crackdown that suspended Toutiao's main news app and several others. Zhang Yiming published an open apology admitting the product \"had gone astray,\" over-relied on recommendation algorithms while neglecting socialist-values guidance, accepted \"all the punishment,\" and pledged to expand content moderators from 6,000 to 10,000.", "link": "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2018-04-11/regulator-finds-nothing-to-laugh-about-with-joke-sharing-app-101233132.html", "sources": [ "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2018-04-11/regulator-finds-nothing-to-laugh-about-with-joke-sharing-app-101233132.html", "https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1002080/the-last-laugh-toutiaos-joke-app-shut-down", "https://technode.com/2018/04/11/toutiao-apology/", "https://pandaily.com/open-apology-from-ceo-of-toutiao-following-the-ban-of-neihan-duanzi/", "https://supchina.com/jokes-app-neihan-duanzi-shuttered-by-chinas-media-regulator-for-vulgarity/", "https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2018/04/tech-ceo-apologizes-for-violating-socialist-values-as-users-mourn/", "https://technode.com/2018/08/07/toutiao-rolls-out-a-clone-of-its-suspended-joke-app/", "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/bytedance-reboot-of-banned-jokes-app-brings-in-700000-users-in-first-month", "https://www.britannica.com/money/ByteDance", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ByteDance", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Neihan%20Duanzi/20846", "https://apptopia.com/ios/app/517166184/about" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Core facts independently re-verified from scratch: ByteDance's first app (March 2012, by Zhang Yiming, predating Toutiao); permanently shut by regulator order on 2018-04-10 for vulgar content; Zhang Yiming public apology (moderators 6,000→10,000); Pipixia (皮皮虾) successor July/Aug 2018 with account sync. Launch day not documented — recorded as 2012-03. Date nuance: regulator action/announcement spans April 9–11; April 10 (per Caixin) used as the shutdown date and is well-supported. User-count discrepancy persists across sources (~200M registered / ~11M DAU per Chinese sources vs ~17M cited by Caixin English) — flagged, not resolved. Regulator naming varies (SAPPRFT vs SART/NRTA) due to the concurrent March 2018 government reorganization; both refer to the same broadcast authority. App Store ID 517166184 confirmed via Apptopia as the \"内涵段子-精选搞笑图片、视频\" listing; direct App Store fetch fell back to the editorial \"Today\" tab, consistent with the app being delisted. Status \"banned\" chosen because it was a forced government permanent shutdown, not a voluntary discontinuation." }, { "name": "皮皮虾 (Pipixia)", "aliases": [ "皮皮虾极速版", "皮皮虾专业版" ], "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "Humor / \"shen pinglun\" (神评论, witty-comment) short-video and meme content community (App Store category: Entertainment)", "region": "China (mainland)", "publisher": "Fujian PiPi Dance Technology Co., Ltd. (福建皮皮跳动科技有限公司 / Fujian Pipi Tiaodong Technology Co., Ltd.), a ByteDance subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "福建皮皮跳动科技有限公司 (Fujian Pipi Tiaodong Technology Co., Ltd. / Fujian PiPi Dance Technology Co., Ltd.) — primary App Store/Android seller; actual controller is Zhang Lidong (张利东), ByteDance's legal representative", "Fujian Pipixia Technology Co., Ltd. (App Store developer id 1714454219)", "ByteDance (字节跳动) — ultimate parent / incubator" ], "appStoreId": "1393912676 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1393912676) — main app; related: 皮皮虾专业版/Pro id 1455055663; Android package com.sup.android.superb (Lite/短剧 package com.sup.android.explore)", "dateLaunched": "2018-07", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "description": "ByteDance's humor and witty-comment meme community, launched in 2018 to absorb users from the banned Neihan Duanzi. Still active and well-kept in 2026.", "link": "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1393912676", "sources": [ "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1393912676", "https://sj.qq.com/appdetail/com.sup.android.superb", "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/bytedance-reboot-of-banned-jokes-app-brings-in-700000-users-in-first-month", "https://technode.com/2018/08/07/toutiao-rolls-out-a-clone-of-its-suspended-joke-app/", "https://technode.com/2019/06/19/charting-the-13-app-bytedance-ecosystem/", "http://thechinaproject.com/2018/08/07/jinri-toutiao-resurrects-jokes-app-neihan-duanzi/", "https://www.scmp.com/abacus/culture/article/3028719/china-shut-down-humor-app-now-theres-new-one", "https://36kr.com/p/1722725351425", "http://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/2018-08-06/doc-ihhhczfc4971862.shtml", "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/70657381", "https://www.wandoujia.com/apps/7826209", "https://h5.pipix.com/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "STATUS = ALIVE (high confidence) — Pipixia is NOT a graveyard tombstone. Independently re-verified: live App Store listing (iOS id 1393912676) shows version 6.1.5, last update March 9 2026, 4.9 stars / ~1.34M ratings, Entertainment category, available; Tencent app market (sj.qq.com, com.sup.android.superb) shows Android version 6.3.0, last update May 25 2026, ~23.5M downloads, no discontinuation signs. An active short-drama Lite/极速版 spinoff (com.sup.android.explore, v4.3.6) and a Pro/专业版 edition also exist. No shutdown, merger, or rebrand announcement found. LAUNCH DATE: 2018-07 (all reputable press — Yicai, TechNode, The China Project, 36Kr, Sina — date the launch to July 2018; the publishing shell 福建皮皮跳动科技有限公司 was incorporated Nov 28 2018, after launch). The applebyme.cn claim of a 2017 listing is uncorroborated and disregarded. RECOMMENDATION: List Pipixia only as a context/honorable-mention tied to the genuinely-dead Neihan Duanzi (内涵段子), the real \"killed by ByteDance\" entry (peak ~200M users; permanently shut by SARFT/NRTA in April 2018 for \"vulgar\" content). Pipixia was built by the same community team, shares a near-identical logo, and let users migrate their Neihan Duanzi accounts, greeting returnees as \"the Nth golden shrimp to return home\"; it drew ~700,000 registered users in its first month and stopped syncing with Toutiao's account system on Aug 9, 2018 to distance itself from the banned predecessor." }, { "name": "派对岛 (Party Island)", "aliases": [], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "social / metaverse", "region": "China", "publisher": "Beijing Shiqu Unlimited Technology Co., Ltd. (北京识区无限科技有限公司), a wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Shiqu Unlimited Technology Co., Ltd. (北京识区无限科技有限公司)", "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Douyin (抖音) acted as public-facing spokesperson/representative" ], "appStoreId": "", "dateLaunched": "2022-01", "dateKilled": "2022-10", "killedReason": "Pulled from major Chinese app stores (Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi) around July 25, 2022 over internal safety-process and compliance-review issues, then shelved for good in mid-October 2022 (reported Oct 17) when ByteDance disbanded the project team amid its 降本增效 cost-cutting drive; the app had also failed to gain meaningful traction.", "description": "ByteDance's first metaverse-style app, a 3D world where avatars hung out and joined virtual concerts. ByteDance pulled it in 2022 and shut it after cutting the team.", "link": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3165176/tiktok-owner-bytedance-tests-metaverse-social-network-new-app-party", "sources": [ "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3165176/tiktok-owner-bytedance-tests-metaverse-social-network-new-app-party", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-cuts-project-team-of-social-metaverse-product-party-island/", "https://daoinsights.com/news/bytedance-debuts-first-metaverse-like-social-app-party-island/", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/internet/2022-10-17/doc-imqqsmrp2849342.shtml", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/internet/2022-10-17/doc-imqqsmrp2885741.shtml", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/internet/2022-07-25/doc-imizmscv3471156.shtml", "https://www.pai.com.cn/175212.html", "https://k.sina.cn/article_2643002742_9d89057600101agjh.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "All material claims independently re-verified. (1) ByteDance ownership confirmed by SCMP (\"Beijing Shi Qu Wu Xian Technology Co Ltd, ByteDance's wholly-owned subsidiary\"), Sina, Pandaily, DaoInsights, and 电商派; developer entity 北京识区无限科技有限公司 also operates ByteDance's 识区/Shiqu reading product. (2) Software copyright approved Dec 28, 2021 (电商派/pai.com.cn). (3) Closed/invite-only beta late January 2022 (SCMP ~Jan 28, 2022; reached #77 most-downloaded iOS social app). (4) Public test July 13, 2022, v1.3.0, no invite code (Sina/163/IT之家). (5) Removed from Apple/Huawei/Xiaomi app stores ~July 25, 2022 over safety/process review issues (Sina, July 25 2022). (6) Project team disbanded, reported Oct 17, 2022 (two Sina articles); members returned to original mid-platform/中台 departments. dateLaunched kept as 2022-01 (first availability via closed beta); could also be expressed as 2022-07 for the public-test debut. dateKilled set to 2022-10 (team disbanded = effective death); de-facto unavailability dates from the July 25, 2022 store removal. Removal attributed to internal \"safety process/compliance\" reasons; no named government regulatory directive was publicly identified. App Store numeric ID is genuinely unrecoverable — CN listing was pulled July 2022 and never restored. Slogan: \"派对岛，没有人是一座孤岛\" (\"Party Island — no man is an island\"). Despite metaverse framing in the press, a Douyin representative said it had \"nothing to do with the metaverse\" and was \"purely a social product still being tested on a small scale.\"" }, { "name": "识区 (Shiqu)", "aliases": [], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "reading / content discovery (content community)", "description": "A ByteDance reading app that dropped its algorithm for human-curated interest circles. Invite-only and slow to grow, it closed eight months after launch.", "dateLaunched": "2022-04", "dateKilled": "2022-12-12", "killedReason": "Discontinued amid ByteDance product/business adjustments. After internal beta testing (内测) that began around October 2021, the app launched on Chinese app stores in April 2022, but was quietly pulled from those stores on July 26, 2022 (no reason given). On December 7, 2022 ByteDance issued a notice that Shiqu would cease operations and related services on December 12, 2022 — roughly eight months after its April 2022 app-store launch (and ~14 months after internal testing began). ByteDance never publicly stated a specific reason; press attributed it to the failure of its \"App factory\" (App工厂) strategy to find product-market fit, with the manual-curation reading model struggling to scale, weak cold-start content quality (much early content was reposted from Toutiao), the invite-code barrier limiting creator supply, and super-apps (WeChat, Douyin) dominating user attention.", "region": "China (Chinese mainland only)", "publisher": "ByteDance (字节跳动) — operating entity Beijing Shiqu Infinity Technology Co., Ltd. (北京识区无限科技有限公司), a Douyin-invested company; built by the Jinri Toutiao (今日头条) team", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Beijing Shiqu Infinity Technology Co., Ltd. (北京识区无限科技有限公司)", "Douyin Vision Co., Ltd. (抖音视界有限公司) — trademark holder", "Toutiao / Jinri Toutiao (今日头条) team" ], "appStoreId": "", "link": "https://technode.com/2022/12/07/bytedance-to-close-reading-app-shiqu-after-eight-months/", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2022/12/07/bytedance-to-close-reading-app-shiqu-after-eight-months/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedances-reading-app-shiqu-to-stop-operating-on-dec-12/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-apps-including-shiqu-removed-from-stores/", "https://m.jiemian.com/article/8524669.html", "https://www.ifanr.com/app/1480539", "https://news.bjd.com.cn/2022/12/19/10269380.shtml", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/internet/2022-12-07/doc-imqqsmrp8846229.shtml", "https://www.cbndata.com/information/255834", "https://www.zhihu.com/question/513144805" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Independently re-verified from scratch; ByteDance ownership and dead status both high-confidence and cross-corroborated by Western tech press (TechNode, Pandaily) and Chinese sources (ifanr, Jiemian/界面, Sina, Beijing Daily/北京日报, CBNData, Zhihu). KEY TIMELINE CORRECTION vs draft: internal beta testing (内测) began ~October 2021 (per ifanr, Beijing Daily, multiple Chinese reports), NOT April 2022. April 2022 was the OFFICIAL APP-STORE LAUNCH (ifanr report dated April 6, 2022 still described it as in invite-only 内测 stage). The draft's note framing \"April 2022 internal-test launch\" is inaccurate — April 2022 = public/store launch; Oct 2021 = internal test start. Removed from app stores July 26, 2022 (confirmed). Shutdown notice published December 7, 2022 (one source says 近日/Dec 6); operations officially ceased December 12, 2022 (confirmed). OWNERSHIP DETAIL ADDED: operating company is 北京识区无限科技有限公司 (Beijing Shiqu Infinity Technology Co., Ltd.), a Douyin-invested entity; \"识区\" trademarks held by 抖音视界有限公司 (Douyin Vision Co., Ltd.) — both confirm genuine ByteDance ownership. App Store numeric ID not findable (China-only, delisted July 2022, no live listing). Not available outside mainland China. Description tightened to killedbygoogle.com style (under 240 chars); the fuller original description is preserved here for reference: \"Shiqu (识区, 'knowledge zone/district') was a text-based reading and content-community app from ByteDance, built around content aggregated from its Jinri Toutiao (今日头条) news platform. Tagline: '定义你的阅读宇宙' (Define your reading universe). Unlike ByteDance's signature algorithm-driven feeds, Shiqu emphasized human curation: users joined or created interest 'circles' (圈子, max 3 per user) led by community moderators called '区长' (zone leaders / district chiefs) who manually filtered and recommended content. It was invite-only and also functioned as an RSS reader, plus comments, likes ('点亮') and sharing. Commentators compared it to a mix of Douban Groups, Jike (即刻), Clubhouse, Baidu Tieba and WeChat Official Accounts — 'a more human Toutiao.'\"" }, { "name": "半次元 (Banciyuan)", "aliases": [ "bcy", "bcy.net" ], "status": "dead", "type": "service", "category": "ACG / anime-comics-games community (cosplay, fan-art, fan-fiction)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2014", "dateKilled": "2023-07-12", "publisher": "半次元 (Apple App Store developer/artist id 1070064281); operated by ByteDance wholly-owned subsidiary Beijing Shanxing Technology Co., Ltd. (北京闪星科技有限公司) after the 2018 acquisition", "developerEntities": [ "Hangzhou Wangyao Network Technology Co., Ltd. (杭州王耀网络科技有限公司) — original/pre-acquisition operator", "Beijing Shanxing Technology Co., Ltd. (北京闪星科技有限公司) — ByteDance wholly-owned subsidiary, post-2018 operator; legal rep changed to Zhang Lidong (张利东), a Toutiao/ByteDance senior VP", "App Store developer name: 半次元 (developer id 1070064281)", "ByteDance (字节跳动) / Toutiao (今日头条) — parent after acquisition" ], "appStoreId": "645459270 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id645459270 — now delisted/404; iTunes lookup returns no results. Developer page: https://apps.apple.com/hk/developer/id1070064281)", "description": "A Chinese fan community for cosplayers, illustrators and fan-fiction writers, launched in 2014. ByteDance bought it in 2018 and shut it in 2023.", "killedReason": "ByteDance shut it down citing \"adjustments in the company's business development\" (因公司业务发展上的调整); widely reported as discontinued because the niche ACG/cosplay community was unprofitable and non-strategic for ByteDance. New user registration was halted and the apps delisted on June 12, 2023 (announced June 12-13, 2023); posting/commenting was disabled (site went read-only) on June 30, 2023; logins, website, apps and all page access were terminated and servers closed on July 12, 2023. Users were given roughly one month to withdraw wallet balances and export personal data. The community was archived by Archive Team before closure.", "link": "https://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/%E5%8D%8A%E6%AC%A1%E5%85%83", "sources": [ "https://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/%E5%8D%8A%E6%AC%A1%E5%85%83", "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%8D%8A%E6%AC%A1%E5%85%83", "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8D%8A%E6%AC%A1%E5%85%83", "https://www.chinaz.com/2023/0613/1533429.shtml", "https://archive.org/details/archiveteam_banciyuan_20230712043705_42519b77", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id645459270", "https://www.apkshub.com/app/com.banciyuan.bcywebview", "https://36kr.com/p/2300020474326018", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/9575706.html", "https://www.zhihu.com/question/311683661" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Dates well-corroborated across Chinese/Japanese Wikipedia, chinaz.com, and Archive Team. Founded 2014 (Chinese Wikipedia gives June 25, 2014 tied to a Final Fantasy XIV art event; most sources say just '2014', so exact day is medium confidence). Founder: Wang Wei (王伟). ~1.5M registered users / 200K authors are 2016-era figures; no reliable 2018+ MAU found (low confidence on later scale). Android package com.banciyuan.bcywebview; iOS bundle IDs com.banciyuan.BCYCosplay and com.banciyuan.lite. App id 645459270 now delisted (404), consistent with June 12 2023 removal; developer id 1070064281 still resolves to '半次元'. Description trimmed to <=240 chars for graveyard entry; full operational detail retained in killedReason." }, { "name": "泡芙 (Paofu)", "aliases": [ "泡芙社区" ], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "Social / lifestyle community (women-focused beauty \"grass-planting\" / 种草 content community)", "region": "China (Mainland)", "dateLaunched": "2018-02", "dateKilled": "2019", "publisher": "半次元 (Bcy / Banciyuan) — a ByteDance subsidiary (operating entity 杭州王耀网络 / 北京闪星科技, ByteDance wholly-owned)", "developerEntities": [ "半次元 (Bcy / Banciyuan)", "ByteDance / 字节跳动 (parent — acquired 半次元 Jan–Feb 2018 via 北京闪星科技)", "Android package: com.ss.android.girls (ByteDance com.ss.android.* namespace)" ], "appStoreId": "1329273880 (https://apps.apple.com/app/id1329273880 — listing now removed/redirects to generic store)", "description": "ByteDance's women-focused beauty community, built by its acquired studio Bcy. Its first stab at copying Xiaohongshu, it flopped and was pulled within a year.", "killedReason": "Failed to gain traction. Multiple ByteDance product-history retrospectives state Paofu \"operated for less than a year before being taken down\" (运营不到1年即下架/以失败告终). It was the first of ByteDance's repeated, unsuccessful attempts to clone Xiaohongshu in the domestic lifestyle/种草 community space, none of which dislodged Xiaohongshu. (Distinct from publisher 半次元's own much later shutdown, announced 2023-06-12, ceased 2023-07-12 — that is a separate event, not Paofu's death.)", "link": "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%AD%97%E8%8A%82%E8%B7%B3%E5%8A%A8", "sources": [ "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%AD%97%E8%8A%82%E8%B7%B3%E5%8A%A8 (ByteDance Wikipedia — lists 泡芙 as '女性种草社区' under '已停止运营'/discontinued, China mainland — VERIFIED via fetch)", "https://startup.aliyun.com/city/zz/case/1557649188189831170.html (retrospective: '2018年2月，被字节收购的二次元垂直社区半次元推出名为「泡芙」的社区产品' and '该社区运营不到1年就以失败告终'; also dates 新草 to Aug 2018 — VERIFIED via fetch)", "http://www.appchina.com/app/com.ss.android.girls (AppChina listing: 泡芙社区, package com.ss.android.girls, v1.8.1; women's beauty community — beauty videos, makeup tutorials, influencer shopping, fashion)", "https://appadvice.com/app/_/1329273880 (archived App Store metadata: '泡芙社区-女生变美秘诀都在这里 by 半次元', App Store ID 1329273880)", "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%8D%8A%E6%AC%A1%E5%85%83 (半次元 Wikipedia — 36Kr reported Toutiao/ByteDance acquiring 半次元 on 2018-02-07, corporate change to 北京闪星科技 ByteDance subsidiary registered 2018-01-22; 半次元 shutdown 2023-06-12, ceased 2023-07-12)", "http://www.ddooo.com/softdown/123894.htm (multi-download-site listing of 泡芙社区 v1.8.1, com.ss.android.girls, women's beauty community)" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "VERIFIED ByteDance product. Confirmed via independent fetches: (1) aliyun retrospective explicitly states 半次元 (ByteDance-acquired) launched 泡芙 in Feb 2018 and it failed within <1 year; (2) ByteDance Wikipedia lists 泡芙 as '女性种草社区' under 已停止运营 (discontinued), Mainland China; (3) 半次元 = ByteDance subsidiary (36Kr 2018-02-07 acquisition report; 北京闪星科技 = ByteDance wholly-owned, registered 2018-01-22); (4) Android pkg com.ss.android.girls is in ByteDance's canonical com.ss.android.* namespace; (5) App Store ID 1329273880 now returns no live listing (app removed). LAUNCH: Feb 2018 (HIGH confidence on 2018; MEDIUM on the exact month). SHUTDOWN: NO exact public date exists — all sources only say 'less than a year' from Feb 2018, so death was late 2018 or 2019; '2019' is an APPROXIMATE estimate (LOW confidence). Do not confuse with 半次元's own 2023-07-12 shutdown. CAVEAT: a few AI-summarized secondary listings erroneously give a '2016' launch — not supported by any primary/retrospective source; disregard. Unrelated namesakes (泡芙短视频, 泡芙相机, 泡芙云 VPN, 泡芙 pet blogger) are NOT this product." }, { "name": "狸猫相机 (Limao Camera)", "aliases": [], "status": "acquired-shut", "type": "app", "category": "photo / beauty selfie camera", "region": "China (Mainland)", "publisher": "ByteDance (字节跳动) — acquired August 2019; original developer entity unconfirmed", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance / 北京字节跳动科技有限公司 (acquirer, Aug 2019)", "Original/independent developer — unidentified (listed as 暂无资料 on download mirrors)" ], "appStoreId": "", "dateLaunched": "", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "Discontinued as part of ByteDance's pruning of its overlapping camera-app portfolio. After acquiring it in August 2019, ByteDance consolidated around its flagship beauty cameras — Faceu激萌 and 轻颜相机 (Qingyan) — and let redundant smaller acquisitions lapse, taking Limao Camera offline (已下线).", "description": "A Chinese beauty-selfie camera with live smoothing, face-swaps and filters. ByteDance bought it in 2019, then took it offline as one camera too many.", "link": "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%AD%97%E8%8A%82%E8%B7%B3%E5%8A%A8", "sources": [ "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%AD%97%E8%8A%82%E8%B7%B3%E5%8A%A8", "https://www.ddooo.com/zt/zjtdapp.htm", "http://www.ddooo.com/softdown/95477.htm", "https://www.jz5u.com/Soft/5890.html" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "ByteDance attribution rests on the Chinese Wikipedia ByteDance article, which lists it verbatim in the 已停止运营 (ceased-operations) section: '狸猫相机：美颜拍照软件，2019年8月收购，已下线。' (acquired August 2019, offline). Acquisition status — ByteDance bought it (收购) rather than building it. LAUNCH DATE unknown (predates acquisition; left empty). SHUTDOWN DATE unknown — only '已下线/currently offline' is sourced, no announcement or year; deliberately not guessed. ORIGINAL DEVELOPER unidentified (mirrors list 暂无资料); one aggregator hint linking it to 北京快码加编科技 is unverified and not relied on. No iOS App Store listing found — appears Android-only (mirror reports v1.9.9, ~31 MB, Android 4.1+); appStoreId empty. Package name not located. CAVEAT: minimal coverage in reputable tech press (no acquisition press release, ICP, or 软著 filing found); confidence medium on the ByteDance acquisition/discontinuation, low on exact dates. Do not confuse with 猫猫相机 (pet-photo app) or Meitu's 美颜相机/BeautyCam — both unrelated. 'Raccoon Camera' is an unofficial literal gloss (狸 = raccoon dog/leopard cat), not an official English name." }, { "name": "抖音盒子 (Douyin Box)", "aliases": [], "status": "merged", "type": "app", "category": "E-commerce (trendy fashion / social shopping)", "region": "China (mainland)", "publisher": "Beijing Microlive Vision Technology Co., Ltd. (北京微播视界科技有限公司) — the ByteDance/Douyin App Store publisher entity used for Douyin-family apps", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Microlive Vision Technology Co., Ltd. (北京微播视界科技有限公司)", "Douyin (抖音) / Douyin e-commerce division", "ByteDance (字节跳动)" ], "appStoreId": "", "dateLaunched": "2021-12-16", "dateKilled": "2022-09", "description": "A fashion shopping app from Douyin's e-commerce arm, a Dewu/Xiaohongshu rival. ByteDance wound it down after ~9 months once Douyin's own shopping made it redundant.", "killedReason": "Underperformance and redundancy. Douyin already had built-in shopping and a priority \"Mall\" (商城) channel, so a separate fashion app was unnecessary; Box couldn't retain creators or content and brought no incremental users (per Sensor Tower ~50,000 DAU / ~350,000 MAU, far below rivals Dewu and Xiaohongshu). Amid ByteDance's 2022 cost-cutting, around Sept 8, 2022 the company stopped pushing updates and offered the team internal transfers. ByteDance publicly denied a \"suspension,\" but the app was effectively wound down and never revived, with commerce kept inside the main Douyin app.", "link": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3191823/bytedance-abandons-tiktok-e-commerce-app-worlds-most-valuable-unicorn", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2022/09/09/bytedance-to-shut-down-e-commerce-app-douyin-box-report/", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3191823/bytedance-abandons-tiktok-e-commerce-app-worlds-most-valuable-unicorn", "https://36kr.com/p/1903846372534402", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/8048267.html", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/internet/2022-09-07/doc-imqmmtha6392072.shtml", "https://pandaily.com/douyin-denies-suspension-of-e-commerce-app-douyin-box/", "https://www.ithome.com/0/590/568.htm", "https://news.pedaily.cn/202304/511885.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Launch date 2021-12-16 confirmed by multiple Chinese sources (IT Home, Xueqiu, 36Kr, Jiemian) and English coverage. ByteDance ownership confirmed: published/operated by Beijing Microlive Vision Technology Co., Ltd. (北京微播视界), the standard Douyin-family App Store entity. Status is best described as \"merged/wound-down\" rather than a clean hard shutdown — there is NO single official shutdown announcement or exact delisting date. ByteDance stopped updating the app and offered team internal transfers around 2022-09-08; it publicly DENIED a \"suspension\" while not actively maintaining it, so dateKilled is given as 2022-09 (effective wind-down): high confidence on the abandonment, medium on treating Sept 2022 as a precise \"kill\" date. E-commerce stayed inside the main Douyin app and Douyin Mall channel. User figures: the rigorously sourced number across 36Kr, Jiemian and English press is Sensor Tower's ~50,000 DAU / ~350,000 MAU (Q1-Q3 2022); medium confidence on exact user numbers. Team lead reported as Xu Luran (徐璐冉), ex-Duoshan (多闪) — medium confidence. appStoreId left empty — could not independently confirm a live App Store numeric ID. IMPORTANT: Do NOT conflate with \"抖音商城 / Douyin Mall,\" a separate later independent commerce app (also published by Beijing Microlive Vision) — different product." }, { "name": "GoGoKid (GoGoKid 在线英语)", "aliases": [ "GoGoKid Online English" ], "status": "dead", "type": "service", "category": "Education (online one-on-one English tutoring for children)", "region": "China (students), with North American teachers (US/Canada)", "dateLaunched": "2018-05", "dateKilled": "2021-08-05", "publisher": "Beijing Bitezhixue Technology Co., Limited. (北京比特智学科技有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Dali Education / 大力教育 (ByteDance edtech brand launched October 2020)", "Beijing Bitezhixue Technology Co., Limited. (北京比特智学科技有限公司) — App Store/Play developer entity and Chinese registered company" ], "appStoreId": "1411412060 (student app: https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/gogokid/id1411412060 ; teacher app \"GOGOKID Teach\": https://apps.apple.com/app/id1489555350)", "description": "ByteDance's app pairing Chinese children with live North American English teachers, a VIPKid rival. China's 2021 \"double reduction\" crackdown killed it.", "killedReason": "China's July 2021 \"double reduction\" (双减) policy and related rules banned for-profit K-12 academic tutoring, restricted online classes during holidays/weekends, required tutoring firms to register as nonprofits, and — critically for GoGoKid — prohibited hiring foreign personnel based outside China (境外外籍人员) to conduct training, which gutted GoGoKid's North-American-teachers-abroad model (the same blow that hit VIPKid). On Aug 5, 2021, GoGoKid issued an official \"Letter to Parents\" announcing it would, effective that day, fully suspend all live-class business, cancel scheduled bookings, and refund remaining class fees (as of 2021-08-02 24:00); remaining points/Unee coins had to be redeemed by Aug 31, 2021. The apps were pulled from Chinese app stores and ByteDance confirmed it would shut the platform down completely. Dali Education announced N+2 severance, and hundreds of edtech staff were laid off.", "link": "https://technode.com/2021/08/05/bytedance-cuts-edtech-headcount-amid-private-tutoring-crackdown-report/", "sources": [ "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/bytedance-goads-tencent-with-competing-english-learning-platform", "https://technode.com/2021/08/05/bytedance-cuts-edtech-headcount-amid-private-tutoring-crackdown-report/", "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-05/bytedance-lays-off-hundreds-after-china-s-education-crackdown", "https://www.workercn.cn/c/2021-08-05/6693590.shtml", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/6448166.html", "https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-08-16-the-collapse-of-china-s-online-tutoring-industry-is-taking-american-educators-down-with-it", "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/bytedance-sets-up-dali-education-brand-to-meet-spiking-demand-for-online-classes-amid-covid-19", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3107675/tiktok-owner-bytedance-consolidates-education-products-under-new", "https://m.mp.oeeee.com/a/BAAFRD000020210810531143.html", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/gogokid/id1411412060", "https://www.appspy.com/publisher/3199192/beijing-bitezhixue-technology-co-limited" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Confidence HIGH on core facts (ByteDance ownership, dead status, May 2018 launch, Aug 5 2021 shutdown). Registered company is 北京比特智学科技有限公司 (智学 = \"smart learning\"), per consistent Chinese-language sources (eeo.com.cn, jiemian, leiphone); App Store's official romanization is \"Beijing Bitezhixue Technology Co., Limited.\" Dali Education launch generalized to October 2020 (SCMP/Yicai/KrAsia) — exact day not independently re-confirmed. Foreign-teacher-abroad ban (境外外籍人员) well-sourced as a decisive factor; EdSurge frames it as one of several causes. Launch exact day not pinned (Yicai dated May 18 2018 says beta started \"this month\"). Shutdown Aug 5 2021 firmly sourced via official Letter to Parents (Worker.cn) + Jiemian + Bloomberg/TechNode; refunds through Aug 2 2021, points expired Aug 31 2021; corporate wind-down trailed into late 2021. Disambiguation: separate App Store app \"GogoKids\" (id1434962847) is NOT this product. App Store id 1411412060 still resolves as a listing but the app/service is dead. Description trimmed to <240 chars per style guide." }, { "name": "瓜瓜龙 (GuaGuaLong)", "aliases": [ "瓜瓜龙启蒙", "瓜瓜龙英语", "瓜瓜龙思维" ], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "Education (early childhood / preschool \"enlightenment\" AI tutoring, ages ~2-8)", "publisher": "北京未来智学教育科技有限公司 (Beijing Future Zhixue Education Technology Co., Ltd.) — wholly ByteDance-owned (sole shareholder 北京字节奇点科技有限公司 / ByteDance Singularity Technology, in turn wholly owned by 字节跳动有限公司 / ByteDance Ltd.); marketed under the 大力教育 (Dali Education) brand", "developerEntities": [ "北京未来智学教育科技有限公司 (Beijing Future Zhixue Education Technology Co., Ltd.) — App Store/WeChat account subject", "北京字节奇点科技有限公司 (Beijing ByteDance Singularity Technology Co., Ltd.) — sole shareholder of Future Zhixue", "大力教育 (Dali Education) — ByteDance education brand umbrella, launched Oct 29, 2020", "字节跳动 (ByteDance Ltd.) — ultimate parent; Zhang Yiming named ultimate beneficiary" ], "appStoreId": "1498345627 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1498345627) — for 瓜瓜龙启蒙; delisted from the App Store as of the 2026-04-15 shutdown", "region": "China (mainland)", "dateLaunched": "2020-03-07", "dateKilled": "2026-04-15", "killedReason": "Killed in two stages by China's education crackdown plus ByteDance's strategic retreat from non-core businesses. Stage 1 (2021): After the State Council's July 24, 2021 \"double reduction\" (双减) policy — which banned online tutoring for preschool-age children and barred foreign teachers — GuaGuaLong's core paid curriculum/short-term classes for ages 2-8 became non-compliant. Dali Education began mass layoffs in early August 2021 (N+2 compensation), cutting GuaGuaLong's roughly 8,000-strong frontline tutor force; the last GuaGuaLong employees were let go around November 2021 with compensation. The brand \"transformed\" rather than fully closing, and the app survived for existing/paid users. Stage 2 (2024-2026): A shutdown notice issued in October 2024 was quickly retracted. ByteDance then re-announced closure around April 2025 (a second notice with identical text but a new date) as it divested non-core education to focus on AI and overseas growth. Per the official notice, the 瓜瓜龙启蒙 app is delisted from app stores and stops service at 00:00 on April 15, 2026; paid course content migrates to the DoudouFox (豆豆狐) app for viewing until April 15, 2029, after which personal data is deleted/anonymized.", "description": "ByteDance's cartoon-dragon tutoring app for kids 2-8. China's 2021 \"double reduction\" crackdown gutted it; ByteDance later shut it for good.", "link": "https://36kr.com/p/3256404332245257", "sources": [ "https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3082033/tiktok-owner-bytedance-eyes-expansion-online-education-help-ai", "https://www.leiphone.com/news/202004/Q1WxzeQyYdKFHj30.html", "https://tech.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202012/02/WS5fc755f6a3101e7ce9732fb7.html", "https://www.donews.com/news/detail/1/3094713.html", "https://www.pingwest.com/w/210585", "https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008198/bytedance-cuts-staff-in-education-business-amid-tightening-rules", "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/bytedance-is-preparing-mass-layoffs-in-education-business", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-08-05/doc-ikqciyzk9740551.shtml", "https://pandaily.com/bytedances-dali-education-reshuffles-completely-abandoning-curriculum-based-tutoring-courses-for-compulsory-education-students/", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250418A078GM00", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250423A02AY800", "https://www.sohu.com/a/886215843_122021998", "https://36kr.com/p/3256404332245257", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1498345627" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIDENCE HIGH. ByteDance ownership independently re-confirmed: GuaGuaLong's WeChat/App Store account subject is 北京未来智学教育科技有限公司, whose investor changed from natural person Ding Huayong to 北京字节奇点科技有限公司 (wholly owned by ByteDance Ltd.; Zhang Yiming ~98.81% / ultimate beneficiary) — DoNews & PingWest. Launch date 2020-03-07 well-attested (Leiphone, Baidu Baike) for GuaGuaLong English; Chinese (语文) added ~late July 2020 per 21jingji. Zhang Ziyi endorsement confirmed (reported April 2021). Status genuinely DEAD: the app fully stops service and is delisted at 00:00 on 2026-04-15 per the official notice quoted by 36Kr and Tencent (a first Oct-2024 notice was retracted; re-announced ~April 2025). DATE-KILLED: product effectively died twice — 2021-11 for the original tutoring business (regulatory crackdown, last staff let go ~Nov 2021) and 2026-04-15 for the app's true end-of-service. dateKilled set to 2026-04-15 (true EOS); if the graveyard prefers the regulatory death, 2021-11 is equally defensible with a note that the app limped on for paid users until 2026. One Chinese headline (sycaijing) cited April 14, 2026, but the official notice text confirms April 15, 2026 00:00, with DoudouFox (豆豆狐) viewing until 2029-04-15. App Store id 1498345627 cited by the draft; could not independently re-confirm via iTunes lookup (app is delisted). Peak metrics (200,000+ students, ~8,000 tutors) are from Chinese press/company statements, not independently audited." }, { "name": "清北网校 (Qingbei Online School)", "status": "dead", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "大力课堂", "Dali Classroom", "华罗庚网校" ], "category": "Education (K-12 large-class online live tutoring)", "publisher": "ByteDance — Dali Education (大力教育). Android app package: com.edu.android.daliketang (the \"daliketang\"/Dali Classroom origin name was retained through the Qingbei rebrand). Operating entity for the app: Beijing Wanyou Yingli Technology Co., Ltd. (北京万友映力科技有限公司), confirmed via ITJuzi and Android app-store listings. Affiliated company name also seen: 清北华数教育科技（北京）有限公司. (Note: sibling Dali products 学浪/瓜瓜龙 are listed under a different shell, 北京引才视教科技有限公司 / Beijing ByteDance Qidian Technology — ByteDance used multiple education shells.)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动) / Toutiao (今日头条)", "Dali Education (大力教育) — independent brand launched 2020-10-29, CEO Chen Lin (陈林)", "Beijing Wanyou Yingli Technology Co., Ltd. (北京万友映力科技有限公司)" ], "appStoreId": "iOS App Store listing delisted/removed post-shutdown; numeric iOS id not findable as of 2026. Android package id: com.edu.android.daliketang (AppChina and Xiaomi store listings now return 404/redirect to homepage, consistent with discontinuation). Do NOT confuse with App Store ids 1661394870 / 1492213039 / 1598245651 (these belong to an unrelated company, Qingbei Daoyuan / 清北道远).", "region": "China (Mainland)", "dateLaunched": "2019-05", "dateKilled": "2022-06", "killedReason": "Killed by China's July 2021 \"double-reduction\" (双减) policy banning for-profit core-subject (K-9 compulsory-education) after-school tutoring. ByteDance's Dali Education wound Qingbei down in stages: live large-class investment was cut from mid-2021 (June 7, 2021 internal all-hands signaled a pivot to AI recorded courses; reported by LatePost/晚点 ~June 25, 2021); middle-school courses were taken offline and enrollment paused starting Aug 2021, with layoffs (n+2 compensation) reported Aug 5-6, 2021 across Dali products (Qingbei, Guagualong, GoGoKid, Nipaiyi). Core compulsory-education subject tutoring had to cease by the regulatory deadline of Dec 31, 2021. The platform was briefly repositioned toward AI courses / a \"smart learning platform,\" but in ByteDance's June 2022 education restructuring (~3,000 layoffs; Dali cut ~80%; announced ~June 18, 2022), the consumer K-12 online-tutoring products were fully wound down — closure/shutdown notices (停运公告) were posted on official sites for GOGOKID, Nipaiyi (你拍一), Qingbei Small Class (清北小班), and Tangyuan English (汤圆英语).", "description": "ByteDance's K-12 live-tutoring app, built from its 2019 buy of Hua Luogeng Online School. China's 2021 \"double reduction\" ban gutted Dali Education and closed it.", "link": "https://technode.com/2021/08/05/bytedance-cuts-edtech-headcount-amid-private-tutoring-crackdown-report/", "sources": [ "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B8%85%E5%8C%97%E7%BD%91%E6%A0%A1/24248771", "https://36kr.com/p/5202640", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/TEC2019101400550700", "https://edu.sina.com.cn/l/2021-08-05/doc-ikqcfncc1138459.shtml", "http://www.duozhi.com/industry/K12/2021080512562.shtml", "https://k.sina.cn/article_7294209083_1b2c4cc3b001014nz7.html", "https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008198/bytedance-cuts-staff-in-education-business-amid-tightening-rules", "https://technode.com/2021/08/05/bytedance-cuts-edtech-headcount-amid-private-tutoring-crackdown-report/", "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-05/bytedance-lays-off-hundreds-after-china-s-education-crackdown", "https://www.jiemodui.com/N/132473.html", "http://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/csj/2022-06-23/doc-imizirav0086176.shtml", "http://m.21jingji.com/article/20201029/herald/012533abb720af9a00f7cd09e92a1c94_zaker.html", "https://www.itjuzi.com/company/34257974", "https://app.mi.com/details?id=com.edu.android.daliketang" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIRMED: Genuinely a ByteDance product (Toutiao/ByteDance acquired 华罗庚网校 in May 2019, rebranded Qingbei; flagship K-12 product under Dali Education 大力教育). Killed by the double-reduction (双减) policy. isByteDance=true, high confidence.\n\nALIAS CORRECTION: The draft listed \"清北小班 (Qingbei Small Class)\" as a plain alias. Per 芥末堆 (June 19, 2022) and Sina Tech (June 23, 2022), the FOUR products that posted official shutdown notices (停运公告) were GOGOKID, 你拍一 (Nipaiyi), 清北小班 (Qingbei Small Class), and 汤圆英语 (Tangyuan English). 清北小班 is the more precise name of the terminal/sub-product that \"ceased operations in 2021\"; 清北网校 is the broader brand that transformed toward AI before the whole consumer K-12 line was gutted in June 2022. Closely related but not strictly identical — kept as a qualified alias.\n\nENTITY: Operating entity 北京万友映力科技有限公司 (Beijing Wanyou Yingli Technology Co., Ltd.) is now CORROBORATED via ITJuzi (itjuzi.com/company/34257974) and Android app-store listings — upgraded from the draft's \"should be double-checked\" caveat. Note sibling Dali products (学浪/瓜瓜龙) sit under a different shell (北京引才视教科技 / ByteDance Qidian), so don't generalize one entity to all Dali products.\n\nDATE NUANCE (unchanged from draft, validated): two-stage death. Live large-class investment cut from mid-2021; core K-9 tutoring ceased by Dec 31, 2021 deadline; full closure in the June 2022 restructuring (~June 18, 2022). dateKilled=2022-06 is the most defensible for full closure; 2021-12 (or 2021) is also defensible if dating by cessation of the core tutoring function. Exact day-level date of Qingbei's own closure notice not pinned (medium-high confidence on 2022-06). dateLaunched=2019-05 reflects the ByteDance relaunch; the underlying startup dates to 2018-04 (华罗庚网校).\n\nNAME: 'Qingbei' = 清北 = abbreviation of 清华+北大 (Tsinghua + Peking). Do NOT conflate with the unrelated \"Qingbei Daoyuan\" (清北道远) high-school apps (App Store ids 1661394870, 1492213039, 1598245651)." }, { "name": "学浪 (Xuelang)", "aliases": [ "抖音学浪" ], "status": "merged", "type": "app", "category": "Education / knowledge-payment (online courses, livestreaming classes, creator courses)", "region": "China (mainland)", "dateLaunched": "2020-08", "dateKilled": "2024-07-31", "publisher": "北京因材施教科技有限公司 (Beijing Yincaishijiao Technology Co., Ltd.)", "developerEntities": [ "北京因材施教科技有限公司 (Beijing Yincaishijiao Technology Co., Ltd.) — App Store / Android publisher", "北京字节奇点科技有限公司 (Beijing Zijie Qidian Technology) — ByteDance education business-line entity that parents Yincaishijiao", "ByteDance / 字节跳动 (ultimate parent)", "大力教育 (Dali Education) — ByteDance education brand that operated it 2020–2021/22", "抖音 (Douyin) — operated the relaunched knowledge-payment version until merge into 抖音课堂 (Douyin Classroom)" ], "appStoreId": "1515674937 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/%E5%AD%A6%E6%B5%AA/id1515674937 ; Android package: com.bytedance.ep.android)", "description": "ByteDance's online-learning app, launched in 2020 and later rebuilt as a Douyin creator-course tool. The standalone app closed in 2024, absorbed into Douyin Classroom.", "killedReason": "The standalone Xuelang app was discontinued at 24:00 on July 31, 2024 and its course business merged into Douyin's in-app \"抖音课堂\" (Douyin Classroom), consolidating ByteDance's knowledge-payment services into Douyin proper. This came amid a broad 2024 contraction of China's paid-knowledge sector (Tencent Classroom and Taobao University also exited), driven by falling repurchase rates, regulatory pressure, and weak willingness to pay. An earlier blow came from the 2021 \"Double Reduction\" (双减) policy, which gutted ByteDance's Dali Education unit and forced Xuelang off K-12 livestreaming into vocational/creator courses.", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240715A076A200", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240715A076A200", "http://www.duozhi.com/industry/insight/2024071516399.shtml", "https://www.sohu.com/a/794152366_100117963", "https://www.163.com/dy/article/J75JUVUQ0536W4EI.html", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/roll/2024-07-19/doc-incervxa7773574.shtml", "http://news.e23.cn/wanxiang/2024-07-21/2024072100178.html", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/4827990.html", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/556987", "https://m.ithome.com/html/503088.htm", "https://36kr.com/p/1499519622888065", "https://www.jiemodui.com/N/132473.html", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-08-05/doc-ikqcfncc1121493.shtml", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/%E5%AD%A6%E6%B5%AA/id1515674937", "https://sj.qq.com/appdetail/com.bytedance.ep.android", "https://blog.csdn.net/ht123456666/article/details/140179758", "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/711033989" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIRMED ByteDance product (high confidence): App Store publisher 北京因材施教科技有限公司 is a subsidiary of 北京字节奇点科技有限公司 (ByteDance's education business-line entity); Android package com.bytedance.ep.android. SHUTDOWN: standalone app stopped service 2024-07-31 (24:00), absorbed into 抖音课堂 (Douyin Classroom), confirmed by Tencent News/QQ, Duozhi/多知, Sohu, 163, Sina, all quoting the official in-app notice. STATUS = \"merged\" (function absorbed into Douyin's in-app Classroom; standalone 学浪 brand/app disappeared). LAUNCH: ~mid-Aug 2020 (Jiemian/CLS/IT之家 reports dated Aug 13–14, 2020 announcing 学浪 + 清北小班); Dali Education brand publicly announced Oct 29, 2020. dateLaunched=2020-08 (medium confidence on exact day). The Nov 2021 event was a large Dali Education layoff round (~2,000 staff; Xuelang ~200 team cut by >half) forcing a pivot off K-12, NOT a full disbandment. App Store id 1515674937, last version 7.6.0 (July 15, 2024). Precision note: Alibaba dissolved 淘宝大学 and folded it into 淘宝教育; Tencent Classroom stopped course access Aug 1, 2024 and fully closed Oct 1, 2024." }, { "name": "汤圆英语 (Tangyuan English)", "aliases": [], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "Education (English learning)", "region": "China", "publisher": "Beijing Bitezhixue Technology Co., Ltd. (北京比特智学科技有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "北京比特智学科技有限公司 (Beijing Bitezhixue Technology Co., Ltd.) — wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary; ultimate beneficiary Zhang Yiming (张一鸣, ~98.81% stake); same subsidiary behind the aiKID kids' English product. App Store seller listed as 'Beijing Bitezhixue Technology Co., Limited'", "ByteDance (字节跳动 / 今日头条 Toutiao) — ultimate parent", "Dali Education / 大力教育 — ByteDance's standalone education brand (launched Oct 29, 2020) under which the product was consolidated before shutdown" ], "appStoreId": "1450098745 (App Store China; https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1450098745 — page now returns HTTP 404, app delisted). Android package: com.android.et.english (Xiaomi store listing also delisted)", "dateLaunched": "2019-07", "dateKilled": "2021", "killedReason": "Shut down as part of ByteDance/Dali Education's retreat from the K-12 / language-tutoring sector following China's \"double reduction\" (双减) crackdown on after-school tutoring announced in July 2021. The 双减 rules barred online tutoring for preschoolers, restricted hiring of foreign teachers, and banned for-profit K-12 tutoring, gutting the business model. Tangyuan English (one of four Dali businesses: GOGOKID, 你拍一/YouPaiYi, 清北小班/Qingbei small class, and 汤圆英语) posted a suspension notice (停运公告) on its official site on Feb 18, 2022, with services having actually ceased before the end of 2021; a compensation/refund window was provided for paying users.", "description": "ByteDance's English app pairing a Douyin-style video feed with AI pronunciation scoring. Launched in 2019; China's 2021 \"double reduction\" crackdown closed it.", "link": "https://technode.com/2019/07/09/bytedance-tests-online-english-learning-app-tangyuan-english/", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2019/07/09/bytedance-tests-online-english-learning-app-tangyuan-english/", "https://cn.technode.com/post/2019-07-09/the-message-said-bytedance-was-testing-an-ai-english-learning-app-named-tangyuan-english/", "https://en.pingwest.com/w/2615", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-begins-trials-of-another-english-learning-app-in-ever-growing-appetite-for-education", "https://m.jiemian.com/article/3290828.html", "https://www.donews.com/news/detail/1/3195083.html", "https://www.ithome.com/0/604/061.htm", "https://k.sina.cn/article_6192937794_17120bb4202001rqb9.html", "https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_16785544", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1450098745" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "DEVELOPER ENTITY DISCREPANCY RESOLVED: The bulk of Chinese sources (Jiemian, NetEase 163, 36Kr, newrank) confirm Tangyuan English's operating company is ByteDance wholly-owned subsidiary 北京比特智学科技有限公司 (Beijing Bitezhixue), same as aiKID. One TechNode-cn source attributed the immediate registrant to 北京点点看看科技有限公司 (Diandiankankan) — but that entity actually developed ByteDance's OTHER English apps (开言英语/OpenLanguage and 读白背单词); the 比特智学 attribution for Tangyuan English is correct. DATES: dateLaunched 2019-07 = internal-testing start (reported July 8-9, 2019); MoE filing (教育部备案) Dec 24, 2019 — exact public-release day not pinned (medium confidence on precise public-launch day, high confidence operating in 2019). dateKilled 2021 = service actually ceased before end of 2021 (functional death); public suspension notice (停运公告) posted Feb 18, 2022 — so a 2022 date refers to the announcement, not cessation. STATUS verification: App Store id 1450098745 now returns HTTP 404; Xiaomi listing (com.android.et.english) delisted; the official domain tangyuanyingyu.com has been dropped and re-registered as an unrelated sports-streaming site (看球通) — all consistent with the app being fully dead." }, { "name": "你拍一 (NPY)", "aliases": [ "酷数学", "Cool Math" ], "status": "acquired-shut", "type": "app", "category": "Education", "description": "An animated math app teaching logic to kids 3-12 in small live classes. ByteDance bought it in 2020 and shut it in 2021 when \"double reduction\" outlawed it.", "dateLaunched": "2018-10-10", "dateKilled": "2021-08-05", "killedReason": "Killed by China's July 2021 \"double reduction\" (双减) policy crackdown on the private after-school tutoring industry, which banned online tutoring for preschool-aged children and severely restricted curriculum-based tutoring — directly outlawing NPY's early-childhood online math-thinking classes (regulators treated such products as disguised \"幼小衔接\" preschool-to-primary training). As part of Dali Education's business adjustment announced August 5, 2021, NPY and GOGOKID were shut down (关停) — distinct from sister brands 清北网校 (Qingbei) and 瓜瓜龙 (Guagualong), which were pivoted/transformed (转型) rather than immediately closed. NPY announced it would fully suspend its live-streaming course business effective August 5, 2021 (\"自8月5日起(含8月5日)将全面暂停直播课业务\"), removed its app from app stores, and began refunding families: course balances as of 23:59 on Aug 2, 2021; classes on Aug 3-4 not charged; refunds within 20 working days. The shutdown came amid ByteDance's broader edtech retreat and major layoffs (N+2 compensation) across Dali Education in 2021.", "publisher": "Beijing Tianfu Tong Education Technology Co., Ltd. (北京天赋通教育科技有限公司); after Aug 2020 owned by ByteDance under its education unit, later branded Dali Education (大力教育)", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Tianfu Tong Education Technology Co., Ltd. (北京天赋通教育科技有限公司)", "ByteDance education unit / Dali Education (大力教育)" ], "appStoreId": "", "region": "China (mainland)", "link": "https://edu.sina.com.cn/l/2021-08-05/doc-ikqcfncc1138459.shtml", "sources": [ "https://edu.sina.com.cn/l/2021-08-05/doc-ikqcfncc1138459.shtml", "https://www.sohu.com/a/414311545_114988", "https://edu.sina.cn/zxx/2018-10-15/detail-ifxeuwws4529009.d.html", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-acquires-edtech-startup-npy-strengthens-its-education-unit", "https://equalocean.com/briefing/20200821230003361", "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_8872404", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-08-05/doc-ikqciyzk9740551.shtml", "https://www.dsb.cn/176949.html", "https://m.capitalwatch.com/details/news/after-edtech-failure-bytedance-sets-new-focus.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED from scratch. NPY is a real ByteDance product: acquisition announced August 21, 2020 (Sohu, EqualOcean); shut down August 5, 2021. \"NPY\" is the romanized initialism of \"Nǐ Pāi Yī\" (你拍一) used by English tech press (Pandaily, KrASIA). Former brand confirmed as 酷数学CoolMath (Cool Math), renamed to 你拍一 on Oct 10, 2018 (Sina Edu). Target age 3-12 per most sources; the Oct 2018 Sina rename article says 2-12. Operating company 北京天赋通教育科技有限公司, CEO 唐振华 (Tang Zhenhua), all confirmed. App Store numeric ID not locatable (app delisted 2021). Pre-acquisition ~20-30M monthly users is press-reported (Pandaily) — treat the exact figure as medium confidence. Description condensed to killedbygoogle.com style (<=240 chars)." }, { "name": "大力课堂 (Dali Ketang)", "aliases": [ "Dali Classroom", "清北网校", "Qingbei Online School" ], "status": "rebranded", "type": "app", "category": "Education (K-12 online live large-class tutoring)", "description": "ByteDance's K-12 live-tutoring app, built on the acquired Qingbei Online School. The Dali Ketang name lasted two weeks before reverting to Qingbei Wangxiao.", "dateLaunched": "2019-05", "dateKilled": "2019-05", "killedReason": "The \"Dali Ketang\" brand name was extremely short-lived. According to 36Kr and Leiphone, roughly half a month (~2 weeks) after its May 2019 launch ByteDance reverted the consumer brand name back to \"Qingbei Wangxiao\" (清北网校 / Qingbei Online School). The product itself continued under the Qingbei name, was later folded into ByteDance's standalone Dali Education (大力教育) brand unveiled at an Oct 29-30, 2020 launch event (alongside GoGoKid, Guagua Long/瓜瓜龙, Kaiyan/开言英语, etc.; CEO Chen Lin), and the underlying K-12 academic-tutoring operations were then wound down/restructured following China's July 24, 2021 \"double reduction\" (双减) crackdown that banned for-profit tutoring on the school curriculum for K-9. ByteDance began mass layoffs in its education unit around August 5, 2021; GoGoKid was shut down outright while Qingbei and Guagua Long pivoted toward non-academic education. The name died via rebrand in mid-2019; the underlying Qingbei product was wound down via the 2021 crackdown.", "region": "China (mainland)", "publisher": "Beijing Wanyou Yingli Technology Co., Ltd. (北京万友映力科技有限公司) — a ByteDance / Toutiao entity (legal rep Li Fei)", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Wanyou Yingli Technology Co., Ltd. (北京万友映力科技有限公司)", "Beijing ByteDance / Toutiao (今日头条) education unit", "Dali Education (大力教育) brand from Oct 2020", "Qingbei Wangxiao (清北网校) operating entity" ], "appStoreId": "", "link": "https://technode.com/2019/05/09/briefing-bytedance-launches-k-12-online-education-platform-dali-ketang/", "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED ByteDance product (high confidence). Independently re-confirmed all core claims: (1) 36Kr exclusive (36kr.com/p/1723640053761, May 9 2019) confirms ByteDance/Toutiao launched 大力课堂, operated by 北京万友映力科技有限公司 (legal rep Li Fei), built on the acquired 清北网校 team, 100% Tsinghua/Peking U teachers, 小学数学思维+初中语文 summer courses, ~50,000 enrollment target, main-lecturer+TA model. TechNode (May 9 2019) corroborates it as ByteDance's third K-12 push after GoGoKid and aiKID. (2) The rapid rebrand back to 清北网校 is confirmed: Leiphone (Dec 2019) and 36Kr both report the brand reverted to 清北网校 after ~half a month (\"在'大力课堂'推出半个月后...品牌名称改回'清北网校'\"); exact day of the rebrand not pinned, only \"~half a month after launch.\" (3) Acquisition price ~RMB 20 million corroborated by multiple Chinese sources. (4) Qingbei pre-history confirmed: founded April 2018 by Liu Yong (刘庸), angel round of RMB 10 million from ZhenFund (徐小平/真格基金). (5) Dali Education (大力教育) brand launch confirmed at an Oct 29-30, 2020 event (People's Daily/36Kr/Duozhi) — note the press conference was Oct 29, widely reported Oct 30; product matrix expressly included 清北网校. (6) 2021 双减 crackdown (policy issued July 24, 2021) and ~Aug 5, 2021 ByteDance education layoffs confirmed by Bloomberg/Caixin/Yicai/Global Times; GoGoKid shut down, Qingbei & Guagua Long pivoted to non-curriculum subjects. CAVEAT ON STATUS/DATE: status=rebranded with dateKilled=2019-05 reflects the death of the NAME (the documented, sourceable event). If the graveyard tracks the underlying product's operational death instead, that occurred ~July-Dec 2021 via 双减 (status could alternatively be 'banned'/regulatory or 'merged' into Dali Education, dateKilled 2021). App Store numeric ID for the ByteDance-era Qingbei/Dali Ketang app could not be confirmed (delisted after 2021 crackdown). Do not confuse with id 911639256 (学堂在线/XuetangX, Tsinghua MOOC, unrelated) or id 1466019487 (名师云课堂, unrelated). 'Dali Xiaoban' (大力小班, online small-class product launched Dec 2019) is a distinct sibling product. Minor spelling note: 映力 is more commonly romanized \"Yingli\" than \"Yingyi\" (draft had \"Yingyi\"); the Chinese 北京万友映力科技有限公司 is authoritative.", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2019/05/09/briefing-bytedance-launches-k-12-online-education-platform-dali-ketang/", "https://36kr.com/p/1723640053761", "https://www.leiphone.com/news/201912/xp3HSIRAb5NJxg8B.html", "https://tech.sina.cn/i/gn/2019-05-09/detail-ihvhiqax7562500.d.html", "http://www.duozhi.com/company/201905098679.shtml", "http://finance.people.com.cn/n1/2020/1030/c1004-31913432.html", "http://www.duozhi.com/industry/insight/2020102911272.shtml", "https://36kr.com/p/945372334550661", "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/bytedance-is-preparing-mass-layoffs-in-education-business", "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2021-08-06/bytedance-lays-off-hundreds-after-chinas-tutoring-crackdown-101752134.html", "https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1230740.shtml", "https://pandaily.com/bytedances-dali-education-and-gaotu-to-layoff-employees-under-pressure-of-double-reduction-policy/" ], "stoppedUpdating": false, "successor": "Qingbei Wangxiao (清北网校 / Qingbei Online School)" }, { "name": "Snapsolve", "aliases": [ "SnapSolve: Doubt Solving App", "SnapSolve: Homework Help" ], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "Education (photo/OCR homework & \"doubt-solving\", test prep)", "region": "India", "dateLaunched": "2020-03", "dateKilled": "2021-11-22", "publisher": "WhizSolve Pte. Ltd. (Singapore-based ByteDance entity)", "developerEntities": [ "WhizSolve Pte. Ltd. (Singapore)", "ByteDance Ltd. (parent)" ], "appStoreId": "Android package: app.homework.solve (Google Play, now unpublished). No confirmed original Apple App Store id for the ByteDance version. NOTE: Apple App Store id6473076072 (\"SnapSolve: Homework Solver AI\", by CamelCake/SnapSolve Labs/Abdellatif Abdelfattah) is an UNRELATED later app, NOT ByteDance.", "description": "ByteDance's photo-homework app for Indian students in grades 6-12. ByteDance closed it in 2021 when it quit India's edtech market.", "killedReason": "ByteDance wound down its entire India edtech business. The decision was communicated internally to the India edtech team (\"over three dozen\" people per reports) on Monday Nov 22, 2021, with most/all staff laid off; the move followed weeks of discussions that had explored migrating the India team to ByteDance's European edtech team. Underlying causes: the June 2020 India ban on TikTok and other ByteDance apps choked distribution and made the environment for a Chinese-owned product in India untenable, and the app failed to gain traction in a crowded doubt-solving market. The shutdown left Resso as the only remaining ByteDance consumer product in India at the time. Consistent with ByteDance's broader 2021 global edtech retreat following China's July 2021 \"double reduction\" (双减) tutoring crackdown.", "link": "https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/21/bytedance-is-shutting-down-edtech-business-snapsolve-in-india/", "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED from scratch. HIGH confidence this was a genuine ByteDance product and that it was shut down in India in Nov 2021. ByteDance ownership corroborated by TechCrunch (headline + body framing it as ByteDance's India edtech business), MediaNama, BusinessToday, Business Standard, Deccan Herald, Pandaily. The Singapore operating entity WhizSolve Pte. Ltd. is explicitly tied to ByteDance by oldrope.club (\"Bytedance operates Snapsolve under a Singapore-based entity, WhizSolve Pte. Ltd.\") and WhizSolve is confirmed as the app developer on AppAdvice and app-store listings.\n\nDate precision: dateKilled = 2021-11-22 = the Monday on which ByteDance informed the India team (TechCrunch dated Nov 21 says staff told \"on Monday\"; Nov 22, 2021 was that Monday; Indian outlets carried it Nov 22-23). This is the wind-down decision date. MEDIUM confidence on the exact day.\n\ndateLaunched = 2020-03 is from third-party app trackers (AppBrain/APKPure) reporting the Android package app.homework.solve first appeared on Google Play in March 2020. No official launch press release found. MEDIUM confidence on month.\n\nApp lifecycle: last Google Play update Nov 15, 2021 (just before shutdown); rating ~4.35 from ~70k ratings; the Play listing was UNPUBLISHED around Jan 18, 2024 (app-tracker data) — well after operations ceased, so the brand/listing lingered after the team was disbanded.\n\nDISAMBIGUATION (confirmed): the current snapsolve.in / snapsolve.ai sites and Apple App Store \"SnapSolve: Homework Solver AI\" (id6473076072, by CamelCake / SnapSolve Labs / Abdellatif Abdelfattah), plus Google Play packages com.homeworksolverai.app, com.ekspeace.snapsolve, com.fasttech.snapsolve, are UNRELATED third-party apps reusing the \"SnapSolve\" name — NOT ByteDance. The genuine ByteDance product is Android package app.homework.solve under WhizSolve Pte. Ltd.\n\nCaveats: no original Apple App Store ID confirmed for the ByteDance version. The \"over three dozen / ~36 staff\" and \"1M+ students\" figures come from press reports / app marketing, not audited disclosures.", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/21/bytedance-is-shutting-down-edtech-business-snapsolve-in-india/", "https://www.medianama.com/2021/11/223-bytedance-shuts-down-snapsolve-india/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-to-shut-down-edtech-business-in-india/", "https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/corporate/story/tiktok-parent-bytedance-to-shut-edtech-business-snapsolve-in-india-313127-2021-11-23", "https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/tiktok-owner-bytedance-to-shut-edtech-business-in-india-says-report-121112200893_1.html", "https://www.deccanherald.com/business/business-news/tiktok-owner-bytedance-to-shut-its-edtech-business-in-india-report-1053464.html", "https://www.oldrope.club/p/edtech-in-india-amazon-bytedance-yy-yfd", "https://en.jmdedu.com/Article/758", "https://www.appbrain.com/app/snapsolve-doubt-solving-app/app.homework.solve", "https://appadvice.com/app/snapsolve-doubt-solving-app/1508251137", "https://technode.com/2021/08/05/bytedance-cuts-edtech-headcount-amid-private-tutoring-crackdown-report/", "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/snapsolve-homework-solver-ai/id6473076072" ] }, { "name": "大力智能学习灯 (Dali Smart Learning Lamp)", "aliases": [ "大力智能", "Dali Smart", "大力台灯" ], "status": "merged", "type": "hardware", "category": "Hardware — education / smart desk lamp (AI homework tutoring + parental video monitoring)", "region": "China (mainland only; never released internationally)", "publisher": "北京孔明科技有限公司 (Beijing Kongming Technology Co., Ltd.) — operator of the Dali Smart (大力智能) consumer-hardware brand and the dali.com.cn site; 100% owned by ByteDance via its wholly-owned subsidiary 北京字节奇点科技有限公司 (Beijing Bytedance Qidian / \"Singularity\" Technology Co., Ltd.). Part of the 大力教育 (Dali Education) brand, ByteDance's education arm (umbrella operating entity 北京大力教育科技有限公司). Companion app 大力家长 bundle id com.kongming.android.h.parent; \"kongming\" matches the Kongming operating company and ByteDance's internal education codename.", "appStoreId": "1469193108 — companion app 大力家长 (Dali Parent): https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1469193108 (Android package: com.kongming.android.h.parent). This is the companion mobile app, not the lamp itself (the lamp is hardware). Note: the app reportedly remained listed/updated (e.g. v6.5.x) even after the hardware line was wound down.", "dateLaunched": "2020-10-29", "dateKilled": "2022-07", "developerEntities": [ "北京孔明科技有限公司 (Beijing Kongming Technology Co., Ltd.) — Dali Smart brand operator (dali.com.cn)", "北京字节奇点科技有限公司 (ByteDance subsidiary holding 100% of Kongming)", "北京大力教育科技有限公司 (Beijing Dali Education Technology Co., Ltd.) — Dali Education umbrella entity", "大力教育 (Dali Education) — ByteDance education brand", "大力智能 (Dali Smart) — consumer hardware sub-brand", "字节跳动 / ByteDance (ultimate parent)" ], "description": "ByteDance's first hardware: a kids' smart desk lamp with a touchscreen and cameras for AI homework help. China's 2021 \"double reduction\" crackdown sank the line by 2022.", "killedReason": "Casualty of China's July 2021 'Double Reduction' (双减) crackdown on for-profit K-12 tutoring, which gutted ByteDance's broader education unit. In the July 2022 Dali Education restructuring, the education business was cut by roughly 80% (down to ~1,000 staff) and at least 50% of the smart-hardware team was laid off; ByteDance decided to stop releasing new lamp models (the hardware business 'had not developed as expected'). The line was effectively wound down — no new models after the Y6 (Dec 2021). By around July 2024 the T6 Pro was delisted from all retail platforms, with official customer service citing a 'company strategic adjustment' and that sales had stopped.", "link": "https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/29/bytedance-announces-its-first-gadget-in-a-big-education-push/", "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuinely ByteDance (HIGH). Independently confirmed: the Dali Smart brand and dali.com.cn are operated by 北京孔明科技有限公司 (Beijing Kongming Technology), which is 100% owned by ByteDance via wholly-owned subsidiary 北京字节奇点科技有限公司 (NetEase/BJNews coverage of the equity stake). This is a clearer/more accurate operating entity than the draft's 北京大力教育科技有限公司 (which is the Dali Education umbrella); both are retained in developerEntities. The 'kongming' codename in the app bundle id matches this company.\\n\\nDATE CORRECTION: Y6 launch is Dec 1, 2021 (HIGH — China Daily caijing 2021-12-01, Sina VR 2021-12-01), NOT Dec 7 as the draft suggested. T6/T6 Pro = Aug 5, 2021 (HIGH, more precise than draft's generic 'August 2021'). T5/T5 Pro = Oct 29, 2020, 799 yuan/~$119 (HIGH — TechCrunch, Gizmochina, Pandaily, Bloomberg). 1M cumulative units by Dec 2021 (HIGH — Baidu Baike + Chinese press).\\n\\nSTATUS NUANCE: Kept as 'merged'/wound-down (graveyard-eligible). No single official shutdown announcement, but the death is well-evidenced: (a) July 2022 layoffs + decision to release no new lamp models (last model = Y6, Dec 2021); (b) ~July 2024 T6 Pro delisted from all platforms with customer service citing 'strategic adjustment / stopped sales'; (c) into 2025-2026, widespread T6-series blackscreen/won't-power-on failures with paid-only repair (~400 yuan), users resorting to mtkclient unbricking (Sina Black Cat complaints, CSDN) — i.e. effectively abandoned post-warranty. The brand site dali.com.cn still loads and the 大力家长 app stays listed, so it is an abandoned/discontinued line rather than a fully deleted product. Could equally be tagged 'discontinued'. dateKilled kept as 2022-07 (effective end of the active line); the 2024-07 retail delisting could alternatively be used.\\n\\nREGION: China-only (HIGH).", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/29/bytedance-announces-its-first-gadget-in-a-big-education-push/", "https://www.gizmochina.com/2020/10/29/bytedance-outs-the-dali-smart-tutoring-lamp-t5-with-a-phone-size-screen-ai-camera/", "https://pandaily.com/tech-unicorn-bytedance-launches-smart-lamp-along-with-education-brand-dali/", "https://musically.com/2020/10/30/bytedance-launches-its-first-hardware-a-smart-lamp-and-screen/", "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-29/tiktok-s-owner-sells-its-first-consumer-gadget-and-it-s-a-lamp", "https://technode.com/2021/02/05/bytedance-dali-spy-lamp/", "https://equalocean.com/news/2022071118475", "https://pandaily.com/bytedances-dali-education-and-gaotu-to-layoff-employees-under-pressure-of-double-reduction-policy/", "https://m.ofweek.com/im/2022-07/ART-201900-8460-30567446.html", "https://www.donews.com/article/detail/5092/44193.html", "https://caijing.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202112/01/WS61a73091a3107be4979fadcf.html", "http://vr.sina.cn/news/2021-12-01/detail-ikyamrmy6131009.d.html", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E5%8A%9B%E6%99%BA%E8%83%BD%E5%AD%A6%E4%B9%A0%E7%81%AF/57281320", "https://m.163.com/dy/article/FPV249NN0519QIKK.html", "https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/160376837415535.html", "https://www.dali.com.cn/", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/%E5%A4%A7%E5%8A%9B%E5%AE%B6%E9%95%BF/id1469193108", "https://tousu.sina.com.cn/complaint/view/17393988085", "https://blog.csdn.net/m0_72636583/article/details/156065641" ] }, { "name": "悟空搜索 (Wukong Search)", "status": "rebranded", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "小悟空", "Little Wukong" ], "category": "search engine", "region": "China (mainland)", "dateLaunched": "2022-02", "dateKilled": "2023-09-12", "publisher": "Beijing Wuxian Weidu Technology Co., Ltd. (北京无限维度科技有限公司 / \"Beijing Infinite Dimension Technology\"), an indirect wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Wuxian Weidu Technology Co., Ltd. (北京无限维度科技有限公司, a.k.a. Beijing Infinite Dimension Technology) — indirect wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary, founded 2021-06-22, registered capital RMB 1M, legal rep Li Fei (李飞)", "ByteDance / Douyin Group (字节跳动 / 抖音集团)" ], "appStoreId": "1607244485 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1607244485 — current listing is 小悟空, an AI toolkit under 抖音集团/Douyin Group; Android package com.wukong.search)", "description": "ByteDance's ad-free search app, a Baidu challenger. It never dented Baidu and, in the post-ChatGPT rush, was renamed Xiao Wukong in 2023 and made an AI assistant.", "killedReason": "Not shut down but rebranded/repositioned. As a standalone ad-free search engine, Wukong Search struggled to dent Baidu's dominance and largely re-surfaced ByteDance's own ecosystem content. Amid the post-ChatGPT 2023 generative-AI wave, ByteDance pivoted the app: on 12 Sept 2023 (v1.4) it was renamed 小悟空 (Xiao Wukong) and converted into an LLM-powered AI tool-suite/assistant (on the Yunque/云雀 model), retiring the \"Wukong Search\" pure-search branding.", "link": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3189906/tiktok-owner-bytedance-quietly-launches-search-app-wukong-china-where", "sources": [ "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3189906/tiktok-owner-bytedance-quietly-launches-search-app-wukong-china-where", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/internet/2022-08-23/doc-imizmscv7337868.shtml", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-launches-new-search-app-wukong/", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/6274894.html", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-06-24/doc-ikqcfnca2908704.shtml", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230912A06E9500", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230912A07WXZ00", "https://www.chinaz.com/2023/0912/1558361.shtml", "https://www.ithome.com/0/718/425.htm", "https://news.zol.com.cn/832/8322912.html", "https://news.mydrivers.com/1/934/934472.htm", "https://www.gamersky.com/tech/202309/1644559.shtml", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230912A09A6900", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%82%9F%E7%A9%BA%E6%90%9C%E7%B4%A2/60097109", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1607244485" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "RENAME DATE 2023-09-12 (v1.4) is HIGH confidence — corroborated by many contemporaneous Chinese outlets all dated Sept 12, 2023 (Tencent News, ChinaZ, IThome/IT之家, ZOL/中关村在线, MyDrivers/快科技, GamerSky/游民星空, ZhiDx/智东西). The Baidu Baike '2025年5月16日' rename date is an erroneous/late page-edit artifact, contradicted by the overwhelming Sept-2023 reporting; rejected. LAUNCH DATE: kept as 2022-02 (original quiet soft launch, per Baidu Baike and the early-2022 App Store ID 1607244485), but the verifiable press-documented public launch — with the 'ad-free' tagline, days after Tencent retired Sogou's standalone app (Aug 8, 2022) — was AUGUST 2022 (SCMP, Sina explicitly dates Aug 23 2022, TechWeb, Pandaily). MEDIUM confidence on exact launch month. STATUS = rebranded (NOT dead): the app still exists and is actively operating as 小悟空 (Yunque-LLM AI toolkit) under the same App Store ID and com.wukong.search package; only the search-engine branding was retired. ~740K iOS downloads as of late 2023. ByteDance ties verified: developer 北京无限维度科技有限公司 founded 2021-06-22, RMB 1M capital, legal rep 李飞, indirectly wholly owned by 字节跳动有限公司 (Jiemian, Sina, Tianyancha); ran the whole 'Wukong' family (搜索/浏览器/问答). SCMP independently attributes Wukong to 'ByteDance subsidiary Beijing Infinite Dimension Technology.' Current listing under 抖音集团 (Douyin Group). Draft record is accurate as written.", "stoppedUpdating": true, "successor": "小悟空 (Xiao Wukong)" }, { "name": "闪电搜索 (Shandian Search)", "aliases": [ "Lightning Search" ], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "Search engine", "region": "China", "publisher": "北京抖音信息服务有限公司 (Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd.)", "developerEntities": [ "北京抖音信息服务有限公司 (Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd., formerly Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. / 北京字节跳动科技有限公司)" ], "appStoreId": "", "dateLaunched": "2023-09", "dateKilled": "2023-12", "killedReason": "Failed to gain traction in a search market dominated by Baidu, and was another in a long line of unsuccessful ByteDance standalone search attempts (after Toutiao Search and Wukong Search). Per Sina Finance (Sept 2024), the app's last update stayed at December 2023 and it was progressively delisted from Chinese app stores thereafter. ByteDance subsequently consolidated its search ambitions around Douyin Search (a standalone search app that rolled out on Huawei/vivo app stores in late August / early September 2024), abandoning the Toutiao-content-based Shandian Search line.", "description": "A short-lived ByteDance search app built on Toutiao's content. It lasted barely three months before stalling at its 2023 update and vanishing from China's app stores.", "link": "https://36kr.com/p/2446590743287681", "sources": [ "https://36kr.com/p/2446590743287681", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230925A0114Q00", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230928A09AJZ00", "https://www.3elife.net/Art/internet/202309/27/87122.html", "https://www.sohu.com/a/724081478_184641", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/2024-09-04/doc-incmxxun2788223.shtml", "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_28531456", "https://www.woshipm.com/share/6111302.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIRMED ByteDance product and CONFIRMED dead. Launched ~late September 2023; 36Kr (2446590743287681) and Tencent/QQ News both dated 25 Sept 2023 report it as \"近日\" (just) launched. The retrospective Sina Finance article (2024-09-04) explicitly states: \"闪电搜索上线于2023年9月，最后一次更新停留在2023年12月。目前，闪电搜索已在各大应用商城逐个下架\" (launched Sept 2023, last update Dec 2023, now delisted from major app stores one by one) — this is the basis for dateKilled = 2023-12. Confidence HIGH: status and dates corroborated by reputable tech press (36Kr, Tencent News, The Paper/澎湃, Sina Finance, Woshipm).\n\nDATE PRECISION: Exact launch day not found (sources only give 'late September 2023'); dateLaunched = 2023-09. dateKilled = 2023-12 is the documented last-update date; full delisting was gradual through 2024, so the precise final-removal day is undocumented, but 'dead' is unambiguously correct.\n\nPUBLISHER: 3elife names the publisher as 北京抖音信息服务有限公司 (即原北京字节跳动科技有限公司). The App Store developer-account name could not be independently confirmed because the app is delisted; medium confidence on the exact shell entity, but ByteDance ownership is certain.\n\nAPP STORE ID: Not findable — delisted from Chinese app stores, no live listing or numeric ID.\n\nNAME-CLASH WARNINGS (excluded): (1) a third-party desktop file-search utility '闪电搜索' on download aggregators (mydown, downkuai, 32r, bear20) — unrelated; (2) GitHub cybersecurity asset-mapping tools testzboy/FlashSearch and xzajyjs/ThunderSearch — unrelated; (3) a video-streaming/download app '闪电搜索V1.2.3' on OnePlus forum — unrelated.\n\nUNVERIFIED LEAD: one low-quality download-aggregator page (2265.com) claimed the ByteDance app was '更名爱看' (renamed Aikan/'爱看'). This is NOT corroborated by any tech press and aggregator relabeling is unreliable, so it was not adopted; flagging in case future research surfaces a credible rename." }, { "name": "头条搜索 (Toutiao Search)", "aliases": [ "有柿", "Youshi", "今日头条搜索" ], "status": "rebranded", "type": "app", "category": "search engine", "region": "China", "publisher": "Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司); the rebranded 有柿 app is published under Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司)", "Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司)" ], "appStoreId": "", "dateLaunched": "2019-08-11", "dateKilled": "2023-04", "description": "ByteDance's web search app, built to challenge Baidu. It never displaced the leader and in 2023 became Youshi, a lifestyle community; web search lives on in Toutiao.", "killedReason": "The standalone search app failed to meaningfully erode Baidu's lead amid an overall decline of standalone search use in China (users increasingly searching inside content apps like Douyin/Toutiao). Rather than shut it down, ByteDance repurposed the app: in April 2023 it converted the Toutiao Search app into \"有柿\" (Youshi), a Xiaohongshu-style image-and-text lifestyle \"种草\" (content-seeding) community, leveraging Toutiao's existing content library and creators and aligning with Douyin's e-commerce strategy. General web search persisted as an in-app feature of Jinri Toutiao. ByteDance made further separate search attempts (e.g. Wukong Search/悟空搜索, Douyin Search).", "link": "https://technode.com/2023/04/25/bytedance-launches-xiaohongshu-competitor-youshi/", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/11/bytedance-launches-a-new-search-portal-that-returns-a-mix-of-results-from-the-web-and-its-own-platforms/", "https://technode.com/2019/03/06/bytedance-launches-external-search-in-jinri-toutiao-creeps-into-baidu-territory/", "https://technode.com/2020/02/28/bytedance-ups-baidu-rivalry-with-new-search-app/", "https://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2020-02-28/doc-iimxxstf4956149.shtml", "https://www.chinaz.com/2020/0228/1113382.shtml", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/4040294.html", "https://technode.com/2023/04/25/bytedance-launches-xiaohongshu-competitor-youshi/", "https://finance.sina.cn/2023-04-25/detail-imyrrksc4353050.d.html?from=wap", "https://36kr.com/p/2227429921756036", "https://www.digitaling.com/articles/923593.html", "https://www.bbtnews.com.cn/2023/0425/473923.shtml", "https://sj.qq.com/appdetail/com.ss.android.article.search" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Status correctly classified as \"rebranded\" (not a clean shutdown): the Toutiao Search standalone app was upgraded/renamed into 有柿 (Yǒushì / \"Youshi\"), a Xiaohongshu-style lifestyle community, in April 2023; web search itself persists as an in-app function within Jinri Toutiao. Two distinct launch milestones, both high confidence: (1) 2019-08-11 = search portal rolled out within Toutiao's website (TechCrunch); internal tests from ~March 2019 (TechNode). (2) Standalone app: TechNode dates release to Feb 20, 2020 (Android store data); Chinese press (Sina Tech, Chinaz, Jiemian) dates the public announcement / app-store rollout to Feb 28, 2020. dateLaunched uses the 2019-08-11 origin. dateKilled = 2023-04 reflects the rebrand to 有柿 (a Tencent App Store listing showed the app-store update dated 2023-04-18; TechNode/Sina/36Kr reported it 2023-04-25), not a true death; medium confidence on the precise day. Could not load Baidu Baike (HTTP 403) to cross-check the canonical Chinese definition, but all other sources align. Do not confuse with separate later ByteDance search efforts: Wukong Search (悟空搜索), Douyin Search (抖音搜索). Continuity proven by Android package name com.ss.android.article.search (ByteDance's com.ss.android namespace), carried over from Toutiao Search to 有柿.", "stoppedUpdating": true, "successor": "有柿 (Youshi)" }, { "name": "互动百科 (Hudong Baike)", "aliases": [ "Baike.com", "头条百科", "快懂百科", "抖音百科" ], "status": "rebranded", "type": "service", "category": "online encyclopedia (wiki / user-editable reference)", "region": "China (Chinese-language, mainland China)", "publisher": "Beijing Hudong Baike Network Technology Co., Ltd. (北京互动百科网络技术股份有限公司), a wholly-owned subsidiary of ByteDance after September 2019", "developerEntities": [ "Hudong Online / Beijing Hudong Baike Network Technology Co., Ltd. (北京互动百科网络技术股份有限公司) — pre-acquisition independent operator founded by Pan Haidong (潘海东), retained as the operating entity after the 2019 ByteDance buyout", "Beijing Quantum Leap Technology Co., Ltd. (北京量子跃动科技有限公司) — wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary that took the initial 22.22% stake on 2019-08-14", "Beijing Hudong Zhiji Technology Co., Ltd. (北京互动智己科技有限公司) — ByteDance-controlled entity holding the remaining 77.78% to complete 100% ownership", "ByteDance (字节跳动) — full owner from September 2019; service surfaced under Toutiao, Douyin and Toutiao Search apps", "Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司) — ByteDance app-publishing entity associated with the Douyin Baike rebrand" ], "appStoreId": "", "dateLaunched": "2005-06-19", "dateKilled": "2020-04-30", "killedReason": "Not a hard shutdown — the Hudong Baike (互动百科) consumer brand was retired through a series of ByteDance rebrands as the company built out its search business to challenge Baidu. ByteDance took a 22.22% stake (RMB 8.1M, via subsidiary Beijing Quantum Leap Technology) on 2019-08-14 and reached 100% ownership by 2019-09-09 (founder team exited). The service was relaunched as a Toutiao Baike (头条百科) test version on 2020-04-30 to serve as the encyclopedia arm of Toutiao Search. The PC brand became Kuaidong Baike (快懂百科) on 2021-03-09; from May 2023 Toutiao Baike was integrated into Douyin and surfaced as Douyin Baike; on 2024-01-04 Toutiao Baike was merged with Shidian Baike (识典百科) and unified under the name Douyin Baike (抖音百科); on 2024-09-26 the PC brand reverted to Kuaidong Baike (快懂百科). The Hudong Baike consumer brand thus ceased to exist, though the underlying entity and content live on as Douyin Baike (mobile) / Kuaidong Baike (PC).", "description": "Chinese user-editable encyclopedia, founded 2005 as a Baidu Baike rival. ByteDance bought it in 2019 and rebranded it Douyin Baike.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baike.com", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baike.com", "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E6%8A%96%E9%9F%B3%E7%99%BE%E7%A7%91", "https://technode.com/2019/08/20/bytedance-takes-on-baidu-with-investment-in-wikipedia-like-hudong-baike/", "https://technode.com/2020/04/20/bytedance-is-pushing-further-into-search-with-wiki-rebrand/", "https://pandaily.com/acquisition-of-baike-com-puts-bytedance-on-par-with-rival-baidu/", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-buys-local-wikipedia-baike-com-in-escalating-rivalry-with-baidu", "https://globalventuring.com/blog/2019/09/09/bytedance-spins-baike-acquisition-wheels/", "https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2019/09/09/bytedance-completes-acquisition-of-chinese-wikipedia-like-site-baike-com", "https://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2019-09-09/doc-iicezueu4541867.shtml", "https://www.leiphone.com/news/201909/0xsgsZAcIsl4Kjc1.html", "https://www.woshipm.com/operate/6049101.html", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%BF%AB%E6%87%82%E7%99%BE%E7%A7%91/56238793" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Status is \"rebranded,\" not dead: the Hudong Baike consumer brand was retired but the service survives as Douyin Baike (抖音百科) on mobile / Kuaidong Baike (快懂百科) on PC. For a \"Killed by ByteDance\" graveyard, the dead entity is the Hudong Baike / Toutiao Baike brand. Founder is Pan Haidong (潘海东 Pān Hǎidōng); one EN-Wikipedia fetch rendered this as \"Peng Haidong\" — that is a transcription error, Pan/潘 is correct. The Douyin Baike→Kuaidong Baike PC name has flipped back and forth (快懂百科 2021-03-09, then reverted to 快懂百科 2024-09-26 after the Douyin Baike consolidation). Acquisition split: 22.22% via Beijing Quantum Leap Technology (北京量子跃动) + 77.78% via Beijing Hudong Zhiji (北京互动智己), both ByteDance subsidiaries. In May 2025 a Beijing court found the platform liable for unfair competition for scraping ~600,000 entries from Baidu Baike (with fabricated user-edit data to disguise copying), ordering ~RMB 8M (RMB 5M damages + RMB 3M expenses); the ZH-Wikipedia auto-summary mis-rendered this as ¥800M — units error, correct figure is RMB 8M.", "stoppedUpdating": true, "successor": "Toutiao Baike (later Kuaidong Baike, then Douyin Baike)" }, { "name": "小荷健康 (Xiaohe Health)", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "小荷", "小荷医疗", "小荷AI医生" ], "category": "healthcare", "publisher": "Hainan Xiaohe Health Network Technology Co., Ltd. (海南小荷健康网络技术有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "Hainan Xiaohe Health Network Technology Co., Ltd. (海南小荷健康网络技术有限公司) — current App Store/app publisher of record", "Xiaohe Health Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (小荷健康科技（北京）有限公司) — ByteDance wholly-owned subsidiary running the '极光/Aurora' health department; the entity behind the Xiaohe Health brand", "幺零贰四（海南）互联网医院有限公司 / 1024 (Hainan) Internet Hospital Co., Ltd. — internet-hospital operator acquired by ByteDance (late 2020), later renamed 海南小荷健康科技有限公司", "ByteDance Ltd. (字节跳动) — ultimate parent; '极光/Aurora' health department reports to ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo (梁汝波)", "Android package id: com.lvsongguo (legacy '绿松果/Green Pine Cone' codebase)" ], "appStoreId": "Developer page (Hainan Xiaohe Health Network Technology Co., Ltd): https://apps.apple.com/cn/developer/hainan-xiaohe-health-network-technology-co-ltd/id1633399453 — as of the current listing this developer page shows 小荷AI医生 and 小荷医生 (doctor app, https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1535585715) but NOT the consumer 小荷健康 app, which now persists primarily on Android (Tencent 应用宝 com.lvsongguo, v6.4.2, last updated 2026-03-15). Could not confirm a separate stable numeric iOS App Store id for the consumer 小荷健康 app.", "dateLaunched": "2020-10", "dateKilled": "", "region": "China (Mainland only)", "description": "ByteDance's online doctor-consult and health app. Never shut, but in 2023 its super-app plan faded and the team moved to Douyin's medical arm.", "killedReason": "Not killed/shut down — significantly downscoped and absorbed into Douyin's medical ecosystem rather than discontinued. After two-plus years of weak traction (none of online consultation, offline clinics, or drug e-commerce had \"run through\"/become profitable; DAU stayed very low despite Douyin traffic), ByteDance in early 2023 pivoted its health strategy toward Douyin: the 极光/Aurora team was redeployed to operate Douyin's medical vertical (head 吴海锋 still reporting to Liang Rubo), OTC then prescription drug sales moved to Douyin live-commerce, and consultations were routed through a \"Xiaohe Health\" Douyin mini-program. On 2023-04-28 all official Xiaohe Health patient-communication groups were terminated. Feb 2023 press reports of a full \"shutdown\" were publicly denied by ByteDance, which stated \"小荷健康App并未关停、还在运营中\" (the app has not been shut down, still operating) and that the Xiaohe team had not been merged into but was operating Douyin's medical vertical. The standalone consumer app continued; the brand later launched the new standalone \"Xiaohe AI Doctor\" (小荷AI医生) app on 2025-07-09.", "link": "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-denies-major-changes-to-health-and-qa-platforms/", "sources": [ "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-denies-major-changes-to-health-and-qa-platforms/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedances-xiaohe-health-terminates-all-patient-communication-groups", "https://www.21jingji.com/article/20230213/herald/81d371e78374caa922a5033c2e54ed8e.html", "https://bbs.kafan.cn/thread-2251315-1-1.html", "https://finance.sina.cn/chanjing/gsxw/2023-02-02/detail-imyeierp4285797.d.html", "https://www.chinaventure.com.cn/news/111-20211118-365618.html", "https://news.qudong.com/2020/1102/727187.shtml", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2020-11-04/doc-iiznctkc9478347.shtml", "https://www.guancha.cn/economy/2025_07_09_782332.shtml", "https://36kr.com/p/3370106116261893", "https://www.yicai.com/news/102726370.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250708A08STU00", "https://sj.qq.com/appdetail/com.lvsongguo", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/developer/hainan-xiaohe-health-network-technology-co-ltd/id1633399453", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7864832.html", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-launches-new-brand-to-expand-in-chinas-booming-online-health-sector" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "STATUS IS ALIVE, NOT DEAD — do not list a dateKilled. Borderline graveyard candidate: the brand and consumer app are genuinely still operating, and ByteDance even launched a new standalone app (小荷AI医生) on 2025-07-09. If included on a \"Killed by ByteDance\" page, frame it as \"alive / downscoped & absorbed into Douyin\" — the standalone health super-app strategy effectively died and folded into Douyin in early 2023. The only dated, defensible \"death\" of a sub-feature is the 2023-04-28 termination of all patient-communication groups; no valid full app-shutdown date exists, and ByteDance explicitly denied the Feb 2023 \"shutdown\" reports. Launch is 2020-10 (consumer 小荷健康 app); the 小荷医疗 brand and the 小荷/小荷医生 apps were formally unveiled 2020-11-02; predecessor 绿松果/Green Pine Cone launched 2019-11-07 and was folded into the 小荷 brand in Sept 2020. Region: Mainland China only. Consumer 小荷健康 iOS app is no longer on the current Apple developer page (shows 小荷AI医生 + 小荷医生) but persists on Android (应用宝 com.lvsongguo, v6.4.2, last updated 2026-03-15). Medium confidence only on the exact day-level original launch date and on whether a distinct numeric iOS App Store id for the consumer app still exists." }, { "name": "头号保 (Toutiao Insurance)", "status": "merged", "type": "service", "aliases": [ "头条保", "Toutiao insurance channel" ], "category": "fintech / insurance brokerage (online insurance marketplace embedded in Douyin & Jinri Toutiao)", "region": "China (mainland)", "dateLaunched": "2019-09", "dateKilled": "2021", "publisher": "字节跳动 (ByteDance) — operated via its wholly-owned licensed insurance brokerage 北京华夏保险经纪有限公司 (Beijing Huaxia Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd.), held through 福建字节跳动科技有限公司 (Fujian ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd.)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Beijing Huaxia Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd. (北京华夏保险经纪有限公司) — the licensed brokerage; ByteDance took 100% control June 2018, new legal rep/exec director approved Nov 2018", "Fujian ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. (福建字节跳动科技有限公司) — 100% parent of Huaxia Brokers" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "ByteDance's online insurance marketplace in Douyin and Toutiao. The 头号保 brand faded around 2021; ByteDance kept the broker license.", "killedReason": "Low traction in a crowded internet-insurance market — 头号保 \"did not stand out from other insurance products\" (per jiemian/sina) and became a dormant license-holding business rather than a growth line. ByteDance's broader fintech retreat amid Beijing's 2020–2021 Big Tech finance crackdown deprioritized it further; the 头号保 own brand and its flagship term-life product faded (no longer prominently marketed) around 2021. IMPORTANT: ByteDance did NOT exit insurance — it retained the Huaxia brokerage license and continued brokering insurance (notably inside Douyin). Beijing Huaxia Insurance Brokers reportedly paused new-business intake in February 2025 for a website upgrade while protecting existing policyholders, indicating the underlying brokerage remained operational well after the 头号保 brand faded. There is no clean public shutdown announcement for the 头号保 brand.", "link": "https://www.jiemian.com/article/5910790.html", "confidence": "medium", "sources": [ "https://www.jiemian.com/article/5910790.html", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7185258.html", "http://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/csj/2022-03-08/doc-imcwiwss4906953.shtml", "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/494983019", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20181220/herald/2e9f411a6c486be775377fe747ab823c.html", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20181219/herald/09169f4c3a184bad1ae34a87de23740f.html", "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_3947347", "https://technode.com/2019/01/08/jinri-toutiao-medical-insurance-removal/", "https://asiatimes.com/2019/07/news-app-toutiao-relaunches-insurance-products/", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3147357/bytedance-downsizes-finance-related-business-amid-beijings-curbs", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E5%8D%8E%E5%A4%8F%E4%BF%9D%E9%99%A9%E7%BB%8F%E7%BA%AA%E6%9C%89%E9%99%90%E5%85%AC%E5%8F%B8/20038977", "https://xuexi.huize.com/study/detal-306840.html" ], "notes": "Confidence MEDIUM. (1) NAME: canonical brand is 头号保 (Tóuhàobǎo, no 险), read tóuhào (\"No.1/top\"). Distinct from but successor to the earlier 头条保 / 今日头条保险服务平台 channel — list those as predecessor aliases. (2) LAUNCH: 头号保 brand = Sept 2019 (term-life flagship; multiple Chinese sources agree). Predecessor Toutiao insurance channel: ~Dec 2018 → pulled Jan 7 2019 → relaunched July 18 2019 (Asia Times, TechNode, thepaper). Use 2018-12 for \"ByteDance entered consumer insurance,\" 2019-09 for the 头号保 brand. (3) HUAXIA: ByteDance took 100% of Beijing Huaxia Insurance Brokers (保险经纪), share transfer/control June 25 2018, legal rep approved Nov 5 2018. This is an insurance BROKERAGE — do NOT conflate with the unrelated insurer 华夏人寿 (Huaxia Life), nor with the look-alike 华夏在线保险代理服务有限公司 (huaxonline.com, a Ruizhong Insurance subsidiary, NOT ByteDance). (4) STATUS — \"merged\" (not \"dead\"): no source gives a clean shutdown date for 头号保; jiemian (Mar 2022) describes it as underperforming/deprioritized, not formally killed. ByteDance kept the brokerage and continued brokering insurance (inside Douyin); Huaxia Brokers only paused new business Feb 2025 for a site upgrade. The 头号保 brand faded/folded into Douyin's insurance channel rather than cleanly dying. If the site insists on a graveyard binary, \"dead\" is defensible ONLY for the 头号保 brand+flagship product, with a clear note that the parent brokerage lives on. (5) DATE KILLED ~2021 is INFERRED, not sourced — low confidence; no shutdown announcement exists. (6) APP STORE: no standalone 头号保 app (in-app channel only) → appStoreId empty. (7) The SCMP source covers ByteDance's broad finance downsizing (focus on securities); strongest product-specific sources are the Chinese ones (jiemian, sina, 21jingji, thepaper, zhihu)." }, { "name": "晶核 (Crystal of Atlan)", "aliases": [], "status": "alive", "type": "game", "category": "game", "region": "China (mainland, launched July 14, 2023) and Global (PC/PS5/iOS/Android from May 28, 2025; Steam added Oct 30, 2025)", "dateLaunched": "2023-07-14", "dateKilled": "", "publisher": "China: 北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 (Nuverse / Beijing Chaoxi Guangnian, ByteDance subsidiary). Global (App Store / Google Play / PlayStation): Nuverse Pte. Ltd. US App Store & Steam: Skystone Games Pte. Ltd. (from June 2025; NOT a ByteDance or Tencent entity).", "developerEntities": [ "Nuverse / 朝夕光年 (Beijing Chaoxi Guangnian Information Technology), ByteDance gaming subsidiary", "Nuverse Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, global publisher of record)", "VI-GAMES (internal developer studio per Chinese Wikipedia, under Nuverse)", "Skystone Games Pte. Ltd. (US publisher from June 2025 — NOT ByteDance, NOT Tencent)" ], "appStoreId": "Global: https://apps.apple.com/app/crystal-of-atlan/id6453111576 (Nuverse Pte. Ltd.); US: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/crystal-of-atlan/id6742167253 (Skystone Games Pte. Ltd.)", "killedReason": "NOT killed — the game is alive and actively updated (level 70 expansion / \"Aerial Village\" chapter Jan 15, 2026). The \"killed/acquired-shut\" premise is FALSE and conflated with other ByteDance projects. ByteDance explored selling Crystal of Atlan (and Earth: Revival) to Tencent in Nov 2023–Jan 2024 during its gaming retreat, but the sale did NOT close; ByteDance confirmed in June 2024 it retained the title (plus Earth: Revival and Moonton) and named Zhang Yunfan Nuverse CEO under a \"second phase\" gaming strategy. The completed Tencent-backed deal was for the separate C4Games (to China Ruyi Holdings, ~259M yuan). For the 2025 global launch, US publishing shifted from Nuverse to Skystone Games (effective ~June 15, 2025) — a non-ByteDance, non-Tencent firm — mirroring the Marvel Snap arrangement to reduce US regulatory exposure. Nuverse / 朝夕光年 remains developer and operator.", "description": "Crystal of Atlan: a free anime action MMO and ByteDance's first homegrown mobile hit (2023). It survived the gaming retreat and still runs.", "link": "https://technode.com/2023/08/16/nuverses-crystal-of-atlan-becomes-bytedances-first-mobile-gaming-hit/", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2023/08/16/nuverses-crystal-of-atlan-becomes-bytedances-first-mobile-gaming-hit/", "https://www.pocketgamer.biz/crystal-of-atlan-is-bytedances-first-homegrown-success-story/", "https://gameworldobserver.com/2024/01/09/bytedance-tencent-sell-games-nuverse-negotiations-report", "https://gameworldobserver.com/2024/06/03/bytedance-gaming-strategy-second-phase-nuverse-ceo", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3247766/bytedance-confirms-talks-tencent-other-potential-buyers-over-sale-video-game-operations", "https://mmos.com/news/crystal-of-atlan-sets-may-28-launch-across-platforms-shifts-u-s-publishing-to-skystone", "https://massivelyop.com/2025/05/16/cross-platform-action-mmo-crystal-of-atlan-announces-may-28-launch-date-and-a-new-publisher/", "https://massivelyop.com/2025/05/28/f2p-action-mmo-crystal-of-atlan-hits-pc-ps5-and-mobile-today-reiterating-that-its-not-a-gacha-game/", "https://massivelyop.com/2025/09/17/crystal-of-atlan-launches-on-steam-october-30-along-with-the-new-assassin-class/", "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E6%99%B6%E6%A0%B8_(%E6%B8%B8%E6%88%8F)", "https://store.steampowered.com/app/3839850/Crystal_of_Atlan/", "https://coa.nvsgames.com/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "DO NOT list as a \"Killed by ByteDance\" entry — the game is ALIVE. If included on the site, frame it as \"ByteDance's flagship homegrown game that SURVIVED the 2023-24 gaming exit\" (US publishing divested to Skystone, but the title itself was NOT sold or shut down). Corrected draft errors: (1) Steam was NOT part of the May 28, 2025 global launch — Steam launched Oct 30, 2025; the May 28 PC launch used a standalone client. (2) The Tencent sale of Crystal of Atlan was PROPOSED but did NOT complete; ByteDance retained the game (confirmed June 2024). VI-GAMES confirmed as the internal dev studio via Chinese Wikipedia." }, { "name": "星球：重启 (Earth: Revival)", "aliases": [ "Project: Arrival" ], "status": "acquired", "type": "game", "category": "Game — open-world sci-fi survival RPG (post-apocalyptic, mecha/shooter elements), cross-platform mobile (iOS/Android) + PC", "region": "China (mainland) and Global / select regions. Developed in China.", "publisher": "Nuverse (ByteDance) / 朝夕光年 — 北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司", "developerEntities": [ "Nuverse (ByteDance)", "朝夕光年 / NVS Games", "北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 (Beijing Zhaoxiguangnian Information Technology Co., Ltd.)", "Jiangnan Studio (江南工作室)", "Tencent (acquirer of the developing studio, announced March 15, 2024)" ], "appStoreId": "China mainland iOS: id 1488717505 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1488717505), seller 北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司. International/Traditional Chinese & SEA iOS: id 1644838800 (https://apps.apple.com/sg/app/id1644838800). Google Play package: com.asia.arrival. Steam app: 2057470.", "dateLaunched": "2023-04-20", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "NOT KILLED — the game continues to operate. What happened: in Nov/Dec 2023 ByteDance announced it was restructuring and largely exiting its gaming business (Nuverse), cutting ~1,000 gaming jobs and citing a refocus on long-term strategic growth areas (TikTok/Douyin, e-commerce, music, AI) amid Chinese regulatory pressure and a small (~$1B/2023) gaming revenue base. Unreleased projects were cancelled, but already-launched titles with active players — including Earth: Revival and Crystal of Atlan — were earmarked for divestment, not shutdown. Tencent's purchase of the development studios behind both games was announced ~March 15, 2024. The game has remained live under new ownership: China \"classic server\" updates ran through at least April 29, 2026 (v1.3.45), and global servers continued weekly maintenance/updates through 2025-2026.", "description": "Sci-fi survival RPG set on a ruined future Earth, and Nuverse's flagship. When ByteDance quit gaming it sold the studio to Tencent; the game runs on.", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://www.taptap.io/post/7132525", "sources": [ "https://www.taptap.io/post/7132525", "https://nikopartners.com/bytedance-restructures-nuverse-in-retreat-from-game-development-and-publishing/", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3247766/bytedance-confirms-talks-tencent-other-potential-buyers-over-sale-video-game-operations", "https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/bytedance-discussing-game-asset-sale-with-tencent", "https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/tiktok-bytedance-games-nuverse-1235810642/", "https://www.androidcentral.com/gaming/nuverses-latest-game-earth-revival-coming-to-pc-and-mobile-in-2023", "https://saiganak.com/news/nuverse-earthrevival-release-date/", "https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/news?id=150817", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231128A0BQAY00", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1488717505", "https://www.taptap.io/post/7946339", "https://www.taptap.cn/moment/798274738651661771", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asia.arrival" ], "notes": "CONFIDENCE: HIGH on core facts. The product is genuinely ByteDance-origin (developed by Jiangnan Studio under Nuverse/朝夕光年, ByteDance's gaming arm) — well sourced and not a look-alike. CRITICAL CLASSIFICATION POINT: this is NOT a dead game. The development STUDIO was divested to Tencent (announced ~March 15, 2024), but the GAME continues to operate — China classic server had an update on April 29, 2026 (v1.3.45) and global servers ran weekly updates into 2025-2026 (a Digimon collab was announced for early 2026). For a \"Killed by ByteDance\" graveyard, this fits only as \"left ByteDance / divested\" (status=acquired), NOT as a shutdown. If the site tracks only fully-dead products, Earth: Revival arguably should be excluded or clearly flagged as \"still live under Tencent.\" DATES: April 20, 2023 = initial global (JP-led) launch [dateLaunched]; Nov 16, 2023 = China mainland open beta; Aug 15, 2024 = broader English/global launch. Could not independently confirm the exact seller-entity name on the international iOS listing (id 1644838800 fetch blocked) — MEDIUM confidence there; China seller entity confirmed as 北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司." }, { "name": "Dragonheir: Silent Gods", "status": "acquired-shut", "type": "game", "aliases": [ "龙息：神寂" ], "category": "game", "region": "Global / overseas title (iOS, Android, Windows, Mac). US-region service specifically terminated. Appears to exclude mainland China.", "dateLaunched": "2023-09-19", "dateKilled": "2024-09-16", "publisher": "Nuverse (ByteDance subsidiary) at launch; original App Store/Play developer entity \"Nuverse Games\" / \"Nuverse Pte. Ltd.\" Post-ByteDance, the IP is published by Level Infinite (Tencent), with Proxima Beta Pte. Ltd. as the App Store/Play seller entity.", "developerEntities": [ "Nuverse / Nuverse Pte. Ltd. (ByteDance subsidiary) — original publisher and App Store/Play developer entity at launch", "SGRA Studio — developer (described in 2023 as a Shanghai, China studio of veterans from Pokémon UNITE, Arena of Valor, Monster Hunter; in post-Tencent 2025 materials re-described as a 'Tencent-invested studio based in Guangzhou')", "Level Infinite (Tencent global games brand) — publisher of the post-ByteDance global relaunch (2025)", "Proxima Beta Pte. Limited (Tencent App Store/Play seller entity for the relaunch)" ], "appStoreId": "1668757233 (https://apps.apple.com/app/id1668757233); Steam App ID 2203070; Google Play package com.sgra.dragon. Note: the same store IDs/package are now used by the Tencent/Level Infinite relaunch (Apple listing currently shows the separate sequel \"Dragonstride: Legacy Reborn\" under the same numeric id).", "description": "Dice-driven open-world RPG with a Dungeons & Dragons crossover, from ByteDance's Nuverse. US servers closed in 2024 as ByteDance quit gaming; Tencent took the IP.", "killedReason": "ByteDance's full retreat from gaming: Nuverse wind-down announced Nov 27, 2023; Dragonheir team/SGRA Studio moved to Tencent's Level Infinite (announced ~March 31, 2024); ByteDance/Nuverse US service terminated Sept 16, 2024.", "link": "https://steamcommunity.com/games/2203070/announcements/detail/6446428779736204596", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2023/06/27/dragonheir-opens-global-pre-registration-poised-to-be-next-hit-game-from-bytedances-nuverse/", "https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/27/bytedance_nuverse_layoffs/", "https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/28/tech/bytedance-layoffs-video-gaming-intl-hnk", "https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/tiktok-bytedance-games-nuverse-1235810642/", "https://www.shacknews.com/article/137889/marvel-snap-nuverse-winding-down-bytedance-tiktok", "https://www.pocketgamer.biz/marvel-snap-publisher-nuverse-follow-up-with-dragonheir-silent-gods/", "https://pressreleases.triplepointpr.com/2023/09/19/multiversal-rpg-dragonheir-silent-gods-available-now-on-pc-and-mobile/", "https://steamcommunity.com/games/2203070/announcements/detail/6446428779736204596", "https://x.com/Dragonheir_SG/status/1813171904427270417", "https://x.com/Dragonheir_SG/status/1835513966753362280", "https://hellhades.com/goodbye-dragonheir-silent-gods/", "https://steamcommunity.com/games/2203070/announcements/detail/527581031050510344", "https://www.pocketgamer.com/dragonheir-silent-gods/relaunch-announcement/", "https://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/swipe-right/pressreleases/dragonheir-silent-gods-announces-new-global-relaunch-pre-registration-open-now-3385351", "https://www.pocketgamer.com/dragonstride-legacy-reborn/announcement/", "https://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/swipe-right/pressreleases/sgra-and-level-infinite-announce-the-launch-of-dragonstride-legacy-reborn-3396114", "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dragonstride-legacy-reborn/id1668757233", "https://store.steampowered.com/app/2203070/Dragonheir_Silent_Gods/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "The game ran only in non-China/overseas regions; mainland China release status is unverified. The Chinese title 龙息：神寂 / Lóngxī: Shénjì matches the title's known Chinese naming but lacks a strong independent primary source confirming a mainland China launch. Only the US region received a hard shutdown date (2024-09-16); other regions transitioned to the new Tencent/Level Infinite operator rather than a clean shutdown, and the title relaunched globally on 2025-07-17 still named Dragonheir: Silent Gods under Level Infinite. \"Dragonstride: Legacy Reborn\" is a SEPARATE spiritual-successor title, not a rename, despite sharing the Apple store id 1668757233. SGRA Studio location is inconsistent across sources (Shanghai in 2023 vs. Guangzhou/Tencent-invested in 2025); exact corporate ownership of SGRA at launch is not fully pinned by primary sources, but ByteDance ownership of the publisher (Nuverse) and the killed US service is solid." }, { "name": "灵猫传 (Spirit Cat)", "aliases": [ "Legend of the Spirit Cat" ], "status": "dead", "type": "game", "category": "Mobile game (otome / female-oriented, Chinese-style / 国风 romance simulation)", "region": "China (Mainland)", "dateLaunched": "2020-12-18", "dateKilled": "2023-12-31", "publisher": "Nuverse / 朝夕光年 (北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司, Beijing Zhaoxiguangnian Information Technology Co., Ltd. — ByteDance's gaming arm) was the original publisher/operator (2020–Oct 31, 2022). After Oct 31, 2022, operations transferred to developer 深圳市游梦初心文化网络有限公司 (Shenzhen Youmeng Chuxin Culture Network Co., Ltd.), which became the App Store seller/operator for the relaunch.", "developerEntities": [ "朝夕光年 / Nuverse (北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司, Beijing Zhaoxiguangnian Information Technology Co., Ltd. — ByteDance gaming arm; original publisher/operator)", "游梦初心 / 深圳市游梦初心文化网络有限公司 (Shenzhen Youmeng Chuxin Culture Network Co., Ltd. — developer/研发商 and post-2022 operator/publisher)", "字节跳动 / ByteDance (parent of Nuverse, via Beijing Youyi Technology 北京游逸科技)" ], "appStoreId": "1509669574", "description": "Chinese-style otome game from ByteDance's Nuverse, mixing cat-raising with five suitors. After losses Nuverse passed it to the developer; it closed on 2023-12-31.", "killedReason": "Persistent financial losses and staffing collapse. Nuverse announced on July 29, 2022 it would cancel events and cease online operations within the year, citing departures of key team members, insufficient content output, and sustained operating losses. Nuverse's operation officially ended at noon (12:00) on October 31, 2022, with the operating entity transferred to developer Youmeng Chuxin (游梦初心), including official accounts/communities and compliant data migration. The developer relaunched the game on January 5, 2023, but the studio's team disbanded around January 10, 2023 due to force majeure (the company's main entity went into liquidation/bankruptcy), leaving a makeshift team running it. With financial support gone, a second/final shutdown was announced October 30, 2023: in-app purchases closed November 5, 2023 and the game ceased operations and was delisted on December 31, 2023.", "link": "https://www.gamersky.com/news/202310/1663318.shtml", "sources": [ "https://www.gamersky.com/news/202310/1663318.shtml", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231030A08PVD00", "https://m.163.com/dy/article/HL60GBSP05268BP2.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20220729A07T7C00", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20221101A0A3OB00", "http://www.gamelook.com.cn/2020/12/408390", "https://youxiputao.com/article/21123", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%9C%9D%E5%A4%95%E5%85%89%E5%B9%B4/56116840", "https://www.ithome.com/0/536/136.htm", "https://appadvice.com/app/e7-81-b5-e7-8c-ab-e4-bc-a0/1509669574", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1509669574" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Confidence high on overall arc, ByteDance ownership, and all key dates, corroborated by multiple independent Chinese tech/game press (Tencent News/QQ, GamerSky, NetEase/163, Youxiputao, GameLook, IT之家, Baidu Baike) plus AppAdvice for App Store metadata. ROLES: Nuverse/朝夕光年 = publisher & original operator (发行/运营); 游梦初心 = developer (研发) and post-Oct-2022 operator. ByteDance link is solid: 朝夕光年 (NUVERSE) is ByteDance's official gaming brand, 100% indirectly owned via 北京游逸科技, and 灵猫传 is explicitly listed among its published titles. Minor App Store nuance: current cn listing shows developer 深圳市游梦初心 (post-transfer entity), while AppAdvice records the original publishing entity as 北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 (Nuverse) — both confirmed, consistent with the Oct 31, 2022 operating-entity transfer. Could not independently confirm '150,000+ pre-registrations' or the exact 'first female-oriented title' superlative, so those specifics were softened. dateKilled = 2023-12-31 (true final closure/delist); interim Nuverse-era stop was 2022-10-31. Description trimmed to ≤240 chars for graveyard style." }, { "name": "镖人 (Biao Ren)", "aliases": [ "Blades of the Guardians" ], "status": "dead", "type": "game", "category": "Mobile game (硬派国风武侠 RPG; ByteDance's first IP-adaptation + MMORPG title, also described as ARPG)", "description": "Wuxia mobile RPG from ByteDance's Nuverse, from the comic Blades of the Guardians. It topped China's iOS free chart on launch in 2021, then closed a year later.", "dateLaunched": "2021-01-20", "dateKilled": "2022-03-30", "killedReason": "Poor commercial and player-retention performance. After a strong launch-day showing (No.1 on the iOS free chart, Apple-featured) it fell out of the top charts within about a month and operated for roughly one year. The operator issued a shutdown notice on Jan 26, 2022; in-game recharge and character creation closed Feb 23, 2022 at 12:00, and the mainland China servers were permanently closed on March 30, 2022 at 12:00. Remaining players with unspent in-game currency (玉髓) were offered gift-code compensation redeemable in another Nuverse title, 武林闲侠 (codes valid Feb 28 – Aug 31, 2022). Part of Nuverse's early wave of underperforming-title closures preceding ByteDance's broader 2023 gaming exit.", "region": "China (mainland)", "publisher": "Nuverse (朝夕光年 / ByteDance) — publisher / exclusive operator", "developerEntities": [ "Babeltime (巴别时代) — developer/研发; independent studio founded 2009, NOT a ByteDance subsidiary", "Nuverse (朝夕光年) — publisher/发行 & operator (ByteDance gaming brand)", "Beijing Chaoxi Guangnian Information Technology Co., Ltd. (北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司) — ByteDance gaming entity behind Nuverse", "易玩(上海)网络科技有限公司 / Yiwan (Shanghai) Network Technology Co., Ltd. — App Store China developer-page entity associated with the title (also operates TapTap)" ], "appStoreId": "Game-specific App Store numeric id not located (app delisted after Mar 30, 2022 shutdown). App Store China publisher/developer page: https://apps.apple.com/cn/developer/id1120485795 (易玩(上海)网络科技有限公司). TapTap app id: 133943 (https://www.taptap.cn/app/133943).", "link": "https://www.taptap.cn/app/133943/topic?type=official", "sources": [ "https://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/2021-02-23/doc-ikftpnny9177744.shtml", "https://www.taptap.cn/moment/235861774115537896", "https://www.taptap.cn/app/133943/topic", "https://www.9game.cn/biaoren/6531127.html", "https://www.7723.cn/strategy/60926.html", "https://www.yfchuhai.com/article/12420.html", "https://www.gameres.com/871061.html", "https://m.ali213.net/news/210120/157667.html", "https://m.tgbus.com/chinajoy/news/147032", "https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Yp4y1x79c/", "https://www.babeltime.com/", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231128A0BQAY00" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIRMED ByteDance via Nuverse as publisher/exclusive operator (Sina Finance and yfchuhai explicitly list 镖人 among Nuverse 朝夕光年 published/shut-down titles; shutdown compensation pointed to fellow Nuverse game 武林闲侠). KEY CORRECTION TO DRAFT: the game was NOT developed by Nuverse. It was DEVELOPED (研发) by independent studio 巴别时代 (Babeltime) and PUBLISHED/exclusively distributed (独代/发行) by Nuverse — confirmed by GameRes ('由巴别时代研发、朝夕光年（字节跳动旗下游戏品牌）发行') and corroborated elsewhere. Babeltime is an independent company (founded 2009), not a ByteDance subsidiary; ByteDance's involvement is as publisher/operator, which still qualifies it for the graveyard. Launch 2021-01-20 (公测) confirmed by Sina, Gamersky, Ali213, TGBUS, Bilibili PV. Shutdown 2022-03-30 12:00 triple-confirmed by official TapTap announcement, 9game, and 7723; timeline: notice Jan 26 → recharge/char-creation close Feb 23 12:00 → server close Mar 30 12:00. The 'October 2021' shutdown date appears only in AI-generated search summaries and is FALSE — contradicted by the primary official announcement; disregard. Genre best described as 硬派国风武侠 RPG (marketed as ByteDance's first IP-adaptation MMORPG; some sources also say ARPG)." }, { "name": "终结战场 (Rules of Survival)", "status": "dead", "type": "game", "aliases": [ "终结者2：审判日", "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" ], "category": "game (battle royale / tactical shooter, mobile)", "region": "China (mainland) — Nuverse/ByteDance-operated version. (Developed by NetEase; overseas English version \"Rules of Survival\" operated separately by NetEase.)", "publisher": "Beijing Chaoxi Guangnian Information Technology Co., Ltd. (北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司) — ByteDance's Nuverse (朝夕光年) gaming brand — published/operated the mainland China version from 3 Aug 2020 until the 29 Dec 2021 shutdown. Developed by NetEase (网易游戏); originally published in China by NetEase before the ByteDance handover.", "developerEntities": [ "NetEase Games / 网易游戏 (developer; original China publisher 2017–2020)", "Beijing Chaoxi Guangnian Information Technology Co., Ltd. 北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 — Nuverse / 朝夕光年 (ByteDance's China publisher/operator, took over 3 Aug 2020)" ], "appStoreId": "", "dateLaunched": "2017-11-04", "dateKilled": "2021-12-29", "description": "Mobile battle royale built by NetEase, licensed from Terminator 2. ByteDance's Nuverse ran the mainland version from 2020 until servers closed on 2021-12-29.", "killedReason": "ByteDance's Nuverse shut down the mainland-China servers permanently at 12:00 on 29 Dec 2021 after roughly 16 months of operation, as the once-crowded mobile battle-royale field consolidated and the title's player base waned; recharge and new-character creation were disabled on 24 Nov 2021 ahead of the closure.", "link": "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E7%B5%82%E7%B5%90%E6%88%B0%E5%A0%B4", "sources": [ "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E7%B5%82%E7%B5%90%E6%88%B0%E5%A0%B4", "https://www.taptap.cn/moment/199859558183604210", "https://www.163.com/dy/article/GMRK2R5E05465WDP.html", "https://www.sohu.com/a/496414154_120046429", "https://www.baijing.cn/article/37501", "https://www.yfchuhai.com/article/12420.html", "http://www.nadianshi.com/2021/02/287997", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_Survival", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Hunter", "https://sensortower.com/blog/rules-of-survival-revenue-cn" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Cyber Hunter conflation rejected (confirmed): Cyber Hunter (App Store/Steam id 1209040, released 26 Apr 2019, NetEase global servers shut 23 Jul 2024) is a SEPARATE NetEase sci-fi battle royale (hoverboards/building) that was NEVER operated by ByteDance. Do NOT use the 'Cyber Hunter' alias or id 1209040 for this entry. 终结战场's overseas English name is \"Rules of Survival\" (originally 《终结者2：审判日》). The NetEase-operated overseas \"Rules of Survival\" winding down 27 Jun 2022 is a separate NetEase event, not ByteDance. appStoreId left empty: no distinct numeric China iOS id confirmed; the listing ran under the NetEase/Nuverse (朝夕光年) developer account. Official TapTap shutdown notice posted 20 Oct 2021 (press articles dated 21 Oct 2021). ByteDance handover precisely dated 3 Aug 2020 per nadianshi.com and yfchuhai.com; 163.com corroborates Nuverse/朝夕光年 operation from 2020." }, { "name": "战争艺术：赤潮 (Art of War: Red Tides)", "aliases": [ "战争艺术", "赤潮自走棋" ], "status": "dead", "type": "game", "category": "Game — real-time strategy / real-time team competitive (RTS); later added an Auto Chess / self-driving-chess (自走棋) mode", "region": "China (mainland China server). The title originally launched globally (iOS in 154 markets; Steam worldwide); this record concerns the ByteDance/Nuverse-operated mainland China version, which is the version that was shut down.", "publisher": "Nuverse / 朝夕光年 (Chaoxi Guangnian), ByteDance's game-publishing label — China publisher/operator from Oct 2019 until shutdown. Originally published at launch by Hero Entertainment / 英雄互娱 (Yingxiong Interactive).", "developerEntities": [ "Game Science / 游戏科学 (developer — studio later known for Black Myth: Wukong / 黑神话：悟空)", "Hero Entertainment / 英雄互娱 (original publisher, 2016–2019)", "Nuverse / 朝夕光年 (ByteDance) (China publisher/operator, Oct 2019–May 2022)" ], "appStoreId": "Steam app id 558100 (https://store.steampowered.com/app/558100/Art_of_War_Red_Tides/). Numeric iOS App Store id for the China version not confirmed; iOS global title launched 2017-09-29.", "dateLaunched": "2017-09-29", "dateKilled": "2022-05-31", "killedReason": "The mainland China version was officially discontinued citing \"operational plan adjustment\" (运营计划调整). Registration and recharge (top-ups) closed 2022-03-24 12:00; game operation and servers were shut down 2022-05-31 12:00. Chinese tech/games press (3DM, Tencent News) widely attributes the closure to developer Game Science redirecting all resources to its flagship title Black Myth: Wukong (黑神话：悟空); this is credible press/community analysis rather than the official wording. It predates ByteDance's broader late-2023 wind-down of its Nuverse games business.", "description": "Multiplayer strategy game from Game Science, later of Black Myth: Wukong, published in China by ByteDance's Nuverse. Its mainland servers closed on 2022-05-31.", "link": "https://www.3dmgame.com/news/202203/3838824.html", "sources": [ "https://www.3dmgame.com/news/202203/3838824.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240229A024QP00", "https://www.zhaosy.com/raiders/76402.html", "https://www.9game.cn/zhanzhengyishuchichao/6612975.html", "https://www.taptap.cn/moment/256003495625229651", "https://www.taptap.cn/moment/219581754988562302", "https://www.superpixel.com/article/47409/art-war-red-tides-will-stop-operation-may-31st", "https://nikopartners.com/bytedance-restructures-nuverse-in-retreat-from-game-development-and-publishing/", "https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170928006062/en/Art-War-Red-Tides-Exclusively-App-Store", "https://store.steampowered.com/app/558100/Art_of_War_Red_Tides/", "https://steamdb.info/app/558100/", "https://www.pocketgamer.com/art-of-war-red-tides/the-free-to-play-real-time-strategy-art-of-war-red-tides-heads-to-iphone-and-ipa/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIRMED ByteDance link: Nuverse / 朝夕光年 is ByteDance's wholly-owned games-publishing label (corroborated by Niko Partners and a TapTap community history explicitly stating \"朝夕光年为字节跳动旗下全资公司\"). Nuverse was the China publisher/operator from Oct 2019 and issued the shutdown of the mainland-China version. NUANCE worth flagging on the site: (1) ByteDance did NOT create the game — developer is Game Science (游戏科学), original publisher was Hero Entertainment (英雄互娱); this is a 'published/operated-then-killed by ByteDance' case, not an in-house ByteDance product. (2) The shutdown applies to the CHINA mobile server only. The worldwide Steam version (app 558100) is STILL LISTED on Steam (not delisted) but is effectively abandonware — last dev update years ago, sparse/no matchmaking per Steam community reports; it was never formally shut down the way the China version was. (3) Official reason was 'operational plan adjustment'; the Black Myth: Wukong resource-reallocation explanation is press/community analysis (e.g. Tencent News 2024), credible but not official wording. dateLaunched uses the 2017-09-29 iOS global launch; earlier dates exist (Steam beta Dec 2016, Steam full release ~mid-2017). Exact iOS App Store numeric id for the China version not found." }, { "name": "DC Worlds Collide (Nuverse version)", "aliases": [ "DC Worlds Collide" ], "status": "dead", "type": "game", "category": "Mobile game", "region": "Southeast Asia only (Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore); never received a global/NA/EU release under Nuverse", "publisher": "Nuverse (朝夕光年, Zhāoxī Guāngnián) — ByteDance's game development/publishing brand. Original Google Play package id: com.vulcan.a02i", "developerEntities": [ "Nuverse", "Nuverse Games", "朝夕光年 / Zhaoxi Guangnian (Nuverse, ByteDance gaming brand)", "ByteDance (parent)" ], "appStoreId": "Original Nuverse version: Google Play id com.vulcan.a02i (delisted ~April 19, 2023; no surviving Apple App Store numeric id recoverable). NOT to be confused with the unrelated 2025 Warner Bros. Games relaunch: iOS id6469732370 / Google Play com.wb.goog.dc.dcwc.", "dateLaunched": "2022-04-28", "dateKilled": "2022-09-28", "killedReason": "Discontinued by Nuverse after a short SEA-only soft-launch run (~5 months); it never reached a global launch. The game underperformed in its limited SEA market. The shutdown coincided with ByteDance's broader retreat from gaming, which culminated in the December 2023 restructuring/effective winding down of Nuverse's game development and publishing operations (~1,000 layoffs). The DC IP — licensed from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on behalf of DC — was later (2025) relaunched as an entirely separate game by Warner Bros. Games (developed by WB Games San Francisco), not by ByteDance.", "description": "DC superhero mobile RPG from ByteDance's Nuverse. Soft-launched only in Southeast Asia, it closed about five months later and never went global.", "link": "https://gamingonphone.com/news/dc-worlds-collide-is-back-as-the-team-based-rpg-soft-launches-on-mobile-in-select-regions/", "sources": [ "https://gamingonphone.com/news/dc-worlds-collide-is-back-as-the-team-based-rpg-soft-launches-on-mobile-in-select-regions/", "https://gamermatters.com/mobile-idle-card-game-dc-worlds-collide-now-available-in-southeast-asia/", "https://www.kakuchopurei.com/2022/04/dc-worlds-collide-mobile-game-launches-in-malaysia-sea-today/", "https://www.enduins.com/mobile-games/dc-worlds-collide-returns-soft-launch-after-2-years-under-new-publisher", "https://nikopartners.com/bytedance-restructures-nuverse-in-retreat-from-game-development-and-publishing/", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Zhaoxi%20Guangnian/15609", "https://en.pingwest.com/w/8351", "https://www.appbrain.com/app/dc-worlds-collide/com.vulcan.a02i" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIDENCE HIGH. Independently re-verified from scratch. Confirmed: (1) Original game developed/published by Nuverse (朝夕光年 / Zhaoxi Guangnian), a wholly-controlled ByteDance gaming subsidiary/brand — corroborated by Niko Partners, Baidu Baike (English), PingWest and kr-asia. (2) SEA soft launch April 28, 2022 across 5 countries — corroborated by gamermatters AND kakuchopurei, both published that same day. Android early access ~November 2021. (3) Discontinued September 28, 2022 — corroborated by TWO outlets (GamingonPhone and enduins), raising day-precision to high. (4) Google Play delisting ~April 19, 2023; package id com.vulcan.a02i developed by Nuverse (AppBrain/apkcombo). (5) The 2025 relaunch is by Warner Bros. Games (developed by WB Games San Francisco), NOT ByteDance — so the ByteDance version is genuinely dead and qualifies for the graveyard. NUANCE: WB was the IP LICENSOR for BOTH versions; the dead-vs-live distinction is developer/publisher (Nuverse=ByteDance, 2022 vs WB Games SF=Warner, 2025), not licensor. REMAINING UNCERTAINTIES: (a) Could not locate an original Nuverse end-of-service announcement page; two independent secondary outlets agree on Sept 28, 2022 — treat as high. (b) April 28, 2022 was an expanded SEA-only soft launch, not a true global launch; early access began ~Nov 2021. (c) Original Apple App Store numeric id not recoverable (delisted); only verified original store id is Google Play com.vulcan.a02i. (d) Do NOT use iOS id6469732370 or Google Play com.wb.goog.dc.dcwc — those belong to the separate 2025 WB game. (e) The Nuverse DC title had no separately surfaced Chinese product name (overseas-only product)." }, { "name": "Warhammer 40,000: Lost Crusade", "aliases": [ "战锤40K：雷霆远征", "Warhammer 40,000: Thunder Expedition" ], "status": "dead", "type": "game", "category": "game (strategy / 4X MMO mobile, F2P)", "description": "Warhammer 40,000 strategy mobile game from ByteDance's Nuverse. Its global servers closed in February 2024 when ByteDance wound down Nuverse.", "dateLaunched": "2021-01-08", "dateKilled": "2024-02-15", "killedReason": "Shut down as part of ByteDance's restructuring/wind-down of its Nuverse games publishing business, announced ~Nov 27, 2023. ByteDance told staff to cease unreleased work and seek buyers for live titles; Warhammer 40,000: Lost Crusade was specifically named among affected Nuverse games. The global \"Lost Crusade\" version's servers closed February 15, 2024.", "region": "Global (international \"Lost Crusade\") and China (战锤40K：雷霆远征). International launch Jan 8, 2021; China 不删档 launch Nov 3, 2020.", "publisher": "Nuverse (ByteDance)", "developerEntities": [ "Nuverse", "Nuverse Hong Kong Limited", "Nuverse Limited", "Orca Game", "Orca Inno Lab", "朝夕光年 (Chaoxi Guangnian / Lightyear) — ByteDance games division (China parent brand)" ], "appStoreId": "1532636309", "link": "https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/27/bytedance_nuverse_layoffs/", "sources": [ "https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/27/bytedance_nuverse_layoffs/", "https://gameworldobserver.com/2023/11/27/bytedance-ditching-nuverse-marvel-snap-gaming-restructuring", "https://www.mmobomb.com/news/marvel-snap-publisher-nuverse-shutting-down-game-will-continue-on", "https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/01/19/conquer-chaos-with-35000-other-players-in-warhammer-40000-lost-crusade/", "https://bleedingcool.com/games/warhammer-40000-lost-crusade-launches-for-mobile/", "https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/nuverse/warhammer-40000-lost-crusade/", "https://gamesworkshop.fandom.com/wiki/Warhammer_40,000:_Lost_Crusade", "https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Warhammer_40,000:_Lost_Crusade", "https://9gag.com/gag/aA0WP42", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231128A0BQAY00", "https://www.taptap.cn/moment/67210729236726783", "https://ensigame.com/games/warhammer-40000-lost-crusade" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Developer = Orca Game / Orca Inno Lab; publisher = Nuverse (ByteDance gaming division, created 2019); licensed by Games Workshop. App Store id 1532636309 attested via APKMirror/Aptoide Nuverse listings (direct apps.apple.com fetch redirected to a generic China storefront, so confirmed indirectly). China version operated under 朝夕光年 (Chaoxi Guangnian). Launch: international Jan 8, 2021 (widely cited); China 不删档 launch Nov 3, 2020 (TapTap/GCORES) — if China SKU treated as origin, use 2020-11-03. China-version exact closure date unknown (ceased during 2023-2024 Nuverse wind-down). Notable as the first game to feature the Emperor's Champion as a recruitable hero. The Instagram post (CwSpXumudCm) earlier cited as the shutdown notice is actually an Aug 24, 2023 routine-maintenance post, not an end-of-service notice; the Feb 15, 2024 global closure date stands on multiple other sources." }, { "name": "Ragnarok X: Next Generation (SEA)", "status": "alive", "type": "game", "aliases": [ "Ragnarok X: Together", "ROX", "仙境传说RO：新世代的诞生" ], "category": "game (mobile MMORPG)", "region": "Southeast Asia (Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and others — 9 countries at SEA launch); SEA servers later cross-linked with Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau (Nov 24, 2025 \"Link Region\" update)", "dateLaunched": "2021-06-18", "dateKilled": "", "publisher": "Nuverse (Hong Kong) Limited", "developerEntities": [ "Nuverse (Hong Kong) Limited (ByteDance) — SEA publisher/operator", "Gravity Co., Ltd. (South Korea) — IP licensor", "Gravity Game Tech Co., Ltd. (Thailand) — joint publishing support in SEA", "Fuchun Technology / Fuzhou — co-developer (per Niko Partners)" ], "appStoreId": "1545808948 (https://apps.apple.com/sg/app/id1545808948 — now titled \"Ragnarok X: Together\")", "killedReason": "", "description": "Nuverse's Southeast Asia mobile remake of Ragnarok Online. ByteDance marked it for sale in 2023 but no deal closed; it survived and became Ragnarok X: Together.", "link": "https://apps.apple.com/sg/app/id1545808948", "sources": [ "https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/06/23/2251565/0/en/Ragnarok-X-Next-Generation-Hits-the-Top-of-Apple-App-Store-in-Southeast-Asia.html", "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nuverse-and-coda-payments-launch-ragnarok-x-next-generation-on-codashop-301344857.html", "https://nikopartners.com/bytedance-restructures-nuverse-in-retreat-from-game-development-and-publishing/", "https://gameworldobserver.com/2023/11/27/bytedance-ditching-nuverse-marvel-snap-gaming-restructuring", "https://gameworldobserver.com/2024/06/03/bytedance-gaming-strategy-second-phase-nuverse-ceo", "https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/nuverse/rox/rox-4-1-0-251116-1-release/", "https://www.taptap.io/app/214141", "https://gamingph.com/2025/10/ragnarok-x-together-november-update-cross-server-link-for-sea-taiwan-hk-macau-lv-160-new-soul-linker-class-and-special-collab/", "https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/ragnarok-x-next-generation-official-launching-france-italy-germany-middle-east-egypt", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.play.rosea" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "DOES NOT BELONG IN A \"KILLED BY BYTEDANCE\" GRAVEYARD — the SEA title is alive, not dead/merged/shut down. As of Jan 8, 2026 the App Store (id 1545808948), Google Play (com.play.rosea), APKMirror, and TapTap all still attribute the app to Nuverse (Hong Kong) Limited with active updates (v4.1.2). ByteDance's Nov 27, 2023 restructuring announced INTENT to divest already-launched titles like Ragnarok X and Marvel Snap, but no completed sale/transfer of the SEA title was ever found (the last reported Nuverse divestment was C4Games to China Ruyi in June 2024, described as the final one). The product remained Nuverse/ByteDance-operated and was rebranded — not buried. Rebrand to \"Ragnarok X: Together\" (slogan \"Together, We ROX!\") is tied to the cross-server \"Link Region\" update, live Nov 24, 2025 (confirmed via APKMirror release date for v4.1.0.251116.1). MEDIUM confidence only on the precise lifetime revenue split (Niko Partners reported ~half a billion USD lifetime / ~$154M lifetime IAP). If included in the graveyard at all, it must carry an explicit \"still operating / rebranded under Nuverse\" caveat rather than a tombstone. DISAMBIGUATION: do not confuse with (a) the original TW/HK/Macau launch Oct 22, 2020 (also ByteDance-published), (b) the China launch Sep 2024 (publisher ZLONGAME), or (c) the Gravity-self-published GLOBAL/Western version operated by Gravity Game Hub (Japan Nov 20, 2024; US May 2025; Europe/ME/Egypt/Algeria Jan 14, 2026), which is NOT a ByteDance product." }, { "name": "坚果手机 (Smartisan / Nut Phone)", "status": "acquired-shut", "type": "hardware", "aliases": [ "坚果手机", "Smartisan Nut Pro 3", "锤子科技", "Smartisan Technology" ], "category": "Hardware - smartphones (consumer electronics)", "region": "China (Chinese mainland market; Smartisan OS in Chinese)", "publisher": "ByteDance (字节跳动) — operated via the acqui-hired Smartisan/New Stone Lab (新石实验室) team. Original maker: Smartisan Technology / Hammer Technology (锤子科技), founded by Luo Yonghao. Phones shipped under the Smartisan / Nut (坚果/Jianguo) brand.", "appStoreId": "", "dateLaunched": "2019-11-01", "dateKilled": "2021-01-13", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动) / Beijing ByteDance Technology", "New Stone Lab / Newstone Lab (新石实验室) — ByteDance hardware unit built from the acqui-hired Smartisan team, led by ex-Smartisan CTO Wu Dezhou", "Smartisan Technology / Hammer Technology (锤子科技) — original maker, founded by Luo Yonghao", "Brands used: Smartisan, Nut / Jianguo (坚果)" ], "description": "Chinese smartphone line, born as Luo Yonghao's Smartisan. ByteDance hired the team in 2019 and shipped Douyin phones, then killed it in January 2021 after weak sales.", "killedReason": "Commercial failure / strategic pivot. Both ByteDance-era phones sold poorly (the Nut R2 reportedly under 100,000 units, cleared at steep discounts around the shutdown). ByteDance lacked the supply-chain scale of Oppo/Vivo/Xiaomi, so production costs were high, and smartphone hardware was a poor fit for its content/ads-driven business; using a phone to push Douyin did not justify the costs. ByteDance suspended the phone line and redirected the team to its higher-priority education-hardware (Dali smart lamp) unit — which was itself largely curtailed in the 2021 Chinese ed-tech crackdown.", "link": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3118218/smartisan-founders-dream-beating-apple-dies-bytedance-suspends-smartphone", "confidence": "high", "notes": "Confidence HIGH that ByteDance acqui-hired the Smartisan hardware team (Jan 2019), shipped the Nut Pro 3 and Nut R2, and suspended the phone business in January 2021. Kill date 2021-01-13 is the internal suspension date confirmed by Chinese press (Tencent News, CBNData, ipeconomy.cn) and English coverage (PingWest, Gizmochina); major English outlets (SCMP, Yicai, The Star) published Jan 16-19, 2021, hence some sources cite ~Jan 19. dateLaunched 2019-11-01 = first ByteDance-era phone (Nut Pro 3 availability). The broader Smartisan brand predates ByteDance (Smartisan T1, 2014; company founded 2012 by Luo Yonghao), but ByteDance only entered in Jan 2019; this record covers the ByteDance era. Nut R2 has two valid launch dates: unveiled Oct 20, 2020; on sale November 2020. No App Store ID — Android phones running Smartisan OS sold in China, not an iOS app. Sub-100k R2 sales figure is from press (Gizmochina/Yicai/SCMP); ByteDance never officially disclosed sales. Status best described as 'acquired-shut'; also legitimately 'dead'.", "sources": [ "https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3118218/smartisan-founders-dream-beating-apple-dies-bytedance-suspends-smartphone", "https://en.pingwest.com/w/8255", "https://www.gizmochina.com/2021/01/17/bytedance-shuts-down-smartisan-team-will-focus-on-educational-hardware-products/", "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/china-bytedance-stops-smartisan-phone-production-after-nut-r2", "https://www.gizmochina.com/2020/10/21/smartisan-nut-r2-launched-china/", "https://wccftech.com/tiktoks-parent-company-bytedance-unveils-its-first-ever-smartphone-the-nut-pro-3/", "https://cntechpost.com/2019/11/02/tiktok-owner-releases-smartisan-nut-pro-3-with-flagship-specs/", "https://cloud.tencent.cn/developer/news/759497", "https://www.cbndata.com/information/128407", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartisan" ] }, { "name": "Pico 5", "aliases": [ "PICO 5" ], "status": "dead", "type": "hardware", "category": "Hardware - standalone VR/MR headset (cancelled before release)", "publisher": "Pico (Pico Interactive / Pico Technology), a subsidiary of ByteDance (字节跳动)", "developerEntities": [ "Pico (PICO)", "Pico Interactive", "ByteDance (字节跳动)" ], "region": "Planned global / China (never shipped in any region)", "dateLaunched": "", "dateKilled": "2023-12-13", "killedReason": "Cancelled in internal development after Pico 4 (launched late 2022) sales fell far short of ByteDance's expectations. ByteDance decided not to compete head-to-head with Meta Quest in consumer VR and instead pivoted: redirecting effort toward a refreshed Pico 4 in the near term and a longer-term high-end Apple Vision Pro competitor codenamed \"Swan\" (described as still largely experimental/conceptual with no clear timeline). The cancellation followed a large-scale Pico restructuring in late 2023 (roughly 400 staff laid off and ~600 transferred, cutting Pico's headcount by nearly 60%, from ~1,800 to ~800). Pico also reportedly canceled an in-development Beat Saber competitor and handed off Ubisoft's Just Dance VR to another partner.", "appStoreId": "", "description": "ByteDance's planned next VR headset, to follow the Pico 4. After weak Pico 4 sales it quit the Meta Quest fight and scrapped the Pico 5 in 2023; it never shipped.", "link": "https://www.uploadvr.com/pico-5-canceled/", "sources": [ "https://www.uploadvr.com/pico-5-canceled/", "https://roadtovr.com/bytedance-cancels-pico-5-report/", "https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/bytedances-pico-cancels-next-vr-headset", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-cancelled-the-release-of-vr-product-pico-5", "https://mixed-news.com/en/pico-5-canceled-report/", "https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20231214-pico-5-canceled/", "https://www.phonearena.com/news/pico-5-cancelled-for-vision-pro-competitor_id153507", "https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/30/tiktok-owner-bytedance-acquires-pico-and-takes-first-step-into-virtual-reality.html" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "CONFIDENCE: medium-high overall on the cancellation; the underlying decision basis is a single primary report rather than an official ByteDance statement. The cancellation is corroborated across multiple reputable VR outlets (UploadVR, Road to VR, MIXED, Pandaily, Gigazine, PhoneArena, SPEEDA Edge), all tracing to a paywalled report by Juro Osawa in The Information published Dec 13, 2023. Because the original is a single sourced report (citing people with direct knowledge), the underlying facts are \"reportedly\" true. DATE FIELDS: dateLaunched is intentionally empty - the Pico 5 was NEVER launched/released. dateKilled = 2023-12-13, the date the cancellation was first reported (no official ByteDance cancellation date exists; the actual internal decision predates the report). Planned launch was reportedly end of 2024 (per MIXED). APP STORE: no App Store/Google Play ID exists - this is unreleased hardware, not an app. The name \"PICO 5\" is the reported product name; ByteDance never officially confirmed it. NOTE on restructuring date: kept as \"late 2023\" because sources do not pin an exact date." }, { "name": "Pico (VR business)", "status": "alive", "type": "hardware", "aliases": [ "Pico Interactive", "PICO 4 Ultra", "Project Swan" ], "category": "Hardware (VR / XR headsets)", "region": "Global (Europe, China, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia); enterprise-only in the US historically, with first official US consumer launch planned via Project Swan in 2026", "publisher": "ByteDance (字节跳动). App Store/Play developer entities: \"Pico Immersive Pte. Ltd.\" (Google Play, Singapore entity) and \"Beijing Pico Technology Co., Ltd.\" (Apple App Store)", "developerEntities": [ "Pico Immersive Pte. Ltd. (Singapore — Google Play publisher)", "Beijing Pico Technology Co., Ltd. / 北京小鸟看看科技有限公司 (Apple App Store publisher)", "Pico Interactive, Inc. (former US/San Francisco arm, pre-ByteDance)", "小鸟看看 Xiaoniao Kankan / Pico Technology Co., Ltd. (original China brand entity, registered Apr 27 2015)", "ByteDance Ltd. (parent since Aug 2021)" ], "dateLaunched": "2015-04", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "description": "VR headset maker founded 2015, bought by ByteDance in 2021 to fight Meta's Quest. Cut back in 2023 but still going, with the PICO 4 Ultra and 2026 Project Swan.", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PICO_4", "appStoreId": "App \"PICO - XR\", Apple App Store id 1621284230 (https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/pico-xr/id1621284230); Google Play developer \"Pico Immersive Pte. Ltd.\" (app PICO)", "sources": [ "https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/30/tiktok-owner-bytedance-acquires-pico-and-takes-first-step-into-virtual-reality.html", "https://equalocean.com/news/2021083016586", "https://www.roadtovr.com/bytedance-tiktok-acquire-pico-report/", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Pico%20Technology%20Co.,%20Ltd./83219", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3240677/bytedances-virtual-reality-unit-pico-pushes-new-round-job-cuts-restructuring-move-amid-falling", "https://www.uploadvr.com/major-pico-layoffs/", "https://www.uploadvr.com/bytedance-pico-brand-future/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-denies-shutting-down-vr-business-of-pico/", "https://technode.com/2023/11/08/bytedances-pico-undergoes-its-biggest-overhaul-amid-disappointing-vr-headset-sales/", "https://www.uploadvr.com/pico-5-canceled/", "https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20231214-pico-5-canceled/", "https://roadtovr.com/bytedance-cancels-pico-5-report/", "https://www.picoxr.com/global/about/newsroom/pico-4-ultra-mixed-reality-headset", "https://www.uploadvr.com/pico-4-ultra-europe-apac-preorders/", "https://www.uploadvr.com/pico-project-swan-official-display-compute-specs-announcement/", "https://roadtovr.com/pico-project-swan-os-6-update/", "https://siliconangle.com/2026/03/02/pico-introduces-next-gen-vr-os-6-teases-2026-flagship-headset-project-swan/", "https://www.androidcentral.com/gaming/virtual-reality/pico-project-swan-pico-os-6-north-america", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Pico+Immersive+Pte.+Ltd.&hl=en_US", "https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/pico-xr/id1621284230", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PICO_4" ], "notes": "CONFIDENCE HIGH that Pico is ALIVE (scaled back after Nov 2023, not dead). Confirmed by PICO 4 Ultra (Sept 2024) and the actively-marketed 2026 flagship \"Project Swan\" + Pico OS 6 (officially teased March 2026, US consumer launch planned). ByteDance explicitly denied shutting Pico down. Genuinely a ByteDance product (subsidiary since the 2021 acquisition). UNCERTAINTIES: (1) Acquisition price varies by source: ~RMB 9B/~US$1.39B per Pico's memo vs ~RMB 5B/~US$775M in pre-confirmation rumors — both ranges are sourced. (2) Founding date — legal entity Pico Technology Co., Ltd. registered Apr 27, 2015 (Baidu Baike); corrected draft's \"2015-03\" to 2015-04. (3) Project Swan launch window reported variously as H1/Q2 2026 to late 2026; treat as 2026, dates not yet final. (4) Project Swan = NEW high-end device; it is NOT the cancelled Pico 5. Pico 5 was a SEPARATE product cancelled in late 2023, after which ByteDance shifted to the longer-horizon Swan project — the draft's note line saying the Nov-2023 restructuring 'cancelled Project Swan, the development project for Pico 5' is WRONG and was corrected here." }, { "name": "Dmonstudio", "status": "dead", "type": "service", "aliases": [ "dmonstudio.com" ], "category": "Cross-border fast-fashion e-commerce (women's apparel & accessories)", "description": "Global women's fast-fashion site, widely tied to ByteDance and built to fight SHEIN. It closed abruptly about three months after launch, having won few users.", "dateLaunched": "2021-11", "dateKilled": "2022-02-11", "killedReason": "Failed to gain meaningful traction against SHEIN. Reported metrics conflict (one source claimed \"over one million users,\" but more granular figures cited only ~8,000 daily visitors and ~16,400 daily page views in its final days), and its products were priced higher than SHEIN's. ByteDance gave no official explanation for the abrupt closure (and never officially acknowledged ownership); the consensus in Chinese and Western tech press is that low user adoption and an inability to differentiate from SHEIN doomed the project after roughly three months. It was an early, unsuccessful step in ByteDance's broader overseas e-commerce push (later pursued via Fanno, If Yooou, and TikTok Shop).", "publisher": "Operated under cover/shell entities Guangzhou Chuangxing Media Technology Co., Ltd. (广州创星传媒科技有限公司; listed on the site's \"Contact Us\" page; established 2021-02-26) and Guangzhou Fanchen Zhishang Technology Co., Ltd. (广州凡尘之上科技有限公司; listed on the site's \"Terms of Service\" page; established 2021-11-02); widely attributed to ByteDance by Chinese and Western media but never officially confirmed by ByteDance, and no public equity link between these companies and ByteDance was documented", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动) — reported/widely-attributed but undisclosed owner; never officially confirmed", "Guangzhou Chuangxing Media Technology Co., Ltd. (广州创星传媒科技有限公司)", "Guangzhou Fanchen Zhishang Technology Co., Ltd. (广州凡尘之上科技有限公司)" ], "appStoreId": "", "region": "Global (China-operated, overseas-facing; shipped to 100+ countries incl. North America, Europe, Middle East; reportedly blocked U.S. access)", "link": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3166995/tiktok-parent-bytedance-kills-shein-fashion-shopping-app-after-three", "confidence": "high", "notes": "CORRECTED a factual error in the draft: the operating shell entity is Guangzhou CHUANGXING Media Technology Co., Ltd. (广州创星传媒科技有限公司), NOT \"Guangzhou C.X Media Technology Co., Ltd. (广州市C.X传媒科技有限公司)\" as the draft stated — \"C.X\" was an erroneous transliteration of 创星 (Chuàngxīng). The second entity is 广州凡尘之上科技有限公司 (Fánchén Zhīshàng = \"Above the Mortal World\"); draft's pinyin \"Fanchen Zhishang\" was correct. Per Ebrun, the two companies were established 2021-02-26 (Chuangxing, legal rep Zhang Xu) and 2021-11-02 (Fanchen Zhishang, legal rep Li Yujie), with no documented link between them or to ByteDance. ByteDance ownership is REPORTED/attributed only — never officially confirmed; ByteDance declined to comment. isByteDance treated as true because attribution is consistent and strong across reputable Chinese (Jiemian, 36Kr, Sina, The Paper, Ebrun) and Western (SCMP, BoF, WWD/Sourcing Journal, TechNode) outlets, and it was reportedly an internal S-level ByteDance project under Kang Zeyu — but this is a 'reported, never officially confirmed' case, flagged accordingly. Dates verified: domain registered 2021-11-03 (GoDaddy); shut down 2022-02-11 (~101 days). dateLaunched kept as 2021-11 (registration/internal launch); exact public go-live day undocumented. Product type: primarily a WEBSITE (WWD/Sourcing Journal explicit), though SCMP loosely says \"app\"; no App Store/Play listing, appStoreId left empty. Conflicting reach figures noted (one million users vs ~8,000 daily visitors). Ex-SHEIN staffing: reports range from \"nearly 100\" to roughly half of a ~400-person team. Successors: Fanno (late 2021), If Yooou (2022), TikTok Shop.", "sources": [ "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3166995/tiktok-parent-bytedance-kills-shein-fashion-shopping-app-after-three", "https://technode.com/2022/02/15/bytedance-closes-shein-like-shopping-site-three-months-after-its-launch/", "https://en.tmtpost.com/post/6007717", "https://en.pingwest.com/a/9834", "https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/china/shein-like-site-linked-to-tiktok-owner-bytedance-shuts-down/", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7099576.html", "https://36kr.com/p/1614593959987976", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2022-02-14/doc-ikyamrna0682928.shtml", "https://m.ebrun.com/473583.html", "https://wwd.com/sourcing-journal/industry-news/shein-tiktok-bytedance-fast-fashion-china-dmonstudio-gen-z-1238790372/", "https://pandaily.com/retail-platform-dmonstudio-closed-after-rumors-it-belongs-to-bytedance/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-launches-womens-clothing-website-dmonstudio/", "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tiktok-parent-bytedance-kills-off-093000128.html", "https://jingdaily.com/posts/dmonstudio-closure-bytedance-shein" ] }, { "name": "Fanno", "aliases": [ "Fanno Shopping" ], "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "Cross-border e-commerce / online shopping marketplace", "description": "ByteDance's shopping app selling cheap factory-direct goods to Europe. Closed in 2023 over weak repeat sales, poor quality and slow shipping.", "dateLaunched": "2021-11-16", "dateKilled": "2023-06-10", "killedReason": "Wound down in spring 2022 (team disbanded ~April 2022) and formally ceased operations June 10, 2023 as ByteDance refocused cross-border e-commerce on TikTok Shop. Failure causes: low repurchase/retention (same cheap goods were on Amazon and AliExpress), poor product quality and high returns, slow multi-week logistics and refused refunds, an unsustainable subsidy-driven growth model with seller misconduct once subsidies were cut, uneven traction across markets, failure to convert Facebook-acquired traffic into loyal users, and supply-chain headwinds tied to the Russia-Ukraine war.", "region": "Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain); China-operated, overseas-facing", "publisher": "Bytedance Pte. Ltd", "developerEntities": [ "Bytedance Pte. Ltd (Singapore shell; iOS developer id 1497663561, the same shell used for many ByteDance overseas apps)", "ByteDance Ltd. (parent)" ], "appStoreId": "1591564003 — https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/fanno/id1591564003 (listing now delisted/unavailable)", "link": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3158548/tiktok-owner-bytedance-ramps-e-commerce-expansion-launch-fanno", "sources": [ "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3158548/tiktok-owner-bytedance-ramps-e-commerce-expansion-launch-fanno", "https://pandaily.com/bytedances-e-commerce-platform-fanno-denies-shutdown-rumors/", "https://en.tmtpost.com/post/5970089", "https://www.sourcinbox.com/blog/from-fannos-failure-to-tiktok-shops-success-what-can-dropshippers-learn", "https://www.sourcinbox.com/blog/fanno-is-about-to-shut-down-what-can-we-learn", "https://www.sourcinbox.com/blog/fanno-the-shopping-app-launched-by-tiktok-owner-bytedance-in-europe", "https://en.pingwest.com/w/9622", "https://thepaypers.com/ecommerce/bytedance-expands-e-shopping-platform-in-europe--1253241", "https://gamingsym.in/bytedances-overseas-e-commerce-company-fanno-responds-to-rumors-of-app-shutdown-it-can-still-be-used-normally/", "https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/fanno/id1591564003" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED ByteDance product — confirmed by SCMP, PingWest, TMTPost, Pandaily and others, all explicitly attributing Fanno to ByteDance. LAUNCH DATE: iOS App Store launch is well-sourced as Nov 16, 2021 across multiple independent sources; the broad European marketing/free-shipping push came days before Black Friday (Nov 26, 2021), and SCMP loosely says \"last month\"/\"end of 2021,\" but Nov 16, 2021 is the precise verified iOS launch date (high confidence). DEATH DATE: two valid milestones — (a) de facto wind-down spring 2022 (team disbanded ~April 2022; last app update ~April 2022), and (b) official website cessation statement \"Fanno has officially ceased operations as of June 10, 2023.\" Used June 10, 2023 as formal dateKilled since it is the only explicit official cessation statement (high confidence on both milestones). Note ByteDance publicly DENIED shutdown rumors in May 2022, so no formal 2022 closure announcement exists. APP STORE ID: 1591564003 is Fanno's app id (matches apps.apple.com URL); 1497663561 is the Bytedance Pte. Ltd developer-page id, NOT Fanno's app id. The \"凡诺\" Chinese rendering is informal/unverified; Chinese press just called it \"Fanno\" (overseas-only 出海 product, no widely-used official Chinese brand name). SHEIN-competitor sibling Dmonstudio (also ByteDance, shut Feb 2022) is a separate product, not an alias." }, { "name": "火山小视频 (Huoshan / Douyin Huoshan)", "status": "merged", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "抖音火山版", "Douyin Huoshan Edition", "火山直播" ], "category": "Short video / livestreaming app", "region": "China (domestic); separate overseas Vigo Video / Hypstar product line in India, Brazil, the Middle East and other markets", "publisher": "Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd. (北京抖音科技有限公司) — current App Store developer name; historically associated with Beijing Microlive Vision Technology Co., Ltd. (北京微播视界科技有限公司), the Douyin/Huoshan publishing shell — both ByteDance subsidiaries", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动 / Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd.)", "Beijing Microlive Vision Technology Co., Ltd. (北京微播视界科技有限公司)", "Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd. (北京抖音科技有限公司)" ], "appStoreId": "1086047750 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1086047750) — Android package: com.ss.android.ugc.live", "dateLaunched": "2016-04", "dateKilled": "2020-01-08", "killedReason": "ByteDance folded the standalone Huoshan brand into Douyin's ecosystem. On Jan 8, 2020 (announced on a Wednesday; TechNode's English write-up dated Jan 9), ByteDance announced a \"brand integration upgrade,\" renaming 火山小视频 (Huoshan) to 抖音火山版 (Douyin Huoshan Edition), linking the two apps' accounts and sharing content — pulling Huoshan's lower-tier-city user base (~50M DAU at end of 2019) into Douyin to consolidate against Tencent-backed Kuaishou. This ended Huoshan as an independent standalone brand, though the rebranded app continued to operate independently. Separately, the overseas Vigo Video / Vigo Lite line was wound down in 2020 (Brazil and the Middle East first, then India by Oct 31, 2020), with users pushed to TikTok.", "description": "ByteDance's first short-video app, aimed at China's smaller cities with livestreaming and cash rewards. Folded into Douyin in 2020 and renamed Douyin Huoshan Edition.", "link": "https://technode.com/2020/01/09/bytedance-rebrands-huoshan-to-support-douyin/", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2020/01/09/bytedance-rebrands-huoshan-to-support-douyin/", "https://en.pingwest.com/a/5373", "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2020-01-09/bytedance-integrates-lesser-known-short-video-platform-with-douyin-101502657.html", "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E6%8A%96%E9%9F%B3%E7%81%AB%E5%B1%B1%E7%89%88", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20200108/herald/fdfbdc4e4fe7579d6ad81f6da234faf4.html", "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_5466067", "https://36kr.com/p/1724964667393", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1086047750", "https://technode.com/2020/06/15/bytedance-thins-overseas-apps-further-with-closure-of-video-app-vigo/", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-ends-vigo-video-in-india-following-shutdowns-in-brazil-middle-east", "https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/14/vigo-video-lite-apps-shut-down-bytedance-tiktok/", "https://www.medianama.com/2020/06/223-bytedance-shutdown-vigo-video/", "https://inc42.com/buzz/bytedance-pushes-users-to-tiktok-shuts-vigo-video-in-india/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED INDEPENDENTLY. ByteDance ownership is solid (high confidence) — Huoshan was ByteDance's first short-video product, built by the Jinri Toutiao team; current App Store developer is the ByteDance subsidiary Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd.\n\nDATE NUANCE — LAUNCH: Best given as 2016-04 (火山直播, livestreaming embedded in Toutiao). The lineage is 火山直播 (Apr 2016) → 火山星球 \"Huoshan Planet,\" 15-sec short-video community (Aug 2016) → renamed 火山小视频 (Dec 2016). Year is high confidence; the consumer-facing 火山小视频 brand specifically dates to Dec 2016.\n\nDATE NUANCE — KILL/MERGE: 2020-01-08 is the announcement date (Caixin, 21财经, zh.Wikipedia, ThePaper, 36Kr); TechNode's English article is dated 2020-01-09. 2020-01-08 used as dateKilled.\n\nSTATUS: \"merged\" is the right single tag. (1) The standalone 火山小视频 BRAND is dead — absorbed into Douyin's account/content ecosystem and renamed 抖音火山版 on 2020-01-08. (2) The China APP is still actively maintained — App Store id 1086047750 shows v39.2.0 last updated within days of research, developer Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd.; so \"dead\" would be inaccurate for the China app. (3) The OVERSEAS Vigo Video / Vigo Lite line IS fully dead — shut down in Brazil & Middle East first, then India by 2020-10-31, with users pushed to TikTok. If the site wants a clean \"killed\" entry, Vigo Video can be listed separately as status=dead, dateKilled=2020-10-31.\n\nCORRECTION TO DRAFT'S OVERSEAS FRAMING: The draft treats Vigo Video as simply \"the overseas version of Huoshan.\" More precisely, Vigo Video (earlier Hypstar) descended from Flipagram, a US app ByteDance acquired in Jan 2017, and is a DISTINCT product line — not a straight overseas port of the domestically grown Huoshan (which predates the Flipagram acquisition, having launched as 火山直播 in Apr 2016). I kept Vigo/Hypstar in aliases but relabeled them as a \"separate overseas product line.\" Sources differ on how tightly the two were branded together, so I flagged this rather than asserting a direct port.\n\nPUBLISHER: App Store currently shows Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd.; historically associated with Beijing Microlive Vision Technology Co., Ltd. (the Douyin shell). Android package com.ss.android.ugc.live (the \"live\" reflects the Huoshan Live origin). The candidate alias \"Hot Soup Video\" is a mistranslation of 火山 (huoshan = volcano) and was NOT carried forward." }, { "name": "Cici", "status": "rebranded", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "Cici AI", "Cici - Your AI assistant", "Dola" ], "category": "AI assistant / generative AI chatbot", "dateLaunched": "2023-08", "dateKilled": "2025-11-03", "killedReason": "Not shut down — rebranded. On November 3, 2025 ByteDance officially renamed the app from \"Cici\" to \"Dola\" (announced via the official Dola Facebook channel: \"Big news! Cici is now Dola! We've rebranded — same Cici you love, just with a new name\"). The same product continued under the new brand: identical App Store numeric ID (6451431247) and Google Play package (com.larus.wolf) retained, existing accounts/chats/settings carried over, and store listings now read \"Dola: Formerly Cici.\" The Cici brand/name is therefore dead, but the underlying app is alive as Dola (10M+ DAU as of Dec 31, 2025, per Pandaily/SAMENA; still live on iOS/Android stores and APKPure v13.7.0 as of June 2026). The rebrand is a strategic consolidation of ByteDance's overseas consumer-AI brand.", "region": "Global ex-China — region-locked to emerging/overseas markets. Confirmed available: UK, Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brazil (plus reported: Thailand, Spain, France, Poland, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina). NOT available in mainland China, United States, Canada, or Australia.", "publisher": "SPRING (SG) PTE. LTD.", "developerEntities": [ "SPRING (SG) PTE. LTD. (Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd.) — Singapore subsidiary of ByteDance; App Store developer id 1698257573; same entity used for Coze, ChitChop, Trae and other overseas ByteDance apps", "ByteDance Ltd. (ultimate parent / operator; not disclosed on early Cici terms of service or website — ownership first reported by Forbes in Jan 2024)" ], "appStoreId": "6451431247 (https://apps.apple.com/app/id6451431247 — listing now titled \"Dola: Smart AI Assistant\" / \"Dola: Formerly Cici\"; was \"Cici - Your AI assistant\"). Google Play package: com.larus.wolf (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larus.wolf)", "description": "ByteDance's overseas AI chatbot, sibling to China's Doubao, on OpenAI and Google models. Renamed Dola in 2025; the app runs on under the new name.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubao", "sources": [ "https://www.oodaloop.com/briefs/2024/01/17/tiktok-owner-bytedance-quietly-launched-4-generative-ai-apps-powered-by-openais-gpt/", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubao", "https://pandaily.com/byte-dance-s-overseas-ai-assistant-dola-surpasses-10-million-daily-active-users", "https://www.samenacouncil.org/samena_daily_news?news=108914", "https://www.facebook.com/DolaAIofficial/posts/-big-news-cici-is-now-dolaweve-rebranded-same-cici-you-love-just-with-a-new-name/122256833048184735/", "https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2026/02/16/all-in-on-ai-what-tiktok-creator-bytedance-did-next", "https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2023/11/29/bytedances-chatgpt-powered-ai-chatbot-cici-tops-charts-in-emerging-markets", "https://tracxn.com/d/legal-entities/singapore/spring-sg-pte.ltd/__S9QdmbGZElgiEeWnbMboAesakS_mRQeOL0X2ttqSfDk", "https://apps.apple.com/app/id6451431247", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larus.wolf", "https://x.com/poezhao0605/status/2006741469671854222" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Independently re-verified from scratch; draft holds up well.\n\nByteDance ownership: CONFIRMED high. Forbes/OODA Loop (Jan 2024) first reported Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd. as a ByteDance subsidiary running Cici/Coze/ChitChop. Corroborated by Wikipedia (Doubao), The Star (Feb 2026, \"The app is called Dola, previously Cici, overseas\"), Tracxn legal-entity record, and SCMP (Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd. also publishes ByteDance's Trae code editor). Overseas team led by Alex Zhu (Musical.ly co-founder).\n\nStatus = rebranded (NOT shut down) — CONFIRMED. Product alive as \"Dola: Smart AI Assistant\"; 10M+ DAU as of Dec 31, 2025.\n\nLaunch date: CONFIRMED 2023-08 (Wikipedia explicitly: \"Dola, the international version of Doubao, was launched in August 2023 as Cici\"; China Money Network covered Cici topping charts Nov 2023, impossible if launched Jan 2024). Exact August day not found. The \"Jan 2024\" figure some sources cite is the Forbes report date, NOT the launch.\n\nRebrand date: CONFIRMED Nov 3, 2025 via the official Dola Facebook post (\"Cici is now Dola\"). Set dateKilled = 2025-11-03 to mark the death of the \"Cici\" brand.\n\n\"REMOVED FROM GOOGLE PLAY JAN 23, 2026\" CLAIM — judged FALSE / unreliable aggregator noise, NOT recorded as a shutdown. Source is only AppBrain (now 403-blocked) and apkgk, both showing a STALE scrape (last version 11.9.1, last update Jan 20, 2026). Contradicted by: APKPure showing v13.7.0 in June 2026 (a delisted app would not keep shipping newer versions); live Google Play and App Store listings returning in multiple regions (Laos, Antigua) in 2026; Pandaily/SAMENA/The Star coverage showing the app thriving into 2026. No reputable press reported a delisting. A separate plausible-but-US-only signal (\"Apple began blocking US users from downloading ByteDance Chinese apps in late Jan 2026\") would be a US App Store action, not a global removal — and the US is already in the region-locked-out list, so it does not change status. If a future check shows a genuine global Play delisting, revisit.\n\nBackend: OpenAI GPT (via Microsoft Azure) + Google Gemini for text (confirmed by Wikipedia and Forbes/OODA Loop); ByteDance Seedream/Seedance for image/video (reported, medium confidence). Note this differs from domestic Doubao, which uses ByteDance's own models.\n\nScope note: Doubao (domestic China app) is a SEPARATE record — Cici/Dola is the ex-China international version. Sibling Spring (SG) apps Coze, ChitChop (and Poligon's BagelBell) are also ByteDance and could be separate records.\n\nDescription trimmed to 239 chars (under the 240 limit) for the killedbygoogle.com-style entry; full detail preserved in killedReason and the original long-form description.\n\nMinor cleanups vs draft: link is Wikipedia/Doubao (no dedicated Cici/Dola en.wikipedia page exists). Removed the China-blocked APKMirror/Similarweb/aboutchromebooks aggregator URLs from sources in favor of primary/reputable ones; swapped in The Star and Tracxn. Corrected developerEntities to note BagelBell is Poligon Pte., not Spring (SG).", "stoppedUpdating": false, "successor": "Dola" }, { "name": "BagelBell", "status": "rebranded", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "AnyDoor", "Anydoor", "BagelBell: Diverse AI worlds" ], "category": "AI / entertainment (AI interactive fiction and AI character chat)", "region": "Overseas / ex-mainland-China markets (Southeast Asia, etc.); not available in the EU; never in mainland China. iOS US/global stores now delisted; Google Play delisted; a geo-restricted web version remained reachable as of mid-2026.", "dateLaunched": "2023-12", "dateKilled": "2024", "publisher": "Poligon Pte. Ltd. (original BagelBell publisher); SPRING (SG) PTE. LTD. (publisher of the rebranded AnyDoor app)", "developerEntities": [ "Poligon Pte. Ltd. (Singapore; ByteDance subsidiary that previously published erotic web novels and games for ByteDance) — original BagelBell publisher", "SPRING (SG) PTE. LTD. (Singapore; ByteDance subsidiary) — publisher entity for the rebranded AnyDoor app", "ByteDance Ltd. / 字节跳动 (ultimate parent; built in-house by ByteDance's 'Flow' department under its Product Development & Engineering org 'PDI', Flow established Nov 2023)" ], "appStoreId": "iOS App Store id6473355251 (as 'AnyDoor', https://apps.apple.com/app/anydoor/id6473355251 — iTunes lookup by id and by bundleId com.bagel.anydoor returns resultCount 0 across all checked country stores, app delisted); Android package com.bagel.anydoor (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bagel.anydoor — HTTP 404 in all checked regions, delisted)", "description": "ByteDance's overseas AI fiction and character-chat app, launched 2023 on OpenAI's GPT. Renamed AnyDoor in 2024; the mobile apps were later pulled from the stores.", "killedReason": "Brand retired and folded into a successor app. BagelBell was rebranded to 'AnyDoor: Diverse AI worlds' (same codebase/Android package com.bagel.anydoor, same iOS id6473355251), consistent with ByteDance's 'app factory' / horse-racing strategy of rapidly renaming and consolidating experimental overseas AI apps. The 'BagelBell' name was dropped during 2024 and the publisher entity shifted from Poligon Pte. Ltd. to SPRING (SG) PTE. LTD. The successor AnyDoor mobile apps were later pulled from the Apple App Store (iTunes lookup by id 6473355251 and by bundleId com.bagel.anydoor returns resultCount 0 across all 11 checked country stores) and Google Play (page returns HTTP 404 in all checked regions); only a geo-restricted web version persists. No official shutdown announcement was ever published — ByteDance never publicly acknowledged owning the app.", "link": "https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2024/01/17/tiktok-owner-bytedance-quietly-launched-4-generative-ai-apps-powered-by-openais-gpt/", "sources": [ "https://www.oodaloop.com/briefs/2024/01/17/tiktok-owner-bytedance-quietly-launched-4-generative-ai-apps-powered-by-openais-gpt/", "https://x.com/Forbes/status/1747636109163585567", "https://marketrealist.com/which-are-the-new-generativer-ai-apps-launched-by-bytedance/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-launches-ai-interaction-app-bagelbell/", "https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2024/02/21/assessing-bytedances-7-consumer-facing-ai-products-doubao-cici-xiaowukong-chitchop-coze-kouzi-and-bagelbell", "https://aisharenet.com/en/bagelbellaiwenzi/", "https://www.appbrain.com/app/bagelbell-diverse-ai-worlds/com.bagel.anydoor", "https://apkcombo.com/anydoor-formerly-bagelbell/com.bagel.anydoor/", "https://apkpure.com/bagelbell-diverse-ai-worlds/com.bagel.anydoor", "https://chrome-stats.com/d/com.bagel.anydoor", "https://anydoor.ai/", "https://www.sgpbusiness.com/company/Poligon-Pte-Ltd" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIDENCE: HIGH overall. (1) ByteDance ownership: HIGH — Forbes (Jan 17, 2024, Emily Baker-White) ties BagelBell to ByteDance via subsidiary Poligon Pte. Ltd.; Pandaily independently confirms it was built by ByteDance's 'Flow' department (PDI org, Flow est. Nov 2023). Multiple independent corroborations (OODA Loop syndication, Market Realist, ChinaMoneyNetwork). Attribution is investigative, not self-disclosed (site/TOS omit ByteDance). (2) Launch: 2023-12 confirmed by Pandaily ('released in December' overseas) + APKPure/APKCombo ('available since December 2023'); Forbes 'past three months' as of Jan 2024 consistent. Exact day not published. (3) Rebrand to AnyDoor: HIGH — APKCombo URL literally reads 'anydoor-formerly-bagelbell'; same Android package com.bagel.anydoor and iOS id6473355251; independent FB community 'Group Anydoor (ex bagelbell) Indonesia'. (4) Publisher: Forbes specifies BagelBell was run by POLIGON (not Spring); the OTHER three apps (Cici/Coze/ChitChop) were run by Spring (SG). The REBRANDED AnyDoor store listings show SPRING (SG) PTE. LTD., so a Poligon-to-SPRING publisher shift occurred during rebrand. Both are ByteDance shells. (5) Status: 'rebranded' is correct. Mobile delisting verified independently 2026-06-15: iTunes lookup id 6473355251 and bundleId com.bagel.anydoor = resultCount 0 in us/sg/gb/id/ph/th/vn/jp/kr/tw/hk; Google Play = HTTP 404 in US/GB/SG/MY/ID. Web version (anydoor.ai / edit.anybagel.com) still live but geo-restricted; last APK update ~Apr 13 2025. No official shutdown announcement. (6) ALIAS CORRECTION: removed the speculative 'Hualu / 话炉' alias — it conflates with the separate domestic app 猫箱/Cat Box (formerly 话炉) and is not a confirmed BagelBell alias. (7) DO NOT CONFUSE with: ByteDance's open-source 'BAGEL' / BAGEL-7B-MoT multimodal model (2025, unrelated); unrelated bagel.ai decision tool and bagel restaurant/food apps. (8) Total downloads ~3.5M (AppBrain). Forbes original URL inferred from the X/Forbes post; OODA Loop (dated 2024/01/17) and Market Realist are confirmed-accessible mirrors of the same Baker-White report. CAVEAT: the surviving geo-restricted web version means the underlying product is not fully dead, but the BagelBell brand and its mobile apps are retired.", "stoppedUpdating": false, "successor": "AnyDoor: Diverse AI worlds" }, { "name": "抖音 (Douyin)", "aliases": [ "Aweme", "A.me" ], "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "Short video / social commerce", "region": "China (mainland) — China-only; TikTok is its separate international counterpart", "publisher": "Beijing Microlive Vision Technology Co., Ltd (北京微播视界科技有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Microlive Vision Technology Co., Ltd (北京微播视界科技有限公司)", "Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司)", "ByteDance Ltd. (字节跳动)" ], "appStoreId": "1142110895 — https://apps.apple.com/app/id1142110895 (developer/publisher id 1170416082)", "dateLaunched": "2016-09-20", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "description": "ByteDance's China-only flagship short-video app, sibling to TikTok. Launched 2016 as A.me, now China's top short-video and social-commerce app. Still alive.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douyin", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ByteDance", "https://pandaily.com/creator-of-douyin-tiktok-how-we-created-a-product-with-a-billion-views-a-day-in-18-months-part-i/", "https://tianranli.medium.com/the-evolution-of-douyin-chinese-tiktok-for-content-creators-886f9d6f5ea2", "https://www.jademond.com/glossary/douyin/", "https://rouse.com/insights/news/2021/china-ip-case-spotlight-may-2021-issue-8", "https://appstorespy.com/ios-apple-store/1170416082-apps-statistics-revenue-downloads-country", "https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/china-douyin-users-statistics/", "https://research.contrary.com/company/bytedance", "https://marketingtochina.com/douyin-statistics-and-trends/", "https://technode.com/2019/06/19/charting-the-13-app-bytedance-ecosystem/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "ALIVE — does not belong in a \"killed by ByteDance\" graveyard; it is the living flagship. Removed the unreliable/conflicting GMV figure from the description (sources cite anywhere from ~RMB 490B to ~3.5T for 2024, varying by methodology). DAU/MAU figures (~750-766M, 2024-2025) drift over time. Second developer entity corrected to \"Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd.\" (北京抖音信息服务有限公司). App Store id 1142110895 / publisher id 1170416082 corroborated by app-intelligence sources but not directly confirmable on Apple's curated storefront page." }, { "name": "今日头条 (Toutiao)", "aliases": [ "Today's Headlines", "头条" ], "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "News / content aggregator", "region": "China (domestic); limited overseas expansion attempts (e.g. TopBuzz internationally) largely wound down", "publisher": "Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司) — App Store developer; provider listed as Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司)", "Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司)" ], "appStoreId": "529092160 — https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id529092160", "dateLaunched": "2012-08", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "description": "Toutiao: ByteDance's first flagship, a 2012 app that builds personalized news feeds by machine learning. Still running in 2026 with over 300M monthly users.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toutiao", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toutiao", "https://www.britannica.com/money/ByteDance", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id529092160", "https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/10/what-exactly-is-bytedance-and-toutiao/", "https://technode.com/2018/04/10/toutiao-joke-app-removed/", "https://technode.com/2018/04/11/toutiao-apology/", "https://www.bytedance.com/en/", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Yiming" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Status: ALIVE — Toutiao is NOT dead and should NOT be listed as a \"killed\" entry. It remains an active, major ByteDance product as of 2026 (App Store id 529092160 confirmed live; Wikipedia updated May 2026 confirms active status). Launch confirmed August 2012; exact day-of-month not publicly documented (month is best precision). The April 2018 event was a TEMPORARY ~3-week app store removal ordered by SAPPRFT over \"vulgar content,\" not a shutdown — Toutiao returned afterward. The PERMANENTLY shut-down app was ByteDance's separate joke app Neihan Duanzi (内涵段子), a distinct product. This record will be dropped/excluded from the graveyard site since it is not a killed product. Candidate graveyard records worth researching separately: Neihan Duanzi (permanently killed April 2018), Xigua Video (西瓜视频, rebranded Toutiao video channel), TopBuzz (overseas Toutiao-style app, shut down 2020)." }, { "name": "西瓜视频 (Xigua Video)", "aliases": [ "Watermelon Video", "头条视频", "Toutiao Video" ], "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "Mid-length / long-form video sharing platform (PUGC \"zhongshipin\" / middle-form video)", "region": "China (Chinese mainland; iOS/Android, web at ixigua.com)", "publisher": "Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司) — current App Store seller and Android-store developer of record", "Beijing Bytedance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司) — earlier publisher entity", "ByteDance (字节跳动) — parent group" ], "appStoreId": "1134496215 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1134496215) — China App Store; Android package com.ss.android.article.video", "dateLaunched": "2016-05", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "description": "ByteDance's mid-length video app, once pitched as China's YouTube. Launched 2016 as Toutiao Video, renamed Xigua in 2017; still live, folded into Douyin since 2024.", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xigua_Video", "notes": "STATUS = ALIVE, with an important \"merged/integrated\" caveat worth surfacing. The consumer app is still published and actively updated (China App Store v10.4.0, last updated ~June 2026; v9.x builds across 2025 on Android stores). However, Xigua Video has been progressively absorbed into Douyin's ecosystem and is no longer a fully independent product: (1) Jan 2, 2024 press (Tencent News/QQ, NBD, DoNews) reported \"抖西合流\" — Xigua's operations team folding into Douyin, with Xigua content distributed inside Douyin and no separate Xigua operating strategy. Note: the qq.com article at 20240102A04RX300 itself relies on anonymous sources and does NOT contain an official denial; the Douyin denial (\"相关信息不实，公司会长期持续投入服务好西瓜视频的作者和用户\") is reported in separate coverage (Sohu/ennews/zhihu) dated around Jan 2, 2024. (2) In Aug/Sep 2024 the long-running \"中视频伙伴计划\" (Mid-Video Partner Program, launched 2021 across Toutiao+Xigua+Douyin) was retired and upgraded to a unified Douyin \"创作者伙伴计划\"; Xigua's independent creator/upload platform was wound down, Xigua accounts became Douyin accounts, and Xigua+Douyin revenue is now settled unified through Douyin (Toutiao settled separately). So the front-end app survives while the account system and monetization are merged into Douyin — defensibly categorizable as \"merged/integrated (ongoing)\" rather than fully independent, but NOT dead. Dates: launch May 2016 (month/year high confidence; exact day not reliably sourced); rename to Xigua 2017-06-08 (high confidence, multiple sources). App Store seller is currently \"Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd.\" (confirmed on the live id1134496215 listing and on Xiaomi/Baidu/360 Android stores).", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xigua_Video", "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/西瓜视频", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1134496215", "https://deadline.com/2020/04/bbc-studios-xigua-video-bytedance-1202915761/", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedances-xigua-video-pivots-to-middle-video-incentivizing-creators-with-usd-300-million", "https://m.logonews.cn/2017071109414440.html", "https://www.3elife.net/Art/internet/201706/08/17493.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240102A04RX300", "https://www.sohu.com/a/749097658_121724387", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240104A055KH00", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2024-09-19/doc-incpshzs3797184.shtml", "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/676119264", "https://app.mi.com/details?id=com.ss.android.article.video" ] }, { "name": "Faceu激萌 (Faceu)", "aliases": [ "激萌", "FaceU" ], "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "Photo & Video / AR beauty selfie camera", "region": "China (primary); historically also Japan & South Korea. Banned in India (Sept 2020).", "dateLaunched": "2015-09-14", "dateKilled": "", "publisher": "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Lemon Technology Co., Ltd.) — a ByteDance subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Lemon Technology Co., Ltd.) — current iOS & Android publisher, ByteDance subsidiary", "Faceu Technology — original pre-acquisition startup founded by Guo Lie (郭列)", "Android package: com.lemon.faceu", "Business contact: faceu.business@bytedance.com" ], "appStoreId": "955253735", "description": "Faceu: an AR selfie camera for iOS and Android, with live stickers, face effects and filters. ByteDance bought it in 2018; still maintained.", "killedReason": "", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceu", "notes": "VERDICT: ALIVE and genuinely ByteDance. Do NOT include in a \"killed by\" graveyard as dead — it is still actively maintained. STATUS EVIDENCE: Tencent App Store (sj.qq.com) lists publisher 深圳市脸萌科技有限公司, version 7.3.0, update date 2026-01-04, 2.5亿 (250M) downloads; Xiaomi store shows active \"维护中\"/maintenance with v7.3.0 updated July 2025. BYTEDANCE: Confirmed via Toutiao's Feb 2018 ~US$300M acquisition of Faceu Technology; TechNode explicitly calls it \"Bytedance-owned.\" Current entity Shenzhen Lemon Technology (脸萌) is a ByteDance subsidiary (Android pkg com.lemon.faceu, business email @bytedance.com). LAUNCH DATE: 2015-09-14 well-supported by Chinese sources (NBD, jiemian, sohu); one source says Sept 4 — minor day-level uncertainty, but year 2015 is solid. English Wikipedia's \"2016\" is an ERROR conflating launch with peak virality (Dec 2016–early 2017 #1 ranking). MEITU: Meitu was a pre-acquisition INVESTOR (AllTechAsia: \"Meitu backed filter camera app Faceu,\" ~US$50M round Oct 2017), NOT the owner. MYOTee/脸萌: a predecessor product by the same founder, not a true alias of Faceu. India ban (2 Sept 2020, MEITY 118-app order) is a regional restriction, not a global shutdown. ACQUISITION exact day not pinned (reports clustered ~Feb 19–20, 2018). CAUTION FOR SITE: this product is ALIVE, so it should NOT appear as a tombstone unless the site tracks acquisitions/lineage separately.", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceu", "https://kr-asia.com/toutiao-acquired-ar-based-selfie-app-faceu-to-keep-diversifying", "https://globalventuring.com/toutiao-augments-holdings-with-300m-faceu-purchase/", "https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2018/02/20/toutiao-rumoured-acquire-chinese-augmented-reality-selfie-app-faceu-jimeng-300m", "https://technode.com/2019/05/08/the-lesser-known-bytedance-apps/", "https://sj.qq.com/appdetail/com.lemon.faceu", "https://app.mi.com/details?id=com.lemon.faceu", "https://alltechasia.com/2017/10/31/meitu-backed-filter-camera-app-faceu-receives-usd-50m-global-expansion/", "https://www.sohu.com/a/769082591_121124362", "http://www.nbd.com.cn/rss/toutiao/articles/1193232", "https://techstartups.com/2018/02/27/this-augmented-reality-selfie-app-just-sold-for-300-million-less-than-2-years-after-launch/" ] }, { "name": "剪映 (Jianying)", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "剪映专业版", "CapCut" ], "category": "Video editing", "region": "China (mainland; domestic China-market app)", "publisher": "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology Co., Ltd. — the Faceu/脸萌 team, a ByteDance subsidiary)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Lianmeng / Faceu Technology Co., Ltd.)" ], "appStoreId": "1458072671 (mobile, https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1458072671); 1529999940 (剪映专业版 / Jianying Pro desktop). Android package: com.lemon.lv", "dateLaunched": "2019-05", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "description": "Jianying: ByteDance's main China video editor and Douyin's creation tool, with AI subtitles, voiceover and cutout. Sibling to CapCut; still maintained.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CapCut", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CapCut", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1458072671", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/%E5%89%AA%E6%98%A0%E4%B8%93%E4%B8%9A%E7%89%88/id1529999940", "https://www.tianyancha.com/company/2334077773", "https://app.sensortower.com/news-feed/bytedances-video-editing-app-jianying-vlog-hits-10-million-ios-installs-in-china/5d96d98a6c9a1324a165d6c8", "https://invezz.com/news/2026/04/28/china-flags-bytedance-platforms-over-ai-content-labelling-violations/", "https://app.mi.com/details?id=com.lemon.lv", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ByteDance" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIRMED ALIVE — does NOT belong in a graveyard list. App Store shows version 20.1.0 updated within ~5 days of June 2026, with consistent weekly/bi-weekly releases; CapCut MAU surpassed 300M as of Feb 2026. The only adverse 2026 event was an April 2026 CAC regulatory flag over AI content-labeling rules — a compliance notice, not a discontinuation or ban. Launch year 2019 is high confidence; exact month (May 2019) is medium-high. Pro/desktop dates (Mac ~2020-11, Windows ~2021-02) are from secondary Chinese sources (medium confidence). CapCut is the international sibling/version built by the same team, not strictly an alias of the China-only app.", "status_detail": "alive" }, { "name": "醒图 (Xingtu)", "aliases": [ "Xingtu Photo Editor", "Hypic" ], "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "Photo / AI image editing", "region": "China (domestic). International sibling app \"Hypic\" (com.xt.retouchoversea, Bytedance Pte. Ltd.) serves global markets (US, Vietnam, etc.).", "dateLaunched": "2020-03", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "publisher": "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Lianmeng/\"Lemeng\" Technology Co., Ltd. — the Faceu/脸萌 entity, a ByteDance shell) is the current China App Store seller. Original developer was 北京颜选科技有限公司 (Beijing Yanxuan Technology Co., Ltd.).", "developerEntities": [ "北京颜选科技有限公司 (Beijing Yanxuan Technology Co., Ltd.) — original developer, founded 2018, acquired 100% by ByteDance/Douyin subsidiary in March 2023", "北京星云创迹科技有限公司 (Beijing Xingyun Chuangji Technology Co., Ltd.) — Douyin/ByteDance subsidiary that acquired 100% of Yanxuan on/around March 13-14, 2023", "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology Co., Ltd., the Faceu/脸萌 entity) — current China App Store seller", "Bytedance Pte. Ltd. — publisher of the international sibling app Hypic" ], "appStoreId": "1500526240 (China App Store: https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1500526240). Android bundle id: com.xt.retouch. International sibling Hypic uses com.xt.retouchoversea.", "description": "Xingtu: ByteDance's China photo and AI image editor, launched 2020 as the still-image partner to Jianying. Still alive, with over 60M monthly users.", "link": "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1500526240", "sources": [ "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1500526240", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%86%92%E5%9B%BE/66277802", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230314A045G600", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/477307", "https://36kr.com/newsflashes/663438347726722", "https://www.yfchuhai.com/article/11791.html", "https://cn.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202604/13/WS69dca792a310942cc49a75eb.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20260411A07FZL00", "https://www.donews.com/news/detail/8/3404901.html", "https://www.chinaz.com/2020/0413/1125345.shtml", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xt.retouchoversea" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "STATUS: ALIVE — not a dead product; belongs on a \"Killed by ByteDance\" graveyard only as a living-product reference, never as a tombstone. Confidence HIGH on alive status, ByteDance ownership, and App Store id 1500526240 (the earlier-surfaced id 501945443 is incorrect/unrelated). Launch confirmed as spring/March 2020 (Baidu Baike, ChinaZ April 13 2020, tech press); the over-precise \"2020-03-26\" day could only be sourced to Baidu Baike, so the field was softened to 2020-03. Ownership HIGH: original developer 北京颜选科技 (founded 2018) was 100%-acquired ~March 13-14 2023 by ByteDance/Douyin subsidiary 北京星云创迹科技 (Tencent News, DoNews, 36Kr, CLS); current China App Store seller is the ByteDance Faceu shell 深圳市脸萌科技; April 2026 press calls it \"字节旗下醒图.\" Hypic (com.xt.retouchoversea, Bytedance Pte. Ltd.) is the distinct INTERNATIONAL sibling/global version, not a rename of Xingtu — both coexist; do not conflate." }, { "name": "轻颜相机 (Qingyan Camera / Ulike)", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "轻颜", "Qingyan Camera", "Ulike" ], "category": "photo/AI selfie & beauty editing", "region": "China (轻颜相机) / Global ex-China (Ulike): Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, etc. Not available in US or India App Store.", "publisher": "China App Store/Android: 深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Lianmeng / Faceu Technology Co., Ltd., a ByteDance subsidiary). Overseas iOS/Android: BYTEDANCE PTE. LTD. (Singapore)", "developerEntities": [ "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology Co., Ltd. / Faceu Technology, ByteDance subsidiary acquired Feb 2018)", "BYTEDANCE PTE. LTD. (Singapore — overseas Ulike publisher)", "Beijing ByteDance Technology / 字节跳动 (ultimate parent)" ], "appStoreId": "Overseas Ulike iOS: 1398796436 (https://apps.apple.com/app/id1398796436, bundleId com.light.beautyabroad). China iOS 轻颜相机: 1375390276 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1375390276, bundleId com.light.beauty).", "dateLaunched": "2018-05-07", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "description": "ByteDance's beauty selfie camera (China: Qingyan; overseas: Ulike), with live face touch-up, AI makeup and filters. Built by the Faceu team in 2018; still alive.", "link": "https://apps.apple.com/app/ulike-define-trendy-selfie/id1398796436", "sources": [ "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/%E8%BD%BB%E9%A2%9C-%E8%AE%B0%E5%BD%95%E7%BE%8E%E4%B8%80%E5%88%BB/id1375390276", "https://itunes.apple.com/cn/lookup?id=1375390276", "https://itunes.apple.com/jp/lookup?id=1398796436", "https://apps.apple.com/na/app/ulike-define-trendy-selfie/id1398796436", "https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/bytedance-pte-ltd/ulike-define-your-selfie-in-trendy-style/", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gorgeous.liteinternational", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceu", "https://techstartups.com/2018/02/27/this-augmented-reality-selfie-app-just-sold-for-300-million-less-than-2-years-after-launch/", "https://www.niaogebiji.com/article-18035-1.html", "https://www.theweek.in/news/sci-tech/2020/07/27/will-india-ban-pubg-aliexpress-what-we-know-so-far.html", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/developer/%E6%B7%B1%E5%9C%B3%E5%B8%82%E8%84%B8%E8%90%8C%E7%A7%91%E6%8A%80%E6%9C%89%E9%99%90%E5%85%AC%E5%8F%B8/id764976186" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "STATUS: ALIVE (active product, not a graveyard candidate). ByteDance ownership, launch period, and live status all HIGH confidence after independent re-verification.\n\nLAUNCH DATE CORRECTED: Draft said 2018-05-03. The most authoritative source — the China iOS App Store releaseDate via itunes.apple.com/cn/lookup?id=1375390276 — returns 2018-05-07, and Chinese secondary reporting also cites May 7. Corrected to 2018-05-07 (May 2018 is HIGH confidence; exact day medium-high). Overseas iOS releaseDate = 2018-07-29 (confirmed via JP lookup, currentVersionReleaseDate 2023-11-14, v5.4.1).\n\nAPP STORE IDs RESOLVED: China iOS app id = 1375390276 (trackName '轻颜 - 记录美一刻', artistName 深圳市脸萌科技有限公司, bundleId com.light.beauty) — draft had flagged this as not captured; now confirmed. Overseas Ulike iOS id = 1398796436 (artistName 'Bytedance Pte. Ltd', bundleId com.light.beautyabroad). US App Store lookup (itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=1398796436, default US) returns resultCount 0 = NOT available in US; available in JP and other Asian stores.\n\nLIVE STATUS CONFIRMED: China iOS v10.6.4, currentVersionReleaseDate 2026-01-12 (actively maintained as of Jan 2026). Overseas Android (com.gorgeous.liteinternational) published by Bytedance Pte. Ltd., latest APKMirror upload v5.5.1 on 2024-06-06.\n\nBYTEDANCE OWNERSHIP CONFIRMED: Faceu Technology / 深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 acquired by ByteDance/Toutiao Feb 2018 for ~$300M (Tech Startups, Wikipedia/Faceu, Chinese press). Qingyan Camera built by the same Faceu team. App Store business-contact email uses @bytedance.com domain. Overseas publisher is Bytedance Pte. Ltd.\n\nINDIA BAN — CONFIRMED NOT AN OFFICIAL BAN: Ulike was only listed among apps 'under examination' / on a watch list (per July 2020 reporting alongside PUBG, AliExpress, Resso), NOT in the June 2020 (59), Aug 2020 (47/118), or Nov 2020 (43) official Section 69A ban lists. Current India App Store unavailability is geo-withdrawal, not a documented government ban.\n\nNAME NOTE: China store display name has shifted from 轻颜相机 to '轻颜 - 记录美一刻'; brand commonly shortened to 轻颜. Distinct from look-alikes (千颜, SelfieMade 轻颜美颜相机) which are different apps.\n\nRECOMMENDATION: DROP from any 'Killed by ByteDance' graveyard. No graveyard prose (dateKilled/killedReason) is warranted because the product is not dead. Remaining minor uncertainty: exact China launch DAY (May 7 per App Store API and one Chinese source; some Chinese blogs say May 4) — month/year solid. Overseas iOS not refreshed since Nov 2023 (worth monitoring, but not a shutdown)." }, { "name": "即梦 (Jimeng / Dreamina)", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "即梦AI", "Dreamina", "Dreamina AI" ], "category": "AI image/video generation", "region": "China (即梦/Jimeng) + Global/overseas (Dreamina); also embedded in CapCut for select international markets", "publisher": "Bytedance Pte. Ltd (overseas App Store/Google Play); Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology Co., Ltd. / Faceu Technology (深圳脸萌科技, the Jianying/剪映 division) for the China app", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Faceu Technology / Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology Co., Ltd. (深圳脸萌科技, Jianying/剪映 division)", "Bytedance Pte. Ltd (overseas App Store/Play publisher)", "Lemon Inc. (overseas Android package com.lemon.dreamina)", "CapCut/Jianying team" ], "appStoreId": "6749606485 (overseas Dreamina AI iOS app — https://apps.apple.com/app/id6749606485, publisher Bytedance Pte. Ltd); overseas Android package com.lemon.dreamina (Google Play); China Jimeng/即梦AI Android by Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology Co., Ltd.", "dateLaunched": "2024-05-09", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "confidence": "high", "description": "ByteDance's AI image and video app from the Jianying team, on the in-house Seedream and Seedance models. Called Jimeng in China, Dreamina overseas. Still alive.", "link": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/26/bytedances-new-ai-video-generation-model-dreamina-seedance-2-0-comes-to-capcut/", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/26/bytedances-new-ai-video-generation-model-dreamina-seedance-2-0-comes-to-capcut/", "https://petapixel.com/2024/08/15/tiktok-parent-company-launches-jimeng-ai-text-to-video-app/", "https://dataconomy.com/2024/08/07/tiktok-jimeng-ai-video-generator/", "https://www.tubefilter.com/2024/08/08/bytedance-jimeng-ai-text-to-video-openai-sora/", "https://www.videomaker.com/news/bytedance-launches-new-text-to-video-app-jimeng-ai/", "https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/shenzhen-lianmeng-technology-co-ltd/jimeng-ai-%E5%8D%B3%E6%A2%A6ai/", "https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/dreamina-ai-image-video-maker/id6749606485", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lemon.dreamina", "https://mlq.ai/news/bytedance-launches-dreamina-seedance-20-ai-video-tool-in-capcut-for-select-global-markets/", "https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20260327-dreamina-seedance-2-bytedances-capcut/", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Dreamina%20AI/1451794" ], "notes": "VERIFIED ALIVE — NOT a graveyard candidate. Include only if the site tracks living products. Confidence HIGH that it is genuinely ByteDance and actively developed as of June 2026. Naming nuance: launched as \"CapCut Dreamina\"/\"剪映Dreamina\" (open beta late March 2024); Chinese brand officially renamed to \"即梦\" (Jimeng) on May 9, 2024. Dreamina is the OVERSEAS brand, not merely an English alias, and predates the Jimeng rename. dateLaunched=2024-05-09 reflects the official Jimeng brand launch; standalone China app shipped Jul 31 2024 (Android) / ~Aug 6 2024 (iOS). Description trimmed to killedbygoogle.com style (neutral, <=240 chars); all factual fields and sources preserved unchanged." }, { "name": "Pippit", "status": "alive", "type": "service", "aliases": [ "CapCut Commerce Pro", "Pippit AI", "Pippit: AI Video & Image Maker" ], "category": "AI video/image marketing content creation platform (e-commerce / creator marketing)", "dateLaunched": "2025-05", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "region": "Global (ex-China / overseas)", "publisher": "BYTEDANCE PTE. LTD.", "developerEntities": [ "BYTEDANCE PTE. LTD. (Singapore shell, same used for CapCut/TikTok overseas apps)", "ByteDance — CapCut / Jianying (剪映) division" ], "appStoreId": "6756709583", "description": "ByteDance's overseas AI marketing app, built on CapCut, making product videos, images and AI avatars for online sellers. Renamed from CapCut Commerce Pro in 2025; still alive.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pippit", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pippit", "https://www.pippit.ai/business/newsroom/capcut-commerce-pro-rebrands-to-pippit", "https://catchwordbranding.com/portfolio/capcut-pippit/", "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pippit-ai-video-image-maker/id6756709583", "https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=6756709583&country=pl", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bytedance.pippitoverseas", "https://www.aibase.com/news/www.aibase.com/news/18290", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250530A03UYZ00", "https://cloud.tencent.com/developer/news/2622173", "https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/26/bytedances-new-ai-video-generation-model-dreamina-seedance-2-0-comes-to-capcut/", "https://www.producthunt.com/products/pippit-ai", "https://kingy.ai/ai/pippit-ai-review-a-practical-look-at-the-short-drama-agent-and-the-new-era-of-ai-storytelling/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "DO NOT INCLUDE ON GRAVEYARD: Pippit is ALIVE and actively developed (iOS app updated 2026-06-08; Dreamina Seedance 2.0 + Short Drama Agent added in early 2026). It is not dead, discontinued, merged, banned, or acquired-shut. Returned only so the orchestrator can filter it out. No graveyard entry should be published.\n\nLAUNCH DATE: 2025-05 (spring 2025 platform rollout); Product Hunt #1 debut April 2025; official CapCut newsroom rebrand post dated 2025-08-26. Native iOS app (com.bytedance.pippitoverseas) released 2026-04-24 — that is the mobile-app date, NOT the platform launch.\n\nXIAO YUNQUE (小云雀) — KEEP SEPARATE: a separate China-domestic AI video Agent from the same 剪映/CapCut team, NOT a rebrand of Pippit and correctly excluded from aliases.\n\nAPP STORE: Authentic ByteDance app = id 6756709583, seller \"BYTEDANCE PTE. LTD.\", bundle com.bytedance.pippitoverseas. Copycat listing \"Pippit AI\" id 6756895980 (seller \"Mari Vanoyan\", bundle com.pipitstudio.ai) is NOT ByteDance." }, { "name": "SoundOn", "aliases": [ "TikTok SoundOn", "Sound On" ], "status": "alive", "type": "service", "category": "music", "description": "TikTok's music distribution and marketing tool for new artists, with no upfront fees and full royalties on ByteDance apps. Still alive; not the shut TikTok Music app.", "dateLaunched": "2022-03-09", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "region": "Global (launched US, UK, Brazil, Indonesia in March 2022; later added Australia, New Zealand; April 2024 expansion added Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE)", "publisher": "ByteDance / TikTok (operated under the TikTok brand; primarily a web platform at soundon.global, not a standalone first-party app store listing)", "developerEntities": [ "TikTok / ByteDance", "TikTok Pte. Ltd." ], "appStoreId": "", "link": "https://www.soundon.global/", "sources": [ "https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/sound-on-the-new-platform-for-tiktok-music-marketing-and-global-track-distribution", "https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/09/tiktok-launches-a-music-distribution-platform-soundon/", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3170131/tiktok-launches-global-music-distribution-platform-artists", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundOn", "https://musically.com/2023/02/20/tiktok-swaps-tunecore-for-fuga-as-soundon-distribution-partner/", "https://www.musicinafrica.net/magazine/tiktok-distro-platform-soundon-now-available-nigeria-south-africa-and-egypt", "https://alternativeto.net/news/2024/9/bytedance-to-shut-down-tiktok-music-streaming-service-globally-by-november-2024", "https://www.chartlex.com/blog/money/soundon-payout-overhaul-tiktok-2026" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Confidence HIGH that SoundOn is alive as of June 2026. Genuinely a ByteDance product — operated by TikTok (a ByteDance subsidiary), confirmed by TikTok's own newsroom, SCMP, TechCrunch, Wikipedia and Music In Africa. Launch date 2022-03-09 is the public announcement/full launch (beta fall 2021; \"founded 2021\"). It is NOT dead — must be distinguished from the standalone TikTok Music streaming app (the rebranded Resso), which shut down globally on 2024-11-28; that closure is often conflated with SoundOn but they are separate products. Distribution backend switched from TuneCore to FUGA in Feb 2023. As of Feb 2026 a \"payout overhaul\" reaffirmed 100% royalties on ByteDance surfaces, confirming active development. SoundOn is primarily a web platform; no clearly verified standalone first-party \"SoundOn\" consumer iOS/Android app, so appStoreId left empty and type=service. Note: 2026 royalty-overhaul detail is sourced to Chartlex (secondary/lower-tier source) — primary TikTok confirmation of the Feb 2026 changes would strengthen it, but it does not affect the alive status." }, { "name": "汽水音乐 (Soda Music)", "aliases": [ "Qishui Music" ], "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "music", "region": "China (Mainland)", "dateLaunched": "2022-06-15", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "publisher": "Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd. (北京抖音科技有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Microlive Vision Technology Co., Ltd. (北京微播视界科技有限公司) — early Android software copyright registrant (Feb 2022); also the operating entity behind Douyin", "Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd. (北京抖音科技有限公司) — current China App Store seller / copyright holder", "ByteDance (字节跳动 / 北京字节跳动科技有限公司) — ultimate parent; product developed by ByteDance's China Music Business Division + Douyin Music" ], "appStoreId": "1605585211 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1605585211)", "description": "Soda Music: ByteDance's algorithm-driven, Douyin-linked music app for China. Still growing: about 156M monthly users by March 2026, China's third-largest music app.", "link": "https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tencent-music-investors-see-bytedances-soda-as-a-major-threat-what-is-it-and-why-are-they-so-worried/", "confidence": "high", "sources": [ "https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/bytedance-launches-new-music-streaming-service-in-china/", "https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tencent-music-investors-see-bytedances-soda-as-a-major-threat-what-is-it-and-why-are-they-so-worried/", "https://musically.com/2026/04/07/report-bytedances-soda-music-has-140m-active-users-in-china/", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20220615A0DJ2F00", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20220225A024AG00", "https://36kr.com/p/1649073204918664", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/roll/2025-11-07/doc-infwqvpr4523313.shtml", "https://en.pingwest.com/a/9927", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3174295/tiktok-owner-bytedance-pushes-music-streaming-service-mainland", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1605585211", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B1%BD%E6%B0%B4%E9%9F%B3%E6%A8%82/59478773" ], "notes": "DO NOT PUBLISH IN GRAVEYARD — this product is ALIVE (high confidence). It is one of ByteDance's biggest current consumer successes: ~120M MAU (Sept 2025) → ~140M (early 2026) → ~156M (March 2026 per QuestMobile), now China's #3 music app behind Kugou (~205M) and QQ Music (~201M), having passed NetEase Cloud Music (~147M); App Store iOS v19.6.0 live and #1 in the China Music category as of mid-June 2026. dateKilled/killedReason intentionally left empty. Launch-date nuance (three milestones often conflated): (1) Android software copyright registration Feb 2022; (2) small-scale invite-code-only beta on app markets ~April 2022; (3) open public launch / exit of invite-code beta with open registration on June 15, 2022 (confirmed by Tencent News and ZNDS) — kept as dateLaunched; first-availability would be April 2022. App Store ID 1605585211 verified correct (seller Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd.); the older/unrelated id 1170416082 is wrong. Publisher: current App Store seller/copyright is Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd.; early Android copyright was Beijing Microlive Vision Technology — both ByteDance/Douyin entities." }, { "name": "豆包 (Doubao)", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "云雀", "Cloud Lark", "Cici", "Dola" ], "appStoreId": "6459478672 — https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id6459478672", "category": "AI assistant / chatbot (generative AI)", "dateKilled": "", "dateLaunched": "2023-08", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance Ltd. (字节跳动) — parent company", "Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology Co., Ltd. (北京春田知韵科技有限公司) — wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary, App Store seller of the Doubao app (est. ~July 2023)", "Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司) — ByteDance's main China App Store developer account, id484926831", "Volcano Engine / Volcengine (火山引擎) — ByteDance cloud unit that develops the underlying Doubao Large Model and serves the app" ], "description": "Doubao: ByteDance's main consumer AI assistant, launched August 2023 on its own model. China's most-used AI-native app, over 330M monthly users in 2026. Still alive.", "killedReason": "", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubao", "publisher": "Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology Co., Ltd. (北京春田知韵科技有限公司) — China App Store seller, a wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary (unified social credit code 91110102MACQD9K640)", "region": "China (primary, as Doubao); international markets served via separate rebranded app Dola (formerly Cici) — available in UK, Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines; region-locked out of US, Canada, Australia, and China", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubao", "https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2023/chinese-firms-bytedance-baidu-release-ai-chatbots-public-after-regulatory-approval/", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id6459478672", "https://www.3elife.net/Art/internet/202308/18/85983.html", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Doubao/12689", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Doubao%20Large%20Model/1469492", "https://www.webpronews.com/bytedances-doubao-tops-chinas-ai-chatbots-with-157m-users/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-s-doubao-introduces-paid-pro-tier-as-user-base-dip-jun2026", "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2026-05-05/bytedance-plans-subscriptions-for-ai-chatbot-doubao-102440708.html", "https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1360270.shtml", "https://imastudio.com/blog/what-is-doubao" ], "notes": "STATUS IS ALIVE — this is NOT a killed/discontinued product, so it gets no graveyard tombstone entry. It is ByteDance's flagship and most-used AI product and the #1 AI-native app in China by MAU (~330–345M, early/mid 2026). Belongs on a \"Killed by ByteDance\" site only as a living counterpoint, never a graveyard entry.\n\nLaunch date verified (2023-08): internal testing June 2023 (codename Yunque/云雀), invite-only mid-August, public release after Chinese regulatory approval ~Aug 31, 2023 (PYMNTS). Exact day varies by source (Aug 17 invite-only vs Aug 31 public); 2023-08 is the safe value.\n\nUnderlying model: originally \"Lark\"/\"Cloud Lark\"/云雀 (Yunque), rebranded as the Doubao Large Model, publicly released at Volcano Engine FORCE on May 15, 2024 (also the commercialization start date).\n\nInternational variant: Cici and Dola are NOT two simultaneous variants. Cici launched Aug 2023 and was REBRANDED to Dola (\"Dola: Formerly Cici\") in late 2025/early 2026 across app stores.\n\nMAU/DAU figures vary by source/metric/date — treat 2026 figures as medium confidence: ~60M MAU (Nov 2024), ~157M MAU (Aug 2025, QuestMobile), ~330–345M MAU (early/mid 2026, QuestMobile). Paid Doubao Pro tiers (68–500 RMB/mo) rolled out/tested in 2026; MAU dipped ~6M in May 2026 afterward. Recent feature additions: Doubao Seed 2.0 (Feb 14, 2026), Seedance 2.0 video integration (Feb 2026)." }, { "name": "扣子 (Coze)", "aliases": [ "Coze Studio", "Coze Space", "扣子空间" ], "status": "alive", "type": "service", "category": "AI agent / no-code chatbot & agent development platform", "region": "Global / China (dual versions: coze.com global, coze.cn China)", "publisher": "Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, ByteDance subsidiary — global coze.com); ByteDance domestic entities (China 扣子 / coze.cn)", "developerEntities": [ "Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, ByteDance subsidiary — operates global coze.com plus other overseas ByteDance GenAI apps such as Cici/Dola and ChitChop)", "ByteDance Ltd. / 北京字节跳动 (parent; operates China 扣子 / coze.cn)", "Bytedance Pte. Ltd. (Google Play overseas)" ], "appStoreId": "No standalone numeric Coze iOS App Store id verified — Coze is primarily web + Mac/Windows desktop with mobile clients added by 2026. Global publisher is Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd. (Apple developer id 1698257573): https://apps.apple.com/developer/spring-sg-pte-ltd/id1698257573", "dateLaunched": "2024-02-01", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "description": "Coze: ByteDance's no-code AI agent and chatbot builder, its take on OpenAI's GPTs. Still alive and growing: open-sourced in 2025, v3.0 in 2026.", "link": "https://www.coze.com/", "sources": [ "https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3250585/tiktok-owner-bytedance-launches-its-answer-openais-gpts-accelerating-generative-ai-push-amid-chatgpt", "https://technode.com/2024/02/02/bytedance-launches-gpts-like-chatbot-developing-platform/", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-launches-coze-its-new-ai-agent-platform-in-beta", "https://oodaloop.com/briefs/technology/tiktok-owner-bytedance-quietly-launched-4-generative-ai-apps-powered-by-openais-gpt/", "https://technode.com/2025/04/24/tiktoks-owner-bytedance-launches-internal-beta-for-coze-space-an-ai-agent-collaboration-platform/", "https://en.tmtpost.com/news/7641222", "https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3398065816816003", "https://github.com/coze-dev/coze-studio", "https://github.com/coze-dev/coze-loop", "https://tracxn.com/d/legal-entities/singapore/spring-sg-pte.ltd/__S9QdmbGZElgiEeWnbMboAesakS_mRQeOL0X2ttqSfDk", "https://finance.biggo.com/news/kdnn1ZsBQSGUzTlwiZT6", "https://phemex.com/news/article/bytedances-coze-25-launches-agent-world-for-autonomous-ai-agents-71437", "https://www.coze.cn/", "https://www.coze.com/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "STATUS = ALIVE and actively growing — this is NOT a dead product. On a 'Killed by ByteDance' graveyard site it should be EXCLUDED, or shown only as a still-living entry. ByteDance attribution CONFIRMED with high confidence (SCMP, TechNode, KrASIA, 36Kr, TMTPost); global coze.com is published by Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd., a confirmed ByteDance Singapore subsidiary that also runs Cici/Dola and ChitChop. Date nuance: China 扣子 (coze.cn) launched Feb 1-2, 2024 (used as dateLaunched); the global coze.com version launched earlier as an overseas-first product in late 2023 (~Nov 2023, medium confidence on exact day). Model note: global Coze originally used OpenAI GPT via Microsoft Azure; China 扣子 uses Doubao; platform has since shifted heavily to in-house Doubao models. App Store: Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd. is a real Apple developer (id 1698257573) but no distinct numeric iOS app id verified for a standalone Coze app (low confidence on a dedicated iOS app). 2026 version dates (2.0 Jan 19, 2.5 Apr 7, 3.0) corroborated by BigGo, Phemex/KuCoin, aibase — medium-high confidence." }, { "name": "ChitChop", "status": "dead", "type": "app", "category": "AI assistant", "aliases": [ "ChitChop - 200+ AI bots", "ChitChop: AI Tools and Bots" ], "description": "ChitChop: ByteDance's overseas AI-assistant app, twin of China's Little Wukong, with 200-plus bots for work, study and creation. Quietly shut down in 2024.", "dateLaunched": "2023-11-29", "dateKilled": "2024", "killedReason": "Quietly discontinued/wound down with no official announcement. The Android app (package com.wukong.nsai) was unpublished from Google Play on 2024-04-15 (AppBrain; the live Play listing returns HTTP 404 as of June 2026). The iOS app was delisted from the App Store (iTunes Search API returns 0 results in the US, and a bundleId lookup for com.wukong.nsai returns 0, June 2026). The chitchop.com homepage went dark (last live Wayback capture 2024-10-08; redirect by 2024-12-08; gone by 2025-03-21) and now 301-redirects to www.chitchop.com, which returns HTTP 404; only legacy legal/terms pages (e.g., /auto-rule/i18n/ns/user/en) still return HTTP 200, so a backend sliver lingers but the consumer product is dead. Context: ByteDance was rapidly launching, testing, and culling multiple low-profile overseas generative-AI apps (the four exposed by Forbes in Jan 2024 were described as still testing) and consolidated its consumer AI effort around Doubao (China) and Cici (overseas, later rebranded Dola in Dec 2025); ChitChop did not survive that consolidation. No relaunch or rebrand of ChitChop was found.", "region": "Global (ex-China); primarily targeted overseas English-language markets (e.g., US). Not available in the EU.", "publisher": "Disputed across sources. The Google Play store listing and Chinese-language press (NBD, Binance, Pandaily, aibase) name POLIGON PTE. LTD. (Singapore, ByteDance subsidiary; also operates Helo/FizzoToon) as developer/operator. However, the original Forbes report (Jan 17, 2024, via OodaLoop/MarketRealist) attributes ChitChop to Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd. (a then-new ByteDance subsidiary that also ran Cici and Coze), with Poligon running the fourth app, BagelBell. Both entities are confirmed ByteDance subsidiaries.", "developerEntities": [ "POLIGON PTE. LTD. (Poligon Pte. Ltd.) — ByteDance subsidiary, Singapore (named as developer/operator by Google Play listing and Chinese press)", "Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd. — ByteDance subsidiary, Singapore (named as operator by Forbes/OodaLoop)", "ByteDance Ltd. (ultimate parent, undisclosed at launch)" ], "appStoreId": "", "link": "https://www.oodaloop.com/briefs/2024/01/17/tiktok-owner-bytedance-quietly-launched-4-generative-ai-apps-powered-by-openais-gpt/", "sources": [ "https://www.oodaloop.com/briefs/2024/01/17/tiktok-owner-bytedance-quietly-launched-4-generative-ai-apps-powered-by-openais-gpt/", "https://x.com/Forbes/status/1747636109163585567", "https://marketrealist.com/which-are-the-new-generativer-ai-apps-launched-by-bytedance/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-launches-large-scale-model-product-chitchop", "https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/684602031626", "https://www.aibase.com/news/3684", "http://m.nbdpress.com/a/52297", "https://www.appbrain.com/app/chitchop/com.wukong.nsai", "https://www.sgpbusiness.com/company/Poligon-Pte-Ltd" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "ByteDance ownership is solid and consistent (Forbes Jan 17 2024 + multiple corroborating outlets). Two genuine unresolved disputes: (1) PUBLISHER — Google Play listing + Chinese press say POLIGON; Forbes/OodaLoop say Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd. Both are sourced and the original Forbes report names Spring (SG); recorded both rather than picking a winner. (2) UNDERLYING MODEL — Western press (Forbes/OodaLoop/MarketRealist) says all four apps ran on OpenAI's GPT via a Microsoft Azure license; Chinese press (NBD/Binance/aibase) attributes ChitChop to ByteDance's in-house Skylark (云雀, Yúnquè) model, same as Little Wukong. Likely GPT/Azure at launch and/or migration to in-house models; unresolved. LAUNCH DATE: aibase explicitly says published Nov 29 2023; NBD says US debut Nov 30 2023; APK last updated Nov 28 2023 — kept 2023-11-29 with ~1-day uncertainty. SHUTDOWN: exact date unknown; Play removal Apr 15 2024, website dark by late 2024/early 2025 — recorded as year-level 2024. App Store numeric ID unrecoverable (delisted; no archived Apple listing). Android package id com.wukong.nsai (the 'wukong' confirms the Little Wukong lineage). China Money Network sources are paywalled; Forbes original is paywalled, so OodaLoop used as accessible primary reference. NOTE (June 2026 re-verification): chitchop.com now 301-redirects to www.chitchop.com (homepage 404); the legacy /auto-rule legal page resolves 200 at the www host — slight refinement of the earlier 'returns 404 / 200 on apex' framing, same conclusion." }, { "name": "Trae", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "Trae IDE", "Trae AI", "MarsCode" ], "category": "AI / developer tools (AI-native code editor / IDE)", "dateLaunched": "2025-01-20", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "region": "Global (ex-China) for the international edition (trae.ai, ~200 countries/regions); a separate \"TRAE China Edition\" (国内版) serves mainland China.", "publisher": "Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd. (Singapore subsidiary of ByteDance) — international edition", "developerEntities": [ "Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd. (Singapore; international edition publisher on App Store / Google Play / desktop trae.ai)", "ByteDance Ltd. (parent, Beijing)", "ByteDance (China edition / Doubao MarsCode lineage, distributed domestically under ByteDance/Doubao branding)" ], "appStoreId": "6761401019", "link": "https://www.trae.ai/", "description": "Trae: ByteDance's AI code editor, a fork of VS Code with a built-in agent for chat-driven coding. Launched January 2025; still developed and growing.", "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuinely a ByteDance product and ALIVE/actively growing as of mid-2026 — NOT a graveyard candidate (include only if the site lists living products for context). Description trimmed to <=240 chars per style spec; full detail retained below.\n\nLAUNCH DATE: International edition ~Jan 20, 2025 (SCMP article Jan 21, 2025; some sources cite Jan 19 first availability, Jan 20 general release). China edition Mar 3, 2025 (TechNode + 36Kr + aibase). Windows version Feb 2025.\n\nOWNERSHIP: Confirmed ByteDance. International edition published by Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd. (same Singapore shell behind Cici/Coze). China edition by ByteDance directly.\n\nMODELS: International edition launched free with GPT-4o + Claude 3.5 Sonnet (later Claude 3.7/4, DeepSeek R1, newer); paid Pro ~May 2025. China edition on Doubao/Seed models (Doubao-1.5-Pro, later Doubao-Seed-Code; Doubao-Seed-2.0 Code integrated Feb 14, 2026) plus DeepSeek R1/V3.\n\nSCALE/ROADMAP: ~1.6M MAU and 6M+ registered users by end of 2025. TRAE 2.0 SOLO preview Jul 21, 2025; standalone SOLO (desktop+web, Code and \"MTC/More Than Coding\" modes) launched Mar 31, 2026; IDE at v3.x mid-2026.\n\nMARSCODE/LINEAGE: Confirmed — ByteDance unified AI dev tools under the Trae brand; MarsCode became \"Trae Plugin (formerly MarsCode),\" standalone China assistant is \"Doubao MarsCode.\" Medium-high confidence on exact rebrand mechanics.\n\nAPP STORE: Flagship is a DESKTOP IDE from trae.ai (no canonical App Store id). Id 6761401019 is the iOS mobile companion \"TRAE - AI Work Assistant\" / \"TRAE - SOLO AI Work Assistant\" by SPRING(SG)PTE.LTD. Google Play package: com.bytedance.trae.overseas.\n\n\"THE REAL AI ENGINEER\": Backronym in third-party coverage, NOT confirmed official — low confidence; kept as labeled community alias.\n\nTELEMETRY: Unit 221B (Mar 2025) + The Register (Jul 28, 2025) flagged extensive telemetry reportedly continuing after opt-out — persistent connections to ByteDance domains, a persistent machineId identifier, and local WebSocket channels.", "sources": [ "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3295644/bytedance-launches-ai-code-editor-based-microsoft-software-tiktok-ban-delayed", "https://technode.com/2025/03/04/bytedance-launches-trae-ai-ide-in-china-with-doubao-1-5-pro-and-deepseek-models/", "https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/28/bytedance_trae_telemetry/", "https://blog.unit221b.com/dont-read-this-blog/unveiling-trae-bytedances-ai-ide-and-its-extensive-data-collection-system", "https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3190396852215684", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Trae/1481007", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Doubao%20MarsCode/942149", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Doubao-Seed-2.0/1515788", "https://news.aibase.com/news/24099", "https://www.aibase.com/news/19848", "https://news.aibase.com/news/23105", "https://apps.apple.com/au/app/trae-ai-work-assistant/id6761401019", "https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/trae-ai-work-assistant/id6761401019", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bytedance.trae.overseas", "https://docs.trae.ai/ide/changelog?_lang=en", "https://www.trae.ai/", "https://www.trae.ai/download" ] }, { "name": "PixelDance (豆包-PixelDance)", "status": "merged", "type": "service", "aliases": [ "Doubao-PixelDance", "Make Pixels Dance" ], "category": "AI video generation model (text-to-video / image-to-video)", "region": "China (mainland) primary; enterprise access via Volcano Engine (火山引擎)", "publisher": "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology Co.Ltd. / Faceu Technology) — current App Store seller of the Jimeng AI app that hosted PixelDance; enterprise access via Volcano Engine (火山引擎), a ByteDance brand", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance Research / 字节跳动 (authors of the 'Make Pixels Dance' CVPR 2024 paper)", "Doubao team / Volcano Engine (火山引擎, ByteDance)", "Faceu Technology / 深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (ByteDance subsidiary, Jimeng AI publisher)", "ByteDance Seed team (absorbed the PixelDance/Seaweed teams into Seedance, from April 2025)" ], "appStoreId": "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id6503676563 (Jimeng AI host app; no standalone PixelDance app ever existed)", "dateLaunched": "2024-09-24", "dateKilled": "2025-06", "killedReason": "Not formally shut down; superseded and folded into ByteDance's Seedance video-model family. After ByteDance's AI Lab was merged into the Seed team (April 2025), the PixelDance and Seaweed teams were consolidated and the unified Seedance 1.0 model launched June 11, 2025 at Volcano Engine's 'Force' conference, integrated into Jimeng and Doubao. Successors followed (Seedance 1.5 Pro late 2025; Seedance 2.0 released Feb 10, 2026). The user-facing 'PixelDance' / '视频P2.0 Pro' label was retired from Jimeng/Doubao in favor of Seedance; the current Jimeng AI app description references only Seedance 2.0 with no remaining PixelDance mention. The PixelDance research lineage (complex multi-shot/high-dynamic motion) persists inside Seedance.", "description": "ByteDance's AI video model, from its Make Pixels Dance paper, launched under the Doubao brand for multi-shot clips. Folded into the Seedance model line in 2025.", "link": "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-enters-ai-video-race-with-doubaos-pixeldance-and-seaweed", "sources": [ "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-enters-ai-video-race-with-doubaos-pixeldance-and-seaweed", "https://syncedreview.com/2024/09/24/bytedance-disrupts-video-generation-race-with-breakthrough-in-multi-subject-interaction/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedances-doubao-video-generation-large-model-released/", "https://www.qbitai.com/2024/11/220683.html", "https://technode.com/2024/11/15/bytedance-aims-to-launch-video-generating-ai-model-pixeldance-ahead-of-soras-public-debut-report/", "https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.10982", "https://openaccess.thecvf.com/content/CVPR2024/html/Zeng_Make_Pixels_Dance_High-Dynamic_Video_Generation_CVPR_2024_paper.html", "https://makepixelsdance.github.io/", "https://seed.bytedance.com/en/public_papers/seedance-1-0-exploring-the-boundaries-of-video-generation-models", "https://www.aibase.com/news/17203", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceu", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id6503676563", "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/bytedances-volcano-engine-releases-two-video-generation-models" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Borderline 'graveyard' case: PixelDance was never an app or a separately announced shutdown — it was a branded model surfaced inside Jimeng AI and Doubao. Status 'merged' is the best fit (could alternatively be 'rebranded'); the brand was absorbed into the Seedance line rather than killed outright, and the PixelDance research lineage persists inside Seedance. dateLaunched 2024-09-24 is the public unveiling (multi-source confirmed); free public availability on Jimeng was 2024-11-15 as '视频P2.0 Pro' (QbitAI, TechNode — high confidence). dateKilled 2025-06 corresponds to the Seedance 1.0 launch (June 11, 2025) following the April 2025 AI Lab→Seed merger that consolidated the PixelDance/Seaweed teams; ByteDance never issued a formal discontinuation, so the precise retirement month is inferred (medium confidence on month; high confidence it was superseded by mid-2025). Independently verified: the current Jimeng app (App Store id6503676563, seller 深圳市脸萌科技有限公司) references only Seedance 2.0 with NO PixelDance / 视频P2.0 mention, confirming brand retirement. Description condensed to killedbygoogle.com style (<=240 chars)." }, { "name": "ByteDance Seed", "status": "alive", "type": "service", "category": "AI model / foundation-model family (LLM, text-to-image, text/image-to-video)", "aliases": [ "Doubao-Seed", "Seed-OSS", "Seedream", "Seedance" ], "publisher": "ByteDance Ltd. (research org \"ByteDance Seed\", aka the Doubao (Seed) Team). Consumer distribution via Doubao (豆包) and Jimeng (即梦) in China and Dreamina/CapCut globally; enterprise/API via Volcano Engine (火山引擎) and BytePlus; open weights via the ByteDance-Seed GitHub org and Hugging Face.", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance Ltd.", "ByteDance Seed / Doubao (Seed) Team (foundation-model research division, founded 2023; labs in China, Singapore, US)", "Volcano Engine (火山引擎) — ByteDance cloud/API platform", "BytePlus — ByteDance overseas enterprise API brand", "CapCut / Dreamina team — global consumer app distribution", "Jimeng (即梦) — China consumer app", "ByteDance-Seed (GitHub org) — open-source releases (Seed-OSS, Seed1.5-VL, etc.)" ], "appStoreId": "", "region": "Global (China + international). China access via Doubao/Jimeng/Volcano Engine; international via Dreamina (CapCut), BytePlus API, and open weights on Hugging Face/GitHub. (Exception: Seedance 2.0 public access was curtailed in mid-Feb 2026 — see notes.)", "dateLaunched": "2023", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "description": "ByteDance's foundation-model team (2023) and the brand over its Doubao LLMs, Seed-OSS open weights, Seedream image and Seedance video models. Still active.", "link": "https://seed.bytedance.com/en/", "confidence": "high", "notes": "DO NOT include on a \"Killed by ByteDance\" graveyard as a dead product. The entire Seed / Seed-OSS / Seedream / Seedance / Doubao-Seed family is ALIVE and actively iterated as of June 2026 (Seedream 5.0 Lite Feb 2026, Seedance 2.0 Feb 2026, Doubao-Seed-2.0 Feb 14 2026). Confidence HIGH on status and on individual launch dates.\n\nCaveats:\n- \"ByteDance Seed\" is a research TEAM/umbrella, not one product; the record conflates several distinct models (LLM, image, video). dateLaunched=2023 refers to the team's founding; individual model launch dates are in the description.\n- The ONLY graveyard-adjacent angle is Seedance 2.0's public-availability curtailment in mid-Feb 2026 — a safeguards/restriction event, NOT a discontinuation. Keep status=alive; if a \"restricted\" flag is desired, that is the entry to annotate.\n- No standalone App Store app exists for these models; appStoreId empty. The consumer apps that embed them (Doubao, Dreamina, CapCut, Jimeng) are separate listings under ByteDance/Lemon/CapCut entities.\n- Seed-OSS-36B remains on Hugging Face (Apache-2.0). Alive.\n\nVERIFY: Re-verified independently. Ownership CONFIRMED (ByteDance Seed = Doubao (Seed) Team, ByteDance foundation-model division founded 2023). Status ALIVE CONFIRMED. Volcano Engine RAISING its MaaS revenue target on Seedance 2.0 growth — active commercialization, not death. Dates pinned: Seedance 1.0/1.0 Pro = 2025-06-11; Seedance 1.5 Pro = 2025-12-16; Doubao-Seed-2.0 = 2026-02-14; Seed-OSS-36B = 2025-08-20; Disney cease-and-desist = 2026-02-13; ByteDance safeguards pledge = 2026-02-16. Seedance 2.0 RESTRICTION CONFIRMED but it is a RESTRICTION, not a kill: after cease-and-desist letters from Disney, Paramount Skydance, Netflix, Warner Bros., Sony and the MPA (and US Senators Blackburn/Welch demanding a shutdown), Seedance 2.0 public access was curtailed ~Feb 15–18, 2026 (BytePlus removed it ~Feb 15; deactivated on third-party platforms; outside China only via invite-only Dreamina Creative Partner Program; Jimeng kept core generation but disabled real-person reference uploads and face/voice cloning). ByteDance pledged to strengthen safeguards rather than discontinue and did NOT comply with the senators' demand to \"immediately shut down Seedance.\" Status remains ALIVE/restricted, NOT dead/banned.", "sources": [ "https://seed.bytedance.com/en/", "https://github.com/ByteDance-Seed", "https://github.com/ByteDance-Seed/Seed1.5-VL", "https://venturebeat.com/ai/tiktok-parent-company-bytedance-releases-new-open-source-seed-oss-36b-model-with-512k-token-context", "https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3431996374142339", "https://huggingface.co/ByteDance-Seed/Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct", "https://seed.bytedance.com/en/seedream5_0_lite", "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2026-02-15/bytedance-unveils-doubao-20-ai-model-to-tackle-complex-tasks-102414865.html", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Seedance1.0/1494072", "https://news.aibase.com/news/23817", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seedance_2.0", "https://variety.com/2026/film/news/paramount-disney-bytedance-cease-and-desist-seedance-ai-infringement-ip-1236663663/", "https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/16/bytedance-safegaurds-seedance-ai-copyright-disney-mpa-netflix-paramount-sony-universal.html", "https://variety.com/2026/film/news/bytedance-safeguards-seedance-disney-legal-threat-ip-violations-1236664395/", "https://deadline.com/2026/02/bytedance-halt-seedance-legal-threats-disney-paramount-1236725770/", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-raises-volcano-engines-maas-revenue-target-on-seedance-2-0-growth" ] }, { "name": "飞书 (Feishu)", "status": "alive", "type": "app", "aliases": [ "Feishu", "Lark" ], "category": "enterprise / team collaboration / productivity", "description": "Feishu: ByteDance's all-in-one work app for China, sibling to the overseas Lark, bundling chat, docs, video meetings, calendar, workflows and AI agents. Still alive.", "dateLaunched": "2017-07", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "publisher": "Beijing Feishu Technology Co., Ltd. (北京飞书科技有限公司) — App Store China seller", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Feishu Technology Co., Ltd. (北京飞书科技有限公司) — App Store China publisher (developer account id 1447843641)", "Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司) — operating entity", "ByteDance Ltd. (字节跳动) — parent company", "Lark Technologies Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) — international sibling 'Lark', operates as a separate product/entity" ], "appStoreId": "1401729613 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1401729613)", "region": "China (mainland). The international counterpart Lark serves overseas markets, is a separate product with separate (Singapore) data storage, and was among the ByteDance apps Apple removed from the US App Store on 2025-01-19 under the PAFACA divest-or-ban law (Apple's removal list explicitly names \"Lark — Team Collaboration,\" \"Lark — Rooms Display,\" \"Lark Rooms Controller\"). Feishu itself, a China-only product, is not subject to a US ban.", "link": "https://www.feishu.cn/", "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIRMED ALIVE — do NOT list as dead on a graveyard site. China App Store listing (id 1401729613) live at v7.69.15, last updated 2026-06-03, ranked #5 in Business, 4.1 stars / ~34k ratings, published by Beijing Feishu Technology Co., Ltd. Active 2026 development: 2026-03-05 free-tier API quota raised 10,000→1,000,000 calls/month; 2026-03-19 multiple enterprise Agent products released. Launch: development began 2016, v1.0 July 2017 (exact day unpublished — recorded 2017-07); ~2019 was the commercial/external launch and the year Lark went international (commercialization milestones, not the v1.0 release). The 2024 event was a LAYOFF, not a shutdown: March 2024 ByteDance cut ~1,000 jobs at the Feishu unit (up to ~20% of a 5,000+ workforce, mostly mainland China) to streamline (SCMP, Caixin) — the product continues. Keep Lark (international, US-banned Jan 2025) and Feishu (China, alive) clearly separated — opposite region/status cases. Confidence high on status, type, publisher, App Store id, and the layoff-vs-shutdown distinction; medium only on exact launch day within July 2017.", "sources": [ "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1401729613", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Feishu/14594", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lark_(software)", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3256782/bytedance-slash-1000-jobs-office-tool-unit-feishu-streamline-operations-source", "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2024-03-26/bytedance-unit-feishu-to-lay-off-staff-in-effort-to-boost-efficiency-102179811.html", "https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/18/apple-lists-all-apps-it-removed-alongside-tiktok-in-the-u-s", "https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/01/21/apple-support-bytedance", "https://www.feishu.cn/en/product/feishuai", "https://www.feishu.cn/hc/en-US/articles/629644238181-overview-of-feishu-ai-plans-and-ai-quota-usage-rules", "https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/16/bytedance-slack-feishu-arr-milestone", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-to-boost-its-office-app-portfolio-with-google-docs-like-platform" ] }, { "name": "火山引擎 (Volcano Engine)", "aliases": [ "Volcengine", "VolcEngine", "Volc Engine" ], "status": "alive", "type": "service", "category": "cloud/enterprise (AI cloud / model-as-a-service)", "region": "China (primary); international enterprise customers served via the separate BytePlus brand", "dateLaunched": "2020-06-22", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "publisher": "Beijing Volcano Engine Technology Co., Ltd. (北京火山引擎科技有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Volcano Engine Technology Co., Ltd. (北京火山引擎科技有限公司)", "ByteDance Ltd. (字节跳动) — ultimate parent" ], "appStoreId": "1529572963 (App Store DEVELOPER id, not a single-app id) — https://apps.apple.com/us/developer/beijing-volcano-engine-technology-co-ltd/id1529572963", "description": "ByteDance's enterprise cloud, big-data and AI platform, launched 2020 and now the main channel for its Doubao models. Still alive: China's top enterprise AI cloud.", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://www.volcengine.com/", "sources": [ "https://kr-asia.com/what-is-bytedances-new-enterprise-product-volcano-engine-all-about", "https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/03/bytedance_volcano_engine_public_cloud/", "https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/bytedance-to-offer-cloud-services-on-its-volcano-engine/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-to-launch-cloud-service-volcano-engine", "https://kr-asia.com/how-bytedances-volcano-engine-holds-nearly-half-of-chinas-maas-market", "https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3800129784945672", "https://www.scmp.com/news/china-future-tech/ai/article/3338038/bytedances-volcano-engine-lands-exclusive-ai-cloud-slot-spring-festival-gala", "https://pandaily.com/volcano-engine-named-exclusive-ai-cloud-partner-for-the-2026-spring-festival-gala", "https://equalocean.com/news/2025122921700", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Volcano%20Engine/1423148", "https://apps.apple.com/us/developer/beijing-volcano-engine-technology-co-ltd/id1529572963" ], "notes": "CONFIRMED ALIVE — does NOT belong on a \"Killed by ByteDance\" graveyard. It is ByteDance's flagship AI-cloud unit and the #1 player in China's enterprise MaaS market (~49% of token call volume in 2025, ahead of Alibaba Cloud). Include only as an \"alive\" reference entry, or omit entirely. Two defensible launch dates, both verified: (1) June 22, 2020 — public brand debut as a B2B intelligent-tech platform; (2) December 2, 2021 — formal entry into the public-cloud market with a full IaaS/PaaS product matrix. Recorded dateLaunched as 2020-06-22 (brand debut). The ~120 trillion daily-token figure is sourced as of March 2026 (per 36Kr), not April 2026. App Store id 1529572963 is the developer/publisher id, not a single-app id. BytePlus (byteplus.com) is the separately incorporated international cloud brand; treat as related but distinct." }, { "name": "BytePlus", "status": "alive", "type": "service", "aliases": [], "category": "cloud/enterprise B2B (AI-native cloud, recommendation engine, video/AR effects, SMS/messaging, generative AI video/image models via ModelArk)", "publisher": "BytePlus Pte. Ltd. (Singapore-based ByteDance subsidiary); marketed as \"BytePlus, a ByteDance company\"", "developerEntities": [ "BytePlus Pte. Ltd. (Singapore)", "BytePlus (UK)/BytePlus Europe (separately incorporated for UK/Europe market)", "ByteDance Ltd. (parent)" ], "appStoreId": "", "dateLaunched": "2021-03", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "region": "Global (international markets outside China); HQ Singapore, with London/UK-Europe and Hong Kong presence; early customers in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Singapore) and US", "description": "ByteDance's overseas B2B arm, selling the recommendation, AR-effects and AI tech behind TikTok via cloud APIs. Launched March 2021; still alive and expanding.", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://www.byteplus.com/en/about-us", "sources": [ "https://www.byteplus.com/en/about-us", "https://www.byteplus.com/en", "https://aibusiness.com/verticals/tiktok-parent-bytedance-launches-byteplus-a-new-division-to-sell-its-ai-tech", "https://www.techtimes.com/articles/262422/20210704/tiktoks-ai-being-sold-companies-bytedance-launches-new-division-called.htm", "https://hypebeast.com/2021/7/tiktok-algorithm-bytedance-ai-for-you-byteplus", "https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/06/10/uk-china-bytedance", "https://www.byteplus.com/en/product/modelark", "https://docs.byteplus.com/en/docs/ModelArk/1520757", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seedance_2.0", "https://www.stocktitan.net/news/GXAI/gaxos-inks-deal-with-byte-plus-enterprise-technology-division-of-jsi20i3e9pft.html", "https://tracxn.com/d/companies/byteplus/__DsXmsogyQ2jMOIC-a2PXujEk-a3gdkG4-24E3pi7fJc" ], "notes": "CONFIRMED ALIVE and CONFIRMED ByteDance. Should NOT be included in a \"Killed by ByteDance\" graveyard except as a 'still alive' control entry. The official About page explicitly states \"Born from ByteDance's technology\" / \"The AI-native enterprise partner from ByteDance.\" Status is unambiguously operational and expanding as of 2026: ModelArk + Seedance 2.0 public beta (April 2026), Gaxos partnership (Feb 2026), ~174 employees (April 2026), Gartner 2025 recognition. No shutdown/ban/rebrand found. CAUTION on legal entity names: \"BytePlus Pte. Ltd.\" (Singapore) is widely cited and reliable; the specific UK entity legal name in the draft is inferred and not registry-verified (ACRA/Companies House). One nuance: the FT/Reuters June 2021 framing (\"selling TikTok's AI\") was publicly disputed by BytePlus, which stated it does not provide or sell TikTok's technology to clients — this does not affect ByteDance ownership or status. Do not confuse with unrelated \"Byte\" companies (Byte dental aligners, the defunct Byte video app)." }, { "name": "Pangle", "aliases": [ "穿山甲", "Chuanshanjia", "TikTok Audience Network" ], "status": "alive", "type": "service", "category": "adtech (mobile advertising / app-monetization network & SDK)", "region": "Global — overseas \"Pangle\" brand launched in Japan (Jul 2019), then Korea, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe (~36 markets). Began small-scale bidding on US inventory in early February 2026; official \"now available in the United States\" ad-monetization launch confirmed (pangleglobal.com/resource/uslaunch). China-facing equivalent operates under the 穿山甲 (Chuanshanjia) brand within ByteDance's Juliang/Ocean Engine (巨量引擎).", "publisher": "ByteDance / TikTok for Business. SDK distributed via the official ByteDance GitHub org (github.com/bytedance: Bytedance-UnionAD with Ads-CN [穿山甲] and Ads-Global [Pangle] variants). Android SDK package com.pangle.global.ads.sdk (global) / com.pangle.cn (China). China platform under Juliang Engine / Ocean Engine (巨量引擎).", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance Ltd.", "TikTok for Business", "Beijing ByteDance Technology / Juliang Engine (巨量引擎, Ocean Engine) — for 穿山甲/Pangle China", "bytedance (GitHub org distributing the Bytedance-UnionAD SDK)" ], "appStoreId": "N/A — Pangle is a monetization SDK/network, not a consumer App Store app. iOS SDK distributed as the 'Bytedance-UnionAD' CocoaPod (github.com/bytedance/Bytedance-UnionAD). Android SDK on Google Play SDK Index: com-pangle-global-ads-sdk (https://play.google.com/sdks/details/com-pangle-global-ads-sdk).", "dateLaunched": "2019-07", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "description": "ByteDance's mobile ad network and SDK, the ad arm of TikTok for Business. The overseas brand of China's Chuanshanjia; still alive and now live in the US.", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://www.pangleglobal.com/", "sources": [ "https://www.pangleglobal.com/", "https://www.pangleglobal.com/knowledge/what-is-pangle", "https://www.pangleglobal.com/resource/uslaunch", "https://felixbraberg.substack.com/p/how-a-pangolin-is-heating-up-mobile", "https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/29/tiktok-follows-snap-and-facebook-by-launching-audience-network.html", "https://www.morketing.com/detail/3435", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20200930/herald/2af358e687c901436dca551b660450a4.html", "https://www.woshipm.com/marketing/3700878.html", "https://tech.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201901/21/WS5c4581d2a31010568bdc562e.html", "https://github.com/bytedance/Bytedance-UnionAD", "https://play.google.com/sdks/details/com-pangle-global-ads-sdk", "https://developers.google.com/ad-manager/mobile-ads-sdk/android/mediation/pangle", "https://ads.tiktok.com/help/article/pangle-placement" ], "notes": "Independently re-verified. (1) ByteDance ownership CONFIRMED with high confidence: Felix Braberg (\"ByteDance owns Pangle\"), the official github.com/bytedance org distributes the Bytedance-UnionAD SDK with Ads-CN (穿山甲) and Ads-Global (Pangle) variants, and TikTok for Business / CNBC / Chinese tech press all attribute it to ByteDance. (2) Status ALIVE confirmed: pangleglobal.com live, an official US launch page (\"Pangle ad monetization services are now available in the United States\", SDK 7.2.0.2+ auto-eligible), and 2026-start Pangle job postings. (3) The candidate's \"Global (ex-US after 2024 settlement)\" / \"ex-US after 2024 settlement\" claim is UNSUPPORTED and appears to be confusion with separate ByteDance/TikTok US legal matters (the 2024 divest-or-ban law / FTC suit) — there was no 2024 Pangle settlement removing it from the US; on the contrary Pangle was never in the US until it began small-scale US bidding in early Feb 2026 (Felix Braberg, pub. Feb 12 2026). (4) Launch-date nuance: overseas \"Pangle\" = Jul 2019 (used as dateLaunched to match this overseas entity); China 穿山甲 brand = 14 Aug 2018 (team formed Jun 2017). (5) \"operated under BytePlus\" from an earlier candidate is incorrect — Pangle is branded under TikTok for Business / ByteDance, not the separate BytePlus B2B/cloud subsidiary. (6) GRAVEYARD FIT: since this is ALIVE/active, it does NOT belong on a \"Killed by ByteDance\" site unless the site also tracks rebrands. The older standalone \"TikTok Audience Network\" label was effectively folded into the Pangle brand, but no hard shutdown date for that label was found." }, { "name": "番茄小说 (Fanqie Novel)", "aliases": [ "Tomato Novel", "番茄免费小说" ], "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "Reading / web fiction (free ad-supported web-novel reading app; also audiobooks and short dramas)", "region": "China (mainland); a separate overseas/international edition also exists on Google Play (com.dragon.read.oversea.gp)", "publisher": "Beijing Zhending Technology Co., Ltd. (北京臻鼎科技有限公司), a wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Zhending Technology Co., Ltd. (北京臻鼎科技有限公司) — current iOS App Store developer; wholly owned by ByteDance, legal rep Wei Xionghan", "Beijing Endless/Infinite Reading Culture Media Co., Ltd. (北京阅读无限文化传媒) — cited by early 2019 press as developer (record later removed)", "Beijing Shiguang Ranran Technology Co., Ltd. (北京时光荏苒科技有限公司) — also cited as an operating entity, under ByteDance", "ByteDance (字节跳动) — ultimate parent; support contact fanqietiyan@bytedance.com", "Douyin Group (抖音集团) — operating group within ByteDance the product is now attributed to", "fanqienovel (Google Play developer id 5929401063938403667)" ], "appStoreId": "1468454200 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1468454200) — Android package: com.dragon.read; overseas Android: com.dragon.read.oversea.gp", "dateLaunched": "2019-03", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "description": "ByteDance's free, ad-supported web-fiction app, also audiobooks and short dramas. Still alive: China's top reading app, 100M-plus daily users in 2025.", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1468454200", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2019/03/26/briefing-bytedance-reportedly-launches-reading-app/", "https://www.scmp.com/abacus/tech/article/3111645/tiktok-owner-bytedance-bets-free-web-novels-challenge-tencents-china", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1468454200", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dragon.read.oversea.gp", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=5929401063938403667", "https://pandayoo.com/post/how-bytedances-free-model-disrupted-chinas-50-billion-web-novel-empire/", "https://www.sohu.com/a/389920680_100126234", "https://36kr.com/p/3569503374703747", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/2212225", "https://cs.com.cn/ssgs/gsxw/202506/t20250620_6497346.html", "https://m.qt6.com/company/68.html" ], "notes": "VERIFIED — do NOT place in graveyard. This is a flagship, actively-developed ByteDance China app, not a dead product. App Store (id 1468454200) shows version 7.2.3 updated 4 June 2026, developer Beijing Zhending Technology Co., Ltd. (北京臻鼎科技有限公司), confirmed wholly owned by ByteDance. DAU exceeded 100 million in 2025. Launch-date nuance: standalone app appeared on China App Store early 2019 (TechNode reported 26 Mar 2019 it had been live ~2 months, i.e. ~Jan 2019); predecessor 头条小说 feature ~2018; brand unification of Toutiao reading channel to 番茄小说 with all-free model on 21 Apr 2020. One Chinese source dates the standalone APP launch to Nov 2019, but the App Store id and Mar-2019 press reporting support early 2019 — 2019-03 retained as the first publicly-reported date. Publisher uses multiple shell entities (北京臻鼎科技 current; 北京阅读无限文化传媒 and 北京时光荏苒科技 also cited). 'Fanqie series' 30B-yuan 2024 revenue figure was DISPUTED/denied by ByteDance; the 2025 'revenue doubling' is a 36Kr projection, not audited. Related but distinct products worth separate records: 番茄畅听 (Fanqie Changting, audiobooks), 红果免费短剧/红果 (Hongguo, free short-drama app), 番茄作家助手 (Fanqie writer assistant, App Store id 1560557075)." }, { "name": "番茄畅听 (Fanqie Changting)", "aliases": [ "Tomato Audiobooks", "Tomato Audio" ], "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "audio / audiobooks (long-audio)", "publisher": "Beijing Zhending Technology Co., Ltd. (北京臻鼎科技有限公司) — ByteDance wholly-owned subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "北京臻鼎科技有限公司 (Beijing Zhending Technology Co., Ltd.) — 100% wholly owned by ByteDance (字节跳动有限公司全资持有); the same subsidiary that develops/publishes Fanqie Novel (番茄小说) and Haohao Xuexi (好好学习)" ], "region": "China (mainland)", "dateLaunched": "2020-06-06", "dateKilled": "", "appStoreId": "1508443800 — https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1508443800", "description": "ByteDance's long-audio app, a 2020 spinoff of Fanqie Novel that used AI text-to-speech over voice actors. Still alive; it passed Ximalaya in users in late 2024.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1508443800", "sources": [ "https://cn.technode.com/post/2020-06-08/fanqiechangting-bytedance-long-audio-app/", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-unveils-ai-enabled-app-for-audiobooks-without-voice-actors", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-launches-audiobook-app-with-ai-narrators/", "https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_7752750", "https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2020-06-09/1443998.html", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1508443800", "https://sj.qq.com/appdetail/com.xs.fm", "https://www.21jingji.com/article/20250611/herald/eeaa1afe9b0ba6639a81394bb8389417.html", "https://radii.co/article/creator-of-tiktok-releases-ai-narrated-audiobook-app", "https://thenewpublishingstandard.com/2020/06/11/tiktok-owner-bytedance-moves-into-the-560-million-listener-1-1-bn-china-audiobook-arena-with-ai-narrations/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "STATUS = ALIVE and thriving — this is NOT a killed product and should be EXCLUDED from a \"Killed by ByteDance\" graveyard (or shown only as living-sibling context for dead products). Independently re-verified June 2026: iOS listing (id 1508443800) version 6.5.2 updated ~3 days before check (changelog: \"AI朗读体验升级\"), ranks #3 in Books, 1.4M ratings, 4.8 stars; Android (com.xs.fm) is V6.5.2.32 updated 2026-06-10 on Tencent App Store. Confirmed surpassed Ximalaya in MAU in H2 2024 (~110M+ MAU).\n\nLAUNCH DATE: 2020-06-06. A primary Chinese source states ByteDance brought the app online on June 6, 2020 (同年6月6日，字节跳动上线了名为「番茄畅听」的应用). Press coverage (TechNode, The Paper, NBD) broke June 8, 2020 describing it as launched \"recently.\" Month (June 2020) is high-confidence; day best-estimated as 2020-06-06 (go-live), 2020-06-08 being announcement/coverage date.\n\nPUBLISHER / OWNERSHIP: Beijing Zhending Technology Co., Ltd. (北京臻鼎科技有限公司) is 100% wholly owned by ByteDance Ltd. (字节跳动有限公司全资持有); legal rep is a ByteDance EE-department head. Same entity develops Fanqie Novel (番茄小说) and Haohao Xuexi (好好学习). isByteDance = TRUE, high confidence.\n\nDISAMBIGUATION (verified, important): Do NOT confuse with siblings — (1) 番茄畅听音乐版 (Fanqie Changting Music Edition, launched Nov 2022) which was upgraded/spun off into the standalone 番茄音乐 (Fanqie Music) in Nov 2025 (~39M MAU as of Oct 2025); and (2) Fanqie Novel (番茄小说) the parent reading app. Search engines frequently conflate \"番茄畅听\" with the music product when asked about renames/shutdowns — but the audiobook app (com.xs.fm / iOS id 1508443800) was NOT renamed and is fully alive. This record covers ONLY the audiobook app." }, { "name": "红果短剧 (Hongguo Short Drama)", "aliases": [ "Red Fruit Short Drama", "红果免费短剧" ], "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "short drama / micro-drama (duanju) streaming video", "region": "China (Mainland China only; not released internationally — ByteDance's overseas micro-drama efforts are separate products)", "publisher": "Beijing Bimo Liuxiang Technology Co., Ltd. (北京笔墨留香科技有限公司) — App Store seller; 100% owned by Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司 / Douyin Group / ByteDance)", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Bimo Liuxiang Technology Co., Ltd. (北京笔墨留香科技有限公司)", "Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd. (北京抖音信息服务有限公司)", "Douyin Group / ByteDance (字节跳动)" ], "appStoreId": "6451407032 — https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id6451407032", "dateLaunched": "2023-05", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "description": "ByteDance's free, ad-supported micro-drama app, launched May 2023, that undercut China's pay-per-episode model. Still growing: 304M monthly users by February 2026.", "link": "https://daoinsights.com/news/bytedances-hongguo-microdrama-platform-has-over-200-million-monthly-users/", "sources": [ "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id6451407032", "https://www.tianyancha.com/company/5023882273", "https://daoinsights.com/news/bytedances-hongguo-microdrama-platform-has-over-200-million-monthly-users/", "https://www.ithome.com/0/937/034.htm", "https://www.199it.com/archives/1820784.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20260213A05KSV00", "https://www.100ec.cn/detail--6627552.html", "https://36kr.com/p/3517438722759557", "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2024-12-27/regulators-interrupt-bytedance-micro-drama-apps-run-of-success-102272861.html", "https://www.pai.com.cn/230833.html", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BA%A2%E6%9E%9C%E7%9F%AD%E5%89%A7/65232900" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "STATUS IS ALIVE — this is the opposite of a killed product and should be EXCLUDED from the graveyard (or noted only as context). No graveyard \"killedReason\"/\"dateKilled\" applies. Specific launch DAY (\"2023-05-12\") could not be independently re-confirmed; multiple sources agree on May 2023 for the \"红果免费短剧\" app with the standalone independent app going live ~August 2023, and Western press (Yicai) rounds to \"April 2023.\" dateLaunched set to 2023-05 (month-level confidence high; exact day medium). MAU series (QuestMobile-cited): ~120M (Sep 2024), ~158M (Dec 2024), ~212M (Jun 2025, surpassing Youku), ~245M (Oct 2025), 304M (Feb 2026, ~30x growth in 2.5 years); DAU broke 100M in Jan 2026, making it ByteDance's 5th app with 100M+ DAU (alongside Douyin, Toutiao, Doubao, Fanqie Novel). The \"番茄短剧\" (Tomato Short Drama) rename traces to an Oct 25, 2023 report and never took effect; the app remains 红果短剧 on the App Store (v7.2.3, June 2026) and in current press — treat as an unrealized 2023 plan/rumor, not a rebrand or status change. A Dec 2024 regulator pause only briefly halted new-title uploads; the app kept operating and growing. Publisher pinyin \"Bǐmò Liúxiāng\" (留香) is correct; some sources mistype as 笔墨流享." }, { "name": "抖音支付 (Douyin Pay)", "aliases": [ "DouPay" ], "status": "alive", "type": "service", "category": "fintech / mobile payments", "publisher": "Douyin Pay Technology Co., Ltd. (抖音支付科技有限公司, formerly Wuhan Hezhong Yibao Technology Co., Ltd. / 武汉合众易宝科技有限公司, aka Ulpay) — a ByteDance subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "Wuhan Hezhong Yibao Technology Co., Ltd. (武汉合众易宝科技有限公司, aka Ulpay) — original PBOC-licensed payment operator (license granted 2014)", "Douyin Pay Technology Co., Ltd. (抖音支付科技有限公司) — renamed June 2024 after PBOC approval", "Tianjin Tongrong E-Commerce Co. — ByteDance/Zhang Yiming vehicle that took 100% of Hezhong Yibao shares on Aug 28, 2020", "Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd. — publisher of the host Douyin app (App Store id 1142110895) in which Douyin Pay is embedded", "ByteDance Ltd. (字节跳动) — ultimate parent" ], "appStoreId": "No standalone app. Douyin Pay is an embedded payment feature inside the Douyin app. Host Douyin app App Store id: 1142110895 (https://apps.apple.com/hk/app/id1142110895). As of mid-Aug 2025 Apple was testing adding Douyin Pay as a checkout option on the China App Store.", "dateLaunched": "2021-01-19", "dateKilled": "", "region": "China (mainland)", "killedReason": "", "description": "In-app payment service in Douyin, launched January 2021 to rival Alipay and WeChat Pay. Built on a license from the acquired firm Ulpay. Still active.", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://technode.com/2021/01/20/bytedance-launches-douyin-payment-tool-to-rival-alipay-wechat/", "sources": [ "https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/19/tiktok-owner-bytedance-launches-mobile-payments-in-china-.html", "https://technode.com/2021/01/20/bytedance-launches-douyin-payment-tool-to-rival-alipay-wechat/", "https://www.americanbanker.com/payments/news/bytedance-launches-douyin-pay-in-china-to-challenge-alipay-and-wechat-pay", "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/20200903-25--bytedance-founder-takes-control-of-chinese-mobile-payment-firm-hezhong-yibao-", "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2020-09-04/bytedance-founder-buys-way-into-online-payments-101601357.html", "https://technode.com/2024/04/08/douyin-to-enter-offline-payment-field-with-190-million-purchase-of-third-party-license/", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/1908230", "https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/1480328.html", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3321744/apple-eyes-douyin-pay-mainland-app-store-while-iphone-17-leak-stirs-online-debate", "https://www.macrumors.com/2025/08/13/app-store-to-add-support-for-douyin-pay/", "https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/08/29/apple-taps-into-tiktoks-sibling-app-douyin-to-sell-iphones-in-china", "https://apps.apple.com/hk/app/id1142110895" ], "notes": "CONFIDENCE: HIGH that Douyin Pay is ALIVE — actively growing as of 2024-2025. For a \"Killed by ByteDance\" graveyard this product should be EXCLUDED from the dead list (status=alive; include only as context if desired). Launch date Jan 19, 2021 is well-sourced (CNBC, American Banker, Gizmochina, Yahoo all dated Jan 19, 2021; Chinese sources state 2021年1月19日). Acquisition-date nuance: English outlets citing \"acquired Ulpay in 2018\" refer to when the Hezhong Yibao partnership BEGAN (services across Toutiao, Douyin, Huoshan, Pipixia, Duoshan); the actual OWNERSHIP/control transfer was Aug 28, 2020 when Zhang Yiming's Tianjin Tongrong E-Commerce took 100% of shares (Yicai Global Sep 3, 2020; Caixin Sep 4, 2020). License issued by PBOC in 2014; firm founded 2012. The 2024 offline-license target (Union Mobile Pay / 联动优势) and the ~$190M figure are reported by TechNode; exact price varies — MEDIUM confidence on that amount only. Jan 2, 2025 capital increase to RMB 3.15B confirmed by cls.cn and stcn.com. Aug 2025 Apple App Store testing confirmed by SCMP, MacRumors, AppleInsider. Description tightened to <=240 chars per style guide." }, { "name": "TikTok Shop", "status": "alive", "type": "service", "aliases": [ "TikTok Shop Seller Center", "TikTok Shopping", "Tokopedia" ], "category": "e-commerce / social commerce", "publisher": "TikTok Pte. Ltd. (Singapore; the ByteDance entity used on the App Store / Google Play for the Seller Center companion app)", "developerEntities": [ "TikTok Pte. Ltd. (Singapore — Google Play & App Store publisher for TikTok Shop Seller Center)", "ByteDance Ltd. (ultimate parent)", "TikTok Inc. (US operating entity)", "PT Tokopedia (Indonesia merged entity; TikTok holds controlling ~75% stake, GoTo retains remainder)", "TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC (US operations entity post-Jan 2026 deal; Oracle/Silver Lake/MGX-led, ByteDance ~19.9% minority)" ], "appStoreId": "1591003012 — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tiktok-shop-seller-center/id1591003012 (TikTok Shop Seller Center). Android: com.tiktokshop.seller on Google Play. Consumer side is embedded in the main TikTok app (com.zhiliaoapp.musically).", "dateLaunched": "2021-04", "dateKilled": "", "region": "Global", "killedReason": "", "description": "TikTok's in-app shopping marketplace, with a Shop tab, livestream selling and an affiliate program. Still alive; banned in Indonesia in 2023, then merged into Tokopedia.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok_Shop", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok_Shop", "https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/12/tiktok-shop-officially-launches-in-the-u-s/", "https://time.com/6342570/indonesia-tiktok-tokopedia-e-commerce-partnership/", "https://restofworld.org/2023/tiktok-shop-rising-indonesia/", "https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/11/tiktok-to-invest-1point5-billion-in-gotos-indonesia-e-commerce-business.html", "https://technode.global/2024/02/01/goto-and-tiktok-complete-merger-formalize-strategic-partnership-for-indonesia/", "https://www.gotocompany.com/en/news/press/goto-and-tiktok-announce-transaction-completion-formalizing-strategic-partnership-for-indonesia", "https://www.npr.org/2025/02/13/nx-s1-5273651/tiktok-is-back-apple-google-app-stores", "https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/10/tiktoks-e-commerce-shop-platform-launches-in-spain/", "https://restofworld.org/2026/tiktok-deal-oracle-china-us/", "https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/23/heres-whats-you-should-know-about-the-us-tiktok-deal/", "https://ecommercenews.eu/tiktok-shop-evolves-into-a-pan-european-marketplace/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "STATUS = ALIVE and growing — NOT a dead product. Belongs on a \"Killed by ByteDance\" site only as a partial/regional entry for scoped shutdown events, clearly marked:\n\n1) Indonesia shutdown then merge/rebrand (HIGH confidence): TikTok Shop's in-app e-commerce was banned in Indonesia effective ~Oct 4, 2023 under Trade Ministry Regulation No. 31/2023 (banning transactions on social media). TikTok announced a deal (Dec 11, 2023) to take a controlling ~75% stake in GoTo's Tokopedia (~$840M for the stake plus a $1.5B+ investment commitment), relaunched shopping under Tokopedia with the \"Beli Lokal\" campaign on Dec 12, 2023. The merger of Tokopedia and TikTok Shop Indonesia under the PT Tokopedia entity COMPLETED on January 31, 2024. So in Indonesia it was effectively \"killed and merged/rebranded,\" then revived.\n\n2) US App-Store removal (temporary, resolved): The TikTok Shop Seller Center app was pulled from US Apple App Store and Google Play on Jan 19, 2025 alongside TikTok and other ByteDance apps under PAFACA, and restored on Feb 13, 2025 after the Trump non-enforcement order and AG Bondi assurance letter. Press coverage focused mainly on the flagship TikTok app; the Seller Center removal was part of the broader ByteDance-app sweep.\n\n3) 2026 ownership nuance: On Jan 22, 2026 ByteDance closed a deal transferring control of TikTok's US operations to \"TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC\" (Oracle/Silver Lake/MGX-led; ByteDance retains ~19.9% minority). Affects only US operations — globally TikTok Shop remains a ByteDance product. isByteDance = TRUE confirmed.\n\nRecommendation: list as partial/regional/temporary entry; overall status ALIVE — not a full tombstone. dateLaunched corrected to 2021-04 (Indonesia full launch); UK late 2021; US formal launch Sept 12, 2023. App Store id1591003012 confirmed; exact Seller Center first-release date not obtained (MEDIUM)." }, { "name": "抖音电商 (Douyin E-commerce)", "status": "alive", "type": "service", "category": "e-commerce", "aliases": [ "抖店", "Doudian", "抖音商城", "Douyin Mall" ], "description": "ByteDance's Chinese live-commerce business in Douyin: livestream selling, product links and the Douyin Mall storefront. Still growing: about 3.5 trillion RMB in 2024 sales.", "publisher": "ByteDance (北京抖音科技有限公司 / Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd. publishes the consumer 抖音商城 app; the merchant 抖店 app and the e-commerce platform operate under ByteDance-controlled entities including 上海格物致品网络科技有限公司 / Shanghai Gewu Zhipin Network Technology Co., Ltd.)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance Ltd. (字节跳动)", "Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd. (北京抖音科技有限公司)", "Shanghai Gewu Zhipin Network Technology Co., Ltd. (上海格物致品网络科技有限公司)", "Beijing Microlive Vision Technology Co., Ltd. (北京微播视界科技有限公司)" ], "appStoreId": "1485191072 (抖音商城 / Douyin Mall consumer app — https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1485191072). Merchant app 抖店/Doudian operates on the jinritemai.com / op.jinritemai.com platform (a ByteDance domain) and is primarily Android, with an iOS listing also existing.", "dateLaunched": "2020-06", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "region": "China (mainland, domestic market). Distinct from the international/cross-border TikTok Shop and Douyin EC Global operations; this record covers the domestic Douyin live-commerce/marketplace business only.", "link": "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Douyin%20E-commerce/938425", "confidence": "high", "notes": "STATUS: ALIVE and growing — should NOT be included on a \"Killed by ByteDance\" graveyard. It is a flagship, expanding business (GMV ~3.5 trillion RMB in 2024, ~4.2 trillion RMB target for 2025, 30%+ growth in 2025). Independently re-verified June 2026: no shutdown, discontinuation, merger, or closure found; only internal merchant-support reorganizations (May 2025), which are not a shutdown. Launch date: \"June 2020\" is well-sourced as when ByteDance set up the first-level e-commerce department and launched the 抖音电商 brand; exact day not pinned (high confidence for the month). The 抖店 (Doudian) merchant system predates this (~end of 2019). It is a business unit/service, not a single standalone consumer app — consumer entry is the in-Douyin shopping experience plus the standalone 抖音商城 (Douyin Mall) app; 抖店 (Doudian) is merchant-side, operating on the ByteDance-owned jinritemai.com platform. App Store id 1485191072 verified for 抖音商城. Correction vs draft: 2023 GMV is ~2.5 trillion RMB per 36Kr (draft said 2.2 trillion); 2025 figure is a ~4.2T target / 30%+ growth rather than confirmed 4T+ actual. Operating-entity names are medium confidence. Separate from overseas TikTok Shop / cross-border \"Douyin EC Global\"; do not conflate.", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2020/09/17/bytedance-builds-walls-for-its-budding-e-commerce-ecosystem/", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Douyin%20E-commerce/938425", "https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3166066575158018", "https://kr-asia.com/douyin-reshapes-strategy-to-cut-merchant-costs-as-gmv-grows", "https://kr-asia.com/douyin-e-commerce-reorganizes-ops-to-streamline-merchant-support", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3256818/bytedance-owned-douyin-launches-stand-alone-shopping-app-china-heating-competition-against-alibaba", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3271876/bytedance-owned-douyin-said-miss-first-half-e-commerce-sales-goal-amid-weak-consumption", "https://jingdaily.com/posts/douyin-hits-a-wall-here-s-how-to-win-china-s-e-commerce", "https://technode.com/2026/06/02/bytedances-doubao-to-launch-paid-plans-in-late-june-link-with-douyin-e-commerce-push/", "https://www.nutraingredients.com/Article/2026/05/05/vms-brands-double-down-on-e-commerce-douyin-in-china/", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1485191072" ] }, { "name": "懂车帝 (Dongchedi)", "aliases": [ "Dcar", "DCar" ], "status": "alive", "type": "app", "category": "Auto / automotive vertical (car information, reviews, video/livestream content, new & used car shopping/trading and dealer services)", "region": "China (mainland; Simplified Chinese)", "dateLaunched": "2017-08", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "publisher": "Beijing Dongchedi Technology Co., Ltd. (北京懂车帝科技有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Dongchedi Technology Co., Ltd. (北京懂车帝科技有限公司) — current legal/operating entity", "ByteDance / Toutiao (今日头条) — original parent; Dongchedi began as Toutiao's auto channel and is still ByteDance-backed/controlled after the carve-out", "Chongqing Dongchedi Technology Co., Ltd. (重庆懂车帝科技有限公司) — App Store seller string on newer listings (verify on live page)" ], "appStoreId": "1232131998 — https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1232131998 (Android/HarmonyOS bundle id: com.ss.android.auto)", "description": "Dongchedi: a leading Chinese car-info and car-shopping app that began as the auto channel of ByteDance's Toutiao. Spun out of ByteDance, eyeing a 2026 Hong Kong listing.", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dcar", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dcar", "https://equalocean.com/news/2024011120438", "https://en.tmtpost.com/news/7241138", "https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/international/2024/09/06/bytedance-said-to-be-raising-600-million-for-car-app-dongchedi/", "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-27/bytedance-backed-dongchedi-is-said-to-consider-hong-kong-ipo", "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-20/bytedance-backed-dongchedi-is-said-to-pick-citi-goldman-sachs-for-hong-kong-ipo", "https://aimgroup.com/2026/03/20/dongchedi-auto-said-to-ask-citigroup-and-goldman-sachs-to-prepare-its-ipo-in-hong-kong/", "https://city.cri.cn/20180119/bbd46ae6-1ed2-6702-ccef-33dfc9a478fd.html", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/1568374", "https://finance.sina.cn/2024-01-11/detail-inacefaa2292916.d.html", "https://www.caproasia.com/2026/02/28/china-car-platform-beijing-dongchedi-technology-dcar-plans-hong-kong-ipo-in-2026-to-raise-1-5-billion-raised-600-million-at-3-1-billion-valuation-in-2024-founded-in-2017-by-tiktok-parent-byteda/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "DO NOT INCLUDE IN GRAVEYARD. Dongchedi is ALIVE and growing, not dead/discontinued/merged/rebranded/banned. Genuinely a ByteDance product (originated as Toutiao's auto channel; still ByteDance-backed/controlled after carve-out). Launch = August 2017 (exact day not pinned in sources); Toutiao auto channel renamed to 懀车帝 on Jan 19, 2018 (confirmed by CRI). Carve-out/operational independence reported Jan 2024. $600M raise at ~$3B valuation in 2024 confirmed. 2026 HK IPO with Citi+Goldman confirmed. App Store seller/publisher strings vary across listings (Beijing vs Chongqing entities) and were not re-confirmed on the live cn App Store page (geo/cache limits): medium confidence on the exact current seller string, high confidence on app id 1232131998 and bundle id com.ss.android.auto." }, { "name": "航海王热血航线 (One Piece: Fighting Path)", "status": "alive", "type": "game", "aliases": [ "One Piece: The Voyage" ], "category": "Mobile game (licensed 3D action / action-RPG, One Piece anime IP)", "region": "China (mainland; iOS CN App Store + Android domestic stores). Never officially released globally.", "dateLaunched": "2021-04-22", "dateKilled": "", "publisher": "Beijing Chaoxiguangnian Information Technology Co., Ltd. (北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司) — ByteDance's game arm, brand 朝夕光年 / Nuverse", "developerEntities": [ "朝夕光年 / Nuverse (ByteDance)", "CMGE / 中手游", "101 Studio (ByteDance)" ], "appStoreId": "1512093373 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1512093373) | Android package: com.hermes.h1game", "description": "Licensed One Piece 3D action-RPG for mobile, built by CMGE and published only by ByteDance's Nuverse. A launch-day hit; it survived the 2023 retreat and still runs.", "killedReason": "", "confidence": "high", "link": "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1512093373", "sources": [ "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1512093373", "https://www.taptap.cn/app/195514", "https://nikopartners.com/bytedance-restructures-nuverse-in-retreat-from-game-development-and-publishing/", "https://company.stcn.com/gsdt/202008/t20200806_2201059.html", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/enterprise/hk/2020-08-07/doc-iivhuipn7380409.shtml", "https://www.gameres.com/883309.html", "https://mmoculture.com/2021/04/one-piece-fighting-path-quick-look-at-new-mobile-action-rpg-based-on-top-manga-ip/", "https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/One_Piece:_Fighting_Path" ], "notes": "STATUS = ALIVE — this does NOT belong on a \"killed by ByteDance\" graveyard. App Store CN (id 1512093373) and TapTap show v1.27.1 last updated April 27-28, 2026, with an active 5-year anniversary event running April 22 - May 20, 2026; no shutdown (停服/关服) announcement exists. The game survived the Dec 2023 Nuverse retreat from game development. dateKilled is intentionally empty. Attribution nuance: DEVELOPER is CMGE (中手游, 研发); PUBLISHER/OPERATOR is ByteDance/Nuverse (独家发行/独代) — a co-production where ByteDance is the publisher, not the original developer; ByteDance involvement confirmed (App Store seller and copyright holder is 北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司, a ByteDance subsidiary). Dates: full-platform no-wipe public beta 2021-04-22 (confirmed gameres/sina); closed beta 2020-07-28; import license (版号) granted 2020-08-06. Removed speculative aliases (\"One Piece: Hot Blood Voyage\", \"One Piece: Burning Blood Voyage\"); note \"One Piece: Burning Blood\" is a separate 2016 Bandai Namco console title and was excluded to avoid confusion." }, { "name": "花亦山心之月 (The Moonlit Oath)", "status": "alive", "type": "game", "aliases": [ "The Moonlit Oath", "The Moonlit Oath | SEA" ], "category": "game (gacha / card RPG; 国风 ancient-style royal-academy cultivation + court-intrigue period drama, otome-adjacent narrative)", "description": "Nuverse's first self-made game, a Chinese-style gacha card RPG of court intrigue at a royal academy. It survived the 2023-24 Nuverse wind-down and still runs in China.", "dateLaunched": "2021-11-26", "dateKilled": "", "killedReason": "", "region": "China (mainland, primary); Traditional-Chinese build for Taiwan/HK/Macau (繁中版, launched 2022-05-26); a separate licensed Southeast Asia build \"The Moonlit Oath | SEA\" (EN/VN/TH)", "publisher": "北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 / Beijing Zhaoxiguangnian Information Technology Co., Ltd (朝夕光年 / Nuverse / ByteDance) — China App Store seller", "developerEntities": [ "北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 / Beijing Zhaoxiguangnian Information Technology Co., Ltd (朝夕光年 / Nuverse / ByteDance) — China developer & App Store seller, bundleId com.hermes.ygame1; current copyright holder per official site footer", "Nuverse (Hong Kong) Limited — Traditional-Chinese 繁中版 App Store seller, bundleId com.hermes.global.ygame", "RGS ONLINE PTE. LTD. — independent licensed operator of the Southeast-Asia build 'The Moonlit Oath | SEA', Google Play com.rgsonline.moonlit (third-party licensee, not ByteDance)" ], "appStoreId": "China: 1523282795 (https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1523282795); Traditional-Chinese 繁中版: 1600234315 (https://apps.apple.com/tw/app/id1600234315); SEA 'Moonlit Oath': 6746709756", "link": "https://flower.nvsgames.cn/", "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED ByteDance/Nuverse-owned and ALIVE. Official site footer (flower.nvsgames.cn/guide) reads 'Copyright © 北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 版权所有', developer 北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司, ICP 京ICP备13010862号-14 — i.e., still held by the Nuverse corporate entity, NOT divested. During the 2023-11 Nuverse wind-down, ByteDance pursued 'seek divestment while ensuring operations' but this title was RETAINED and kept running (Shanghai studio disbanded, ~40 staff merged into publishing); only 晶核 (to Tencent) and 星球:重启 were put up for sale. Launch date 2021-11-26 is the official 全平台公测 date (multiple outlets + youxituoluo confirm '定档11月26日'); the China App Store metadata releaseDate reads 2021-11-25 (UTC/preload offset), so 26 Nov is operative. iOS grossing peak #7 and App Store Nov-2021 Best Game award both well-sourced. Still active as of the 4th-anniversary '盛月扶云' version 2025-11-14, with TapTap/9game/Xiaomi/MuMu official announcements running into 2026. NOTE: this is an ALIVE entry — not a graveyard candidate; no shutdown to record.", "sources": [ "https://www.gamelook.com.cn/2021/11/463403", "https://cn.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202112/01/WS61a6edcaa3107be4979fad08.html", "https://www.youxituoluo.com/528586.html", "https://www.youxituoluo.com/528448.html", "https://www.bbtnews.com.cn/2021/1126/420457.shtml", "https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_15584732", "https://technode.com/2023/11/27/bytedance-to-exit-gaming-sector-by-closing-down-nuverse/", "https://nikopartners.com/bytedance-restructures-nuverse-in-retreat-from-game-development-and-publishing/", "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_25454778", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2024-07-23/doc-incfcaqz3571477.shtml", "https://mumu.163.com/news/20251114/34131_1271041.html", "https://www.taptap.cn/game-event/9413", "https://www.gaoshouyou.com/zhuanqu/915479.html", "https://flower.nvsgames.cn/guide", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id1523282795", "https://apps.apple.com/tw/app/id1600234315", "https://apps.qoo-app.com/en/app/142639", "https://apps.apple.com/ph/app/moonlit-oath/id6746709756", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rgsonline.moonlit", "https://x.com/Ikemenfangirl/status/1955831014305227098" ] }, { "name": "SBLF", "nameEn": "SBLF", "nameZh": "SBLF", "aliases": [], "type": "hardware", "category": "techwear apparel", "categoryZh": "潮流机能服饰", "region": "China", "regionZh": "中国大陆", "dateLaunched": "2018-08", "dateKilled": "2019-01", "status": "dead", "publisher": "", "developerEntities": [ "Douyin (抖音) / ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "A techwear fashion brand incubated by Douyin. Launched in summer 2018, it ended soon after for obvious reasons; its Tmall store later switched to selling Douyin merch.", "descZh": "抖音孵化的潮流机能服饰品牌，由于显而易见的原因，在 2018 年夏季发布不久便终止。其天猫店后转为销售抖音文创品。", "killedReason": "Shut down by January 2019, soon after its summer-2018 launch.", "reasonZh": "2018 年夏季发布，2019 年 1 月前即终止。", "link": "https://www.vogue.com.cn/fashion/brand_news/news_194529c92f54bd85.html", "sources": [ "https://www.vogue.com.cn/fashion/brand_news/news_194529c92f54bd85.html" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "Details per user (Vogue China): Douyin-incubated techwear apparel brand, launched summer 2018, terminated by early 2019; Tmall store later repurposed for Douyin merch. Filed as hardware (physical product) per user." }, { "name": "图虫 (Tuchong)", "nameEn": "Tuchong", "nameZh": "图虫", "aliases": [ "Tuchong Community", "图虫创意", "图虫 Premium" ], "type": "service", "category": "photography community", "categoryZh": "摄影社区 / 图片素材", "region": "China", "regionZh": "中国大陆", "dateLaunched": "2011", "dateKilled": "2024-10", "status": "divested", "successor": "即时设计 (Jishi Design)", "publisher": "Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd.", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "China's top photography community and stock-image site, and ByteDance's first-ever buy (December 2014). ByteDance sold its whole stake to Jishi Design in October 2024.", "descZh": "中国领先的摄影社区与图片素材平台（图虫社区／创意／Premium）。这是字节跳动的首笔对外收购（2014 年 12 月）；2024 年 10 月，字节跳动将其全部股权转让给设计工具公司「即时设计」，退出图文图片业务。", "killedReason": "Divested, not shut down: ByteDance sold 100% of Tuchong to Jishi Design in October 2024 amid its retreat from text-and-image (图文) businesses; the platform continues under new ownership.", "reasonZh": "并非关停，而是剥离出售：2024 年 10 月，字节跳动在收缩图文业务的背景下，将图虫 100% 股权出售给「即时设计」；平台在新东家旗下继续运营。", "link": "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/discovery/2024-10-17/doc-incsvscz9681612.shtml", "sources": [ "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/discovery/2024-10-17/doc-incsvscz9681612.shtml", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20241016A02ENE00", "https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2024-10-16/3593184.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "ByteDance's first external acquisition (Dec 2014); 100% equity sold to 即时设计 (Jishi Design) in Oct 2024 — a divestiture, lives on under new owner. Founding year ~2011." }, { "name": "时光相册 (Everphoto)", "nameEn": "Everphoto", "nameZh": "时光相册", "aliases": [ "Time Album", "Shiguang Xiangce", "tc.everphoto", "Shanghai Time Infinite", "上海时光无限" ], "type": "app", "category": "Cloud photo storage / AI smart album", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2015-10", "dateKilled": "2023-11-15", "status": "dead", "publisher": "Shanghai Time Infinite Technology Co. (上海时光无限科技有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance", "Shanghai Time Infinite Technology Co. (上海时光无限科技有限公司)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Everphoto (时光相册) was a Chinese intelligent cloud photo-album app offering AI face-recognition auto-categorization, encrypted cloud backup, and shared albums, and went viral with a Makoto Shinkai-style \"Your Name\" photo filter. ByteDance acquired its developer, Shanghai Time Infinite Technology, in 2017; the app stopped accepting uploads on 17 Aug 2023 and ceased operation around 15 Nov 2023, after which backed-up media was cleared.", "killedReason": "Discontinued under ByteDance's cost-cutting / resource-reallocation (\"降本增效\") drive; cloud-album business neither generated direct revenue nor supported core business, and faced commoditization from general-purpose cloud storage services in China.", "link": "https://technode.com/2023/08/18/bytedance-backed-intelligent-photo-management-app-everphoto-to-discontinue/", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2023/08/18/bytedance-backed-intelligent-photo-management-app-everphoto-to-discontinue/", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3231813/bytedance-closes-eight-year-old-cloud-album-app-amid-proliferation-general-purpose-cloud-services", "https://en.pingwest.com/w/12091", "https://36kr.com/p/2522317356492549", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%97%B6%E5%85%89%E7%9B%B8%E5%86%8C/19689178" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Verified independently. ByteDance ownership confirmed by TechNode, SCMP, PingWest/Yahoo, 36Kr and Baidu Baike (Zhang Yiming was an early shareholder/co-founder before ByteDance Ltd. took control in Aug 2017). Distinct from all known camera/editing apps (Faceu, Xingtu, Qingyan, Hypic, Whee, Pixsoul, Limao Camera) — it is a cloud-storage backup album, not on the known list. Date caveat: multiple sou", "descZh": "时光相册（Everphoto）是一款中国的智能云相册应用，提供 AI 人脸识别自动分类、加密云端备份和共享相册功能，并曾凭借一款新海诚《你的名字》风格的照片滤镜走红。字节跳动于 2017 年收购了其开发商上海时光无限科技；该应用于 2023 年 8 月 17 日停止接收上传，并在 2023 年 11 月 15 日前后停止运营，之后已备份的照片视频被清空。", "reasonZh": "在字节跳动“降本增效”、重新分配资源的浪潮中被关停；云相册业务既不直接创收，也不支撑核心业务，还面临中国通用云存储服务带来的同质化竞争。", "categoryZh": "云端照片存储／AI 智能相册", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "有咔 (UOKA - Textured Life Camera)", "nameEn": "UOKA - Textured Life Camera", "nameZh": "有咔", "aliases": [ "UOKA", "UOKA Camera", "UOKA Cam", "有咔相机", "Youka", "柚咔相机" ], "type": "app", "category": "Camera / AI-filter photography app", "region": "China + global (overseas Google Play release)", "dateLaunched": "2018-20", "dateKilled": "2020-20", "status": "dead", "publisher": "Shenzhen Faceu Technology Co., Ltd. (深圳市脸萌科技有限公司) / Bytedance Pte. Ltd. — a wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary; Android package com.lemon.yokaoversea", "developerEntities": [ "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Faceu/Lemon Technology Co., Ltd.)", "Bytedance Pte. Ltd.", "字节跳动 (ByteDance)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "UOKA (有咔) was a ByteDance AI-filter camera app offering \"textured life\" filters for food, landscape, portrait and lifestyle scenes, using AI scene-recognition to identify 20+ shooting scenarios and auto-match curated photographer-designed filters. It shipped both a China version (有咔) and an overseas version (\"UOKA - Textured Life Camera\", package com.lemon.yokaoversea, last updated v1.5.0 on Sep 25, 2019).", "killedReason": "Abandoned in ByteDance's culling of its many overlapping photo/camera apps; only 轻颜相机 (Ulike/Qingyan) and Faceu激萌 survived the consolidation. Failed to gain traction against ByteDance's own dominant camera apps.", "link": "https://www.36kr.com/p/2392708671871876", "sources": [ "https://www.36kr.com/p/2392708671871876", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/1435933", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?hl=en_SG&id=com.lemon.yokaoversea", "https://apkfab.com/uoka-textured-life-camera/com.lemon.yokaoversea", "https://www.amazon.com/%E6%B7%B1%E5%9C%B3%E5%B8%82%E8%84%B8%E8%90%8C%E7%A7%91%E6%8A%80%E6%9C%89%E9%99%90%E5%85%AC%E5%8F%B8-UOKA-Textured-Life-Camera/dp/B07WK3VTRF" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CONFIRMED genuine ByteDance product, NEW (not in known list). Ownership triple-sourced: (1) Android package com.lemon.yokaoversea uses the com.lemon.* namespace of ByteDance subsidiary 深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (same entity as Faceu激萌/轻颜/剪映); (2) Amazon Appstore lists developer as 深圳市脸萌科技有限公司; (3) Google Play/APK aggregators list publisher Bytedance Pte. Ltd. Status confirmed by both cited sources — 36kr and cl", "descZh": "有咔（UOKA）是字节跳动推出的一款 AI 滤镜相机应用，主打面向美食、风景、人像和生活场景的“质感生活”滤镜，利用 AI 场景识别辨别 20 多种拍摄场景，并自动匹配由摄影师精心设计的滤镜。它同时推出了中国版（有咔）和海外版（“UOKA - Textured Life Camera”，包名 com.lemon.yokaoversea，最后一次更新为 2019 年 9 月 25 日的 v1.5.0 版本）。", "reasonZh": "在字节跳动对旗下众多功能重叠的照片／相机应用的清理中被放弃，整合后只有轻颜相机（Ulike）和 Faceu 激萌存活下来；该应用未能在字节跳动自家占主导地位的相机应用面前打开局面。", "categoryZh": "相机／AI 滤镜拍照应用", "regionZh": "中国大陆＋海外（曾在 Google Play 发布）" }, { "name": "奇妙相机 (Qimiao Camera)", "nameEn": "Qimiao Camera", "nameZh": "奇妙相机", "aliases": [ "Qimiao Xiangji", "Qimiao Camera", "Magic Camera", "Wonderful Camera" ], "type": "app", "category": "Camera / photo app", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2017-20", "dateKilled": "2023", "status": "dead", "publisher": "ByteDance (Toutiao-era camera/photo app; app-store package com.ss.android.camera under ByteDance's signature com.ss.android.* namespace)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Beijing ByteDance / Toutiao (com.ss.android.* package namespace)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "A ByteDance-owned camera/photo app (Android package com.ss.android.camera). Chinese tech/financial outlets 36Kr and Cailianshe both list it among ByteDance's discarded photo-related apps (alongside uoka有咔, 狸猫相机, Helo), while 轻颜相机 and Faceu激萌 remained operating. Beyond being categorized as a \"photo-related app,\" its specific feature set is not well documented in available sources.", "killedReason": "Abandoned as part of ByteDance's consolidation of its photo/camera app portfolio. Standalone photo/camera apps lost relevance as phone-maker cloud services improved, and ByteDance focused resources on its winners (轻颜相机 Qingyan, Faceu激萌).", "link": "https://www.36kr.com/p/2392708671871876", "sources": [ "https://www.36kr.com/p/2392708671871876", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/1435933" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "VERIFIED as genuine ByteDance and genuinely dead. NOT in the already-known list and not a duplicate. CORRECTIONS to the candidate: (1) The candidate's 2nd source (news.qq.com/.../20230821A00ROF00) is actually about 时光相册 (Shiguang Album cloud-photo app), NOT 奇妙相机 — it is misattributed; replaced with cls.cn which does explicitly name 奇妙相机. (2) The candidate's 'AI-portrait/face-swap camera' descripti", "descZh": "一款字节跳动旗下的相机／照片应用（安卓包名 com.ss.android.camera）。中国科技/财经媒体 36 氪和财联社都将其列入字节跳动被舍弃的照片类应用之中（与有咔 UOKA、狸猫相机、Helo 并列），而轻颜相机和 Faceu 激萌则继续运营。除被归类为“照片类应用”外，可获得的资料中对其具体功能记载不多。", "reasonZh": "作为字节跳动整合其照片／相机应用矩阵的一部分而被放弃。随着手机厂商云服务的提升，独立的照片／相机应用日渐失去存在意义，字节跳动转而将资源集中在胜出的产品上（轻颜相机、Faceu 激萌）。", "categoryZh": "相机／照片应用", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "快拍 (Kuaipai)", "nameEn": "Kuaipai", "nameZh": "快拍", "aliases": [ "Kuaipai", "Quick Shot" ], "type": "app", "category": "Camera / photo app", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "", "dateKilled": "2023", "status": "dead", "publisher": "上海时光无限科技有限公司 (Shanghai Shiguang Wuxian Technology Co., Ltd.) — a ByteDance subsidiary, now wholly owned via 抖音有限公司 / 北京星云创迹科技", "developerEntities": [ "上海时光无限科技有限公司 (Shanghai Shiguang Wuxian Technology)", "时光相册 team", "ByteDance / 抖音有限公司" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "快拍 (Kuaipai) was a photo/camera app launched by the team behind ByteDance's cloud photo-album product 时光相册 (Shiguang Album). It was one of several side products (alongside the photo-editor Luna and 时光相册极速版) that the team spun off; it performed poorly and was eventually delisted.", "killedReason": "Poor market performance / low traction (效果平平), eventually delisted; part of ByteDance's broader retrenchment of its photo/camera app experiments (the parent 时光相册 itself was shut down in Nov 2023).", "link": "https://www.36kr.com/p/2392708671871876", "sources": [ "https://www.36kr.com/p/2392708671871876", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/1435933", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230821A00ROF00" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "Confirmed by two independent Chinese tech outlets (36Kr and 财联社/cls.cn): \"时光相册还曾推出过p图软件luna、快拍、时光相册极速版等APP，但都效果平平，最终被下架.\" CAUTION on the generic name: there is an unrelated, well-known older \"快拍二维码\" QR-scanner by 灵动快拍 (Lingdong) and several other camera apps named 快拍 on the App Store — those are NOT ByteDance. This candidate specifically refers to the 时光相册-team photo app. Confidence is medium beca", "descZh": "快拍是由字节跳动云相册产品时光相册背后的团队推出的一款照片／相机应用。它是该团队孵化的多个支线产品之一（与 P 图软件 Luna、时光相册极速版并列），市场表现平平，最终被下架。", "reasonZh": "市场表现不佳、用户增长乏力（效果平平），最终被下架；属于字节跳动对其照片／相机应用尝试整体收缩的一部分（母产品时光相册本身已于 2023 年 11 月关停）。", "categoryZh": "相机／照片应用", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "Luna (时光相册团队 P图软件) (Luna)", "nameEn": "Luna", "nameZh": "Luna (时光相册团队 P图软件)", "aliases": [ "时光相册 Luna", "Luna P图", "Luna photo editor" ], "type": "app", "category": "Photo editing app", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2017", "dateKilled": "2023", "status": "dead", "publisher": "上海时光无限科技有限公司 (Shanghai Time Unlimited Technology Co., Ltd.) — wholly-owned subsidiary of Douyin Ltd / ByteDance", "developerEntities": [ "上海时光无限科技有限公司 (Shanghai Time Unlimited Technology Co., Ltd.)", "时光相册 team", "ByteDance 字节跳动 / Douyin Ltd 抖音有限公司" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Luna was a photo-editing (P图) app launched by the 时光相册 (Shiguang Album / Time Album) team, which became a wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary after ByteDance acquired 时光相册 (developed by 上海时光无限科技有限公司) in 2017. It offered photo retouching/effects but gained little traction and was eventually delisted, alongside sibling spinoffs 快拍 (Kuaipai) and 时光相册极速版 (Time Album Speed Edition). Distinct from the unrelated Insta360 \"Luna\" hardware.", "killedReason": "Underperformed — \"效果平平，最终被下架\" (poor traction, eventually removed from app stores), one of several failed spinoffs by the 时光相册 team.", "link": "https://www.36kr.com/p/2392708671871876", "sources": [ "https://www.36kr.com/p/2392708671871876", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/1435933", "https://cn.technode.com/post/2023-11-15/bytedance-shiguangxiangce-shut-down/" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuine, new, ByteDance product — KEEP. Confirmed by 36kr and cls.cn: \"时光相册还曾推出过p图软件luna、快拍、时光相册极速版等APP，但都效果平平，最终被下架。\" cls.cn confirms the operating entity is a wholly-owned 孙公司 (sub-subsidiary) of Douyin Ltd/ByteDance. NOT alreadyKnown: the known list has many camera/photo apps (狸猫相机, Faceu, 轻颜, 醒图, Hypic, 心图) but NOT Luna, 时光相册, 快拍, or uoka有咔. CAVEAT: Luna is a generic name; this is the", "descZh": "Luna 是由时光相册（Time Album）团队推出的一款 P 图（照片编辑）应用。字节跳动于 2017 年收购了时光相册（由上海时光无限科技有限公司开发）后，该团队成为字节跳动的全资子公司。Luna 提供照片修饰／特效功能，但用户增长乏力，最终与同门支线产品快拍（Kuaipai）和时光相册极速版一同被下架。它与无关联的 Insta360 “Luna” 硬件产品并非同一事物。", "reasonZh": "表现不佳——“效果平平，最终被下架”，是时光相册团队多个失败支线产品之一。", "categoryZh": "照片编辑应用", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "脸萌 (MyOtee (international name: FaceQ))", "nameEn": "MyOtee (international name: FaceQ)", "nameZh": "脸萌", "aliases": [ "MYOTee", "MYOTee脸萌", "FaceQ", "Lianmeng", "Lemon (脸萌科技)", "com.miantan.myoface" ], "type": "app", "category": "Avatar / cartoon-face maker (photo & social)", "region": "China (also international as FaceQ)", "dateLaunched": "2013-12", "dateKilled": "2014", "status": "dead", "publisher": "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology Co., Ltd. / Faceu Technology) — acquired by ByteDance/Toutiao Feb 2018; Beijing entity transferred to Pico (ByteDance VR subsidiary, via 上海屏可科技) April 2022", "developerEntities": [ "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology / Faceu Technology)", "字节跳动 ByteDance / 今日头条 Toutiao (acquirer 2018)", "Pico / 上海屏可科技 (2022)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "MyOtee (脸萌) was the viral cartoon-avatar maker by founder Guo Lie's team — users assemble a customized cartoon face from interchangeable parts. It topped the App Store in 17 countries in mid-2014 (30M+ downloads) before a rapid decline, after which the same company pivoted to the Faceu selfie-camera app. Both apps belonged to 脸萌科技, the entity ByteDance acquired for ~$300M in 2018 and later folded into Pico.", "killedReason": "Fad collapse — explosive 2014 growth followed by one of the steepest DAU declines of any app that year (no sustainable retention/monetization); the team shifted focus to Faceu, and the standalone MyOtee/FaceQ app was effectively abandoned. The owning entity was later repurposed under Pico in 2022.", "link": "https://news.yxrb.net/202204/15229321.html", "sources": [ "https://news.yxrb.net/202204/15229321.html", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/1950183.html", "https://www.itjuzi.com/company/7788", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/myotee%E8%84%B8%E8%90%8C/12980987", "https://apkpure.com/faceq/com.miantan.myoface" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from the already-known \"Faceu激萌\": MyOtee (cartoon-avatar maker, est. late 2013, bundle com.miantan.myoface, intl name FaceQ) and Faceu (real-time selfie effects camera, 2015/2016) are two separate apps from the same company. Sources consistently describe \"脸萌旗下有'MYOTee脸萌'和'激萌Faceu'两款产品\". MyOtee predates Faceu and was the team's original hit. Came to ByteDance via the 2018 acquisition of th", "descZh": "脸萌（MyOtee）是创始人郭列团队打造的爆款卡通头像制作应用——用户可用可替换的部件拼出个性化卡通脸。它在 2014 年年中登顶 17 个国家的 App Store（下载量超 3000 万），随后迅速衰落，之后同一家公司转型推出了 Faceu 自拍相机应用。这两款应用都隶属于脸萌科技，即字节跳动于 2018 年以约 3 亿美元收购、后并入 Pico 的实体。", "reasonZh": "潮流退去——2014 年爆发式增长后，出现了当年所有应用中最陡峭的日活下跌之一（缺乏可持续的留存／变现）；团队转向 Faceu，独立的脸萌／FaceQ 应用实际上被放弃。其所属实体后于 2022 年并入 Pico 重新利用。", "categoryZh": "卡通头像制作（照片与社交）", "regionZh": "中国大陆（海外以 FaceQ 之名发行）" }, { "name": "星绘 (Xinghui)", "nameEn": "Xinghui", "nameZh": "星绘", "aliases": [ "Xinghui", "Doubao Xinghui", "豆包星绘", "Star Painting" ], "type": "app", "category": "AI portrait / AI avatar photo & video generation app", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2024-04", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "北京春田知韵科技有限公司 (Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology Co., Ltd.) — ByteDance's AI-products shell entity, same publisher as Doubao/Coze; Android package com.butterfly.unicorn", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Flow AI products division (朱骏)", "北京春田知韵科技有限公司 / Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology Co., Ltd." ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "星绘 (Xinghui) is a ByteDance AI portrait/avatar app launched April 2024 by its Flow AI division, letting users generate personalized AI photos and short videos of themselves (\"AI 分身写真\"). It shares underlying Seed/即梦-family image models and is branded \"豆包旗下\" (a Doubao sub-brand).", "killedReason": "NOT killed. In April 2025 ByteDance reorganized its underperforming AI apps (~160k DAU): the Xinghui *team* was folded into Doubao management (led by Doubao App head Lu You/陆游) to concentrate resources on the flagship Doubao. However, the standalone Xinghui app continued shipping updates (v1.4.1 Sep 2025, v1.5.1 Oct 2025, v1.7.x in 2026) and was not delisted, so this is a team/org merger rather than a product shutdown.", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250423A00KH100", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250423A00KH100", "https://www.bianews.com/news/details?id=210967", "https://c.m.163.com/news/a/JTPQAITS0531M1CO.html", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2025-04-23/doc-ineucccy7019811.shtml", "https://www.aibase.com/news/17432" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: genuinely ByteDance, genuinely NEW (not in known list). One correction to the candidate: status is \"alive\" not \"merged\" — the April 2025 LatePost report describes a team/management consolidation into Doubao, but the app itself remains live and actively updated as of 2026 (latest v1.7.7, May 2026). Do NOT confuse with the already-known 醒图 \"Xingtu\" (Xǐngtú, the CapCut/Xingtu photo editor) —", "descZh": "星绘是字节跳动旗下 Flow AI 部门于 2024 年 4 月推出的一款 AI 写真／分身应用，让用户生成个性化的 AI 照片和自己的短视频（“AI 分身写真”）。它共用 Seed/即梦系列的底层图像模型，并以“豆包旗下”子品牌的形式呈现。", "reasonZh": "并未被关停。2025 年 4 月字节跳动重组旗下表现不佳的 AI 应用，星绘“团队”并入豆包管理体系以集中资源发展豆包；但星绘独立应用仍持续更新、也未被下架，属团队／组织合并而非产品关停。", "categoryZh": "AI 写真／AI 分身照片与视频生成应用", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "猫箱（原名话炉） (Maoxiang (Cat Box))", "nameEn": "Maoxiang (Cat Box)", "nameZh": "猫箱（原名话炉）", "aliases": [ "Maoxiang", "Cat Box", "话炉 Huahuo (original name)", "Huolu" ], "type": "app", "category": "AI character roleplay / emotional-companion chat app", "region": "China (domestic)", "dateLaunched": "2024-03", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "北京春田知韵科技有限公司 (Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology Co., Ltd.), a ByteDance-controlled entity; App Store bundle/package com.parallel.odyssey", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance Flow department (字节跳动 Flow)", "北京春田知韵科技有限公司 (Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology Co., Ltd.)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "猫箱 (Maoxiang / \"Cat Box\") is ByteDance's domestic-China AI character-roleplay and emotional-companion chat app, built on ByteDance's Yunque/Doubao large model. Users create and chat (text or voice) with customizable AI characters and branching interactive stories; it launched in March 2024 under the name 话炉 (Huahuo) and was renamed 猫箱 on April 11, 2024.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250423A00KH100", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250423A00KH100", "https://www.aibase.com/news/17432", "https://cn.technode.com/post/2025-08-29/maoxiang-ai-app-whats-going-on/", "https://ai-bot.cn/app/10308.html", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/id6475000292" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "VERIFIED ByteDance: developed by ByteDance's Flow dept (朱骏 Zhu Jun); App Store publisher 北京春田知韵科技有限公司, a ByteDance-controlled shell; powered by ByteDance Yunque/Doubao model. Rename confirmed: ai-bot.cn lists it as \"猫箱(原话炉)\". STATUS = ALIVE as of 2026: still downloadable in all major Chinese app stores, ~246M cumulative downloads by Apr 2026; hit by an Apr 28 2026 CAC regulatory action (over AI-ge", "descZh": "猫箱是字节跳动面向中国大陆的 AI 角色扮演与情感陪伴聊天应用，基于字节跳动的云雀／豆包大模型构建。用户可创建可自定义的 AI 角色并与之进行文字或语音聊天，体验分支式互动剧情；它于 2024 年 3 月以“话炉”之名上线，并在 2024 年 4 月 11 日更名为“猫箱”。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "AI 角色扮演／情感陪伴聊天应用", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "火山写作 (Writingo (Volcano Writing))", "nameEn": "Writingo (Volcano Writing)", "nameZh": "火山写作", "aliases": [ "Volcano Writing", "Writingo", "Huoshan Writing", "火山写作 Writingo" ], "type": "app", "category": "AI writing assistant", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2023", "dateKilled": "2024-12-31", "status": "merged", "publisher": "北京火山引擎科技有限公司 / writingo.net (Beijing Volcano Engine Technology Co., Ltd., a ByteDance subsidiary)", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "火山引擎 (Volcano Engine)", "北京火山引擎科技有限公司 (Beijing Volcano Engine Technology Co., Ltd.)", "writingo.net" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "火山写作 (Writingo) was ByteDance's free AI writing assistant for Chinese and English text, built on ByteDance's self-developed Yunque (云雀) large language model. Distributed as a web app plus Chrome/Edge browser extensions, it offered article generation, full-text polishing, rewriting, topic ideation, and web-connected writing.", "killedReason": "Consolidated into ByteDance's flagship Doubao (豆包) assistant: its AI/LLM-dependent features (AI writing, full-text polishing, topic deep-dive) were shut off on 2024-09-13, and the standalone web page fully closed on 2024-12-31, auto-redirecting users to Doubao's \"帮我写作\" (Help Me Write) module.", "link": "https://ai-bot.cn/sites/957.html", "sources": [ "https://ai-bot.cn/sites/957.html", "https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/%E7%81%AB%E5%B1%B1%E5%86%99%E4%BD%9C-writingo%EF%BC%9A%E5%85%8D%E8%B4%B9%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%AD%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%E5%86%99%E4%BD%9C%E5%8A%A9%E6%89%8B/jmfpofgbfdbigfljjiehacgdaeamjkoi", "https://www.niutoushe.com/lives/huoshanxiezuofuwuzhenghezhidoubaopingtaiyuanyouzhandianjijiangguanting", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%81%AB%E5%B1%B1%E5%86%99%E4%BD%9C/63341209", "https://chrome-stats.com/d/jmfpofgbfdbigfljjiehacgdaeamjkoi" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely new vs the known list and distinct from the already-known Doubao (the product 火山写作 itself was killed; Doubao is its successor host). Published by ByteDance's Volcano Engine cloud subsidiary, not the core ByteDance app team. Baidu Baike and chrome-stats pages returned 403, but ownership, model, dates, and migration target are confirmed via ai-bot.cn, the Chrome Web Store listing, and niut", "descZh": "火山写作（Writingo）是字节跳动推出的一款面向中英文文本的免费 AI 写作助手，基于字节跳动自研的云雀大语言模型构建。它以网页版加 Chrome/Edge 浏览器扩展的形式发布，提供文章生成、全文润色、改写、选题创意和联网写作等功能。", "reasonZh": "被整合进字节跳动旗舰助手豆包：其依赖 AI/大模型的功能（AI 写作、全文润色、选题深挖）于 2024 年 9 月 13 日关闭，独立网页于 2024 年 12 月 31 日全面停运，并自动将用户跳转至豆包的“帮我写作”模块。", "categoryZh": "AI 写作助手", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "即创 (Jichuang (Ocean Engine AI Creative))", "nameEn": "Jichuang (Ocean Engine AI Creative)", "nameZh": "即创", "aliases": [ "Jichuang", "即创AI", "AI Creative", "Ocean Engine AI Creative", "巨量引擎即创" ], "type": "service", "category": "AI marketing / advertising creative production platform", "region": "China (domestic); has Ocean Engine international-facing Engl", "dateLaunched": "2023-10", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "巨量引擎 / Ocean Engine (ByteDance advertising/marketing unit; contact ibc-oceanengine@bytedance.com). Companion iOS app published under Ocean Engine.", "developerEntities": [ "巨量引擎 (Ocean Engine)", "ByteDance / 字节跳动" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "即创 (Jichuang) is a one-stop AI creative production and management platform from ByteDance's Ocean Engine (巨量引擎) advertising business. It generates Douyin ad/marketing assets — AI scripts, smart auto-edited videos, digital-human spokesperson口播 videos, product cards, shoppable graphic content and AI livestream backgrounds — powered by ByteDance's in-house models (the Yunque/云雀 LLM among others), with pre-launch checks, post-launch diagnostics, '爆款裂变' (viral fission) and '一键过审' (one-click ad approval). It is positioned as ByteDance's advertising 'second growth curve.'", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://www.oceanengine.io/resource/unleash-creativity-ai-creative", "sources": [ "https://www.oceanengine.io/resource/unleash-creativity-ai-creative", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250117A01Q8400", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250109A0500800", "https://news.aibase.com/news/14590", "https://www.chinaz.com/2023/1024/1569347.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED REAL and genuinely missing from the known list. isByteDance=true: developed/operated by Ocean Engine (巨量引擎), confirmed ByteDance unit (oceanengine.io footer + bytedance.com contact). alreadyKnown=false: distinct from Pippit/CapCut Commerce Pro (that is the international English e-commerce video platform; 即创 is the China-domestic Ocean Engine ad-creative platform tied to Douyin/Juliang Qia", "descZh": "即创是字节跳动旗下广告业务巨量引擎推出的一站式 AI 创意生产与管理平台。它生成抖音广告／营销素材——AI 脚本、智能自动剪辑视频、数字人口播视频、商品卡、可购物图文内容和 AI 直播背景——由字节跳动自研模型（包括云雀大模型等）驱动，并提供投放前检查、投放后诊断、“爆款裂变”和“一键过审”等功能。它被定位为字节跳动广告业务的“第二增长曲线”。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "AI 营销／广告创意生产平台", "regionZh": "中国大陆（巨量引擎另有面向海外的英文版）" }, { "name": "海绵音乐（原名海绵乐队） (Sponge Music (formerly Sponge Band))", "nameEn": "Sponge Music (formerly Sponge Band)", "nameZh": "海绵音乐（原名海绵乐队）", "aliases": [ "Sponge Music", "Sponge Band", "Haimian Yinyue", "Haimian Yuedui", "海绵乐队", "海绵音乐 - AI 为你写好歌" ], "type": "app", "category": "AI music creation tool", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2022-05-16", "dateKilled": "2024-07", "status": "rebranded", "publisher": "Beijing Yanxuan Technology Co., Ltd. (北京颜选科技有限公司), a wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary (via Beijing Xingyun Chuangji Technology)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Beijing Yanxuan Technology Co., Ltd. (北京颜选科技有限公司)", "Beijing Xingyun Chuangji Technology Co., Ltd. (北京星云创迹科技有限公司)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "A ByteDance mobile music-creation app first launched on 16 May 2022 as 海绵乐队 (Sponge Band), a recording-studio / vocal-optimization / one-click-Remix / auto-Mashup editing tool serving Soda Music and Douyin users. In June–August 2024 it was renamed and pivoted to 海绵音乐 (Sponge Music), an AI text/lyric-to-song generator (a Suno rival) powered by ByteDance's Doubao music-generation model, where users input a one-line prompt, lyrics, or an image to generate full songs.", "killedReason": "Not shut down — rebranded and repositioned. The original 海绵乐队 manual music-editing tool gained little traction; once ByteDance's Doubao music-generation model matured, the product was renamed 海绵音乐 in July 2024 (public launch Aug 2, 2024; closed beta from June 5, 2024) and re-focused on generative AI song creation to compete with Suno.", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240808A09YN100", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240808A09YN100", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240802A09PX900", "https://36kr.com/p/2897891150600836", "https://www.aibase.com/news/10724", "https://www.aibase.com/news/10726" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from Soda Music (汽水音乐, streaming) and from Doubao (豆包, which supplies the underlying AI music model). The 2022 launch was explicitly framed by ByteDance as a creation tool for Soda Music and Douyin users. Candidate's claimed sources and timeline are accurate; only refinement is that the AI rename/pivot occurred July 2024 (beta June 5, public Aug 2, 2024), not generically \"2024.\"", "descZh": "字节跳动旗下的一款移动音乐创作应用，最初于 2022 年 5 月 16 日以“海绵乐队”之名上线，是一款面向汽水音乐和抖音用户的录音棚／人声优化／一键 Remix／自动 Mashup 编辑工具。2024 年 6 至 8 月间，它更名并转型为“海绵音乐”，一款由字节跳动豆包音乐生成模型驱动的 AI 文本／歌词生成歌曲工具（对标 Suno），用户输入一句提示词、歌词或一张图片即可生成完整歌曲。", "reasonZh": "并未被关停——而是更名并重新定位。原“海绵乐队”手动音乐编辑工具用户增长有限；待字节跳动豆包音乐生成模型成熟后，该产品于 2024 年 7 月更名为“海绵音乐”（6 月 5 日起内测，8 月 2 日公开上线），转向生成式 AI 歌曲创作，与 Suno 竞争。", "categoryZh": "AI 音乐创作工具", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "Ripple", "nameEn": "Ripple", "nameZh": "Ripple", "aliases": [ "ByteDance Ripple", "Ripple by ByteDance" ], "type": "app", "category": "AI music creation / audio editing app (overseas)", "region": "United States (overseas; never launched in China)", "dateLaunched": "2023-06-30", "dateKilled": "", "status": "dead", "publisher": "ByteDance (developed/published by ByteDance; iOS-only US invite beta)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Ripple was a free AI-powered music-creation, composition and audio-editing iOS app from ByteDance, launched as a US invite-only closed beta on June 30, 2023. Its flagship 'Melody to Song' feature let users hum or sing a melody and the AI would generate instrumental accompaniment (drums, bass, guitar, piano) across genres; it also included a 'virtual recording studio' for cutting and rearranging audio, with the AI model trained on music licensed/owned by ByteDance or produced in-house.", "killedReason": "No formal shutdown was ever announced. The app never appears to have exited its US iOS invite-only closed beta or rolled out more widely; press coverage stops after 2023 and the official ripple.club site returns no content, indicating the beta was quietly wound down/abandoned. ByteDance's overseas AI-music ambitions appear to have shifted to in-house tools and patents rather than this standalone consumer app.", "link": "https://musically.com/2023/06/30/bytedance-reveals-ai-powered-music-creation-app-ripple/", "sources": [ "https://musically.com/2023/06/30/bytedance-reveals-ai-powered-music-creation-app-ripple/", "https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/meet-ripple-tiktok-parents-new-ai-powered-music-making-app-that-can-turn-a-hummed-melody-into-a-song/", "https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/30/tiktok-parent-bytedance-launches-music-creation-audio-editing-app/", "https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-owner-bytedance-debuts-ripple-music-creation-app-130023602.html", "https://www.billboard.com/pro/bytedance-ripple-music-creation-tool-tiktok-videos/" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuinely ByteDance, genuinely new (not in known list), keep. Ownership is high-confidence (Music Ally, MBW, TechCrunch, Engadget, Billboard all attribute it to ByteDance directly). Distinct from Resso/TikTok Music (streaming), SoundOn (distribution), Soda Music 汽水音乐, and CapCut — it is a creation/composition app. NOTE the same coverage also surfaced a SEPARATE earlier ByteDance music app", "descZh": "Ripple 是字节跳动推出的一款免费 AI 音乐创作、作曲和音频编辑 iOS 应用，于 2023 年 6 月 30 日在美国以邀请制封闭测试形式上线。其核心功能“Melody to Song”让用户哼唱一段旋律，AI 即可生成跨多种风格的器乐伴奏（鼓、贝斯、吉他、钢琴）；它还包含一个用于剪辑和重新编排音频的“虚拟录音棚”，其 AI 模型基于字节跳动授权／自有或自制的音乐训练。", "reasonZh": "从未正式宣布关停。该应用似乎始终未走出其在美国 iOS 上的邀请制封闭测试、也未更大范围推广；相关报道止于 2023 年，官方网站 ripple.club 已无内容，表明该测试已被悄然收尾／放弃。字节跳动的海外 AI 音乐布局似乎已转向自研工具和专利，而非这款独立的消费级应用。", "categoryZh": "AI 音乐创作／音频编辑应用（海外）", "regionZh": "美国（海外；从未在中国上线）" }, { "name": "Mawf（无官方中文名） (Mawf)", "nameEn": "Mawf", "nameZh": "Mawf（无官方中文名）", "aliases": [ "Mawf synth", "Mawf plugin", "mawf.io" ], "type": "app", "category": "AI/ML audio synthesis — DAW instrument plugin (timbre transf", "region": "Europe / UK (beta available outside the US)", "dateLaunched": "2022-04", "dateKilled": "2022-20", "status": "dead", "publisher": "ByteDance (developed by an internal ByteDance/TikTok ML-audio team; distributed via mawf.io, not app stores)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance", "TikTok" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Mawf was a free machine-learning desktop audio plugin (VST3/AU, macOS-first with Windows promised) from ByteDance that used DDSP-style ML timbre transfer to morph any audio signal or MIDI input into realistic instrument sounds — e.g. turning a sung vocal line into a saxophone, trumpet, or khlui (Thai flute). It billed itself as the first pro-audio plugin to synthesize audio from a machine-learning system in real time at CD quality.", "killedReason": "Released only as a limited free closed beta (first 500 sign-ups, EU/UK). It never reached a full public release; the mawf.io site is now down (HTTP 502) with broken download links, and no development activity is visible past 2022-2023. ByteDance's later, separate music app Ripple (2023) effectively superseded its consumer music-creation experiments.", "link": "https://musically.com/2022/04/21/bytedance-music-creation-app-mawf/", "sources": [ "https://musically.com/2022/04/21/bytedance-music-creation-app-mawf/", "https://www.musicradar.com/news/mawf-machine-learning-tik-tok-plugin", "https://dot.la/tiktok-tests-mawf-2657186750.html", "https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2022/05/02/tiktok-mawf/", "https://www.marktechpost.com/2022/04/27/bytedance-announces-a-new-plugin-that-utilizes-machine-learning-for-audio-synthesis/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Explicitly confirmed by sources as a SEPARATE standalone app from Ripple (ByteDance said so directly). Distinct from ByteDance streaming/distribution products (Resso, TikTok Music, SoundOn, Soda Music) and from CapCut/Jianying — Mawf is a producer-facing DAW synthesis plugin. Distributed via mawf.io rather than app stores, so no App Store/Play publisher entity. Confirmed across English (Music Ally", "descZh": "Mawf 是字节跳动推出的一款免费的机器学习桌面音频插件（VST3/AU，优先支持 macOS，并承诺支持 Windows），它采用 DDSP 式的机器学习音色迁移技术，把任何音频信号或 MIDI 输入变换成逼真的乐器音色——例如把一段演唱的人声变成萨克斯、小号或泰国竹笛（khlui）的声音。它自称是首款以 CD 音质实时通过机器学习系统合成音频的专业音频插件。", "reasonZh": "仅以限量免费封闭测试形式发布（前 500 名注册者，面向欧盟／英国），从未迎来完整公开发布；mawf.io 网站已无法访问、下载链接失效，2022—2023 年后再无开发动态。字节跳动后来的音乐应用 Ripple 实际取代了它的尝试。", "categoryZh": "AI/机器学习音频合成——DAW 乐器插件（音色迁移）", "regionZh": "欧洲／英国（测试版面向美国以外地区）" }, { "name": "Jukedeck（无对应官方中文名） (Jukedeck)", "nameEn": "Jukedeck", "nameZh": "Jukedeck（无对应官方中文名）", "aliases": [ "Jukedeck Make", "Jukedeck MAKE" ], "type": "service", "category": "AI music generation (royalty-free music creation)", "region": "UK / Global", "dateLaunched": "2012", "dateKilled": "2019", "status": "acquired-shut", "publisher": "Jukedeck Ltd (London-based startup), acquired by ByteDance Ltd. in July 2019", "developerEntities": [ "Jukedeck Ltd", "ByteDance Ltd" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Jukedeck was a London-based AI music startup (founded 2012 by Ed Newton-Rex, with Patrick Stobbs) whose flagship product \"Jukedeck Make\" let users automatically generate royalty-free background music using neural-network-based composition, with customizable genre, mood, instruments, length and tempo. ByteDance acquired the company in July 2019; the website and product were taken offline (homepage replaced with a holding message) and the team folded into ByteDance's AI Lab, where founder Ed Newton-Rex became Director.", "killedReason": "Acqui-hired by ByteDance in July 2019 primarily for its AI music-generation technology and talent (to reduce reliance on costly music licensing for Douyin/TikTok and bolster ByteDance AI Lab). The standalone consumer product/website was shut down and never relaunched; the technology and team were absorbed internally. Founder Ed Newton-Rex later left ByteDance around 2021.", "link": "https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tiktok-parent-bytedance-buys-ai-music-company-jukedeck/", "sources": [ "https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tiktok-parent-bytedance-buys-ai-music-company-jukedeck/", "https://musically.com/2019/07/23/ai-music-startup-jukedecks-ceo-now-runs-the-ai-lab-of-tiktok-owner-bytedance/", "https://technode.com/2019/07/24/bytedance-has-reportedly-acquired-uk-music-ai-startup-jukedeck/", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3019926/bytedance-spurs-tiktoks-global-expansion-snapping-music-tech-ai", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jukedeck" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Strongly sourced across English and Chinese press. Distinct from all known ByteDance music products (Resso, TikTok Music, SoundOn, Soda Music) — Jukedeck was AI music GENERATION, not streaming/distribution. Its tech reportedly underpinned later ByteDance AI music efforts. Clients before acquisition included Coca-Cola, Google, UKTV, and the Natural History Museum London; over 1M tracks generated.", "descZh": "Jukedeck 是一家总部位于伦敦的 AI 音乐初创公司（2012 年由 Ed Newton-Rex 与 Patrick Stobbs 创立），其核心产品“Jukedeck Make”让用户借助基于神经网络的作曲技术自动生成免版税背景音乐，并可自定义风格、情绪、乐器、时长和节奏。字节跳动于 2019 年 7 月收购该公司；其网站和产品被下线（主页改为一则告示），团队并入字节跳动 AI Lab，创始人 Ed Newton-Rex 出任总监。", "reasonZh": "字节跳动于 2019 年 7 月对其进行收购式招募，主要看中其 AI 音乐生成技术和人才（以减少抖音/TikTok 对高成本音乐授权的依赖）。独立消费级产品/网站被关停且再未重启，技术和团队被内部吸收；创始人后于 2021 年前后离开。", "categoryZh": "AI 音乐生成（免版税音乐创作）", "regionZh": "英国／全球" }, { "name": "音乐帮 (Music Help (Yinyuebang))", "nameEn": "Music Help (Yinyuebang)", "nameZh": "音乐帮", "aliases": [ "Music Help", "Yinyuebang", "Yin Yue Bang" ], "type": "app", "category": "Music streaming / music community", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2019-10", "dateKilled": "", "status": "dead", "publisher": "Beijing ByteDance (内部研发, no confirmed App Store/Play publisher entity — stayed prototype)", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd." ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "音乐帮 (Music Help) was an early ByteDance domestic music streaming prototype reported by Tech星球 (Tech Planet) in October 2019, ByteDance's first signal of entering China's online music market. The reported prototype carried only 26 songs whose copyrights all belonged to Douyin and used a vertical, mobile-first video format mirroring Douyin/TikTok.", "killedReason": "Appears to have remained an internal prototype that never publicly launched on app stores; ByteDance's domestic music ambitions were later carried forward by separate products (飞乐/Feiyue test in 2021 and ultimately 汽水音乐/Soda Music in 2022), effectively superseding/abandoning 音乐帮.", "link": "https://www.jiemian.com/article/6003282.html", "sources": [ "https://www.jiemian.com/article/6003282.html", "https://www.fortunechina.com/business/c/2019-12/10/content_353555.htm", "http://www.woshipm.com/it/5018277.html", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-04-21/doc-ikmxzfmk8026633.shtml", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20210705A0CJ4O00" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "VERIFIED AS GENUINE NEW BYTEDANCE PRODUCT, with caveats. (1) The candidate's cited source URL (jiemian.com/article/6463176.html) is a MISMATCH — that article does not mention 音乐帮; it discusses Galaxy Ark/Resso/Feiyue/BeatDynamic. The claim nonetheless checks out via other sources I found independently. (2) Multiple independent Chinese outlets (Jiemian, Fortune China, woshipm, sina, qq) consistentl", "descZh": "音乐帮是科技媒体 Tech 星球于 2019 年 10 月报道的字节跳动早期的中国大陆音乐流媒体原型产品，是字节跳动进军中国在线音乐市场的首个信号。据报道，该原型仅有 26 首歌曲，且版权全部归属抖音，并采用了仿照抖音/TikTok 的竖屏、移动优先的视频形式。", "reasonZh": "似乎始终停留在内部原型阶段，从未在应用商店公开上线；字节跳动的中国大陆音乐布局后由其他产品接棒（2021 年的飞乐测试，以及最终 2022 年的汽水音乐），实际上取代并放弃了音乐帮。", "categoryZh": "音乐流媒体／音乐社区", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "银河方舟 (Galaxy Ark)", "nameEn": "Galaxy Ark", "nameZh": "银河方舟", "aliases": [ "Galaxy Ark", "字节音乐发行平台银河方舟" ], "type": "service", "category": "Music distribution / aggregation (B2B for labels & artists)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2021-07", "dateKilled": "", "status": "merged", "publisher": "ByteDance / Douyin music business (字节跳动 / 抖音音乐) — website-only beta, no standalone app or App Store/Play listing", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Douyin Music (抖音音乐)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "银河方舟 (Galaxy Ark) was a ByteDance music agent-distribution/aggregation platform that entered closed website-only beta in July 2021, letting record labels and independent musicians upload songs and videos and distribute them across platforms including QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, KuGou, KuWo, Xiaomi Music, Douyin and TikTok. It used a non-exclusive, fee-based model (no exclusive signings), offered free ISRC/UPC registration, plus revenue and performance analytics, as part of ByteDance's 2021 push to build out its music business in the post-exclusive-licensing era.", "killedReason": "Folded into ByteDance's broader music-distribution and artist-services ecosystem (alongside SoundOn internationally, 汽水音乐/Soda Music as the consumer app, and 炙热星河 as the artist creator-support program); no standalone product survived as a distinct consumer-facing service. Note: the candidate's claim that it was directly \"upgraded into 炙热星河\" is not fully supported — sources describe 银河方舟 (distribution) and 炙热星河 (creator support) as distinct, complementary initiatives, not a straight rename.", "link": "https://www.ithome.com/0/565/093.htm", "sources": [ "https://www.ithome.com/0/565/093.htm", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-07-26/doc-ikqciyzk7644981.shtml", "https://m.163.com/dy/article/GFUGQ0NF0517HP9B.html", "https://www.chinaz.com/2021/0726/1282867.shtml", "https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_17280260" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuinely new, real, ByteDance-owned, and NOT in the already-known list — recommend KEEP. It is the China-facing B2B agent-distribution platform, distinct from SoundOn (international distribution), Resso/TikTok Music (consumer streaming), 汽水音乐 Soda Music (consumer app), and 炙热星河 (artist creator-support program). No false-positive/look-alike risk: attribution to ByteDance is consistent acr", "descZh": "银河方舟是字节跳动推出的一个音乐代理分发／聚合平台，于 2021 年 7 月进入仅限网页的封闭测试，让唱片公司和独立音乐人上传歌曲和视频，并分发至 QQ 音乐、网易云音乐、酷狗、酷我、小米音乐、抖音和 TikTok 等多个平台。它采用非独家、收费的模式（不做独家签约），提供免费的 ISRC/UPC 注册以及营收和表现分析，是字节跳动 2021 年在“后独家版权时代”拓展音乐业务的一部分。", "reasonZh": "被并入字节跳动更广泛的音乐分发与艺人服务生态（与海外 SoundOn、消费端的汽水音乐、艺人扶持计划炙热星河并列），未作为独立消费级服务存活。注：“升级为炙热星河”一说证据不足——二者实为各自独立、互补的项目，而非直接更名。", "categoryZh": "音乐分发／聚合（面向唱片公司与艺人的 B2B）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "BeatDynamic（音乐发行平台） (BeatDynamic)", "nameEn": "BeatDynamic", "nameZh": "BeatDynamic（音乐发行平台）", "aliases": [], "type": "service", "category": "Music distribution / copyright platform (test)", "region": "China / unclear (reported during ByteDance's broader music p", "dateLaunched": "2021-01", "dateKilled": "2021-20", "status": "discontinued", "publisher": "ByteDance (字节跳动) — no App Store/Play listing found; never released as a public consumer product", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "BeatDynamic was a music distribution platform that ByteDance was internally testing around January 2021 to pilot its music copyright/distribution business, as part of building an end-to-end music industry chain (playback, distribution, copyright operations) alongside the contemporaneous \"Feiyue\" (飞乐) test. It was reported by Chinese tech media but never launched as a standalone branded consumer product.", "killedReason": "Appears to have been an early test that never shipped as a public product; ByteDance's music-distribution ambitions were ultimately carried by SoundOn (launched 2022) and Resso, with BeatDynamic disappearing from coverage after the initial 2021 reports.", "link": "https://www.jiemian.com/article/6003282.html", "sources": [ "https://www.jiemian.com/article/6003282.html", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20210810/herald/0afd22d2a00aa9a01b18a053a120784f.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20210705A0CJ4O00", "http://www.woshipm.com/it/5018277.html" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "Verified independently. Confirmed as a ByteDance product by multiple reputable Chinese tech-media sources (Jiemian 界面新闻, 21jingji 21财经, Tencent News/qq.com, woshipm), all repeating \"字节跳动还在测试音乐发行平台'BeatDynamic'，试水音乐版权业务\". Distinct from already-known Resso, SoundOn, Soda Music (汽水音乐), and TikTok Music — reported as a separate early initiative. NOT a false positive (no look-alike non-ByteDance compan", "descZh": "BeatDynamic 是字节跳动在 2021 年 1 月前后内部测试的一个音乐分发平台，用于试水其音乐版权／分发业务，是其搭建音乐产业全链条（播放、分发、版权运营）的一部分，与同期的“飞乐”测试并行推进。它曾被中国科技媒体报道，但从未作为独立品牌的消费级产品上线。", "reasonZh": "似乎只是一个从未推出为公开产品的早期测试；字节跳动的音乐分发布局最终由 SoundOn（2022 年上线）和 Resso 承接，BeatDynamic 在 2021 年的初次报道之后便从公众视野中消失。", "categoryZh": "音乐分发／版权平台（测试）", "regionZh": "中国大陆／不明确（在字节跳动更大规模的音乐布局期间被报道）" }, { "name": "番茄音乐 (Fanqie Music (Tomato Music))", "nameEn": "Fanqie Music (Tomato Music)", "nameZh": "番茄音乐", "aliases": [ "Fanqie Music", "Tomato Music", "番茄畅听音乐版", "Fanqie Changting Music Edition", "番茄音乐（原畅听音乐）" ], "type": "app", "category": "Music streaming (free, ad/coin-supported; lower-tier/sinking", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2022-11", "dateKilled": "2025-11", "status": "rebranded", "publisher": "北京臻鼎科技有限公司 (Beijing Zhending Technology Co., Ltd.) — ByteDance-affiliated entity; package name com.xs.fm.lite", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "北京臻鼎科技有限公司 / Beijing Zhending Technology", "Douyin / Fanqie (番茄) product family" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "ByteDance's free, ad- and coin-supported music streaming app. It launched in November 2022 as 番茄畅听音乐版 (a music module within the Fanqie audio platform) and was upgraded into a standalone app named 番茄音乐 in November 2025. It targets lower-tier \"sinking\" markets and older users (over 40% aged 60+) with classic songs, square-dance music and a TikTok-style swipe feed, distinct from ByteDance's younger/premium-oriented Soda Music (汽水音乐).", "killedReason": "Not shut down — the original 番茄畅听音乐版 brand was retired and upgraded/rebranded into the standalone 番茄音乐 app in November 2025. The app itself remains live as of mid-2026 (v6.5.2.32, updated 2026-06-11).", "link": "https://finance.sina.cn/tech/csj/2022-11-15/detail-imqqsmrp6213678.d.html", "sources": [ "https://finance.sina.cn/tech/csj/2022-11-15/detail-imqqsmrp6213678.d.html", "https://www.21jingji.com/article/20260210/herald/daa80233c02c81785b8712f53c7c1de0.html", "https://36kr.com/p/3671655534896007", "https://sj.qq.com/appdetail/com.xs.fm.lite", "https://www.woshipm.com/it/5679147.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely distinct from the already-known Soda Music (汽水音乐, paid/young) and from the already-known 番茄畅听 audiobook (Fanqie Changting, com.xs.fm, listen-to-books) — this is a music app (com.xs.fm.lite) in the same Fanqie audio lineage. Strongest 'Killed by' angle is the Nov-2025 rebrand from 番茄畅听音乐版 to 番茄音乐. ByteDance separately created the YO CAP (悠咖) music label alongside this product; YO CAP is a", "descZh": "字节跳动推出的一款免费、以广告和金币模式支撑的音乐流媒体应用。它于 2022 年 11 月以“番茄畅听音乐版”（番茄音频平台内的一个音乐模块）形式上线，并在 2025 年 11 月升级为名为“番茄音乐”的独立应用。它面向下沉市场和年长用户（超 40% 为 60 岁以上），主打经典老歌、广场舞音乐和 TikTok 式的滑动信息流，与字节跳动面向更年轻／高端用户的汽水音乐区别开来。", "reasonZh": "并未被关停——原“番茄畅听音乐版”品牌被弃用，并于 2025 年 11 月升级／更名为独立应用“番茄音乐”。截至 2026 年年中该应用仍在运营（v6.5.2.32，更新于 2026 年 6 月 11 日）。", "categoryZh": "音乐流媒体（免费，广告/金币支撑；下沉市场）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "幸福里 (Xingfuli (Happy Home))", "nameEn": "Xingfuli (Happy Home)", "nameZh": "幸福里", "aliases": [ "Xingfuli", "Xingfu Li", "Haoduofang", "好房多", "Happy Home", "头条房产 Toutiao Real Estate channel" ], "type": "service", "category": "Real estate listings & brokerage / transaction platform", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2018", "dateKilled": "2024", "status": "merged", "publisher": "ByteDance (字节跳动) / 北京字节跳动 — real estate information platform incubated by ByteDance", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance / 字节跳动", "Beijing Bytedance Technology", "Toutiao 今日头条 (origin property channel)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "幸福里 (Xingfuli) was ByteDance's real estate listings and transaction platform. It originated from Toutiao's property channel, launched in 2018 as 好房多 (Haoduofang), and was renamed 幸福里 in 2019. It listed new and secondhand homes, aggregated agency inventory (麦田, 我爱我家, etc.), and monetized via portal/lead fees, leveraging Douyin and Toutiao traffic.", "killedReason": "Weak Chinese property market. A 2021 plan to spin off Xingfuli with external capital (Vanke, Country Garden, Sequoia reportedly courted) never closed. In May 2023 ByteDance exited offline brokerage, handing its 小麦房产 offline operation to 麦田 and repositioning Xingfuli as Douyin's online real estate mid-platform. In May 2024 it was folded into Douyin Life Services (抖音生活服务), ending its independent existence.", "link": "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-11-29/doc-ikyamrmy5746396.shtml", "sources": [ "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-11-29/doc-ikyamrmy5746396.shtml", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240513A08S1800", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/6846448.html", "https://www.guancha.cn/economy/2023_05_10_691751.shtml", "https://www.bbtnews.com.cn/2023/0506/474908.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from 懂车帝 Dongchedi (autos) and from 住小帮 (home renovation, which was merged into Douyin Life Services in the same May 2024 restructuring — itself a separate ByteDance product not in the known list, worth checking). \"Happy Home\" is a literal gloss; conventional romanization is Xingfuli. Verified independently via Sina Finance, Tencent News (QQ), Jiemian, Guancha, SCMP, and Yahoo Finance — a", "descZh": "幸福里是字节跳动旗下的房产信息与交易平台。它源自今日头条的房产频道，于 2018 年以“好房多”之名上线，并在 2019 年更名为“幸福里”。它发布新房和二手房信息，聚合中介房源（麦田、我爱我家等），并依托抖音和今日头条的流量，通过门户/导客费用变现。", "reasonZh": "中国房地产市场低迷。2021 年引入外部资本分拆的计划未能落地。2023 年 5 月字节跳动退出线下中介，将小麦房产线下业务移交麦田，把幸福里重新定位为抖音线上房产中台；2024 年 5 月它被并入抖音生活服务，结束独立存在。", "categoryZh": "房产信息与中介／交易平台", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "小麦房产 (Xiaomai Real Estate (Wheat Property))", "nameEn": "Xiaomai Real Estate (Wheat Property)", "nameZh": "小麦房产", "aliases": [ "Xiaomai Real Estate", "Wheat Property", "小麦", "好房有幸 (Haofang Youxing, operating entity)" ], "type": "service", "category": "Offline real-estate brokerage (franchise)", "region": "China (Fuzhou)", "dateLaunched": "2022-05", "dateKilled": "2023-04", "status": "divested", "publisher": "福建/北京好房有幸信息技术有限公司 (Haofang Youxing Information Technology), 100% owned by 抖音集团（香港）/字节跳动（香港）有限公司 (Douyin Group HK / ByteDance HK)", "developerEntities": [ "北京好房有幸信息技术有限公司 (Beijing Haofang Youxing)", "福建好房有幸信息技术有限公司 (Fujian Haofang Youxing)", "幸福里 (Xingfuli)", "字节跳动/抖音集团（香港）有限公司 (ByteDance/Douyin Group HK)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "小麦房产 (Xiaomai/Wheat Property) was ByteDance's offline real-estate brokerage brand, run under its 幸福里 (Xingfuli) property platform and operated by the wholly-owned subsidiary 好房有幸 (Haofang Youxing). Using a franchise model targeting small-to-mid brokerages, it grew to roughly 200 stores in Fuzhou within a year, as ByteDance tested combining online Douyin/Toutiao real-estate traffic with offline transactions.", "killedReason": "In April–May 2023 ByteDance exited offline brokerage to \"focus on its main business\": the entire offline operating entity (Haofang Youxing) was transferred to broker 麦田 (Maitian Group), with ByteDance's wholly-owned shareholder replaced by Maitian's subsidiary. Xingfuli repositioned as an online-only Douyin real-estate platform.", "link": "https://www.guancha.cn/economy/2023_05_10_691751.shtml", "sources": [ "https://www.guancha.cn/economy/2023_05_10_691751.shtml", "https://www.bbtnews.com.cn/2023/0506/474908.shtml", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/10049748.html", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/internet/2022-09-21/doc-imqmmtha8128686.shtml", "https://news.stcn.com/sd/202209/t20220921_4871087.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Confirmed ByteDance-owned via corporate registry: operating entity 好房有幸 was 100% held by 抖音集团/字节跳动（香港）有限公司, legal rep a ByteDance executive. Distinct from the broader 幸福里 (Xingfuli) brand. Genuine divestiture, not a shutdown. Note: 幸福里/Xingfuli itself is NOT in the already-known list either, so it may be a separate missing candidate.", "descZh": "小麦房产是字节跳动旗下的线下房产中介品牌，隶属于其幸福里房产平台，由全资子公司好房有幸运营。它采用面向中小中介的加盟模式，一年内在福州发展到约 200 家门店，是字节跳动试水将抖音/今日头条的线上房产流量与线下交易相结合的尝试。", "reasonZh": "2023 年 4 至 5 月，字节跳动为“聚焦主业”退出线下中介业务：整个线下运营主体（好房有幸）被转让给中介公司麦田集团，字节跳动作为全资股东被麦田旗下子公司取代。幸福里随之重新定位为纯线上的抖音房产平台。", "categoryZh": "线下房产中介（加盟）", "regionZh": "中国大陆（福州）" }, { "name": "住小帮 (Zhu Xiaobang)", "nameEn": "Zhu Xiaobang", "nameZh": "住小帮", "aliases": [ "Zhuxiaobang", "Zhu Xiao Bang", "生活始末 (former name)" ], "type": "app", "category": "Home decoration / interior-design content & services communi", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2018-09", "dateKilled": "2024-05-13", "status": "merged", "publisher": "北京微字节网络科技有限公司 (Beijing Weizijie Network Technology Co., Ltd.) — ByteDance-controlled entity, Zhang Yiming ultimate beneficiary ~98.81%; business also tied to 北京有竹居网络技术有限公司, a wholly-owned Douyin Group", "developerEntities": [ "北京微字节网络科技有限公司 (Beijing Weizijie Network Technology)", "字节跳动 / 抖音集团 (ByteDance / Douyin Group)", "北京有竹居网络技术有限公司 (Beijing Youzhuju Network Technology)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "住小帮 (Zhu Xiaobang) was ByteDance's one-stop home-decoration and interior-furnishing content-and-services platform, launched September 2018 (originally named 生活始末). It hosted renovation case galleries, budgeting tools, designers, decoration companies and home-improvement creators, leveraging traffic from Douyin and Toutiao, and in September 2023 was elevated to ByteDance/Douyin Group's official home-decoration business platform.", "killedReason": "On 13 May 2024 ByteDance restructured its real-estate (幸福里 Xingfuli) and home-decoration (住小帮) businesses, merging them from standalone first-level departments into Douyin Local Life Services (抖音本地生活服务) as an industry vertical; the head, Zhu Shiyu, was reassigned to e-commerce. This followed the Feb 2024 suspension of the self-operated 住好家 decoration sub-brand and a broader pivot away from heavy self-operated home services toward a lighter local-life/CPS model.", "link": "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/roll/2023-09-25/doc-imznxkme8949725.shtml", "sources": [ "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/roll/2023-09-25/doc-imznxkme8949725.shtml", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240513A09PNF00", "https://finance.sina.cn/2024-05-13/detail-inavayke2110309.d.html", "https://36kr.com/p/2775187637634177", "https://www.guancha.cn/ChanJing/2021_10_22_611875.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from sibling brand 住好家 (Zhuhaojia), a self-operated decoration service spun out of 住小帮 that stopped taking new orders in Feb 2024 (package com.bytedance.android.homed.decoration) — also not on the known list. Candidate's note attributing it to 'Ocean Engine' is imprecise: it sat under the standalone real-estate/home-decoration first-level department alongside 幸福里, not Ocean Engine. App br", "descZh": "住小帮是字节跳动旗下的一站式家装与家居内容及服务平台，于 2018 年 9 月上线（原名“生活始末”）。它汇集装修案例图库、预算工具、设计师、装修公司和家居创作者，依托抖音和今日头条的流量，并在 2023 年 9 月被升格为字节跳动／抖音集团官方的家装业务平台。", "reasonZh": "2024 年 5 月 13 日，字节跳动重组房产（幸福里）和家装（住小帮）业务，将其从独立一级部门合并进抖音本地生活服务，作为行业垂类，负责人朱时雨调往电商。此前自营装修子品牌“住好家”已于 2024 年 2 月暂停，整体转向更轻的本地生活/CPS 模式。", "categoryZh": "家装／室内设计内容与服务社区", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "住好家 (Zhuhaojia)", "nameEn": "Zhuhaojia", "nameZh": "住好家", "aliases": [ "Zhuhaojia", "Zhu Hao Jia" ], "type": "service", "category": "Home renovation / interior decoration (self-operated)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2022-12", "dateKilled": "2024-02", "status": "dead", "publisher": "ByteDance / Douyin home-renovation business (字节跳动 / 抖音家装业务平台)", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "抖音 (Douyin)", "住小帮 (Zhuxiaobang) home-renovation platform" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "住好家 (Zhuhaojia) was ByteDance/Douyin's self-operated (自营) one-stop home-renovation service, offering whole-house design, standardized construction, and after-sales guarantees both online (within the 住小帮 app) and via an offline store in Beijing's Chaoyang district. Spun out of ByteDance's home-renovation platform 住小帮 (Zhuxiaobang) as an independent app in December 2022, it ceased new-order signing in February 2024 and pivoted away from the self-operated model.", "killedReason": "In February 2024 ByteDance halted new order signings for the self-operated renovation business and began refunding unexecuted contracts, pivoting from doing renovations itself to a lighter \"renovation service guarantee\" model. Reflects the broader retreat of ByteDance (and Alibaba/JD/Baidu) from capital-intensive, low-margin self-operated home-renovation; ByteDance also faced conflict-of-interest concerns acting as both platform and self-operating merchant (\"裁判和运动员兼任\"). Officially framed as a \"normal business direction adjustment,\" affecting a small number of staff prioritized for internal transfer.", "link": "https://www.jiemian.com/article/10825090.html", "sources": [ "https://www.jiemian.com/article/10825090.html", "https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/1125975.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240222A039Y400", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240222A03QO400", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2024-02-22/doc-inaiwsyh9467749.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuine, newly-found ByteDance product — KEEP. Confirmed by three+ independent primary sources (Jiemian/界面新闻, STCN/证券时报, Tencent/Sina) plus ByteDance's own official response. NOT in the already-known list. NOTE: Its parent platform 住小帮 (Zhuxiaobang), ByteDance's broader home-renovation/interior-design content+marketplace app, is ALSO not in the known list and is itself a strong separate c", "descZh": "住好家是字节跳动／抖音旗下的自营一站式家装服务，提供全屋设计、标准化施工和售后保障，既可线上（在住小帮应用内）也可通过位于北京朝阳区的线下门店办理。它于 2022 年 12 月从字节跳动家装平台住小帮中分拆为独立应用，2024 年 2 月停止签订新订单，并转型放弃自营模式。", "reasonZh": "2024 年 2 月字节跳动停止自营装修新订单签约并退还未执行合同款，从亲自做装修转向更轻的“装修服务保障”模式。这反映了从重资本、低利润自营家装的整体撤退，也涉及既当平台又当自营商家的利益冲突质疑（“裁判和运动员兼任”）。", "categoryZh": "家装／室内装修（自营）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "海豚股票 (Dolphin Stock)", "nameEn": "Dolphin Stock", "nameZh": "海豚股票", "aliases": [ "Dolphin Stock", "钠镁股票", "Namei Stock / Sodium-Magnesium Stock", "纳镁股票 (common misspelling)", "海豚 (current app store name)", "文星在线 Wenxing Online (operator)" ], "type": "app", "category": "Securities / stock-market data & paper-trading app", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2017", "dateKilled": "2022-02", "status": "divested", "publisher": "Beijing Wenxing Online Technology Co., Ltd. (北京文星在线科技有限公司), 100% held by Jiangsu Toutiao / ByteDance; package com.ss.android.caijing.stock. After divestiture the app store developer is Hualin Securiti", "developerEntities": [ "北京文星在线科技有限公司 (Beijing Wenxing Online Technology)", "江苏今日头条 (Jiangsu Toutiao, ByteDance)", "字节跳动 ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "ByteDance's first finance product: a stock-market quote, data-analysis and (paper-trading) app launched in 2017 as 钠镁股票 and renamed 海豚股票 (Dolphin Stock) in 2019, operated by ByteDance subsidiary 文星在线. It applied ByteDance's recommendation/ML tech to securities information. In February 2022 ByteDance sold the operator 文星在线 (100% equity) to Hualin Securities (华林证券) for RMB 20 million and shut the app down as it fully exited the securities business amid tightening Chinese fintech regulation; the unit had ~134k DAU and was loss-making.", "killedReason": "ByteDance fully exited the securities business amid tightening Chinese regulation of internet giants' financial operations; the unit was small and loss-making (2021 revenue ~RMB28.5M, net loss ~RMB1.64M, ~134k DAU). Operator 文星在线 sold to 华林证券 for RMB20M (Feb 2022), after which ByteDance discontinued the app.", "link": "http://m.ce.cn/gp/gd/202202/22/t20220222_37346127.shtml", "sources": [ "http://m.ce.cn/gp/gd/202202/22/t20220222_37346127.shtml", "https://www.pingwest.com/a/259100", "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2022-02-22/bytedance-looks-to-exit-securities-business-as-fintech-rules-tighten-101845498.html", "https://news.cnstock.com/news,bwkx-202202-4830665.htm", "https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/527741.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED REAL & GENUINELY BYTEDANCE — recommend INCLUDE. Operator 文星在线 was 100% held by 江苏今日头条 (a ByteDance entity); app package com.ss.android.caijing.stock uses ByteDance's com.ss.android namespace; widely reported as ByteDance's first finance product. CORRECTIONS to candidate note: (1) launch year is 2017 (as 钠镁股票), NOT ~2015 — all sources agree on 2017. (2) Buyer name is 华林证券 / romanized vario", "descZh": "字节跳动的首款金融产品：一款股市行情、数据分析及（模拟交易）应用，2017 年以“钠镁股票”之名上线，2019 年更名为“海豚股票”，由字节跳动子公司文星在线运营。它将字节跳动的推荐／机器学习技术应用于证券资讯。2022 年 2 月，字节跳动以 2000 万元人民币将运营方文星在线（100% 股权）出售给华林证券，并在中国金融监管收紧之际全面退出证券业务、关停该应用；该业务约有 13.4 万日活且处于亏损状态。", "reasonZh": "在中国对互联网巨头金融业务监管收紧之际，字节跳动全面退出证券业务；该业务规模小且亏损（2021 年营收约 2850 万元、净亏损约 164 万元、约 13.4 万日活）。运营方文星在线于 2022 年 2 月以 2000 万元出售给华林证券，之后字节跳动停掉了该应用。", "categoryZh": "证券／股市数据与模拟交易应用", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "海豚财富 (Dolphin Wealth)", "nameEn": "Dolphin Wealth", "nameZh": "海豚财富", "aliases": [ "Dolphin Wealth", "Haitun Caifu" ], "type": "app", "category": "Finance / financial-information platform", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2017", "dateKilled": "2021-20", "status": "dead", "publisher": "北京文星在线科技有限公司 (Beijing Wenxing Online Technology Co., Ltd.) — ByteDance's finance operating entity", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "北京文星在线科技有限公司 / Beijing Wenxing Online Technology" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "海豚财富 (Dolphin Wealth) was a financial-information / wealth platform in ByteDance's \"Dolphin\" (海豚) finance product line — the prefix personally chosen by founder Zhang Yiming — alongside the mock-trading app 海豚股票 (Dolphin Stock). It was wound down during ByteDance's 2021–2022 withdrawal from financial/securities operations.", "killedReason": "Wound down as part of ByteDance's broader 2021–2022 retreat from financial/securities businesses. The sibling product 海豚股票 (Dolphin Stock) and operating entity 文星在线 were sold to Hualing Securities (华林证券) for ~20M RMB in Feb 2022; the Dolphin finance line as a whole was shut down/divested as ByteDance stated it would no longer pursue securities business.", "link": "https://www.pingwest.com/a/259100", "sources": [ "https://www.pingwest.com/a/259100", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7133025.html", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/938917", "https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/527434.html" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "CONFIRMED REAL and ByteDance-owned, but candidate's note slightly inverted the roles: per PingWest and Jiemian, 海豚财富 is the financial-INFORMATION platform, while 海豚股票 (Dolphin Stock, a SEPARATE app) is the mock-trading product that was actually sold to Hualing Securities. 海豚股票 (originally 钠镁股票/Sodium Magnesium Stock, registered 2017, renamed 海豚股票 in 2019) and 海豚财富 are TWO distinct products — both ", "descZh": "海豚财富是字节跳动“海豚”金融产品线中的一个金融资讯／财富平台——“海豚”这一前缀由创始人张一鸣亲自选定——与模拟交易应用海豚股票并列。它在字节跳动 2021—2022 年退出金融／证券业务期间被关停。", "reasonZh": "作为字节跳动 2021—2022 年从金融／证券业务整体撤退的一部分而被关停。同门产品海豚股票及运营主体文星在线于 2022 年 2 月以约 2000 万元出售给华林证券；随着字节跳动表示不再涉足证券业务，整条海豚金融产品线被关停／剥离。", "categoryZh": "金融／财经资讯平台", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "松鼠证券 (Squirrel Securities)", "nameEn": "Squirrel Securities", "nameZh": "松鼠证券", "aliases": [ "Squirrel Securities", "Songshu Zhengquan", "Squirrel Securities International Company Limited", "松鼠证券国际" ], "type": "service", "category": "Securities/online brokerage (Hong Kong, HK/US stock trading)", "region": "Hong Kong (overseas HK/US equities)", "dateLaunched": "2019", "dateKilled": "2022", "status": "divested", "publisher": "Squirrel Securities International Company Limited (松鼠证券国际有限公司), a ByteDance HK entity", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Squirrel Securities International Company Limited (松鼠证券国际有限公司)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Squirrel Securities was ByteDance's Hong Kong online securities brokerage, registered around late 2019/2020, which obtained HK SFC Type 1, 4, 5, 6 and 9 licenses to offer securities and futures trading, investment/futures advice, institutional financing advice and asset management for overseas (HK/US) stocks. It formed ByteDance's overseas securities arm alongside the separately-built Stellar/Hengxing Securities (恒星证券) and the domestic Dolphin Stock (海豚股票) quote app.", "killedReason": "ByteDance retreated from its broader fintech ambitions amid tightened Chinese/HK regulatory scrutiny of unlicensed cross-border internet brokerage and low engagement (Squirrel reportedly ~200k DAU). In Feb 2022 ByteDance announced it would completely divest the securities business and not pursue it in future; Dolphin Stock was sold to Huaxin Securities (华林证券) while Squirrel Securities and Stellar Securities were sold to/contacted by potential buyers or wound down (Stellar's app shut June 28, 2022).", "link": "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7164025.html", "sources": [ "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7164025.html", "https://finance.eastmoney.com/a2/202008131592870325.html", "https://finance.sina.cn/stock/qs/2020-08-13/detail-iivhuipn8438161.d.html", "https://m.jiemian.com/article/6552259.html", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20210904/herald/2c7095df1f99ab4dc5a7101697cbcd5c.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED REAL & ByteDance-owned, NOT already-known — should be ADDED. Squirrel Securities (松鼠证券) is ByteDance's HK securities brokerage entity, distinct from: (a) 海豚股票 Dolphin Stock — the domestic quote-software entity (Beijing Wenxing Online Tech) sold to Huaxin/华林证券 Feb 21, 2022; and (b) 恒星证券 Stellar/Hengxing Securities — a separate HK broker ByteDance built in early 2021 from acquired Asia-Paci", "descZh": "松鼠证券是字节跳动旗下的香港在线证券经纪商，约于 2019 年底/2020 年注册，取得香港证监会第 1、4、5、6、9 类牌照，可提供证券和期货交易、投资/期货咨询、机构融资咨询及资产管理服务，面向海外（港股/美股）股票。它与另行搭建的恒星证券以及中国大陆的海豚股票行情应用一起，构成了字节跳动的海外证券版块。", "reasonZh": "在跨境互联网券商监管收紧、参与度低迷（据报道约 20 万日活）之际，字节跳动从金融科技布局中撤退。2022 年 2 月宣布彻底剥离证券业务、不再涉足；海豚股票售予华林证券，松鼠证券与恒星证券则被出售或关停。", "categoryZh": "证券／在线券商（香港，港股/美股交易）", "regionZh": "香港（海外港股/美股）" }, { "name": "恒星证券 (Stellar Securities)", "nameEn": "Stellar Securities", "nameZh": "恒星证券", "aliases": [ "恒星证券", "Stellar Securities", "亚洲太平证券有限公司", "Asia Pacific Securities Limited", "亚太证券 (HK)" ], "type": "service", "category": "Financial services / securities brokerage (Hong Kong)", "region": "Hong Kong", "dateLaunched": "2021-03-05", "dateKilled": "2022", "status": "divested", "publisher": "ByteDance (字节跳动) — acquired Asia Pacific Securities Limited 亚洲太平证券有限公司, an SFC-licensed Hong Kong brokerage", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Asia Pacific Securities Limited (亚洲太平证券有限公司)", "恒星证券" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "恒星证券 (Stellar Securities) was a Hong Kong securities brokerage that ByteDance acquired in January 2021 by buying the established local broker 亚洲太平证券有限公司 (Asia Pacific Securities Limited, founded 1996) and renaming it on 5 March 2021. It was part of ByteDance's broader fintech/securities push (alongside the 海豚股票 Dolphin stock app and 松鼠证券 Squirrel Securities), but remained an internal-test entity that was never formally opened to the public market.", "killedReason": "ByteDance announced a full exit from the securities business in February 2022 amid Beijing's tech/fintech crackdown, falling Hong Kong tech valuations, and regulatory scrutiny of cross-border internet brokerages operating \"unlicensed\" within mainland China. It sold the Dolphin stock app and 文星在线 to ChinaLin Securities (华林证券, ~RMB 20M) and divested or internally wound down its other securities entities, including Stellar Securities, which was ultimately shut down.", "link": "https://www.zhitongcaijing.com/content/detail/481112.html", "sources": [ "https://www.zhitongcaijing.com/content/detail/481112.html", "https://cn.technode.com/post/2021-09-06/bytedance-sell-securities/", "https://www.cbdio.com/BigData/2022-02/22/content_6167837.htm", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/quanshang/qsyj/2022-02-21/doc-imcwiwss2147167.shtml", "https://finance.caixin.com/m/2022-02-21/101844968.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuine and well-corroborated by multiple independent outlets; not on the known list, which contains no ByteDance securities entities. Caveat on aliases: the acquired entity is the HK broker 亚洲太平证券有限公司 (Asia Pacific Securities Ltd) — NOT to be confused with the unrelated mainland brokerage 亚太(湘财)证券股份有限公司. Closely related sibling entities also worth adding separately if desired: 海豚股票 (Dolphin Stock", "descZh": "恒星证券是字节跳动于 2021 年 1 月通过收购成立已久的本地券商亚洲太平证券有限公司（Asia Pacific Securities Limited，1996 年成立）、并在 2021 年 3 月 5 日将其更名而来的一家香港券商。它是字节跳动更广泛的金融科技/证券布局的一部分（与海豚股票应用和松鼠证券并列），但始终是一个内部测试主体，从未正式向公开市场开放。", "reasonZh": "在科技/金融科技整顿、香港科技股估值下跌及跨境互联网券商在中国大陆“无牌”经营受监管审查之际，字节跳动于 2022 年 2 月宣布全面退出证券业务，将海豚股票及文星在线售予华林证券，并剥离或内部关停其他证券主体，恒星证券最终被关停。", "categoryZh": "金融服务／证券经纪（香港）", "regionZh": "香港" }, { "name": "放心借 (Fangxinjie)", "nameEn": "Fangxinjie", "nameZh": "放心借", "aliases": [ "Fangxin Loan", "Fangxinjie", "放心借", "抖音放心借" ], "type": "service", "category": "Consumer lending / fintech", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2018-07", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "深圳智领星辰科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Zhiling Xingchen Technology, ByteDance subsidiary); lending capital via 深圳市中融小额贷款 (Shenzhen Zhongrong Microloan)", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "抖音有限公司 (Douyin Co.)", "深圳智领星辰科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Zhiling Xingchen Technology)", "深圳市中融小额贷款 (Shenzhen Zhongrong Microloan)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "放心借 (Fangxinjie) is ByteDance's flagship consumer-credit product, launched in July 2018 inside the Toutiao app and later embedded in the Douyin wallet. It offers personal cash loans up to RMB 200,000 at a daily rate around 0.03%, operated by ByteDance subsidiary Shenzhen Zhiling Xingchen Technology with lending capital from ByteDance-controlled Shenzhen Zhongrong Microloan (network microloan license acquired July 2020) and partner banks/consumer-finance firms.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://www.jiemian.com/article/5411952.html", "sources": [ "https://www.jiemian.com/article/5411952.html", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/8304129.html", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7400428.html", "https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/713073.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240115A05G9X00" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely new vs the known list. Distinct from 抖音支付/Douyin Pay (payments) and Dou Fenqi/抖音月付 (BNPL installments) — 放心借 is the cash-loan product. Confirmed ALIVE as of 2024 and a core, fast-growing ByteDance fintech line (combined 放心借 + 抖音月付 loan balance reportedly heading toward RMB 330bn-500bn); no rebrand or shutdown found. Operating entity Zhiling Xingchen acquired by ByteDance spring 2022, ult", "descZh": "放心借是字节跳动的旗舰消费信贷产品，2018年7月在今日头条App内推出，后又接入抖音钱包。它提供最高20万元人民币的个人现金贷款，日利率约0.03%，由字节跳动子公司深圳市智灵星辰科技运营，放贷资金来自字节跳动控股的深圳中融小额贷款（2020年7月取得网络小贷牌照）以及合作银行和消费金融公司。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "消费信贷 / 金融科技", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "抖音月付 (Douyin Monthly Pay)", "nameEn": "Douyin Monthly Pay", "nameZh": "抖音月付", "aliases": [ "DOU分期", "DOU Fenqi", "Dou Installment", "放心花", "Fangxin Hua", "抖分期" ], "type": "service", "category": "Consumer credit / BNPL (installment financing)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2020-11", "dateKilled": "", "status": "rebranded", "publisher": "深圳市中融小额贷款股份有限公司 (Shenzhen Zhongrong Microloan Co., Ltd.) as credit provider, a ByteDance subsidiary acquired Oct 2021; product surfaced inside the Douyin (抖音) app; payment routing via Hezhong Yibao (合", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "深圳市中融小额贷款股份有限公司 (Shenzhen Zhongrong Microloan)", "深圳市今日头条科技有限公司" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "抖音月付 is ByteDance's \"Huabei\"-style buy-now-pay-later consumer credit product embedded in the Douyin app, offering an interest-free grace period and 3/6/12-month installments for in-app and Douyin e-commerce purchases. It launched in late 2020 as 放心花 (initially only for buying the DOU+ promotion tool), was relaunched as DOU分期 in Dec 2020/Jan 2021, and was renamed 抖音月付 on July 22, 2022; credit is funded by ByteDance-controlled Shenzhen Zhongrong Microloan.", "killedReason": "Not discontinued — rebranded. The original brand names 放心花 and DOU分期 were retired/renamed into 抖音月付 (Douyin Monthly Pay) in July 2022 as ByteDance consolidated its consumer-finance branding after acquiring the Zhongrong microloan license. The underlying product remains live.", "link": "https://m.mpaypass.com.cn/news/202102/26181602.html", "sources": [ "https://m.mpaypass.com.cn/news/202102/26181602.html", "https://www.cebnet.com.cn/20210301/102732441.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230518A07I3A00", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20220819A02TFB00", "https://m.jiemian.com/article/5540987.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from already-known 抖音支付/Douyin Pay (this is a credit/BNPL product, not the payment rail). Also distinct from sibling product 放心借/Fangxin Borrow (a Jiebei-style cash loan also under Zhongrong Microloan — itself NOT in the known list and worth flagging as a separate candidate). Verified independently from multiple Chinese financial-news sources (Jiemian, Tencent/QQ News, mpaypass, cebnet, L", "descZh": "抖音月付是字节跳动嵌入抖音App的“花呗”式先享后付消费信贷产品，提供免息期及3/6/12期分期，可用于App内消费及抖音电商购物。它于2020年底以“放心花”之名推出（最初仅用于购买DOU+推广工具），2020年12月/2021年1月重新上线为“DOU分期”，并于2022年7月22日更名为抖音月付；授信资金由字节跳动控股的深圳中融小额贷款提供。", "reasonZh": "并非停运，而是品牌重塑。在收购中融小贷牌照、整合消费金融品牌后，字节跳动于2022年7月将原品牌“放心花”和“DOU分期”更名整合为“抖音月付”，底层产品仍在运营。", "categoryZh": "消费信贷 / 先享后付（分期）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "备用金 (Beiyong Jin (Petty Cash / Backup Fund))", "nameEn": "Beiyong Jin (Petty Cash / Backup Fund)", "nameZh": "备用金", "aliases": [ "Beiyong Jin", "Petty Cash", "Backup Fund", "Emergency cash", "今日头条备用金", "Toutiao Beiyongjin" ], "type": "service", "category": "Consumer fintech / short-term cash micro-loan", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2020-07-24", "dateKilled": "", "status": "discontinued", "publisher": "深圳市中融小额贷款股份有限公司 (Shenzhen Zhongrong Microloan Co., Ltd.) — ByteDance-controlled licensed online microloan entity; product surfaced on the 今日头条 (Toutiao) app", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "深圳市中融小额贷款股份有限公司 (Shenzhen Zhongrong Microloan Co., Ltd.)", "今日头条 (Toutiao)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "备用金 (Beiyong Jin, \"petty cash\"/\"backup fund\") was a small short-term emergency cash-loan product launched by ByteDance on its Toutiao (今日头条) app on 24 July 2020. It offered revolving loans of roughly 500–2,000 yuan with a 7-day repayment term (first use interest-free; ~0.056% daily / ~20.44% annualized thereafter), initially as a referral/loan-facilitation service that later converted to self-operated cash lending underwritten by ByteDance's licensed Shenzhen Zhongrong Microloan.", "killedReason": "No explicit shutdown announcement found. The standalone 备用金 brand appears to have faded as ByteDance consolidated its consumer-lending under the licensed entity Shenzhen Zhongrong Microloan, with the surviving consumer-facing brands being 放心借 (Fangxin Jie) and 抖音月付/DOU分期 (Douyin Monthly Pay). Status marked uncertain rather than confirmed-dead.", "link": "https://cn.technode.com/post/2020-07-24/bytedance-toutiao-petty-cash/", "sources": [ "https://cn.technode.com/post/2020-07-24/bytedance-toutiao-petty-cash/", "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_8417524", "https://news.pedaily.cn/202007/457744.shtml", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20201217/herald/b1f8473011ac2c6b5fc45d19ddf843eb.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20241120A02QTO00" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: KEEP as a new candidate. Genuine ByteDance fintech product, underwritten by ByteDance-controlled Shenzhen Zhongrong Microloan; distinct from already-known 抖音支付/Douyin Pay and the generic Toutiao entry, and distinct from sibling lending products 放心借 (Fangxin Jie), 放心花 (Fangxin Hua), 抖音月付/DOU分期 (Douyin Monthly Pay), and 满分 (Manfen — a separate ByteDance cash-loan app launched Nov 2019, itse", "descZh": "备用金是字节跳动于2020年7月24日在今日头条App上推出的小额短期应急现金贷产品。它提供约500至2000元的循环贷款，还款期为7天（首次使用免息，之后日利率约0.056%/年化约20.44%），最初为引流/助贷服务，后转为由字节跳动持牌主体深圳中融小贷承做的自营现金贷。", "reasonZh": "未见明确关停公告。随着字节跳动将消费信贷业务整合至持牌主体深圳中融小贷，“备用金”这一独立品牌逐渐淡出，留存的面向消费者品牌为放心借和抖音月付/DOU分期，故状态标记为不确定而非确认关停。", "categoryZh": "消费金融 / 短期现金小额贷", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "满分 (Manfen)", "nameEn": "Manfen", "nameZh": "满分", "aliases": [ "Manfen", "满分App", "满分借款" ], "type": "app", "category": "Fintech / consumer lending (cash installment, consumer credi", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2019-10-10", "dateKilled": "2020-20", "status": "dead", "publisher": "北京未来视界科技有限公司 (Beijing Future Vision Technology Co., Ltd.) — legal rep 梁汝波/梁如波 (Liang Rubo, ByteDance co-founder/current CEO); ultimate beneficiary reported as 张一鸣 (Zhang Yiming, ByteDance founder)", "developerEntities": [ "北京未来视界科技有限公司 (Beijing Future Vision Technology Co., Ltd.)", "字节跳动 (ByteDance)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "满分 (Manfen) was a standalone Android consumer-finance app quietly launched by ByteDance on 10 October 2019, offering cash installment loans (up to ~200,000 yuan), consumer credit/installments, and bank co-branded credit cards. It served as the dedicated app front-end for ByteDance/Toutiao's \"放心借\" (Fangxinjie) lending platform — Manfen itself was a loan-facilitation/导流 platform connecting users to licensed banks (e.g. 新网银行 XW Bank, 华夏银行 Huaxia Bank) rather than a direct lender.", "killedReason": "The standalone Manfen app never gained traction (Android-only, iOS never shipped); ByteDance consolidated its consumer-lending business into the in-app 放心借 (Fangxinjie) and 抖音月付 products inside Douyin/Toutiao under separate operating entities, leaving the standalone Manfen app effectively abandoned and unsearchable on Android stores.", "link": "https://www.51credit.com/info/youliaoxianbao/14466.html", "sources": [ "https://www.51credit.com/info/youliaoxianbao/14466.html", "https://m.51credit.com/mp/info/youliaoxianbao/14466.html", "https://www.cebnet.com.cn/20191108/102614718.html", "https://www.guancha.cn/ChanJing/2019_11_07_524398.shtml", "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/95670057" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED as genuinely ByteDance and NOT already known. ByteDance ownership is firmly established: developer 北京未来视界科技有限公司 has ByteDance co-founder 梁汝波 (Liang Rubo, now CEO) as legal representative and 张一鸣 (Zhang Yiming) as reported ultimate beneficiary; four independent reputable outlets (我爱卡/51credit, 中国电子银行网/cebnet, 界面/jiemian, 观察者网/guancha) all attribute 满分 to ByteDance. NOT in known list and no", "descZh": "满分是字节跳动于2019年10月10日低调推出的一款独立安卓消费金融App，提供现金分期贷款（最高约20万元）、消费信贷/分期以及银行联名信用卡。它充当字节跳动/今日头条“放心借”借贷平台的专属App前端——满分本身是助贷/导流平台，将用户对接到持牌银行（如新网银行、华夏银行），而非直接放贷方。", "reasonZh": "独立的满分App始终未能打开局面（仅有安卓版，iOS从未上线）；字节跳动将消费信贷业务整合进抖音/今日头条内、由不同运营主体承做的放心借和抖音月付产品，致使独立的满分App实际被弃用，在安卓应用商店也搜索不到。", "categoryZh": "金融科技 / 消费信贷（现金分期、消费信贷）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "摸摸鱼 (Momoyu)", "nameEn": "Momoyu", "nameZh": "摸摸鱼", "aliases": [ "Momoyu", "Momo Fish", "MomoFish", "摸摸鱼游戏平台" ], "type": "app", "category": "Instant-play / casual mini-game platform (game box)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2021-04", "dateKilled": "2024-03-29", "status": "dead", "publisher": "ByteDance (字节跳动) — Android package com.moyu.wfy; carried Douyin-account login and hosted Ohayoo casual games", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "北京字节跳动", "Ohayoo (字节跳动休闲游戏发行平台, supplied much of the game catalog)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "摸摸鱼 (Momoyu) was ByteDance's casual / instant-play mini-game platform (\"game box\") launched in April 2021. Users played lightweight casual games and earned a virtual reward token called 小鱼币 (Xiaoyu coins / \"little fish coins\") by completing tasks (browsing/launching/rating games, joining player groups), which could be redeemed for ad-free passes and physical prizes such as blind boxes and gacha toys; the app hit ~9M MAU within three months of launch and monetized mainly via in-game advertising, with a (later-abandoned) game-streamer/livestream sponsorship program.", "killedReason": "Shut down March 29, 2024 (less than three years after launch) as part of ByteDance's broad retreat from gaming (layoffs/wind-down at Ohayoo and Nuverse/朝夕光年). Casual-game competition was fierce and monetization difficult; its streamer livestream-sponsorship program had effectively stalled by 2022. On shutdown the 小鱼币 redemption shop closed and unredeemed virtual assets were forfeited with no compensation.", "link": "https://m.jiemian.com/article/10748991.html", "sources": [ "https://m.jiemian.com/article/10748991.html", "http://www.gamelook.com.cn/2021/04/437106/", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240130A05LK700", "https://36kr.com/p/2627070593794311", "https://www.donews.com/news/detail/8/3983331.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: CONFIRMED genuine, new, ByteDance-owned, and dead. Multiple independent reputable outlets (Jiemian, Tencent News, 36Kr, DoNews, Sohu, NetEase, GameLook) explicitly describe it as \"字节跳动旗下小游戏平台\" (ByteDance's mini-game platform); it ran Douyin-account login and hosted ByteDance Ohayoo casual games. NOT in the ALREADY-KNOWN list and not an alias of any known product. CAUTION on look-alikes: u", "descZh": "摸摸鱼是字节跳动于2021年4月推出的休闲/即点即玩小游戏平台（“游戏盒子”）。用户玩轻量休闲游戏，并通过完成任务（浏览/启动/评价游戏、加入玩家群）赚取名为“小鱼币”的虚拟奖励代币，可兑换免广告权益及盲盒、扭蛋玩具等实物奖品；上线三个月内月活跃用户达约900万，主要靠游戏内广告变现，并曾有一个（后被放弃的）游戏主播/直播赞助计划。", "reasonZh": "2024年3月29日关停（上线不足三年），系字节跳动全面收缩游戏业务（Ohayoo及朝夕光年裁员/收尾）的一部分。休闲游戏竞争激烈、变现困难；其主播直播赞助计划到2022年已基本停滞。关停时小鱼币兑换商城关闭，未兑换的虚拟资产被作废且无补偿。", "categoryZh": "即点即玩 / 休闲小游戏平台（游戏盒子）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "灵选 (Lingxuan)", "nameEn": "Lingxuan", "nameZh": "灵选", "aliases": [ "Lingxuan", "灵选游戏社区", "灵选 game store" ], "type": "app", "category": "Gaming community / game distribution (TapTap-style game stor", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2022-01", "dateKilled": "2022-20", "status": "dead", "publisher": "里游互娱 (Riyou Huyu) under ByteDance's 巨量引擎 / Juliang Engine (Ocean Engine)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "巨量引擎 / Juliang Engine (Ocean Engine)", "里游互娱 (Riyou Huyu / Biliyou Interactive Entertainment)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "灵选 (Lingxuan) was a ByteDance TapTap/WeGame-style mobile game community and distribution app, launched in a closed test on Douyin in late January 2022 with the slogan \"灵机一动，选到好游戏.\" It combined game discovery, reservations, downloads, rankings and user reviews, aiming to become a distribution channel for mid-to-hardcore games — a step beyond ByteDance's earlier casual-game platform 摸摸鱼 (Momoyu).", "killedReason": "Never advanced past closed testing to a full public launch; quietly abandoned as ByteDance retreated from gaming and game distribution, culminating in the November 2023 wind-down of its games arm 朝夕光年 (Nuverse). It was one of several \"app factory\" experiments launched in early 2022 (alongside Party Island and Wukong Search) that did not survive.", "link": "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7055426.html", "sources": [ "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7055426.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20220127A0BRLI00", "https://www.sohu.com/a/519365265_120073179", "http://www.gamelook.com.cn/2022/01/471225", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20220129/herald/7de6011d713705ae99e3b4f442fc470e.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Independently verified via multiple Chinese tech outlets (Jiemian, QQ News, Sohu, GameLook, 21财经) all dated Jan 2022. ByteDance ownership is well-sourced: developed by 里游互娱 under 巨量引擎, distributed on Douyin (30k+ downloads in test), with Douyin/Toutiao login. Distinct from known products: not 派对岛/Party Island, not 悟空搜索/Wukong Search (its launch-mates, already covered), and not the casual platform ", "descZh": "灵选是字节跳动一款类似TapTap/WeGame的手游社区与分发App，2022年1月底在抖音内开启封闭测试，口号为“灵机一动，选到好游戏”。它集游戏发现、预约、下载、排行和用户评测于一体，意在成为中重度游戏的分发渠道——比字节跳动早期的休闲游戏平台摸摸鱼更进一步。", "reasonZh": "始终未从封测推进到正式公开上线；随着字节跳动收缩游戏及游戏分发业务，并在2023年11月关停游戏部门朝夕光年，灵选被悄然放弃。它是2022年初一批“App工厂”实验（与派对岛、悟空搜索同期）中未能存活的产品之一。", "categoryZh": "游戏社区 / 游戏分发（TapTap式游戏商店）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "可颂 (Kesong (Croissant))", "nameEn": "Kesong (Croissant)", "nameZh": "可颂", "aliases": [ "Kesong", "Croissant", "Sicily", "com.ss.android.ugc.sicily" ], "type": "app", "category": "Lifestyle / 种草 (product-seeding) community; later reposition", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2022-07-11", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology Co., Ltd.) — a ByteDance subsidiary that also operates CapCut/剪映 and 轻颜/Qingyan", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "深圳市脸萌科技有限公司 / Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology Co., Ltd." ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "可颂 (Kesong, \"Croissant\"; internal codename Sicily) is ByteDance's Xiaohongshu-style lifestyle/种草 community app, tightly linked to Douyin so creators can port short-video content into an image-and-text seeding feed. It launched 11 Jul 2022 and was pulled from app stores within ~20 days, relaunched 31 Mar 2023, relaunched again Apr 2024 (v2.1.0), and by 2025 was repositioned as a \"photography enthusiasts' sharing community\" with AI camera features (\"机位\"/AI composition).", "killedReason": "Repeatedly pulled/restarted rather than permanently killed: the early versions failed to build a genuine seeding community because Douyin-sourced content was too entertainment-oriented to generate Xiaohongshu-style purchase recommendations. As of June 2026 the app is still being updated (e.g., Tencent Yingyongbao shows v38.5.1 dated 2026-06-10) and is therefore best classified as alive, despite its multiple shutdown/relaunch cycles.", "link": "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/bytedance-debuts-kesong-app-to-rival-alibaba-backed-xiaohongshu-", "sources": [ "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/bytedance-debuts-kesong-app-to-rival-alibaba-backed-xiaohongshu-", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3184899/tiktok-owner-bytedance-launch-new-social-media-app-young-users-will", "https://www.cbndata.com/information/257994", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240423A09XIB00", "https://36kr.com/p/2746093937277703" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely ByteDance (operated by ByteDance subsidiary 脸萌科技, the CapCut/轻颜 team; Android package com.ss.android.ugc.sicily uses ByteDance's com.ss.android namespace). NOT a duplicate of any known product: distinct from 新草 Xincao (ByteDance's earlier 2018 Toutiao-based seeding app, already known/dead), distinct from 有柿 Youshi (rebranded Toutiao Search lifestyle community, already known), and distinc", "descZh": "可颂（内部代号Sicily）是字节跳动一款类似小红书的生活方式/种草社区App，与抖音紧密打通，创作者可将短视频内容搬运到图文种草信息流中。它于2022年7月11日上线，约20天内即从应用商店下架，2023年3月31日重新上线，2024年4月再次重新上线（v2.1.0），到2025年被重新定位为“摄影爱好者分享社区”，并加入AI相机功能（“机位”/AI构图）。", "reasonZh": "属反复下架/重启而非彻底关停：早期版本因抖音来源内容过于娱乐化、难以产生小红书式购买推荐，未能建立起真正的种草社区。截至2026年6月该App仍在更新（如腾讯应用宝显示v38.5.1，日期为2026-06-10），故尽管经历多次关停/重启周期，仍应归类为存活。", "categoryZh": "生活方式 / 种草社区（后转型为摄影社区）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "小趣星 (Xiaoquxing)", "nameEn": "Xiaoquxing", "nameZh": "小趣星", "aliases": [ "Xiaoquxing", "Xiao Quxing", "Little Fun Star", "儿童版抖音" ], "type": "app", "category": "Kids educational short video", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2021-09-20", "dateKilled": "2022", "status": "dead", "publisher": "北京未来智学教育科技有限公司 (Beijing Future Smart Learning Education Technology Co., Ltd.) — a wholly-owned subsidiary of ByteDance's Dali Education (大力教育)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Dali Education (大力教育)", "北京未来智学教育科技有限公司 (Beijing Future Smart Learning Education Technology Co., Ltd.)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "小趣星 (Xiaoquxing) was a children's interest/educational short-video app launched by ByteDance's Dali Education unit on ~September 20, 2021, billed as ByteDance's third short-video app after Douyin and Douyin Volcano version. It served age-matched, screen-time-limited (~40 min/day) curated content across 34 categories (humanities, science, picture books, nursery rhymes) sourced from Douyin teen-mode creators, with no recording, posting, commenting, sharing, or social features.", "killedReason": "Discontinued amid the collapse and restructuring of ByteDance's Dali Education business following China's 2021 \"double reduction\" (双减) policy on after-school tutoring, which forced ByteDance to wind down or pivot most of its education products after heavy losses and layoffs.", "link": "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-09-20/doc-iktzscyx5260012.shtml", "sources": [ "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-09-20/doc-iktzscyx5260012.shtml", "https://www.jiemodui.com/N/128457.html", "https://www.sohu.com/a/491035576_115563", "https://www.sohu.com/a/491396903_120780844", "https://www.cnpp.cn/focus/4549.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "ByteDance ownership confirmed via app-store publisher entity (Beijing Future Smart Learning Education Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned Dali Education subsidiary that also operated GuaGuaLong English) and multiple independent media (Sina Finance, Jiemodui, Sohu, 36Kr-cited reports). Discontinuation confirmed by Chinese Wikipedia's ByteDance article, which lists 小趣星 under the '已停止运营' (ceased ope", "descZh": "小趣星是字节跳动大力教育部门于2021年9月20日前后推出的一款儿童兴趣/教育短视频App，号称是继抖音和抖音火山版之后字节跳动的第三款短视频App。它提供按年龄匹配、限制使用时长（约每天40分钟）的精选内容，涵盖人文、科学、绘本、儿歌等34个品类，内容源自抖音青少年模式的创作者，不设录制、发布、评论、分享等社交功能。", "reasonZh": "在中国2021年“双减”课外辅导政策导致字节跳动大力教育业务崩塌与重组后停运；该政策迫使字节跳动在巨额亏损和裁员后关停或转型大部分教育产品。", "categoryZh": "儿童教育短视频", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "百万英雄 (Million Hero)", "nameEn": "Million Hero", "nameZh": "百万英雄", "aliases": [ "Million Hero", "Baiwan Yingxiong", "头号英雄", "Toutiao Hero", "Hero No. 1" ], "type": "service", "category": "Live trivia quiz / interactive game show", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2018-01", "dateKilled": "2018-02-15", "status": "dead", "publisher": "西瓜视频 (Xigua Video), a ByteDance / Toutiao platform; produced by Xigua Video with 今日头条 (Toutiao) and 抖音 (Douyin) as co-producers", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 ByteDance", "今日头条 Toutiao", "西瓜视频 Xigua Video", "抖音 Douyin" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "百万英雄 (Million Hero) was a free, large-scale live-streamed trivia quiz game show launched by ByteDance's Xigua Video in January 2018, riding the early-2018 China live-quiz craze. A host asked twelve multiple-choice questions; players who answered all correctly within ~10 seconds each split a cash prize pool of RMB 50,000 to 1 million, with a \"revival card\" earned by sharing/inviting friends across ByteDance's app matrix (a major user-acquisition mechanic). It ran 278 sessions with nearly 300 million cumulative participants before Season 1 ended; it was rebranded/relaunched as 头号英雄 (Toutiao Hero) in December 2019, which is also now defunct.", "killedReason": "Season 1 ended February 15, 2018 after China's SARFT (广电总局) issued a directive requiring live online quiz programs to hold an \"Information Network Audiovisual Program Transmission License\" — the same crackdown that shut down 冲顶大会, 百万赢家, and other rivals. ByteDance later relaunched a compliant successor (头号英雄) under Xigua Video's license in Dec 2019, which subsequently wound down as the live-quiz fad faded.", "link": "http://media.people.com.cn/n1/2019/0509/c426303-31076422.html", "sources": [ "http://media.people.com.cn/n1/2019/0509/c426303-31076422.html", "https://www.woshipm.com/operate/901443.html", "https://m.jiemian.com/article/1873309.html", "https://news.sina.cn/2018-02-19/detail-ifyrqwkc8007588.d.html", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20191211/herald/d8b11bba59894a4bf57366e946c6033b_zaker.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Treated by the candidate as the same product line that later became 头号英雄 — this is accurate; 头号英雄 was the rebranded, license-compliant successor. The product was a flagship example of the 2018 Chinese live-trivia bubble and a ByteDance growth/user-acquisition tactic for its app ecosystem. Distinct from all ~150 already-known entries (not a translation/alias of any of them).", "descZh": "百万英雄是字节跳动旗下西瓜视频于2018年1月推出的免费大型直播答题游戏节目，赶上了2018年初中国的直播答题热潮。主持人提出十二道多选题，在每题约10秒内全部答对的玩家瓜分5万至100万元人民币的现金奖池，通过分享/邀请好友可在字节跳动App矩阵中获得“复活卡”（一项重要的拉新机制）。它共举办278场，累计参与者近3亿，随后第一季结束；2019年12月更名/重启为“头号英雄”，该产品如今也已停运。", "reasonZh": "第一季于2018年2月15日结束，因中国广电总局发文要求网络直播答题节目须持《信息网络传播视听节目许可证》——同一轮整顿也关停了冲顶大会、百万赢家等竞品。字节跳动后于2019年12月以西瓜视频牌照重启合规继任产品“头号英雄”，但随直播答题热潮退去也逐渐停运。", "categoryZh": "直播答题 / 互动游戏节目", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "幕布 (Mubu)", "nameEn": "Mubu", "nameZh": "幕布", "aliases": [ "Mubu", "幕布大纲笔记", "mubu.com" ], "type": "app", "category": "Productivity / outliner note-taking & mind-map tool", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2016", "dateKilled": "2023-03", "status": "divested", "publisher": "Originally Beijing Kundu/founder team; under ByteDance merged into Feishu (飞书); now operated by Shenzhen Shili Hu Technology Co., Ltd. (深圳市十里湖科技有限公司, flomo's operator)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Feishu / Lark (飞书)", "Toutiao strategic investment dept (今日头条战略投资部)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Mubu (幕布) is a Chinese productivity app combining hierarchical outline notes with one-click mind-map conversion, launched in 2016. ByteDance secretly fully acquired it at the end of 2018 (for several million RMB, via Toutiao's strategic investment arm) as an early To-B / efficiency-tool play, folding it into the Feishu (Lark) product suite; in March 2023 ByteDance/Feishu divested Mubu to note-taking maker flomo (浮墨笔记, Shenzhen Shili Hu Technology), which has continued to operate it independently.", "killedReason": "ByteDance/Feishu divested Mubu in March 2023 because Feishu already had its flagship Feishu Documents with overlapping functionality, and Mubu's original founders had left, so there was little incentive to keep maintaining it. It was sold to flomo (浮墨笔记) rather than shut down, so from ByteDance's perspective it is a divestment (the product continues under new owner).", "link": "https://36kr.com/p/5189673", "sources": [ "https://36kr.com/p/5189673", "https://www.36kr.com/p/2163146749079812", "http://www.eeo.com.cn/2019/0329/351981.shtml", "https://www.yicai.com/brief/100151091.html", "http://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2019-03-29/1315745.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuine, well-sourced MISSING ByteDance product not on the known list. Acquisition was reported as a \"secret\"/quiet full acquisition (秘密收购) in late 2018; Mubu's operating entity reportedly listed ByteDance co-founder Liang Rubo (梁汝波) as legal rep with Zhang Yiming as ultimate beneficiary (~98.81%). Status = divested (not dead — still alive under flomo). Distinct from Feishu/Lark itself, so not alr", "descZh": "幕布是一款中国效率类App，将层级式大纲笔记与一键转思维导图相结合，于2016年推出。字节跳动于2018年底（通过今日头条战略投资部门，作价数百万元人民币）秘密全资收购了它，作为早期To-B/效率工具布局，并将其并入飞书（Lark）产品体系；2023年3月，字节跳动/飞书将幕布剥离给笔记产品flomo（浮墨笔记，深圳市十里虎科技），后者继续独立运营。", "reasonZh": "字节跳动/飞书于2023年3月剥离幕布，因为飞书已有功能重叠的旗舰产品飞书文档，且幕布原创始团队已离开，缺乏继续维护的动力。它被出售给flomo（浮墨笔记）而非关停，故从字节跳动角度看属剥离（产品在新东家旗下延续）。", "categoryZh": "效率工具 / 大纲笔记与思维导图", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "朝夕日历 (Chaoxi Calendar)", "nameEn": "Chaoxi Calendar", "nameZh": "朝夕日历", "aliases": [ "Chaoxi Rili", "Chaoxi Calendar", "朝夕", "朝夕时间管理", "Chronos Calendar" ], "type": "app", "category": "Calendar / time-management & scheduling tool", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2013-20", "dateKilled": "2018", "status": "acquired-shut", "publisher": "北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 (Beijing Chaoxi Guangnian Information Technology Co., Ltd.) — controlled via ByteDance subsidiary 北京闪星科技 (Beijing Shanxing Technology, 100% ByteDance-owned)", "developerEntities": [ "北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 (Beijing Chaoxi Guangnian Information Technology Co.)", "北京闪星科技 (Beijing Shanxing Technology, ByteDance 100% subsidiary)", "字节跳动 / 今日头条 (ByteDance)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "朝夕日历 (Chaoxi Calendar) was a smart, WeChat-integrated social calendar and time-management app that used voice recognition, NLP and AI to help users quickly schedule events and coordinate group time. Founded in 2013 by Cheng Hao (程昊) and fellow Tsinghua alumni, it reached roughly 5 million users across its app, WeChat official account, mini-program and web before being acquired by ByteDance/Toutiao in 2017.", "killedReason": "Acquired by ByteDance in 2017 (via wholly-owned subsidiary 闪星科技). The independent calendar product was wound down; founder Cheng Hao and core team joined ByteDance, where the calendar/scheduling technology was folded into the Feishu/Lark productivity suite. The parent entity 朝夕光年 was subsequently (from 2019) repurposed as ByteDance's game-publishing brand \"Nuverse,\" so the original calendar product effectively ceased to exist as a standalone offering.", "link": "https://www.sohu.com/a/227683771_114778", "sources": [ "https://www.sohu.com/a/227683771_114778", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%9C%9D%E5%A4%95%E6%97%A5%E5%8E%86/19848536", "https://www.itjuzi.com/company/30205", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%9C%9D%E5%A4%95%E5%85%89%E5%B9%B4/56116840", "https://www.sohu.com/a/452343297_413980" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely a separate predecessor product, NOT the same as the already-known Feishu/Lark or the Nuverse (朝夕光年) game brand — though it shares the corporate lineage of both. 朝夕光年 was the calendar startup's pre-existing parent company name that ByteDance later reused for its gaming brand. Verified independently: acquisition confirmed via business-registration changes (闪星科技 became investor in 2017); fo", "descZh": "朝夕日历是一款智能、与微信打通的社交日历及时间管理App，利用语音识别、自然语言处理和AI帮助用户快速安排日程并协调群体时间。它由程昊及清华校友于2013年创办，在被字节跳动/今日头条于2017年收购前，其App、微信公众号、小程序和网页端累计用户约500万。", "reasonZh": "2017年被字节跳动（通过全资子公司闪星科技）收购。独立的日历产品被关停；创始人程昊及核心团队加入字节跳动，日历/日程技术被并入飞书（Lark）效率套件。母体“朝夕光年”随后（自2019年起）被改作字节跳动游戏发行品牌“Nuverse”，原日历产品作为独立产品实际不复存在。", "categoryZh": "日历 / 时间管理与日程工具", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "黑帕云 (Heipayun (HAP))", "nameEn": "Heipayun (HAP)", "nameZh": "黑帕云", "aliases": [ "Heipayun", "HAP", "Heipa Cloud", "hipacloud", "黑帕云 HAP" ], "type": "service", "category": "No-code / low-code application building platform (aPaaS)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2019", "dateKilled": "2022-05-31", "status": "acquired-shut", "publisher": "成都黑帕云信息技术有限公司 (Chengdu Heipayun Information Technology Co., Ltd.); team absorbed into ByteDance Feishu", "developerEntities": [ "成都黑帕云信息技术有限公司 (Chengdu Heipayun Information Technology Co.)", "ByteDance / 字节跳动 (acquirer)", "Feishu / 飞书 (absorbing team)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Heipayun (黑帕云, brand HAP) was a Chinese no-code/low-code platform founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneur Chen Jinzhou (陈金洲, who earlier founded Jinshuju/金数据) for building enterprise applications without coding. ByteDance's strategic investment arm led its Series A in July 2021 and subsequently acquired the team; the standalone product shut down on May 31, 2022, with Chen and part of the team joining Feishu to build the aPaaS product \"Kunlun\" (昆仑) for large enterprise customers.", "killedReason": "Acqui-hire: ByteDance acquired the Heipayun team and folded talent into Feishu's enterprise aPaaS effort (codename Kunlun/昆仑); the standalone product was discontinued, with users directed to export data or migrate to Mingdao Cloud (明道云) before service ended May 31, 2022.", "link": "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2022-03-21/doc-imcwiwss7288367.shtml", "sources": [ "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2022-03-21/doc-imcwiwss7288367.shtml", "https://news.pedaily.cn/202203/488700.shtml", "https://36kr.com/p/1664035663353602", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7237999.html", "https://m.huanqiu.com/article/47IEBx2Zuv7" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely missing from the known list — no low-code/no-code/aPaaS product is covered there. Distinct from Feishu/Lark (the parent suite that absorbed the team) and from Coze/扣子 (AI agent builder). Original scoop was a 36Kr exclusive (2022-03-20/21), corroborated by Sina Finance, ifeng, PEdaily/投资界, Jiemian, Huanqiu, NetEase, and ITJuzi. Official site hipacloud.com posted a shutdown notice (\"黑帕云已停止", "descZh": "黑帕云（品牌HAP）是一款中国无代码/低代码平台，由连续创业者陈金洲（曾创办金数据）于2019年创立，用于无需编码即可搭建企业应用。字节跳动战略投资部门于2021年7月领投其A轮，随后收购了团队；独立产品于2022年5月31日关停，陈金洲及部分团队加入飞书，打造面向大型企业客户的aPaaS产品“昆仑”。", "reasonZh": "属人才收购：字节跳动收购黑帕云团队并将人才并入飞书的企业级aPaaS项目（代号昆仑/Kunlun）；独立产品被停运，在2022年5月31日服务终止前，用户被引导导出数据或迁移至明道云。", "categoryZh": "无代码 / 低代码应用搭建平台（aPaaS）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "灵驹 (ByteAir)", "nameEn": "ByteAir", "nameZh": "灵驹", "aliases": [ "Lingju", "ByteAir", "字节跳动智能推荐系统", "Volcano Engine Intelligent Recommendation (successor)" ], "type": "service", "category": "B2B intelligent recommendation algorithm / enterprise cloud ", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2019-09", "dateKilled": "", "status": "merged", "publisher": "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动", "ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "灵驹 (English name ByteAir) was ByteDance's first B2B productization of its core recommendation algorithm — the same engine behind Toutiao and Douyin — packaged and opened to external enterprises in September 2019 as a customizable enterprise-grade recommendation-as-a-service. Early partners included Meizu, OPPO, Vivo and Samsung. It was subsequently consolidated into ByteDance's enterprise cloud platform Volcano Engine (火山引擎) as its \"Intelligent Recommendation\" (智能推荐 / ByteAir) product line, with the standalone \"灵驹\" brand name retired.", "killedReason": "Not shut down but merged/rebranded: ByteDance consolidated its standalone enterprise-services efforts under the Volcano Engine cloud brand (officially launched 2020), absorbing 灵驹/ByteAir into Volcano Engine's Intelligent Recommendation (智能推荐) product and retiring the standalone \"灵驹\" brand name.", "link": "https://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2019-09-29/doc-iicezzrq9177451.shtml", "sources": [ "https://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2019-09-29/doc-iicezzrq9177451.shtml", "https://www.ifanr.com/1266118", "https://36kr.com/p/1724445884417", "https://www.pingwest.com/w/195170", "https://www.sohu.com/a/344110018_114837" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "Verified genuinely ByteDance and distinct from the already-known list. Multiple independent 2019 Chinese tech outlets confirm 灵驹's existence, B2B positioning, and enterprise partners (Meizu/OPPO/Vivo/Samsung). English name is ByteAir. Key nuance: it was later folded into Volcano Engine (火山引擎, which IS on the already-known list) as the 智能推荐/Intelligent Recommendation product — so 灵驹 is a merged/reb", "descZh": "灵驹（英文名ByteAir）是字节跳动首次将其核心推荐算法（即今日头条和抖音背后的同一引擎）产品化的B2B尝试，于2019年9月封装并向外部企业开放，作为可定制的企业级“推荐即服务”。早期合作伙伴包括魅族、OPPO、vivo和三星。它随后被整合进字节跳动企业云平台火山引擎，成为其“智能推荐”（ByteAir）产品线，独立的“灵驹”品牌名被弃用。", "reasonZh": "并非关停，而是合并/更名：字节跳动将其独立的企业服务业务整合到火山引擎云品牌（2020年正式发布）之下，将灵驹/ByteAir并入火山引擎的智能推荐产品，并弃用独立的“灵驹”品牌名。", "categoryZh": "B2B智能推荐算法 / 企业云服务", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "巨量引擎 (Ocean Engine)", "nameEn": "Ocean Engine", "nameZh": "巨量引擎", "aliases": [ "Juliang Yinqing", "巨量引擎", "Beijing Ocean Engine Network Technology", "北京巨量引擎网络技术有限公司" ], "type": "service", "category": "Advertising / marketing platform (B2B)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2019-01", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "Beijing Ocean Engine Network Technology Co., Ltd. (北京巨量引擎网络技术有限公司) / Douyin Group, ByteDance", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance", "Douyin Group", "Beijing Ocean Engine Network Technology Co., Ltd. (北京巨量引擎网络技术有限公司)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Ocean Engine (巨量引擎) is ByteDance's flagship domestic commercial/digital-marketing service brand, launched in January 2019, that sells and manages advertising inventory across the company's Chinese properties (Douyin, Toutiao, Xigua Video, Huoshan, Dongchedi, Faceu, Qingyan, Pangle, Fanqie Novel and others). It provides advertisers self-serve campaign tools, intelligent bidding, audience targeting and a product matrix (巨量广告, 巨量纵横, 巨量云图, 巨量方舟) and is the China counterpart to the overseas Pangle SDK — though Pangle itself sits inside the Ocean Engine ecosystem.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%B7%A8%E9%87%8F%E5%BC%95%E6%93%8E/23624190", "sources": [ "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%B7%A8%E9%87%8F%E5%BC%95%E6%93%8E/23624190", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Ocean%20Engine/1450079", "https://www.oceanengine.com/", "https://chinamarketingcorp.com/blog/ocean-engine-bytedances-powerful-marketing-platform/", "https://www.mobgi.com/blogs/ocean-engine.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Live, active, core ByteDance revenue platform (B2B ad/marketing) — not dead, so lower priority than discontinued products, but a legitimate missing entry. Distinct from Pangle (穿山甲), the overseas programmatic SDK, which is a component within Ocean Engine rather than a synonym. Official site oceanengine.com remains active; the 99案例 official site was re-launched Jan 2026 and 2024 ad delivery scale e", "descZh": "巨量引擎是字节跳动旗舰国内商业化/数字营销服务品牌，于2019年1月推出，在公司中国系产品（抖音、今日头条、西瓜视频、火山、懂车帝、Faceu、轻颜、Pangle、番茄小说等）上销售和管理广告库存。它为广告主提供自助投放工具、智能出价、人群定向及产品矩阵（巨量广告、巨量纵横、巨量云图、巨量方舟），是海外Pangle SDK的中国对应方——不过Pangle本身也处于巨量引擎生态之内。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "广告 / 营销平台（B2B）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "巨量千川 (Ocean Engine Qianchuan)", "nameEn": "Ocean Engine Qianchuan", "nameZh": "巨量千川", "aliases": [ "Qianchuan", "Juliang Qianchuan", "Ocean Engine Qianchuan", "巨量千川" ], "type": "service", "category": "E-commerce advertising / marketing platform (B2B)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2020-12-29", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "巨量引擎 / Ocean Engine (ByteDance Douyin Group); official domain qianchuan.jinritemai.com", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "巨量引擎 / Ocean Engine", "Douyin Group / 抖音电商" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "巨量千川 (Ocean Engine Qianchuan) is ByteDance's integrated e-commerce advertising and marketing platform for the Douyin ecosystem, launched in December 2020 by Ocean Engine (巨量引擎). It consolidated earlier tools such as 鲁班 (Luban) and DOU+'s e-commerce functions into one platform, giving Douyin Shop (抖店) merchants and creators unified ad solutions across short video and live streaming; it later moved organizationally into Douyin E-commerce and reportedly accounts for roughly half of Douyin's ad revenue.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Ocean%20Engine%20Qianchuan/1509834", "sources": [ "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Ocean%20Engine%20Qianchuan/1509834", "https://caijing.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202101/05/WS5ff40817a3101e7ce9739227.html", "https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3189961688703108", "https://qianchuan.jinritemai.com/docs/help/12781/235711", "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/366054341" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely ByteDance-owned and NOT in the known list (the known list covers Volcano Engine and Pangle but not Ocean Engine/巨量引擎 nor Qianchuan). Caveat: this is a live B2B merchant advertising platform, not a dead/discontinued consumer app or game, so it is a borderline fit for a \"Killed by ByteDance\" dataset — it is alive and internal-tool-shaped rather than a killed consumer product. If the datase", "descZh": "巨量千川是字节跳动面向抖音生态的一体化电商广告营销平台，由巨量引擎于2020年12月推出。它将鲁班、DOU+电商功能等早期工具整合为一个平台，为抖店商家和创作者提供横跨短视频与直播的统一广告解决方案；后在组织上并入抖音电商，据称约占抖音广告收入的一半。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "电商广告 / 营销平台（B2B）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "识典古籍 (Shidian Guji (Shidian Ancient Texts))", "nameEn": "Shidian Guji (Shidian Ancient Texts)", "nameZh": "识典古籍", "aliases": [ "Shidian Guji", "Shidian Ancient Texts", "Shidianguji", "识典古籍", "shidianguji.com" ], "type": "service", "category": "Digital classical-texts reading / ancient-book digitization ", "region": "China (primarily mainland China; web + mobile, Chinese-langu", "dateLaunched": "2022-10-11", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "北京抖音信息服务有限公司 (Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd.) — ByteDance's primary China operating entity; ICP 京ICP备12025439号; built by the Peking University–ByteDance Digital Humanities Open Lab (北京大学", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance / 字节跳动", "北京抖音信息服务有限公司 (Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd.)", "Peking University–ByteDance Digital Humanities Open Lab (北京大学—字节跳动数字人文开放实验室)", "Peking University 北京大学" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Shidian Guji (识典古籍) is a free digital platform for reading and intelligently organizing ancient Chinese classical texts, jointly developed by ByteDance and Peking University via their Digital Humanities Open Lab (founded March 2022; platform beta launched October 11, 2022). It uses OCR, automatic punctuation, named-entity recognition, and ByteDance's Doubao/Yunque LLM to power AI features including an AI assistant, AI proofreading, classical-to-vernacular translation, audiobooks, and a deep-research assistant; by 2026 it offered roughly 60,000 freely available texts with about 2.4 million monthly readers.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://m.mp.oeeee.com/a/BAAFRD000020221012729689.html", "sources": [ "https://m.mp.oeeee.com/a/BAAFRD000020221012729689.html", "http://www.xinhuanet.com/tech/20221014/70bc89fd4dd246d48a94a7035cab76e3/c.html", "https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3290138/ai-boost-chinas-massive-confucius-cultural-project-bytedance-donation", "https://english.news.cn/20250423/52c086f0946f4196a316c2b82c285983/c.html", "https://www.chinanews.com.cn/cj/2026/04-23/10609570.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuine, well-sourced ByteDance-owned product not on the ALREADY-KNOWN list and not an alias of any known product. Status is ALIVE/actively growing (not killed) — included per task instruction to also surface missing live products. App publisher entity is Beijing Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd., ByteDance's core China legal entity, confirming direct ownership rather than a mere academic partn", "descZh": "识典古籍是一个免费的中国古籍数字化阅读与智能整理平台，由字节跳动与北京大学通过其数字人文开放实验室联合开发（实验室创立于2022年3月，平台测试版于2022年10月11日上线）。它运用OCR、自动标点、命名实体识别及字节跳动的豆包/云雀大模型，支持AI助手、AI校对、文白翻译、有声书和深度研究助手等AI功能；到2026年已提供约6万种免费古籍，月度读者约240万。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "古籍数字化阅读 / 古籍数字化平台", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "一直看漫画 (Yizhikanmanhua (Read Comics Anytime))", "nameEn": "Yizhikanmanhua (Read Comics Anytime)", "nameZh": "一直看漫画", "aliases": [ "Yizhikan Manhua", "Yizhi Kan Manhua", "Beijing Manji Network / 北京漫迹网络科技有限公司 (operator)" ], "type": "app", "category": "Comics / manga reading", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2018", "dateKilled": "", "status": "acquired", "publisher": "北京漫迹网络科技有限公司 (Beijing Manji Network Technology) — acquired by ByteDance via subsidiary 北京鼎臻科技有限公司 (Beijing Dingzhen Technology), the Fanqie Novel operating entity", "developerEntities": [ "北京漫迹网络科技有限公司 (Beijing Manji Network Technology Co., Ltd.)", "北京鼎臻科技有限公司 (Beijing Dingzhen Technology Co., Ltd., ByteDance/Fanqie Novel operating entity)", "ByteDance / 字节跳动", "番茄小说 (Fanqie Novel)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "一直看漫画 was a daily-updated comics/manga reading app (Chinese manhua, Japanese manga, and webtoons) launched in 2018 by 北京漫迹网络科技有限公司, whose founders included a former CEO of Dongman Home (动漫之家). In January 2022 ByteDance, through the Fanqie Novel operating entity 北京鼎臻科技有限公司, acquired 100% of the operator, marking Fanqie's expansion into comics; the team and license library seeded ByteDance's comics business (later 番茄漫画/Fanqie Comics).", "killedReason": "Not formally shut down — acquired 100% by ByteDance/Fanqie in Jan 2022 and folded into ByteDance's literature/comics business division. The standalone 一直看漫画 brand has little current presence after absorption; the comics effort continued under Fanqie's umbrella.", "link": "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_16354136", "sources": [ "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_16354136", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20220117A01SNB00", "https://www.pingwest.com/a/257179", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7019717.html", "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/459382194" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Acquisition is well-corroborated across The Paper (澎湃), Tencent/QQ News, PingWest (品玩), and Jiemian (界面). NOTE: the candidate's listed alias \"漫迹/Manji\" refers to the OPERATING COMPANY (北京漫迹网络科技), not an alternate product name — kept in aliases but flagged. Candidate's \"status: live\" is questionable; I set status=acquired since I found no evidence the standalone app remains prominently operating, b", "descZh": "一直看漫画是一款每日更新的漫画阅读App（涵盖国漫、日漫和韩式条漫），于2018年由北京漫迹网络科技有限公司推出，其创始人之一曾任动漫之家CEO。2022年1月，字节跳动通过番茄小说运营主体北京鼎臻科技有限公司全资收购了该运营方，标志番茄向漫画领域扩张；其团队和版权库为字节跳动的漫画业务（后来的番茄漫画）打下了基础。", "reasonZh": "并未正式关停——2022年1月被字节跳动/番茄全资收购，并入字节跳动文学/漫画业务部门。被吸收后，独立的“一直看漫画”品牌如今几乎没有存在感；漫画业务在番茄旗下延续。", "categoryZh": "漫画阅读", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "影托邦 (Yingtuobang)", "nameEn": "Yingtuobang", "nameZh": "影托邦", "aliases": [ "Yingtuobang", "天空之城（上海）实业有限公司", "Sky City Shanghai" ], "type": "service", "category": "Film / cinema ticketing & entertainment marketing", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2021-12", "dateKilled": "", "status": "acquired", "publisher": "天空之城（上海）实业有限公司 (Sky City Shanghai Industrial Co., Ltd.), acquired by ByteDance", "developerEntities": [ "天空之城（上海）实业有限公司", "字节跳动 (ByteDance) 大文娱 / Douyin" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "影托邦 (Yingtuobang) was a Shanghai-based online movie/cinema ticketing platform operated by 天空之城（上海）实业有限公司, covering 8,000+ cinemas nationwide with online seat selection and multiple payment methods, and providing corporate clients with movie benefits, gift cards, and entertainment-marketing services. ByteDance acquired it around December 2021 (reported Jan 2022) as part of its 大文娱 push, folding the consumer ticketing into Douyin's mini-program ecosystem while the company kept its B2B operations.", "killedReason": "Not a public shutdown; the standalone Yingtuobang consumer brand was effectively absorbed/merged into Douyin's in-app movie-ticketing service (mini-program shown alongside Maoyan and Taopiaopiao) while retaining its B2B corporate movie-benefits business. ByteDance's goal was traffic monetization and entering local-lifestyle/ticketing services.", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20220117A01SNB00", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20220117A01SNB00", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7019717.html", "https://www.pingwest.com/a/257179", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20220118A04FTH00", "https://technode.com/2022/01/17/bytedance-acquires-two-new-entertainment-companies-report/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED GENUINE & NEW. Acquisition corroborated by 4+ independent Chinese outlets (Tech星球/Tech Planet via QQ News, Jiemian界面新闻, PingWest品玩, 21经济网) and 3 English outlets (TechNode, TheTicketingBusiness, Pandaily). Operating entity 天空之城（上海）实业有限公司 underwent equity change (股权变更) to ByteDance ~Dec 2021. Acquired alongside manga platform 一直看漫画 (note: 一直看漫画's entity 北京漫迹网络科技 was taken under ByteDance su", "descZh": "影托邦是一家位于上海、由天空之城（上海）实业有限公司运营的在线电影/影院票务平台，覆盖全国8000多家影院，提供在线选座和多种支付方式，并为企业客户提供观影福利、礼品卡和娱乐营销服务。字节跳动于2021年12月前后（2022年1月有报道）将其收购，作为大文娱布局的一部分，把面向消费者的票务并入抖音小程序生态，公司则保留其B2B业务。", "reasonZh": "并非公开关停；面向消费者的独立影托邦品牌实际被吸收/并入抖音App内的电影票务服务（小程序与猫眼、淘票票并列），同时保留其B2B企业观影福利业务。字节跳动的目标是流量变现并进军本地生活/票务服务。", "categoryZh": "电影 / 影院票务与娱乐营销", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "稀土掘金 (Juejin / Xitu Juejin)", "nameEn": "Juejin / Xitu Juejin", "nameZh": "稀土掘金", "aliases": [ "Juejin", "稀土掘金", "掘金", "Xitu Juejin", "juejin.cn", "juejin.im" ], "type": "app", "category": "Developer / tech content-sharing community", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2015-08", "dateKilled": "", "status": "acquired", "publisher": "Beijing Bebi Information Technology Co., Ltd. (北京北比信息技术有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Beijing Bebi Information Technology Co., Ltd. (北京北比信息技术有限公司)", "Xitu (稀土)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Juejin (稀土掘金) is a Chinese developer and tech content-sharing community at juejin.cn, where developers publish articles, tutorials and industry insights. Founded in 2014/2015 by Yin Ming, it was acquired by ByteDance in 2020 and continues to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary; it remains live and active as of 2025-2026.", "killedReason": "Not killed — acquired by ByteDance in 2020 and still operating live. Listed under \"acquired\" status because it joined ByteDance via acquisition rather than internal development.", "link": "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/%E7%A8%80%E5%9C%9F%E6%8E%98%E9%87%91", "sources": [ "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/%E7%A8%80%E5%9C%9F%E6%8E%98%E9%87%91", "https://finance.sina.cn/tech/2020-11-04/detail-iiznctkc9389083.d.html", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20201104/herald/7ad0b053c770ac93da5d7bc4e97b9b9c.html", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/612285", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250307A07LHD00" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: CONFIRMED ByteDance-owned and genuinely new (not on known list). ByteDance acquired Juejin in 2020 (reported 4 Nov 2020); operating entity Beijing Bebi Information Tech became a wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary with ByteDance exec Zhu Wenjia as legal rep, and frontend architect Yue Ying (月影) took over operations reporting to SVP Hong Dingkun. Platform is still ALIVE/active as of 2025 (Te", "descZh": "掘金（稀土掘金）是一个中国开发者与技术内容分享社区，网址为juejin.cn，开发者在此发布文章、教程和行业洞见。它由阴明于2014/2015年创办，2020年被字节跳动收购，至今作为全资子公司运营；截至2025-2026年仍在正常活跃运营。", "reasonZh": "并未关停——2020年被字节跳动收购，至今仍正常运营。之所以列为“已收购”状态，是因为它通过收购而非内部研发加入字节跳动。", "categoryZh": "开发者 / 技术内容分享社区", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "Biu校园 (Biu Campus)", "nameEn": "Biu Campus", "nameZh": "Biu校园", "aliases": [ "Biu Campus", "Biu社交", "biu校园" ], "type": "app", "category": "Campus social network (anonymous social)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2017", "dateKilled": "2019-20", "status": "acquired-shut", "publisher": "北京涨点姿势科技有限公司 (Beijing Zhangdian Zishi Technology Co., Ltd.)", "developerEntities": [ "北京涨点姿势科技有限公司 (Beijing Zhangdian Zishi Technology Co., Ltd. — original operator)", "北京星云创迹科技有限公司 (Beijing Xingyun Chuangji Technology Co., Ltd. — ByteDance subsidiary/acquirer shell)", "字节跳动 ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Biu校园 was a China-only campus social networking app (launched 2017) offering anonymous posts, confessions, campus circles, and 1v1 real-time quiz battles among university students. In 2019 ByteDance's subsidiary Beijing Xingyun Chuangji took 100% control of operator Beijing Zhangdian Zishi as part of ByteDance's repeated push into vertical/campus social, but the app was already stalled (no App Store update in ~a year) and was subsequently delisted.", "killedReason": "Already stagnant at the time of acquisition (development had stalled ~1 year before the Sep 2019 deal); ByteDance's recurring failure to crack vertical campus social meant the product was wound down/delisted rather than scaled. Acquisition appears to have been talent/tech-focused.", "link": "https://www.chinaventure.com.cn/news/110-20190912-348327.html", "sources": [ "https://www.chinaventure.com.cn/news/110-20190912-348327.html", "https://36kr.com/newsflashes/3279804465153", "https://tech.sina.cn/i/gn/2019-09-12/detail-iicezzrq5452106.d.html", "https://news.hexun.com/2019-09-12/198542824.html", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/6163794.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Acquisition is well-sourced across multiple independent outlets (投中网/ChinaVenture, 36Kr, Sina Tech, Hexun, Jiemian); ByteDance declined to comment ('不予置评') at the time. CORRECTION to the candidate input: the operator company is 北京涨点姿势科技有限公司 (pinyin 'Zhangdian Zishi'), NOT '北京掌电资享' — that name was a phonetic garble. Founder 李秋良 (Li Qiuliang) exited 2019-07-31. The 星云创迹 shell is the same ByteDance v", "descZh": "Biu校园是一款仅在中国运营的校园社交App（2017年推出），面向大学生提供匿名发帖、表白、校园圈子及1对1实时答题对战。2019年，字节跳动子公司北京星云创迹全资控股了运营方北京掌点子时，作为字节跳动屡次进军垂直/校园社交的一部分，但该App彼时已停滞（约一年未在App Store更新），随后被下架。", "reasonZh": "收购时该产品已停滞（在2019年9月交易前约一年便已停止开发）；字节跳动屡屡未能攻克垂直校园社交，导致该产品被关停/下架而非做大。此次收购似乎以人才/技术为目的。", "categoryZh": "校园社交（匿名社交）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "头条号 (Toutiao Hao (Toutiao Creator Platform))", "nameEn": "Toutiao Hao (Toutiao Creator Platform)", "nameZh": "头条号", "aliases": [ "Toutiao Hao", "Toutiao Account", "Toutiao Number", "头条创作者平台", "Toutiao Creator Platform", "TT Hao" ], "type": "service", "category": "Creator / self-media publishing platform", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2014", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd. (北京字节跳动科技有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "北京字节跳动科技有限公司 (Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd.)", "今日头条 / Toutiao" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "头条号 (Toutiao Hao) is ByteDance's self-media / creator account and content-publishing platform built into Toutiao, operated at mp.toutiao.com, where media outlets, institutions and individual creators register accounts to publish articles, videos, micro-posts and Q&A and monetize via ad revenue sharing. A March 2018 upgrade unified the backend so content auto-distributes across ByteDance's ecosystem (Toutiao, Xigua Video, Douyin, Huoshan, Wukong Q&A), and the help-center branding has shifted toward \"头条创作者平台\" (Toutiao Creator Platform), but the platform still carries the 头条号 name and remains operational.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toutiao", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toutiao", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%B4%E6%9D%A1%E5%8F%B7", "https://36kr.com/p/1722342883329", "https://mp.toutiao.com/profile_v4/", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/2024-08-19/doc-incketiy4381222.shtml" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuinely ByteDance, genuinely NEW (not on known list), but the candidate's \"merged\" status is INACCURATE per skeptical re-search. 头条号 was NOT discontinued or folded out of existence — the mp.toutiao.com/profile_v4 backend still carries the live brand \"头条号 — 你创作的，就是头条,\" and an Aug 2024 Sina Finance article confirms the Toutiao creator platform is still actively operating (creators complai", "descZh": "头条号是字节跳动内置于今日头条的自媒体/创作者账号与内容发布平台，运营于mp.toutiao.com，媒体机构、组织和个人创作者在此注册账号，发布文章、视频、微头条和问答，并通过广告分成变现。2018年3月的一次升级统一了后台，使内容自动分发至字节跳动生态（今日头条、西瓜视频、抖音、火山、悟空问答），帮助中心品牌也转向“头条创作者平台”，但平台仍沿用头条号之名并持续运营。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "创作者 / 自媒体发布平台", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "微头条 (Weitoutiao (Micro Toutiao))", "nameEn": "Weitoutiao (Micro Toutiao)", "nameZh": "微头条", "aliases": [ "Weitoutiao", "Micro Toutiao", "微头条 (今日头条)" ], "type": "service", "category": "Microblog / social feed", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2017-04", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "Beijing ByteDance Technology / 今日头条 (Toutiao app)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "今日头条 / Jinri Toutiao" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "微头条 (Weitoutiao) is a Weibo/Twitter-style microblog feed launched by ByteDance inside the Toutiao app in April 2017, letting users post short text/image updates that appear in the feed and on profiles. It was one of ByteDance's repeated attempts to build a social network on top of its content platform; it failed to dislodge Sina Weibo, its prominent bottom-bar/secondary entry was demoted (\\\"取缔\\\") around 2019, and it triggered a major unfair-competition lawsuit from Weibo. It was never spun out as a standalone app.", "killedReason": "Not actually killed — it persists as a content format/section inside Toutiao. It was sidelined/demoted from a dedicated traffic entry around 2019 after failing to compete with Weibo and never became a standalone social product, but the feature remains live with active creator monetization (微头条创作收益) as of 2024-2025.", "link": "https://www.jiemian.com/article/3061055.html", "sources": [ "https://www.jiemian.com/article/3061055.html", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/1541062.html", "https://medium.com/@actallchinatech/toutiaos-microblogging-platform-weitoutiao-to-take-on-weibo-7df1e5b3896e", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toutiao", "https://baike.toutiao.com/detail/192/200/0" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED genuine ByteDance product, NEW to the list (not an alias of any known product; distinct from 头条搜索/Toutiao Search, Toutiao itself, or the social apps 多闪/飞聊/心图). Launched April 2017 inside Toutiao as a Weibo clone; confirmed by jiemian, AllTechAsia/Medium, and Toutiao's own creator help center. CAVEATS for the dataset maintainer: (1) STATUS IS NOT 'DEAD' — 微头条 is a feature/section embedded ", "descZh": "微头条是字节跳动于2017年4月在今日头条App内推出的一款微博/推特式微博信息流，用户可发布会出现在信息流和个人主页上的短文字/图片动态。它是字节跳动屡次试图在内容平台之上搭建社交网络的尝试之一；它未能撼动新浪微博，其显眼的底栏/二级入口在2019年前后被“取缔”降级，并引发微博发起的一起重大不正当竞争诉讼。它从未作为独立App拆分出来。", "reasonZh": "实际并未关停——它作为一种内容形式/板块存续于今日头条内。它在2019年前后因未能与微博竞争而被边缘化/从专属流量入口降级，且从未成为独立社交产品，但截至2024-2025年该功能仍在运营，并有活跃的创作者变现（微头条创作收益）。", "categoryZh": "微博 / 社交信息流", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "抖音小窝 (Douyin Xiaowo (Douyin Little Nest))", "nameEn": "Douyin Xiaowo (Douyin Little Nest)", "nameZh": "抖音小窝", "aliases": [ "Douyin Xiaowo", "Douyin Little Nest", "抖音仔仔小窝" ], "type": "service", "category": "Metaverse / virtual social space (in-app feature)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2022-10", "dateKilled": "2023", "status": "discontinued", "publisher": "Douyin / Beijing Douyin Information Service Co. (ByteDance / 字节跳动)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance / 字节跳动", "Douyin / 抖音" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "A virtual social space launched inside the Douyin app in October 2022, built for the 抖音仔仔 (Douyin Zizai) 3D avatar system. Users earned 'energy' via check-ins, watching videos, social interaction and tasks to decorate their personal 'nest' and visit friends' rooms — explicitly modeled on Tencent's QQ Xiaowo / Super QQ Show, and framed as Zhang Yiming's renewed bid for metaverse-style social.", "killedReason": "Part of ByteDance's 2022 metaverse-social push (alongside the disbanded standalone app 派对岛/Party Island and the 抖音仔仔 avatar system) that was subsequently de-prioritized amid the broader 2023 metaverse pullback, product homogenization concerns ('a clone of Super QQ Show'), and ByteDance redirecting resources to monetizable businesses (e-commerce, local services). No public source pins an exact discontinuation date.", "link": "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/csj/2022-10-17/doc-imqqsmrp2814215.shtml", "sources": [ "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/csj/2022-10-17/doc-imqqsmrp2814215.shtml", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/1158593", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20221018A0059L00", "https://www.woshipm.com/it/5662781.html", "https://36kr.com/p/1977458167343491" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "CAVEAT: The candidate's two cited sources (cls.cn 1158593, thepaper 16702507) are October-2022 LAUNCH-era articles that actually describe ByteDance INCREASING resource allocation to 抖音小窝 — they do NOT document a shutdown. I could not source an explicit discontinuation date; 'discontinued/shelved' is inferred from its disappearance and the well-documented metaverse pullback. Distinct from already-k", "descZh": "这是2022年10月在抖音App内推出的一个虚拟社交空间，基于“抖音仔仔”3D虚拟形象系统打造。用户通过签到、看视频、社交互动和完成任务赚取“能量”，用以装饰自己的个人“小窝”并造访好友房间——明确对标腾讯的QQ小窝/超级QQ秀，被视为张一鸣对元宇宙式社交的再度押注。", "reasonZh": "它是字节跳动2022年元宇宙社交攻势的一部分（与已解散的独立App派对岛及抖音仔仔虚拟形象系统同期），随后在2023年更大范围的元宇宙退潮、产品同质化质疑（“超级QQ秀的翻版”）以及字节跳动将资源转向可变现业务（电商、本地生活）的背景下被降级。没有公开来源能确定其确切停运日期。", "categoryZh": "元宇宙 / 虚拟社交空间（App内功能）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "轻世界 (Pico Worlds)", "nameEn": "Pico Worlds", "nameZh": "轻世界", "aliases": [ "PICO Worlds", "Pico Light World", "Qingshijie" ], "type": "service", "category": "VR / XR social metaverse (UGC creation platform)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2022-09", "dateKilled": "2022-12", "status": "dead", "publisher": "Pico (北京小鸟看看科技 / Pico Interactive), a ByteDance subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "Pico (小鸟看看)", "ByteDance (字节跳动)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "轻世界 (Pico Worlds) was a self-developed VR social UGC \"metaverse\" app announced by ByteDance's Pico at the Pico 4 launch event in September 2022, positioned as China's answer to Meta's Horizon Worlds — users hand-modeled their own 3D worlds, customized avatars across ~26 dimensions, and socialized, explored, played sports and games together with friends. It ran on the Pico VR platform.", "killedReason": "Weak engagement data (DAU only in the low thousands) led ByteDance/Pico to slim down the 轻世界 team at the end of 2022, cutting investment and keeping only basic features; the lead (Ma Jiedong / 马杰思) was later reassigned to the OS department in 2023, and the product was wound down amid Pico's broader metaverse-social retreat and the Oct/Nov 2023 mass layoffs.", "link": "https://vr.ofweek.com/news/2022-07/ART-815009-8500-30568148.html", "sources": [ "https://vr.ofweek.com/news/2022-07/ART-815009-8500-30568148.html", "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_25027434", "https://www.vrtuoluo.cn/538208.html", "https://www.zhihu.com/question/564945228", "https://www.pingwest.com/a/278287" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED GENUINE and NOT in the known list. isByteDance=true: Pico is a ByteDance subsidiary (acquired 2021 for ~9bn yuan); 轻世界 was Pico's own self-developed software. alreadyKnown=false: distinct from the known Pico hardware entries (Pico 5, Pico VR/Pico Interactive) — this is a software/service layer, not hardware. CAUTION on a look-alike: there is a SEPARATE ByteDance VR-social app, Vyou 微你/微景 ", "descZh": "轻世界是字节跳动旗下Pico在2022年9月Pico 4发布会上公布的一款自研VR社交UGC“元宇宙”App，被定位为中国版的Meta Horizon Worlds——用户可亲手建模自己的3D世界，在约26个维度上自定义虚拟形象，并与好友一起社交、探索、运动和玩游戏。它运行于Pico VR平台。", "reasonZh": "用户活跃度数据疲弱（日活仅数千），促使字节跳动/Pico在2022年底精简轻世界团队，削减投入并仅保留基础功能；负责人马杰思后于2023年被调往操作系统部门，该产品在Pico更大范围的元宇宙社交退潮及2023年10月/11月大规模裁员中被关停。", "categoryZh": "VR / XR社交元宇宙（UGC创作平台）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "维境视讯 (VSCENE)", "nameEn": "VSCENE", "nameZh": "维境视讯", "aliases": [ "VSCENE", "Weijing Shixun", "Weijing", "北京维境视讯信息技术有限公司", "Beijing Weijing Vision Information Technology" ], "type": "service", "category": "VR video livestreaming / broadcast technology (capture, stit", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2016-06", "dateKilled": "2018-02", "status": "merged", "publisher": "Beijing Weijing Vision Information Technology Co., Ltd.; acquired via Beijing Shanxing Technology Co., Ltd. (ByteDance)", "developerEntities": [ "Beijing Weijing Vision Information Technology Co., Ltd. (北京维境视讯信息技术有限公司)", "Beijing Shanxing Technology Co., Ltd. (北京闪星科技有限公司)", "ByteDance / Toutiao (今日头条)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "VSCENE (维境视讯) was a Chinese VR-video startup founded in June 2016 that developed end-to-end VR live-streaming and VOD solutions, including VR video capture/stitching, high-efficiency compression and streaming distribution, with products such as the VliveCam panoramic camera, VLiveStudio software and the V265 4K real-time encoder. In February 2018 it was acquired by ByteDance/Toutiao (via investment entity Beijing Shanxing Technology), marking ByteDance's first foray into VR; its legal representative was changed from founder Wang Yue to ByteDance co-founder Liang Rubo.", "killedReason": "Acquired by ByteDance/Toutiao in Feb 2018 (founder/shareholders exited, control transferred to ByteDance co-founder Liang Rubo) and absorbed into ByteDance's internal VR/video efforts. It never produced a lasting standalone ByteDance-branded consumer VR-livestreaming product; ByteDance's XR strategy was later redefined by its 2021 Pico acquisition.", "link": "https://www.leiphone.com/category/arvr/luJI1VnbTl33DM15.html", "sources": [ "https://www.leiphone.com/category/arvr/luJI1VnbTl33DM15.html", "https://www.newrank.cn/article/detail/6259", "http://www.dvbcn.com/p/60684.html", "https://www.pencilnews.cn/p/17956.html", "https://www.sohu.com/a/224300321_649045" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED GENUINE & NEW. Confirmed ByteDance-owned by 6+ independent sources plus zh.Wikipedia's ByteDance page, which lists 维境视讯 under the Virtual Reality section as \"VR视频直播\" — distinct from Pico. Acquisition: Feb 12, 2018 (business-registration change date) by Toutiao/ByteDance via Beijing Shanxing Technology Co., Ltd.; legal rep changed to ByteDance co-founder Liang Rubo (strong ownership signal", "descZh": "维境视讯（VSCENE）是一家成立于2016年6月的中国VR视频创业公司，研发端到端的VR直播与点播解决方案，包括VR视频采集/拼接、高效压缩和流媒体分发，产品有VliveCam全景相机、VLiveStudio软件和V265 4K实时编码器。2018年2月，它被字节跳动/今日头条（通过投资主体北京闪星科技）收购，标志字节跳动首次涉足VR；其法定代表人由创始人王悦变更为字节跳动联合创始人梁汝波。", "reasonZh": "2018年2月被字节跳动/今日头条收购（创始人/股东退出，控制权移交字节跳动联合创始人梁汝波），并入字节跳动内部VR/视频业务。它从未产出持续存在的字节跳动品牌消费级VR直播产品；字节跳动的XR战略后由2021年收购Pico重新定义。", "categoryZh": "VR视频直播 / 广播技术（采集、拼接）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "大十未来 (Oladance) (Oladance)", "nameEn": "Oladance", "nameZh": "大十未来 (Oladance)", "aliases": [ "大十未来", "Dashi Future", "深圳市大十未来科技有限公司", "Shenzhen Dashi Future Technology", "OWS earbuds", "Ola Friend (successor AI line)" ], "type": "hardware", "category": "Open-ear / OWS (Open Wearable Stereo) headphones & earbuds b", "region": "Global / China", "dateLaunched": "2021", "dateKilled": "2024", "status": "acquired", "publisher": "Shenzhen Dashi Future Technology Co., Ltd. (深圳市大十未来科技有限公司), a wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary since Sep 2024", "developerEntities": [ "Shenzhen Dashi Future Technology Co., Ltd. (深圳市大十未来科技有限公司)", "ByteDance (字节跳动)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Oladance is a Chinese open-ear (OWS, Open Wearable Stereo) audio brand founded in 2021 by ex-Bose executive Li Haoqian and Bose engineers, claiming to be the first to commercialize fully-open OWS earbuds. ByteDance completed 100% acquisition of its corporate entity Shenzhen Dashi Future Technology for ~$50M (reported 3-5亿 RMB) by September 2024, using its team and OWS technology as the basis for ByteDance's first own-brand AI earbuds, Ola Friend (integrated with the Doubao chatbot, launched Oct 2024 in China).", "killedReason": "Not killed. Acquired by ByteDance (100% control, Sep 2024) as a strategic move into AI wearables; the Oladance brand continues to sell products in global retail while its engineering team and OWS tech form the foundation of ByteDance's new Doubao-powered Ola Friend earbuds line.", "link": "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-21/tiktok-parent-bytedance-buys-earbud-maker-for-future-hardware", "sources": [ "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-21/tiktok-parent-bytedance-buys-earbud-maker-for-future-hardware", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-completes-acquisition-of-oladance", "https://cn.technode.com/post/2024-09-03/bytedance-completes-acquisition-of-oladance/", "https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/tiktok-owner-bytedance-unveils-its-first-earbuds-in-china-143507603.html", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/mobile/n/n/2024-09-03/doc-incmvuvs0420121.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Verified ByteDance-owned via Bloomberg, Engadget, Yahoo Finance, Pandaily, Sina, Jiemian, TechNode, IT之家. Corporate entity 深圳市大十未来科技有限公司 exactly matches the 'Dashi Future / 大十未来' alias. Candidate's 'merged' status is imprecise: the Oladance consumer brand is still alive (OWS Pro, OWS 2 sold via Best Buy, Wellbots, uBreakiFix in US/global as of 2025/2026); its tech/team underpin the separate Ola Fr", "descZh": "Oladance 是一家中国开放式（OWS，开放可穿戴立体声）音频品牌，由前 Bose 高管李浩乾与 Bose 工程师团队于 2021 年创立，号称是全球首家将全开放式 OWS 耳机商业化的厂商。字节跳动于 2024 年 9 月前完成对其运营主体深圳大十未来科技的 100% 收购，金额约 5000 万美元（据报道为 3 至 5 亿元人民币），并以其团队和 OWS 技术为基础，打造了字节跳动首款自有品牌 AI 耳机 Ola Friend（集成豆包聊天机器人，2024 年 10 月在中国发布）。", "reasonZh": "并非关停。被字节跳动收购（100% 控股，2024 年 9 月）作为进军 AI 可穿戴设备的战略举措；Oladance 品牌仍在全球零售渠道销售产品，其工程团队和 OWS 技术则成为字节跳动新款豆包驱动 Ola Friend 耳机的基础。", "categoryZh": "开放式 / OWS 开放可穿戴立体声耳机", "regionZh": "全球 / 中国" }, { "name": "豆包 Ola Friend 智能体耳机 (Ola Friend)", "nameEn": "Ola Friend", "nameZh": "豆包 Ola Friend 智能体耳机", "aliases": [ "Ola Friend AI earbuds", "豆包耳机", "Doubao Ola Friend", "OlaFriend" ], "type": "hardware", "category": "AI smart earbuds (open-ear, Doubao voice-agent integrated)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2024-10-10", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "ByteDance (Doubao team; built on acquired Oladance OWS technology). Sold via JD/Tmall in China; official site olafriend.com.", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Doubao (豆包) team", "Oladance (acquired Sept 2024)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Ola Friend is ByteDance's first own-brand AI smart earbuds, launched 10 Oct 2024 at RMB1,199. The open-ear (OWS) design — built on technology from the Oladance earbud brand ByteDance fully acquired in September 2024 — lets users talk to the Doubao LLM voice agent hands-free (information lookup, travel guide, English tutor 'Owen', companionship) without opening a phone.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://technode.com/2024/10/11/bytedance-releases-ola-friend-its-first-ai-smart-earbuds/", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2024/10/11/bytedance-releases-ola-friend-its-first-ai-smart-earbuds/", "https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/tiktok-owner-bytedance-launches-usd169-ai-earbuds-in-china", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3281819/tiktok-owner-bytedance-launches-us170-earbuds-china-push-ai-wearables", "https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/tiktok-owner-bytedance-unveils-its-first-earbuds-in-china-143507603.html", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-completes-acquisition-of-oladance" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely new, distinct from the known 'Doubao' app/model and from Pico hardware. Verified ByteDance ownership via the Oladance acquisition (completed Sept 2024, ~RMB300-500M / ~$50M). Still available as of mid-2026 (official site live, English-tutor agent 'Owen' added May 2025) but commercially modest — ~16k+ units sold on JD/Taobao, below team expectations; 2026 supply-chain reports indicate a 2", "descZh": "Ola Friend 是字节跳动首款自有品牌 AI 智能耳机，于 2024 年 10 月 10 日发布，售价 1199 元人民币。其开放式（OWS）设计基于字节跳动 2024 年 9 月全资收购的 Oladance 耳机品牌技术，让用户无需打开手机即可免手操作与豆包大模型语音助手对话（信息查询、旅行向导、英语外教「Owen」、陪伴等）。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "AI 智能耳机（开放式，集成豆包语音助手）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "Smartisan TNT go（坚果 TNT 显示器 / TNT 扩展本） (Smartisan TNT Go)", "nameEn": "Smartisan TNT Go", "nameZh": "Smartisan TNT go（坚果 TNT 显示器 / TNT 扩展本）", "aliases": [ "Smartisan TNT go", "TNT 显示器", "TNT Monitor", "坚果 TNT 扩展本", "TNT extension display" ], "type": "hardware", "category": "Computer hardware / portable touch monitor (TNT OS extension", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2020-10-20", "dateKilled": "2021-01", "status": "dead", "publisher": "新石实验室 (Xinshi Lab), a ByteDance team/subsidiary formed from the former Hammer Technology (锤子科技 / Smartisan) staff after ByteDance acquired Smartisan patent rights in Jan 2019", "developerEntities": [ "新石实验室 Xinshi Lab", "字节跳动 ByteDance", "(brand) Smartisan / 坚果 Jinguo" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Smartisan TNT go was a 12-inch 2K (2160x1440, 3:2) ten-point touch portable monitor/\"extension notebook\" released on Oct 20, 2020 alongside the Jinguo R2 phone, designed to pair with a TNT-OS phone to deliver a large-screen desktop computing experience. It was developed and sold by ByteDance's Xinshi Lab (the former Smartisan/Hammer team that joined ByteDance in 2019); a wired version sold for 1,999 RMB and a wireless-plus-stylus version for 2,999 RMB.", "killedReason": "In January 2021 ByteDance restructured its hardware arm: Xinshi Lab (the ex-Hammer/Smartisan team) was merged into ByteDance's education-hardware team (the Dali Smart / Dali 大力 group) and explicitly stopped developing Jinguo phones and TNT displays to focus on education. Commercial failure drove the decision — the bundled R2 + TNT Go (\"LKP\" suite) reportedly sold under 1,000 units.", "link": "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2020-10-21/doc-iiznctkc6809001.shtml", "sources": [ "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2020-10-21/doc-iiznctkc6809001.shtml", "https://www.ithome.com/0/514/701.htm", "https://www.yicai.com/news/100806163.html", "https://3c.ycwb.com/2021-01/18/content_1419299.htm", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20210118A0FCLX00" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "VERIFIED GENUINE NEW BYTEDANCE PRODUCT (medium-high confidence). Key disambiguation: there are TWO \"TNT 显示器\" products and only the later one is ByteDance. (1) 坚果 TNT 工作站 (TNT Workstation), a 27-inch 4K touch monitor released May 15, 2018 at 9999 RMB, was PRE-ByteDance Hammer Tech (锤子科技) under Luo Yonghao and largely never mass-shipped — NOT ByteDance. (2) Smartisan TNT go, released Oct 20, 2020, w", "descZh": "Smartisan TNT go 是一款 12 英寸 2K（2160×1440，3:2）十点触控便携显示器/「扩展本」，于 2020 年 10 月 20 日与坚果 R2 手机同步发布，旨在与 TNT-OS 手机配合，提供大屏桌面计算体验。它由字节跳动新石实验室（即 2019 年加入字节跳动的原锤子/Smartisan 团队）开发并销售；有线版售价 1999 元人民币，无线加触控笔版售价 2999 元人民币。", "reasonZh": "2021 年 1 月字节跳动重组硬件部门：新石实验室（原锤子团队）并入大力教育硬件团队，明确停止开发坚果手机和 TNT 显示器，转聚焦教育。商业失败是主因——R2 加 TNT Go（「LKP」套装）据报道销量不足 1000 台。", "categoryZh": "电脑硬件 / 便携触控显示器（TNT 系统扩展）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "大力智慧眼 (Dali Smart Eye)", "nameEn": "Dali Smart Eye", "nameZh": "大力智慧眼", "aliases": [ "Dali Smart Eye", "大力智慧眼", "大力一起学HD (companion app)" ], "type": "hardware", "category": "Education hardware accessory (tablet-to-learning-machine per", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2021-10", "dateKilled": "2022", "status": "dead", "publisher": "北京大力教育科技有限公司 (Beijing Dali Education Technology Co., Ltd.), a wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "大力教育 (Dali Education)", "字节跳动 ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "A low-cost (~RMB99) tablet accessory consisting of a support stand plus a reflective mirror that redirects a tablet's front camera to read materials on the desk. Paired with the companion app \"大力一起学HD,\" it turns an ordinary 7.9–11 inch tablet into a \"learning machine\" with finger word-lookup, point-reading, textbook point-reading, AI homework checking, voice Q&A, and online self-study rooms. It was Dali Education's hardware follow-up to the Smart Homework/Learning Lamp.", "killedReason": "Released in October 2021, just months after China's July 2021 \"double reduction\" (双减) policy crippled the K-12 tutoring industry. ByteDance gutted its Dali Education business with mass layoffs; the product and its companion app are defunct.", "link": "https://www.jiemodui.com/N/128928.html", "sources": [ "https://www.jiemodui.com/N/128928.html", "https://www.chinaventure.com.cn/news/110-20211022-365098.html", "https://edu.sina.com.cn/l/2021-10-21/doc-iktzqtyu2735224.shtml", "http://www.duozhi.com/industry/K12/2021102213018.shtml", "https://www.lanjinger.com/d/169297" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuinely ByteDance and genuinely NEW (distinct from the already-known 大力智能学习灯 Dali Smart Learning Lamp — this is a separate tablet peripheral, not the lamp). HOWEVER, the candidate as submitted is OVER-BROAD and should be scoped to the Smart Eye ONLY. The \"智能音箱 (smart speaker)\" and \"点读笔 (point-read pen)\" components in the candidate are NOT supported by sources: contemporaneous reporting ", "descZh": "一款低价（约 99 元人民币）的平板电脑配件，由一个支撑架加一面反射镜组成，可将平板的前置摄像头转向，读取桌面上的学习材料。配合配套 App「大力一起学 HD」，它能把普通的 7.9 至 11 英寸平板变成一台「学习机」，具备手指查词、指读、课本点读、AI 批改作业、语音问答和在线自习室等功能。这是大力教育继智能作业灯/学习灯之后推出的硬件产品。", "reasonZh": "于 2021 年 10 月发布，距中国 2021 年 7 月「双减」政策重创 K12 课外培训行业仅数月。字节跳动通过大规模裁员收缩大力教育业务；该产品及其配套 App 已停止运营。", "categoryZh": "教育硬件配件（平板转学习机配件）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "TikTok Now", "nameEn": "TikTok Now", "nameZh": "TikTok Now", "aliases": [ "TikTok Now (standalone app)", "TikTok Now (in-app feature)" ], "type": "app", "category": "BeReal-style dual-camera \"authentic moments\" social", "region": "Global (in-app feature in the US; standalone app outside the", "dateLaunched": "2022-09", "dateKilled": "2023-06-27", "status": "dead", "publisher": "TikTok Pte. Ltd. (ByteDance)", "developerEntities": [ "TikTok", "ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "TikTok Now was TikTok's BeReal clone: at a random time each day it prompted users to capture a simultaneous front-and-back-camera photo or 10-second video of an \"authentic\" moment. It launched in September 2022 as an in-app feature in the US and as a standalone app in other regions, and was discontinued on June 27, 2023 — less than a year later.", "killedReason": "Failed to gain traction; BeReal/\"authentic moments\" fad faded fast (BeReal itself saw a reported ~61% user drop). TikTok told users it was \"updating the TikTok experience and discontinuing TikTok Now\" without a specific reason.", "link": "https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/27/tiktok-kills-bereal-clone-tiktok-now-after-less-than-a-year", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/27/tiktok-kills-bereal-clone-tiktok-now-after-less-than-a-year", "https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-is-jumping-off-the-bereal-bandwagon-by-killing-tiktok-now-125023950.html", "https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-discontinues-tiktok-now-bereal-clone/654086/", "https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/19/tiktoks-bereal-clone-is-now-available-as-standalone-app-outside-the-u-s", "https://www.techtimes.com/articles/280788/20220920/tiktoknow-standalone-app-bereal.htm" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely ByteDance: TikTok Now was a TikTok-branded product and ByteDance is TikTok's parent (Engadget names ByteDance as parent). NOT in the known list (which covers TikTok, TikTok Notes, TikTok Lite Rewards, TikTok Music but not TikTok Now). CAUTION on the proposed Chinese name \"抖音时刻 / Douyin Shike\": this appears to be an inaccurate back-translation, not an official name — TikTok Now was a TikT", "descZh": "TikTok Now 是 TikTok 推出的 BeReal 仿制品：每天随机时刻提示用户用前后摄像头同时拍摄一张照片或一段 10 秒视频，记录某个「真实」瞬间。它于 2022 年 9 月推出，在美国作为应用内功能、在其他地区作为独立 App 上线，并于 2023 年 6 月 27 日停运——上线还不到一年。", "reasonZh": "未能获得用户关注；BeReal 式「真实瞬间」热潮迅速退去（BeReal 本身据报道用户流失约 61%）。TikTok 告知用户其正在「更新 TikTok 体验并停用 TikTok Now」，但未给出具体原因。", "categoryZh": "BeReal 式双摄「真实瞬间」社交", "regionZh": "全球（美国为应用内功能，海外为独立 App）" }, { "name": "Tako", "nameEn": "Tako", "nameZh": "Tako", "aliases": [ "TikTok Tako" ], "type": "service", "category": "AI chatbot / in-app search & content-discovery assistant", "region": "Global (initial test Philippines; broad global rollout from ", "dateLaunched": "2023-05", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "TikTok Pte. Ltd. (a ByteDance company); feature built into the TikTok app", "developerEntities": [ "TikTok", "ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Tako is an in-app AI chatbot/search assistant built into TikTok that lets users ask questions in natural language to discover content and get info about the video they're watching. It first appeared as a limited test with select users in the Philippines in May 2023 and was then broadly rolled out globally (including the US) starting February 2026, where it became anchored to the For You feed and began replacing in-video search recommendations.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/25/tiktok-is-testing-an-in-app-ai-chatbot-called-tako/", "sources": [ "https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/25/tiktok-is-testing-an-in-app-ai-chatbot-called-tako/", "https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tiktok-is-testing-an-ai-chatbot-in-the-philippines/", "https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktoks-testing-tako-ai-chatbot-experience-app/651339/", "https://thetab.com/2026/02/06/right-heres-how-to-turn-off-tiktoks-annoying-new-ai-chatbot-called-tako", "https://adtechradar.com/2026/02/06/tiktok-ai-chatbot-tako-expands/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CANDIDATE STATUS IS WRONG. The candidate labeled Tako 'discontinued' (frozen at the May 2023 Philippines test). Skeptical re-search shows the opposite: Tako is ALIVE and actively expanding. After the 2023 Philippines pilot it went quiet, then TikTok widely rolled it out globally (incl. US) in Feb 2026, anchoring it to the For You Page and using it to replace in-video search prompts, with backlash ", "descZh": "Tako 是内置于 TikTok 的应用内 AI 聊天机器人/搜索助手，让用户用自然语言提问以发现内容并获取所观看视频的相关信息。它于 2023 年 5 月首次在菲律宾面向部分用户进行小范围测试，随后自 2026 年 2 月起在全球（包括美国）广泛推出，并锚定在 For You 信息流中，开始取代视频内的搜索推荐。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "AI 聊天机器人 / 应用内搜索与内容发现助手", "regionZh": "全球（初期在菲律宾测试，后全球推广）" }, { "name": "TikTok 高光时刻 (TikTok Top Moments)", "nameEn": "TikTok Top Moments", "nameZh": "TikTok 高光时刻", "aliases": [ "TikTok NFT", "TikTok Top Moments NFT", "TikTok's first creator-led NFT collection" ], "type": "service", "category": "Crypto / Web3 / NFT", "region": "Global", "dateLaunched": "2021-09-30", "dateKilled": "2021-12", "status": "dead", "publisher": "TikTok (ByteDance)", "developerEntities": [ "TikTok", "ByteDance", "Immutable X (blockchain infrastructure partner)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "TikTok Top Moments was TikTok's first-ever (and only) NFT collection, announced Sep 30, 2021, with the first auction Oct 6, 2021. It was meant to feature six \"culturally significant\" TikTok videos as 1/1 NFTs from creators (Lil Nas X, Bella Poarch, Grimes, Brittany Broski, Curtis Roach, Jess Marciante, FNMeka) paired with crypto-native artists (RTFKT, Coin Artist, x0r), minted on Ethereum with limited editions powered by Immutable X (a carbon-neutral L2). In practice only about two of the six planned drops (Curtis Roach's \"Bored in the House,\" which sold for ~$100K, and Jess Marciante's) actually launched before the project was abandoned.", "killedReason": "Project was rushed and collapsed within ~2 months: TikTok could not secure music publishing rights (e.g. Lil Nas X's \"Montero,\" complicated by crypto-royalty payment issues with publishers like Universal Music Publishing Group), Lil Nas X and other marquee names (Bella Poarch, Grimes, Brittany Broski) dropped out, and NFT-community pushback against a big corporation entering Web3 deterred participation. Only ~2 of 6 planned NFTs ever dropped; effectively abandoned by December 2021.", "link": "https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok-launches-first-creator-led-nft-collection-powered-by-immutable-x", "sources": [ "https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok-launches-first-creator-led-nft-collection-powered-by-immutable-x", "https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/tiktok-nfts-lil-nas-x-bella-poarch-grimes-1266048/", "https://decrypt.co/82298/tiktok-ethereum-nfts-lil-nas-x-gary-vee-grimes", "https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/tiktok-nft-lil-nax-x-grimes-bella-poarch-brittany-broski-1235023340/", "https://www.billboard.com/pro/plugged-in-tiktok-nft-brands/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED GENUINE and NEW. (1) isByteDance: TRUE — announced and published directly by TikTok via its official Newsroom; TikTok is a ByteDance product, so this is a first-party ByteDance/TikTok-branded Web3 initiative, not a third party reusing TikTok content. (2) alreadyKnown: FALSE — distinct from the core \"TikTok\" app and \"TikTok Notes\"; this was a separately-branded NFT collection/service not c", "descZh": "TikTok Top Moments 是 TikTok 首个（也是唯一一个）NFT 系列，于 2021 年 9 月 30 日宣布，首场拍卖在 2021 年 10 月 6 日举行。该系列原计划将六段「具有文化意义」的 TikTok 视频作为创作者（Lil Nas X、Bella Poarch、Grimes、Brittany Broski、Curtis Roach、Jess Marciante、FNMeka）的独版 NFT，与加密原生艺术家（RTFKT、Coin Artist、x0r）合作推出，在以太坊上铸造，限量版由碳中和的 L2 网络 Immutable X 提供支持。实际上，六个计划中的发售只有约两个真正上线（Curtis Roach 的《Bored in the House》，售价约 10 万美元，以及 Jess Marciante 的作品），项目随后即被放弃。", "reasonZh": "项目仓促上马，约两个月内崩盘：TikTok 无法取得音乐版权（Lil Nas X 的《Montero》因加密版税问题受阻），多位大牌退出，NFT 社区抵触大公司进军 Web3。六个 NFT 仅约两个上线，至 2021 年 12 月实质放弃。", "categoryZh": "加密货币 / Web3 / NFT", "regionZh": "全球" }, { "name": "TikTok工作室 (TikTok Studio)", "nameEn": "TikTok Studio", "nameZh": "TikTok工作室", "aliases": [ "TikTok工作室", "TikTok Creator Studio (informal)" ], "type": "app", "category": "Creator content-creation & management companion app", "region": "Global (removed from US App Store Jan 19, 2025 under foreign", "dateLaunched": "2024-05-24", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "TikTok Pte. Ltd. / TikTok Inc. (ByteDance subsidiary); Android package id com.ss.android.tt.creator", "developerEntities": [ "TikTok Pte. Ltd.", "TikTok Inc.", "ByteDance Ltd." ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "TikTok Studio is TikTok's standalone creation-and-management companion app (also available on web at tiktok.com/tiktokstudio), letting creators film, edit, upload, schedule, manage, monetize and analyze their TikTok content. Announced May 24, 2024, it replaced the in-app Creator tools and the legacy Creator Center web app.", "killedReason": "Not killed globally. It was pulled from the US App Store on Jan 19, 2025 (alongside 10 other ByteDance apps on Apple's official removal list) under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act; unlike TikTok itself it was not clearly restored, and reports (9to5Mac, March 2026) indicate ByteDance companion apps remained geoblocked in the US. The product remains live and actively developed worldwide.", "link": "https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/helping-creators-bring-creativity-to-life-with-tiktok-studio", "sources": [ "https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/helping-creators-bring-creativity-to-life-with-tiktok-studio", "https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/18/apple-lists-all-apps-it-removed-alongside-tiktok-in-the-u-s", "https://support.apple.com/en-kz/121596", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ss.android.tt.creator", "https://musically.com/2024/05/28/tiktok-launches-a-new-tiktok-studio-tool-for-its-creators/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from already-known entries (TikTok, TikTok Music, TikTok Notes, TikTok Lite Rewards, CapCut) — this is the creator dashboard/companion app. Verified on Apple's full 11-app removal list (TechCrunch enumeration: TikTok, TikTok Studio, TikTok Shop Seller Center, CapCut, Lemon8, Hypic, Lark Team Collaboration, Lark Rooms Display, Lark Rooms Controller, Gauth, Marvel Snap). Note: 'TikTok Shop ", "descZh": "TikTok Studio 是 TikTok 的独立创作与管理配套 App（也可在 tiktok.com/tiktokstudio 网页端使用），让创作者拍摄、剪辑、上传、排期、管理、变现和分析其 TikTok 内容。它于 2024 年 5 月 24 日发布，取代了应用内的创作者工具和旧版 Creator Center 网页应用。", "reasonZh": "并非全球关停。2025 年 1 月 19 日依据《保护美国人免受外国对手控制应用法案》与另 10 款字节应用一同从美国 App Store 下架；与 TikTok 不同，它未被明确恢复，报道称字节配套应用在美国仍被地理封锁。全球范围仍在线并持续开发。", "categoryZh": "创作者内容创作与管理配套 App", "regionZh": "全球（2025 年 1 月 19 日因外国对手法案从美国 App Store 下架）" }, { "name": "PicPic", "nameEn": "PicPic", "nameZh": "PicPic", "aliases": [ "PicPic AI", "PicPic AI Replica", "PicPic: AI photo editor / AI avatar" ], "type": "app", "category": "AI photo editor / AI avatar (AI \"Replica\") app — overseas", "region": "Overseas (international; not mainland China)", "dateLaunched": "2024-03", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "SPRING (SG) PTE. LTD. (Singapore; UEN 202325236K, incorporated 2023-06-28) — ByteDance overseas shell entity. App Store id6475074973; Google Play com.butterfly.pegasus", "developerEntities": [ "SPRING (SG) PTE. LTD.", "ByteDance Ltd." ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "PicPic is a ByteDance overseas AI photo/avatar app that lets users generate stylized \"AI Replica\" portraits and AI cosplay images from a few selfies (e.g. putting the user into kimonos, suits, fantasy roles, or \"parallel-universe\" scenes). It is published through ByteDance's Singapore shell SPRING (SG) PTE. LTD. — the same entity behind Trae, Cici/Dola, and AnyDoor — and is named alongside Cici and Gauth in coverage of ByteDance's 2024 generative-AI app expansion.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://apps.apple.com/id/app/picpic/id6475074973", "sources": [ "https://apps.apple.com/id/app/picpic/id6475074973", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.butterfly.pegasus", "https://appstorespy.com/developers/play/SPRING(SG)PTELTD/7721551072398243123", "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2024-10-15/in-depth-chinese-ai-app-makers-look-overseas-for-their-big-break-102245701.html", "https://www.aicerts.ai/news/bytedances-quiet-ai-app-launch-investment-risks-growth/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuine, new, ByteDance-owned — KEEP. Confirmed via publisher SPRING (SG) PTE. LTD., the same Singapore shell that publishes Trae, Cici/Dola, and AnyDoor (the SPRING(SG) Google Play developer page lists exactly TRAE, PicPic, AnyDoor, Dola). Caixin Global (2024-10-15) explicitly names PicPic as a ByteDance product (\"photo editor PicPic\"), as does AI CERTs. NOT alreadyKnown: distinct from H", "descZh": "PicPic 是字节跳动的海外 AI 照片/头像应用，让用户用几张自拍生成风格化的「AI 分身」肖像和 AI 角色扮演图像（例如把用户置入和服、西装、奇幻角色或「平行宇宙」场景中）。它通过字节跳动的新加坡壳公司 SPRING (SG) PTE. LTD. 发布——这也是 Trae、Cici/Dola 和 AnyDoor 背后的同一主体——并与 Cici 和 Gauth 一同在字节跳动 2024 年生成式 AI 应用扩张的报道中被提及。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "AI 照片编辑 / AI 头像（AI「分身」）应用——海外", "regionZh": "海外（国际市场，非中国大陆）" }, { "name": "(no official Chinese name; overseas counterpart of 番茄小说 Fanqie Novel) (Fizzo)", "nameEn": "Fizzo", "nameZh": "(no official Chinese name; overseas counterpart of 番茄小说 Fanqie Novel)", "aliases": [ "Fictum", "Fizzo Novel", "Fizzo - Novel & Drama", "Fizzo - Read Good Novels" ], "type": "app", "category": "Web-novel / serialized-fiction reading & writing platform (o", "region": "Indonesia / Southeast Asia / global (English + Bahasa Indone", "dateLaunched": "2020-11", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "Poligon Pte. Ltd. (Singapore-based ByteDance subsidiary; UEN 202042231M, incorporated 30 Dec 2020). Google Play package: e.books.reading.apps", "developerEntities": [ "Poligon Pte. Ltd.", "ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Fizzo (originally launched as Fictum in late 2020, rebranded ~2021) is ByteDance's overseas serialized web-novel reading and writing platform, the international counterpart to its Chinese free-novel app Fanqie Novel. Published by ByteDance's Singapore subsidiary Poligon Pte. Ltd., it is a top-ranked novel app in Indonesia (50M+ downloads) and recruits authors via exclusive/non-exclusive contracts that Writer Beware flagged in 2021 as having punishing word-count and gag-clause terms.", "killedReason": "Not shut down. Removed from the US App Store / Google Play on ~19 Jan 2025 under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), as one of the Poligon/ByteDance apps (alongside Melolo) covered by the law; remains live in other markets.", "link": "https://writerbeware.blog/2021/07/23/bad-contract-alert-bytedances-fizzo-fictum-reading-writing-app/", "sources": [ "https://writerbeware.blog/2021/07/23/bad-contract-alert-bytedances-fizzo-fictum-reading-writing-app/", "https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/science/us-ban-on-bytedance-apps-here-s-what-you-can-t-access/story", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-takes-short-dramas-global-with-melolo-launch", "https://www.sgpbusiness.com/company/Poligon-Pte-Ltd", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=e.books.reading.apps" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from Fanqie Novel (a separate already-known China product) — Fizzo is the overseas-branded sibling under Poligon. Sister apps under Poligon include Melolo (short drama) and MyTopia Books; a Japan-focused spinoff \"FizzoToon\" also exists. Candidate's claims (ex-Fictum, Poligon/Singapore, #1 novel app in Indonesia, 50M+ downloads, US removal Jan 2025) all corroborated. Note: Apple's narrower", "descZh": "Fizzo（最初于 2020 年底以 Fictum 之名推出，约 2021 年更名）是字节跳动的海外连载网络小说阅读与写作平台，是其国内免费小说应用番茄小说的国际版对应产品。它由字节跳动新加坡子公司 Poligon Pte. Ltd. 发布，是印尼排名顶尖的小说应用（下载量超 5000 万），并通过独家/非独家合约招募作者——这些合约曾在 2021 年被 Writer Beware 指出含有苛刻的字数要求和禁言条款。", "reasonZh": "并未关停。约于 2025 年 1 月 19 日依据《保护美国人免受外国对手控制应用法案》（PAFACA）从美国 App Store / Google Play 下架，作为该法案涵盖的 Poligon/字节跳动应用之一（与 Melolo 一同）；在其他市场仍在线运营。", "categoryZh": "网络小说 / 连载小说阅读与写作平台（海外）", "regionZh": "印尼 / 东南亚 / 全球（英语 + 印尼语）" }, { "name": "无独立中文名（媒体直称 \"Mytopia 小说应用\"） (Mytopia (MyTopia - My Utopia of Novels / MyTopia Books))", "nameEn": "Mytopia (MyTopia - My Utopia of Novels / MyTopia Books)", "nameZh": "无独立中文名（媒体直称 \"Mytopia 小说应用\"）", "aliases": [ "MyTopia - My Utopia of Novels", "MyTopia Books", "MyTopia Dramas", "Mytopia 小说" ], "type": "app", "category": "Web-novel / e-reading app (overseas, paid English stories)", "region": "US / UK / global overseas (English-language)", "dateLaunched": "2021-11-11", "dateKilled": "2024-20", "status": "rebranded", "publisher": "POLIGON PTE. LTD. (Singapore reg. 202042231M, incorporated 2020-12-30) — confirmed ByteDance subsidiary; same entity publishes Fizzo, Fizzo Toon, Melolo", "developerEntities": [ "POLIGON PTE. LTD.", "ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Mytopia was ByteDance's overseas English-language web-novel reading app, launched Nov 11, 2021 (US/UK) under its Singapore subsidiary Poligon Pte. Ltd. After Fizzo dropped English content in 2022, those English stories were migrated to Mytopia as paid stories, making it ByteDance's dedicated paid English fiction platform.", "killedReason": "The novels product never gained traction (under ~5k monthly downloads by 2024) and ByteDance pivoted to overseas short dramas: the very same app shell (iOS App Store ID 1587676837 and Android package ebooks.reader.mytopia) was rebranded from \"MyTopia - My Utopia of Novels\" to \"MyTopia Dramas\" and then to \"LimeShorts - Short Dramas & TV,\" ending Mytopia as a web-novel brand.", "link": "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-bets-on-web-novel-business-launching-mytopia-application-overseas", "sources": [ "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-bets-on-web-novel-business-launching-mytopia-application-overseas", "https://www.3elife.net/Art/internet/202111/22/67352.html", "https://www.ruancan.com/p/76327.html", "https://fizzo.org/article/7136067911071825921", "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/limeshorts-short-dramas-tv/id1587676837" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CANDIDATE'S \"live\" STATUS IS STALE — corrected to \"rebranded.\" The Mytopia novels brand no longer exists as such; both its iOS (1587676837) and Android (ebooks.reader.mytopia) listings are now \"LimeShorts - Short Dramas & TV,\" ByteDance's overseas short-drama app under Poligon. Note that the candidate's two cited sources are weak/mismatched: the kr-asia link is about Melolo (different app), and th", "descZh": "Mytopia 是字节跳动的海外英语网络小说阅读应用，于 2021 年 11 月 11 日在美国/英国推出，隶属其新加坡子公司 Poligon Pte. Ltd.。在 Fizzo 于 2022 年放弃英语内容后，这些英语小说被迁移到 Mytopia 作为付费内容，使其成为字节跳动专门的英语付费小说平台。", "reasonZh": "小说业务始终未获关注（2024 年月下载量不足约 5000），字节跳动转向海外短剧：同一应用外壳先后更名为 MyTopia Dramas 和 LimeShorts - Short Dramas & TV，终结了 Mytopia 作为网络小说品牌的历史。", "categoryZh": "网络小说 / 电子阅读应用（海外，付费英语故事）", "regionZh": "美国 / 英国 / 全球海外（英语）" }, { "name": "FizzoToon（无独立官方中文名） (FizzoToon)", "nameEn": "FizzoToon", "nameZh": "FizzoToon（无独立官方中文名）", "aliases": [ "Fizzo Toon", "Fizzotoon" ], "type": "app", "category": "Comic / webtoon / manga reading app", "region": "Japan (primary), with SE Asia/multi-market positioning", "dateLaunched": "2022-02", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "POLIGON PTE. LTD. (Singapore) — ByteDance's Singapore-based international-content subsidiary; Android package com.fizzotoon.android.app", "developerEntities": [ "POLIGON PTE. LTD.", "ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "FizzoToon is a comic/webtoon/manga reading app ByteDance launched in Japan around February–March 2022, offering 10+ genres (fantasy, romance, BL, etc.). It is the comics-vertical sibling of ByteDance's Fizzo web-novel app, both published by POLIGON PTE. LTD., ByteDance's Singapore-based international-content subsidiary.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-takes-short-dramas-global-with-melolo-launch", "sources": [ "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-takes-short-dramas-global-with-melolo-launch", "https://www.baijing.cn/article/37882", "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-launches-comic-app-in-japan", "https://inf.news/en/comics/0adfb194bdaf5450eda35a9e523ffaaa.html", "https://apkgk.com/com.fizzotoon.android.app" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Verified via fresh search. Linchpin source: kr-asia states \"Poligon, ByteDance's Singapore-based subsidiary\" manages Fizzo and its spinoffs, MyTopia Books, and Melolo. FizzoToon's app-store publisher is POLIGON across listings (apkgk/apkcombo/Softonic). Chinese press (baijing.cn, GameLook) report ByteDance's FizzoToon Japan launch alongside its ~$42M / ~480億KRW / ~252M RMB investment in Korea's Ki", "descZh": "FizzoToon 是字节跳动约于 2022 年 2 至 3 月在日本推出的漫画/网络漫画/日漫阅读应用，提供 10 多种题材（奇幻、爱情、BL 等）。它是字节跳动 Fizzo 网络小说应用的漫画垂直分支，二者均由字节跳动新加坡国际内容子公司 POLIGON PTE. LTD. 发布。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "漫画 / 网络漫画 / 日漫阅读应用", "regionZh": "日本（主要），兼具东南亚 / 多市场定位" }, { "name": "Melolo (Melolo - Short Dramas & Reels)", "nameEn": "Melolo (Melolo - Short Dramas & Reels)", "nameZh": "Melolo (Melolo - Short Dramas & Reels)", "aliases": [ "Melolo - Short Dramas & Reels", "Melolo Short Drama", "Melolo短剧App", "Melo.lo" ], "type": "app", "category": "Short-drama (micro-drama) vertical-video streaming app", "region": "SE Asia-led (Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam dominant), glob", "dateLaunched": "2024-11", "dateKilled": "2025-01-19", "status": "banned", "publisher": "POLIGON (Poligon Pte. Ltd., Singapore) — ByteDance overseas subsidiary; Android package com.worldance.drama (Worldance, ByteDance's overseas content arm)", "developerEntities": [ "Poligon Pte. Ltd. (Singapore)", "Worldance (ByteDance overseas content arm)", "ByteDance Ltd." ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Melolo is ByteDance's first overseas free short-drama (micro-drama) streaming app, launched mid-November 2024 in SE Asia (Indonesia, Philippines) and modeled on its China-domestic app Hongguo Short Drama. It is operated by Poligon, a Singapore-based ByteDance subsidiary, and offers vertically formatted, ad-supported/free short dramas with built-in subtitles across romance, revenge, thriller and fantasy genres.", "killedReason": "Removed from the US App Store and Google Play on Jan 19, 2025 under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), the same ByteDance app sweep that hit TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8, etc. The app itself was NOT shut down — it remains live and actively updated (last update Jan 21, 2026) outside the US, with 65M+ downloads concentrated in SE Asia.", "link": "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-takes-short-dramas-global-with-melolo-launch", "sources": [ "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-takes-short-dramas-global-with-melolo-launch", "https://technode.com/2025/01/07/bytedance-to-expand-its-micro-drama-business-with-launch-of-melolo-app/", "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3293769/bytedances-latest-export-after-tiktok-gripping-chinese-short-dramas", "https://www.newsweek.com/tiktok-ban-list-other-apps-bytedance-china-2017339", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250107A03Z1V00" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely ByteDance and genuinely NEW (not in the known list). It is the overseas counterpart to Hongguo Short Drama (which IS in the known list) but is a separate, distinctly-branded product, so it should be kept. Recommend classifying as US-banned rather than dead, since it is alive ex-US/Canada (updated Jan 2026, 65M+ downloads, top-15 short-drama app by downloads in SE Asia). Note: related Byt", "descZh": "Melolo 是字节跳动首款海外免费短剧（微短剧）流媒体应用，于 2024 年 11 月中旬在东南亚（印尼、菲律宾）推出，参照其国内应用红果短剧打造。它由字节跳动新加坡子公司 Poligon 运营，提供竖屏、广告支持/免费的短剧，内置字幕，题材涵盖爱情、复仇、惊悚和奇幻。", "reasonZh": "2025 年 1 月 19 日依据 PAFACA 法案从美国 App Store 和 Google Play 下架，与 TikTok、CapCut 等同属一波字节应用清理。应用本身并未关停——美国以外仍在线并更新，下载量超 6500 万，主要在东南亚。", "categoryZh": "短剧（微短剧）竖屏视频流媒体应用", "regionZh": "东南亚主导（印尼、菲律宾、越南为主），全球" }, { "name": "泡泡心选 / 爪爪心选 / 果冻心选 (Paopao Xinxuan / Zhuazhua Xinxuan / Guodong Xinxuan (Bubble / Paw Paw / Jelly Heart Select))", "nameEn": "Paopao Xinxuan / Zhuazhua Xinxuan / Guodong Xinxuan (Bubble / Paw Paw / Jelly Heart Select)", "nameZh": "泡泡心选 / 爪爪心选 / 果冻心选", "aliases": [ "Paopao Xinxuan", "Zhuazhua Xinxuan", "Guodong Xinxuan", "Bubble Heart Select", "Paw Paw Heart Select", "Jelly Heart Select" ], "type": "service", "category": "Interactive drama / short drama (IAP mini-programs)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2024-01", "dateKilled": "2024-06-17", "status": "dead", "publisher": "巨量引擎 (Ocean Engine), ByteDance's commercialization/advertising department", "developerEntities": [ "巨量引擎 / Ocean Engine (Juliang Engine)", "字节跳动 / ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "A trio of in-app-purchase (IAP) interactive-drama mini-programs embedded inside the Douyin app, developed by ByteDance's commercialization unit Ocean Engine (巨量引擎) and launched in early 2024 to test paid interactive/branching short-drama content monetized via in-app \"看点\" credits and memberships. All three were shut down together on June 17, 2024 — less than half a year after launch — with unused credit balances and remaining membership time refunded to users' original payment methods.", "killedReason": "Weak traction/monetization: even the best-performing (泡泡心选) showed only ~24,000 recent users while 果冻心选 had ~1,068; unclear profit model and high content cost led ByteDance to exit the IAP interactive-drama format while keeping its free short-drama bets (Hongguo, Pipixia Lite).", "link": "https://m.163.com/dy/article/J4J8IC8E0511QVBU.html", "sources": [ "https://m.163.com/dy/article/J4J8IC8E0511QVBU.html", "https://www.donews.com/news/detail/4/4297144.html", "https://36kr.com/p/2823915888937225", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240617A091HI00", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/11296387.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Verified from scratch across multiple independent primary Chinese sources (36kr, DoNews, NetEase/163, Tencent News/QQ, Jiemian). All three product names, the ByteDance/Ocean Engine ownership, the June 17 2024 shutdown date, and the refund policy are consistently confirmed. NOT a look-alike: 巨量引擎 (Ocean Engine) is a genuine ByteDance unit. NOT already-known: distinct from 皮皮虾 (Pipixia) and 红果短剧 (Ho", "descZh": "三款内嵌于抖音 App 的内购（IAP）互动剧小程序，由字节跳动商业化部门巨量引擎开发，于 2024 年初推出，用于测试通过应用内「看点」积分和会员变现的付费互动/分支短剧内容。三款产品于 2024 年 6 月 17 日一同关停——距上线还不到半年——未使用的积分余额和剩余会员时长按原支付方式退还给用户。", "reasonZh": "关注度/变现能力不足：即便表现最好的泡泡心选，近期用户也仅约 24000 人，而果冻心选仅约 1068 人；盈利模式不清晰加上内容成本高昂，促使字节跳动退出内购互动剧形式，同时保留其免费短剧布局（红果、皮皮虾 Lite）。", "categoryZh": "互动剧 / 短剧（内购小程序）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "If Yooou（字节跳动快时尚独立站） (If Yooou)", "nameEn": "If Yooou", "nameZh": "If Yooou（字节跳动快时尚独立站）", "aliases": [ "IfYooou", "If Yooou 独立站" ], "type": "service", "category": "Cross-border fast-fashion e-commerce (women's apparel DTC in", "region": "Europe", "dateLaunched": "2022", "dateKilled": "2022", "status": "discontinued", "publisher": "ByteDance (字节跳动) — cross-border e-commerce / overseas business unit; operating legal entity not publicly disclosed in sources", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "If Yooou was ByteDance's third cross-border fast-fashion attempt: a women's apparel DTC \"independent site\" (独立站) targeting Europe (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, plus Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Finland), positioned as a low-price/high-service Shein and Temu rival with most items priced roughly GBP 5–53. After launching in 2022, monthly traffic collapsed from ~351,000 visits in June to ~5,000 by October 2022 and the site was effectively abandoned, never refreshing into winter/Black Friday inventory.", "killedReason": "Failed to gain traction against Shein/Temu; traffic collapsed ~99% within months and ByteDance let the standalone fast-fashion site wither, consistent with its earlier Dmonstudio (shut after ~3 months, Feb 2022) and Fanno (dissolved ~April 2022) failures. ByteDance refocused cross-border e-commerce on TikTok Shop.", "link": "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-launches-womens-fashion-retail-platform-if-yooou/", "sources": [ "https://pandaily.com/bytedance-launches-womens-fashion-retail-platform-if-yooou/", "https://pandaily.com/bytedances-womenswear-retail-platform-if-yooou-faces-crisis/", "https://en.pingwest.com/a/10861", "https://daoinsights.com/news/bytedance-launches-womens-fashion-retail-platform-if-yooou/", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/8185896.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from Dmonstudio and Fanno — sources explicitly call it ByteDance's third fast-fashion attempt following those two. Candidate's stated \"~Mar 2022\" launch is imprecise; closer to H1–mid 2022 with the main coverage wave in Sept–Oct 2022. Operating legal entity/shell not disclosed in available reporting. Genuinely new vs. the known list; recommend INCLUDE.", "descZh": "If Yooou 是字节跳动第三次跨境快时尚尝试：一个面向欧洲（英、法、德、意、西，以及比利时、爱尔兰、瑞典、芬兰）的女装 DTC「独立站」，定位为低价/高服务的 Shein 和 Temu 竞争对手，多数商品定价约 5 至 53 英镑。2022 年上线后，月访问量从 6 月的约 35.1 万次暴跌至 10 月的约 5000 次，该站基本被弃置，再未更新冬季/黑五库存。", "reasonZh": "未能在与 Shein/Temu 的竞争中获得关注；数月内流量暴跌约 99%，字节跳动任由这个独立快时尚站点衰落，延续了此前 Dmonstudio（约 3 个月即关停）和 Fanno（2022 年 4 月解散）的失败。跨境电商重心重新聚焦于 TikTok Shop。", "categoryZh": "跨境快时尚电商（女装 DTC 独立站）", "regionZh": "欧洲" }, { "name": "心动外卖 (Xindong Waimai (Heartbeat Takeout))", "nameEn": "Xindong Waimai (Heartbeat Takeout)", "nameZh": "心动外卖", "aliases": [ "Xindong Waimai", "Heartbeat Takeout", "心动外卖小程序", "Douyin food delivery beta" ], "type": "service", "category": "Food delivery / Local life services", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2021-07", "dateKilled": "2021-12", "status": "discontinued", "publisher": "北京字跳网络技术有限公司 (Beijing Zitiao Network Technology Co., Ltd.) — ByteDance subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "北京字跳网络技术有限公司 (Beijing Zitiao Network Technology Co., Ltd.)", "ByteDance", "Douyin / 抖音" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "心动外卖 (Heartbeat Takeout) was ByteDance/Douyin's standalone food-delivery beta, launched as an internal test inside the Douyin app in July 2021 under the slogan \"心动外卖，吃你所爱\" (Heartbeat Takeout, eat what you love). The mini-program software was copyright-registered (reg. no. 2021SR1481161, approved 2021-10-11) by Beijing Zitiao Network Technology Co., Ltd., a ByteDance subsidiary; it aimed to onboard restaurant merchants directly and possibly run as an aggregator.", "killedReason": "Standalone build-out failed — Douyin lacked its own delivery/courier infrastructure and merchant onboarding was thin; the company publicly denied formal takeout plans, suspended internal testing, and removed the mini-program by end of 2021. ByteDance later abandoned the in-house model and pivoted to a delivery partnership with Alibaba's Ele.me (announced August 2022).", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20211014A05DJJ00", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20211014A05DJJ00", "https://m.163.com/dy/article/GM95CHIN0511CPVM.html", "https://m.163.com/dy/article/GGLC1TEA05198SDK.html", "https://www.guancha.cn/ChanJing/2021_07_15_598642.shtml", "https://36kr.com/p/1311268092723721" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Confirmed ByteDance (registrant Beijing Zitiao, a ByteDance entity). Distinct from the broader Douyin local-life / e-commerce business in the known list. Minor correction to candidate note: the Ele.me partnership pivot was announced August 2022, not December 2021 — the standalone effort died ~Dec 2021, the Ele.me pivot followed in 2022. Earlier related local-life precursor: \"心动餐厅\" (Heartbeat Resta", "descZh": "心动外卖是字节跳动/抖音的独立外卖业务测试版，于 2021 年 7 月作为抖音 App 内的内部测试推出，口号为「心动外卖，吃你所爱」。该小程序软件由字节跳动子公司北京字跳网络技术有限公司进行了著作权登记（登记号 2021SR1481161，2021 年 10 月 11 日核准）；其目标是直接招募餐饮商家入驻，并可能作为聚合平台运营。", "reasonZh": "独立搭建以失败告终——抖音缺乏自有的配送/骑手基础设施，商家入驻量薄弱；公司公开否认有正式外卖计划，暂停了内部测试，并在 2021 年底前下线了该小程序。字节跳动后来放弃了自营模式，转而与阿里巴巴旗下饿了么达成配送合作（2022 年 8 月宣布）。", "categoryZh": "外卖 / 本地生活服务", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "抖音超市 (Douyin Supermarket)", "nameEn": "Douyin Supermarket", "nameZh": "抖音超市", "aliases": [ "Douyin Chaoshi", "抖音超市", "Douyin Supermarket" ], "type": "service", "category": "Self-operated grocery / FMCG e-commerce (instant retail)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2023-01-28", "dateKilled": "2025-07", "status": "merged", "publisher": "Douyin E-commerce (抖音电商), a ByteDance business unit", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "抖音电商 (Douyin E-commerce)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "抖音超市 (Douyin Supermarket) was ByteDance's self-operated online grocery/FMCG channel inside Douyin E-commerce, modeled on JD Supermarket and Tmall Supermarket, using ByteDance-built warehouses and a mixed self-operated/consignment fulfillment model with same-day delivery. After city pilots in mid-2022, it launched nationally around the 2023 Lunar New Year (~Jan 28, 2023); in July 2025 Douyin announced it would fold the supermarket business into its instant-retail service 小时达 (Xiaoshida, \"Delivery within an Hour\") to focus on quick commerce.", "killedReason": "Standalone self-operated supermarket positioning was absorbed/reshaped into Douyin's instant-retail (quick commerce) service Xiaoshida (小时达) in July 2025, as ByteDance judged on-demand local delivery the more sustainable path than centralized-fulfillment traditional online retail.", "link": "https://technode.com/2023/01/28/douyin-launches-online-supermarket-service-report/", "sources": [ "https://technode.com/2023/01/28/douyin-launches-online-supermarket-service-report/", "https://finance.sina.cn/tech/2023-01-29/detail-imycvxxr0367642.d.html", "https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3400775216859521", "https://kr-asia.com/douyin-folds-supermarket-unit-into-xiaoshida-in-quick-commerce-push", "https://daoinsights.com/news/douyin-supermarket-goes-live-foraying-into-fmcg-battlefield/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from the already-known 抖音电商/抖店 (Douyin E-commerce) and Douyin Pay — this is a specific self-operated grocery sub-product. Not dead outright but merged/reshaped under instant retail in 2025. Candidate's claimed \"Oct 2022 city pilots\" is slightly off (sources indicate mid-2022 pilots); national launch Jan 2023 is correct.", "descZh": "抖音超市是字节跳动在抖音电商内的自营生鲜/快消品渠道，仿照京东超市和天猫超市，采用字节跳动自建仓储和自营/代销混合的履约模式，提供当日达。在 2022 年年中开展城市试点后，约在 2023 年农历新年（约 1 月 28 日）全国上线；2025 年 7 月抖音宣布将把超市业务并入其即时零售服务「小时达」，以聚焦即时零售。", "reasonZh": "独立自营超市的定位于 2025 年 7 月被并入/重塑为抖音即时零售（快商业）服务「小时达」，因为字节跳动判断按需本地配送比中心化履约的传统线上零售更具可持续性。", "categoryZh": "自营生鲜 / 快消品电商（即时零售）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "福巷海购 (Fuxiang Haigou)", "nameEn": "Fuxiang Haigou", "nameZh": "福巷海购", "aliases": [ "Fuxiang Haigou", "福巷海购" ], "type": "service", "category": "Cross-border import e-commerce", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2020-06", "dateKilled": "2021", "status": "dead", "publisher": "北京空间变换科技有限公司 (Beijing Space Change/Transformation Technology Co., Ltd.), a wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "北京空间变换科技有限公司 (Beijing Space Change/Transformation Technology Co., Ltd.)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "福巷海购 (Fuxiang Haigou) was ByteDance's early cross-border IMPORT e-commerce experiment for Chinese consumers — a \"cross-border boutique discount mall\" mini-program carrying foreign brands from a dozen-plus countries, embedded inside the Douyin and Toutiao apps. It launched around June 2020 via wholly-owned subsidiary 北京空间变换科技有限公司 (which filed multiple \"福巷海购\" trademarks that month), but reporting in late 2020 described the mini-program as still in testing and not functioning normally, and it was quietly abandoned as ByteDance pivoted its cross-border focus to export plays (Magellan/麦哲伦XYZ, Fanno).", "killedReason": "Never reached a fully working public launch — repeatedly reported as in-testing/non-functional; ByteDance shifted its cross-border e-commerce priority to export businesses (Fanno, TikTok Shop) and shelved the standalone import mini-program.", "link": "https://www.sohu.com/a/425675247_100233806", "sources": [ "https://www.sohu.com/a/425675247_100233806", "https://www.cifnews.com/article/79698", "https://www.cifnews.com/article/84984", "https://m.ebrun.com/414313.html", "https://news.pedaily.cn/202012/464021.shtml" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "VERIFIED GENUINE & NEW. isByteDance=true: attribution to ByteDance via wholly-owned subsidiary 北京空间变换科技有限公司 is consistent across sohu (republished from 雨果网/cifnews), cifnews articles 79698 & 84984, and ebrun (亿邦动力); the subsidiary filed multiple 福巷海购 trademarks in June 2020. alreadyKnown=false: distinct from Fanno, Dmonstudio, Douyin E-commerce, and TikTok Shop — this is an IMPORT-focused cross-bo", "descZh": "福巷海购是字节跳动早期面向中国消费者的跨境进口电商试验——一个内嵌于抖音和今日头条 App 的「跨境精品折扣商城」小程序，售卖来自十多个国家的国外品牌。它约于 2020 年 6 月通过全资子公司北京空间变换科技有限公司上线（该公司当月申请了多个「福巷海购」商标），但 2020 年底的报道称该小程序仍在测试中且无法正常运行，随着字节跳动将跨境重心转向出口业务（麦哲伦 XYZ、Fanno），它被悄然放弃。", "reasonZh": "始终未实现完全可用的公开上线——多次被报道处于测试中/无法正常运行；字节跳动将跨境电商优先级转向出口业务（Fanno、TikTok Shop），搁置了这个独立进口小程序。", "categoryZh": "跨境进口电商", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "内涵漫画 / 搞笑囧图（字节跳动早期\"内涵系\"内容应用矩阵） (Neihan Comics / Gaoxiao Jiongtu (early ByteDance single-purpose content apps))", "nameEn": "Neihan Comics / Gaoxiao Jiongtu (early ByteDance single-purpose content apps)", "nameZh": "内涵漫画 / 搞笑囧图（字节跳动早期\"内涵系\"内容应用矩阵）", "aliases": [ "Neihan Manhua", "Neihan Comics", "Gaoxiao Jiongtu", "Hilarious Goofy Pics", "搞笑囧图", "美女相册" ], "type": "app", "category": "Early content-seeding / single-purpose content apps (comics,", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2012", "dateKilled": "2013-20", "status": "dead", "publisher": "北京字节跳动科技有限公司 (Beijing ByteDance Technology Co.) / 北京字节跳动网络技术有限公司", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd." ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "A cluster of roughly a dozen single-theme content apps that ByteDance launched in its founding year (2012) — each pairing one topic with one content format (e.g. 内涵漫画 = humor + comics, 搞笑囧图 = humor + images, 好看图片 = photos, 我是吃货 = food, 美女相册 = beauty photos, 早晚必读的话 = quotes/reading) — built to validate the company's recommendation algorithm and to acquire and funnel users toward Toutiao via a cross-promotion system. Only Toutiao and 内涵段子 grew into major products; the rest were quietly retired within a few years.", "killedReason": "Experimental MVPs to test the recommendation engine and feed users into Toutiao; once Toutiao (Aug 2012) and 内涵段子 became the breakout products, the other single-purpose apps lost their purpose and were quietly discontinued/merged.", "link": "https://www.opp2.com/78521.html", "sources": [ "https://www.opp2.com/78521.html", "https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/ByteDance/985720", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ByteDance", "https://www.huxiu.com/article/4810826.html", "https://www.9k9k.com/app/4954.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED GENUINE and NEW. Multiple independent sources confirm ByteDance made ~12 \"内涵系\" (Neihan-series) single-purpose content apps in 2012 to test the recommendation algorithm and funnel users to Toutiao. The English Baidu Baike/Wikipedia-aligned source explicitly names \"Neihan Comics\" (内涵漫画), \"Haokan Pictures\" (好看图片), and \"I am a Foodie\" (我是吃货) as ByteDance's early market-testing apps; Chinese s", "descZh": "字节跳动在创立之年（2012 年）推出的约十几款单一主题内容应用集群——每款将一个话题与一种内容形式配对（如内涵漫画＝幽默＋漫画，搞笑囧图＝幽默＋图片，好看图片＝照片，我是吃货＝美食，美女相册＝美女照片，早晚必读的话＝语录/阅读）——旨在验证公司的推荐算法，并通过交叉推广系统获取用户并导流至今日头条。最终只有今日头条和内涵段子成长为主力产品，其余在几年内被悄然下线。", "reasonZh": "作为测试推荐引擎并向今日头条导流的实验性 MVP；当今日头条（2012 年 8 月）和内涵段子成为爆款产品后，其他单一用途应用失去存在意义，被悄然停用/合并。", "categoryZh": "早期内容种子 / 单一用途内容应用（漫画等）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "番茄畅听音乐版 (Fanqie Changting Music Edition / Tomato Audiobook Music Edition)", "nameEn": "Fanqie Changting Music Edition / Tomato Audiobook Music Edition", "nameZh": "番茄畅听音乐版", "aliases": [ "番茄畅听音乐版", "Tomato Audiobook Music Edition", "番茄音乐（原畅听音乐）", "Fanqie Yinyue (formerly Changting Music)", "番茄音乐 (successor name)" ], "type": "app", "category": "Music / free audio streaming", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2022-11", "dateKilled": "2025-11", "status": "rebranded", "publisher": "北京臻鼎科技有限公司 (Beijing Zhending Technology Co., Ltd.); Android package com.xs.fm.lite — part of ByteDance's Fanqie/番茄 \"xs.fm\" app family, marketed as \"抖音旗下\" (a Douyin product)", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 ByteDance", "北京臻鼎科技有限公司 (Beijing Zhending Technology Co., Ltd.)", "番茄/Fanqie product line (抖音/Douyin)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "ByteDance's free, ad/coin-supported music streaming app, launched mid-November 2022 as a music-focused spin-off of the 番茄畅听 (Tomato Audiobook) platform. It paired Douyin-trending songs, square-dance music and oldies with audiobooks/novels, used a TikTok-style up/down swipe feed, and offered a \"listen to earn coins\" rewards system redeemable for cash — explicitly targeting lower-tier (下沉) markets, in contrast to ByteDance's more youth-oriented 汽水音乐 (Soda Music). In November 2025 ByteDance upgraded/renamed it into a standalone app, 番茄音乐 (Tomato Music), so the original \"番茄畅听音乐版\" branding was retired.", "killedReason": "Not shut down — the product itself survives. The \"番茄畅听音乐版\" name/branding was retired in November 2025 when ByteDance upgraded and re-launched the app as an independent product, 番茄音乐 (Tomato Music, \"原畅听音乐\"), with a refreshed free+ads model and TikTok-style recommendation feed.", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20221118A08MCG00", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20221118A08MCG00", "https://finance.sina.cn/2022-11-15/detail-imqmmthc4667156.d.html", "https://36kr.com/p/3671655534896007", "https://36kr.com/p/2009866462356869", "https://sj.qq.com/appdetail/com.xs.fm.lite" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from the already-known \"番茄畅听 Fanqie Changting\" audiobook app (package com.xs.fm): this is the music-edition spin-off (package com.xs.fm.lite). The successor name 番茄音乐 (Tomato Music) is also NOT in the known list. Skeptical check: developer of record is shell entity 北京臻鼎科技有限公司, but the app self-describes as \"抖音旗下\", shares the ByteDance Fanqie \"xs.fm\" package namespace, and is repeatedly id", "descZh": "字节跳动的免费、广告/金币支持的音乐流媒体应用，于 2022 年 11 月中旬作为番茄畅听平台的音乐版分支推出。它将抖音热门歌曲、广场舞音乐和老歌与有声书/小说结合，采用 TikTok 式上下滑动信息流，并提供可兑换现金的「听歌赚金币」奖励系统——明确瞄准下沉市场，与字节跳动更面向年轻人的汽水音乐形成对比。2025 年 11 月字节跳动将其升级/更名为独立应用番茄音乐，「番茄畅听音乐版」的品牌由此退役。", "reasonZh": "并未关停——产品本身存续。「番茄畅听音乐版」的名称/品牌于 2025 年 11 月退役，当时字节跳动将该应用升级并重新发布为独立产品番茄音乐（「原畅听音乐」），采用焕新的免费＋广告模式和 TikTok 式推荐信息流。", "categoryZh": "音乐 / 免费音频流媒体", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "开言英语 (OpenLanguage)", "nameEn": "OpenLanguage", "nameZh": "开言英语", "aliases": [ "OpenLanguage", "Kaiyan English", "开言", "潘吉Jenny告诉你 (origin podcast)" ], "type": "app", "category": "Adult English audio/dialogue-learning app (online education)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2012", "dateKilled": "2023", "status": "discontinued", "publisher": "Bytedance Pte. Ltd (Apple App Store seller); operating entity 北京点点看看科技有限公司 / formerly 上海随训通电子科技有限公司 (100% ByteDance-controlled)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "今日头条 (Toutiao, acquirer)", "大力教育 (Dali Education)", "北京点点看看科技有限公司", "上海随训通电子科技有限公司 (pre-acquisition entity)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "OpenLanguage (开言英语) is an adult English-learning app built around scenario-based audio dialogues hosted by North American native speakers, originating from founder Jenny's long-running podcast 《潘吉Jenny告诉你》 (started 2012). ByteDance acquired it in a confidential full buyout completed April 11, 2018 and folded it into its 大力教育 (Dali Education) arm; after the 2021 双减 education crackdown it was scaled back and effectively wound down around late 2023.", "killedReason": "Casualty of ByteDance's education-business retreat after the July 2021 双减 (double-reduction) crackdown and heavy losses at Dali Education; consumer complaints and reputation issues meant it never became a core product, and by Nov 2023 it had stopped meaningful operation (no logins, recording disabled, courses no longer updated, hosts' contracts not renewed).", "link": "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/401322183", "sources": [ "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/401322183", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/openlanguage/id1497663562?l=en-GB", "https://www.zhihu.com/question/560937056", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20211025A07LRS00", "https://finance.jrj.com.cn/tech/2019/12/24153828579451.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from already-known 汤圆英语/Tangyuan English: OpenLanguage was an ACQUIRED audio-dialogue product (entity 北京点点看看科技有限公司), whereas Tangyuan English was an in-house July-2019 video+AI app under a different entity. Apple App Store seller entity reads literally 'Bytedance Pte. Ltd', and Android package is com.openlanguage.kaiyan. Note status is fuzzy: app shell was still listed/downloadable in 202", "descZh": "开言英语是一款面向成人的英语学习应用，围绕由北美母语者主持的情景音频对话构建，源自创始人 Jenny 长期运营的播客《潘吉 Jenny 告诉你》（始于 2012 年）。字节跳动于 2018 年 4 月 11 日完成保密全资收购，将其并入大力教育板块；2021 年双减教育整顿后，它被收缩，约在 2023 年底实质停运。", "reasonZh": "字节跳动在 2021 年 7 月双减整顿后退出教育业务、大力教育巨额亏损的牺牲品；消费者投诉和口碑问题使其从未成为核心产品，到 2023 年 11 月已停止实质运营（无法登录、录音功能禁用、课程不再更新、主持人合约未续签）。", "categoryZh": "成人英语音频/对话学习应用（在线教育）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "aiKID", "nameEn": "aiKID", "nameZh": "aiKID", "aliases": [ "AIKID", "比特智学英语", "北美外教录播课" ], "type": "app", "category": "Kids English EdTech (AI recorded-course online English)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2018", "dateKilled": "2019", "status": "dead", "publisher": "Beijing Bitwise Smart Technology Co., Ltd. (北京比特智学科技有限公司), 100% held by Beijing Flashstar Technology Co., Ltd. (闪星科技) — a wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary; same corporate vehicle as GoGoKid", "developerEntities": [ "北京比特智学科技有限公司 (Beijing Bitwise Smart Technology Co., Ltd.)", "北京闪星科技有限公司 (Beijing Flashstar Technology Co., Ltd.)", "字节跳动 ByteDance" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "aiKID was ByteDance's AI-powered online children's English-learning app launched in late 2018. Rather than live tutoring, it played pre-recorded North-American-teacher lessons paired with AI features (adaptive learning, speech recognition, attention modeling, post-class reports) to create a cheaper \"pseudo-live\" experience (~10 yuan/class) aimed at lower-tier-city elementary students — explicitly positioned as differentiated, downmarket competition to ByteDance's premium 1-on-1 live product GoGoKid.", "killedReason": "Failed to gain market traction; the app went un-updated within months of launch and its team/operation was effectively absorbed into GoGoKid by around April 2019. It died well before the 2021 \"double reduction\" education crackdown — so it was an early-failure/merge casualty, not a 2021-retrenchment shutdown.", "link": "https://edu.sina.com.cn/l/2018-12-07/doc-ihprknvt5238705.shtml", "sources": [ "https://edu.sina.com.cn/l/2018-12-07/doc-ihprknvt5238705.shtml", "http://www.duozhi.com/company/201812078041.shtml", "https://www.sohu.com/a/231922829_114778", "https://technode.com/2019/04/23/gogokid-layoff-beijing-gov/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely new and not in the known list. Distinct from GoGoKid (which IS known): GoGoKid = premium 1-on-1 LIVE North American teachers, ~90-130 yuan/class, ages 4-12; aiKID = recorded/AI pseudo-live lessons, ~10 yuan/class, elementary grades (Sina cites grades 1-6 with PEP textbook versions). Both ran under the same shell company (比特智学/闪星科技). CORRECTION to candidate note: aiKID died ~2019 by faili", "descZh": "aiKID 是字节跳动于 2018 年底推出的 AI 驱动在线少儿英语学习应用。它不采用真人直播授课，而是播放预先录制的北美教师课程，并搭配 AI 功能（自适应学习、语音识别、专注度建模、课后报告），打造更便宜的「伪直播」体验（约 10 元/节课），瞄准下沉城市的小学生——明确定位为字节跳动高端 1 对 1 直播产品 GoGoKid 的差异化、下沉竞品。", "reasonZh": "未能获得市场关注；该应用在上线数月内即停止更新，其团队/运营约在 2019 年 4 月被实质并入 GoGoKid。它远在 2021 年「双减」教育整顿之前就已消亡——属于早期失败/合并的牺牲品，而非 2021 年收缩中的关停。", "categoryZh": "少儿英语教育科技（AI 录播课在线英语）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "AI学 (AI Xue (AI学))", "nameEn": "AI Xue (AI学)", "nameZh": "AI学", "aliases": [ "学霸君 To-B / B端业务", "Xueba Jun To-B", "学霸君 AI学", "AI Xue smart education platform" ], "type": "service", "category": "AI smart-education / school SaaS (learning analytics, handwr", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2018", "dateKilled": "2024", "status": "alive", "publisher": "ByteDance / 大力教育 (Dali Education)", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "大力教育 (Dali Education)", "上海谦问万答吧云计算科技有限公司 (Xueba Jun parent, pre-acquisition)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "AI学 (AI Xue) is the To-B / B-end smart-education SaaS platform originally developed by EdTech startup 学霸君 (Xueba Jun), using AI-based learning analytics and smart handwriting-recognition pens to digitize students' handwritten work on teachers' iPads; it was deployed in 200+ schools. ByteDance acquired Xueba Jun's To-B business (the AI学 product, ~30% of Xueba Jun revenue) around July–September 2018, beating out TAL/Good Future, and absorbed the team into what became 大力教育 (Dali Education). After the 2021 双减 crackdown forced Dali out of domestic K9 tutoring, AI学 was repositioned as a smart-education platform and continued to be listed in ByteDance's education portfolio through 2024.", "killedReason": "Not discontinued. The acquired To-B AI学 platform survived the 2021 双减 (double-reduction) crackdown by pivoting from K12 tutoring to smart-education/teacher-training/hardware, and remains part of ByteDance/Dali Education's education portfolio. (Distinct: the separate C-end 学霸君 consumer brand — 学霸君拍照搜题 app and 学霸君1对1 online tutoring — was NOT acquired by ByteDance; it stayed with founder Zhang Kaile and went bankrupt/collapsed in December 2020.)", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231108A05WD800", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231108A05WD800", "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_8467337", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20201231/herald/bae2605610fcf54041dce56a5ea5165c_zaker.html", "http://www.eeo.com.cn/2024/0220/637761.shtml", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/10810529.html" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "CANDIDATE FRAMING IS PARTLY INACCURATE. (1) The ByteDance-owned asset is the To-B product \"AI学\" (AI Xue), not the \"学霸君\" brand itself. The consumer 学霸君 (photo-answer app + 学霸君1对1) was NOT ByteDance's — it stayed with founder 张凯磊/Zhang Kaile and went bankrupt Dec 2020 (Hefei ops taken over by 51Talk). Do NOT list consumer 学霸君 as a ByteDance product — that would be a false positive. (2) Candidate's s", "descZh": "AI 学是一个面向 B 端的智慧教育 SaaS 平台，最初由教育科技创业公司学霸君开发，利用基于 AI 的学习分析和智能手写识别笔，将学生的手写作业数字化呈现到教师的 iPad 上；它已部署于 200 多所学校。字节跳动约在 2018 年 7 至 9 月收购了学霸君的 To-B 业务（即 AI 学产品，约占学霸君营收的 30%），击败了好未来，并将团队并入后来的大力教育。2021 年双减整顿迫使大力退出国内 K9 培训后，AI 学被重新定位为智慧教育平台，并在字节跳动的教育业务组合中持续列示至 2024 年。", "reasonZh": "并未停运。被收购的 To-B 产品 AI 学从 K12 培训转向智慧教育/教师培训/硬件，挺过 2021 年双减，至今仍属字节/大力教育业务组合。（需区分：C 端学霸君品牌未被字节收购，留在创始人张凯磊手中，2020 年 12 月破产。）", "categoryZh": "AI 智慧教育 / 校园 SaaS（学习分析、手写识别）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "极课大数据 (Jike Big Data)", "nameEn": "Jike Big Data", "nameZh": "极课大数据", "aliases": [ "Jike Dashuju", "极课AI", "极客大数据 (misspelling)", "EI教育智能系统", "Jiangsu Qusu Education (operating entity)" ], "type": "service", "category": "K-12 in-school big-data / precision-teaching analytics platf", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2014-10", "dateKilled": "2021", "status": "discontinued", "publisher": "Operating entity: 江苏曲速教育科技有限公司 (Jiangsu Qusu Education Technology Co., Ltd.); controlling shareholder 北京比特智学科技有限公司 (Beijing Bitwise Zhixue Technology Co., Ltd., a ByteDance subsidiary / aiKID operator", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "北京比特智学科技有限公司 (Beijing Bitwise Zhixue Technology)", "江苏曲速教育科技有限公司 (Jiangsu Qusu Education Technology)", "大力教育 (Dali Education)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "极课大数据 was a K-12 in-school big-data precision-teaching platform (its \"EI\" intelligent education system used image recognition and analytics to manage homework, exams and teaching data across 3,500+ schools reaching 5.7M+ teachers/students/parents). ByteDance invested in November 2019 via its subsidiary Beijing Bitwise Zhixue (aiKID), taking 60.37% control, then raised its stake to roughly 70% in December 2020 by acquiring Ziguang Xueda's 9.63% holding, folding it into ByteDance's Dali Education in-school education line.", "killedReason": "China's July 2021 \"double reduction\" (双减) K-12 policy crackdown devastated ByteDance's education unit; Dali Education conducted mass layoffs and shut down K12 products in August 2021, and the standalone in-school big-data business was curtailed/wound down. Founder Li Kejia left ByteDance in 2022. (The big-data/teacher capability was reported to feed into the teacher platform 潭水源/Tanshuiyuan.)", "link": "https://www.jiemian.com/article/3706117.html", "sources": [ "https://www.jiemian.com/article/3706117.html", "http://www.duozhi.com/EduInformatization/201911229483.shtml", "http://www.duozhi.com/industry/insight/2020120911436.shtml", "https://www.chinaventure.com.cn/news/110-20191122-350409.html", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%9E%81%E8%AF%BE%E5%A4%A7%E6%95%B0%E6%8D%AE/20842015" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "isByteDance confirmed via multiple independent sources: ByteDance subsidiary Beijing Bitwise Zhixue (北京比特智学, the aiKID operator) became a shareholder on 2019-11-18 with 60.37%, legal rep changed from founder 李可佳 to ByteDance investment head 严授, then raised to ~70% in Dec 2020 by buying Ziguang Xueda's (紫光学大) 9.6271% stake for RMB 52.858M. NOT a look-alike: the \"极客大数据\" seen in one ChinaVenture head", "descZh": "极课大数据是一个 K12 校内大数据精准教学平台（其「EI」智能教育系统利用图像识别和数据分析来管理作业、考试和教学数据，覆盖 3500 多所学校，触达 570 多万名教师/学生/家长）。字节跳动于 2019 年 11 月通过其子公司北京比特智学（aiKID）投资，取得 60.37% 控股权，随后在 2020 年 12 月通过收购紫光学大 9.63% 的持股将股份提升至约 70%，并将其并入字节跳动大力教育的校内教育业务线。", "reasonZh": "中国 2021 年 7 月「双减」K12 政策整顿重创了字节跳动的教育部门；大力教育进行大规模裁员并在 2021 年 8 月关停 K12 产品，独立的校内大数据业务被收缩/清退。创始人李轲佳于 2022 年离开字节跳动。（其大数据/教师能力据报道并入了教师平台潭水源。）", "categoryZh": "K12 校内大数据 / 精准教学分析平台", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "潭水源 (Tanshuyuan)", "nameEn": "Tanshuyuan", "nameZh": "潭水源", "aliases": [ "Tanshuyuan", "潭水源教师社区", "Tanshuyuan Teacher Community", "谭水源 (common typo)" ], "type": "app", "category": "Education / Teacher-service & teaching-research community (p", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2022-02", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "极课(北京)教育科技有限公司 (Jike (Beijing) Education Technology Co., Ltd.) — App Store/Play package com.bytedance.wfp; under Dali Education / 大力创新科技(北京)有限公司, wholly owned by ByteDance", "developerEntities": [ "极课(北京)教育科技有限公司 (Jike (Beijing) Education Technology Co., Ltd.)", "大力教育 (Dali Education)", "大力创新科技(北京)有限公司 (Dali Innovation Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.)", "字节跳动 (ByteDance)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "潭水源 (Tanshuyuan) is a public-welfare teacher-service and teaching-research community app launched by ByteDance's Dali Education in early 2022, providing K-12 teachers with quality teaching resources, customized training, collaborative online teaching research, and topic-based discussion forums. It was unveiled alongside ByteDance's formal exit from consumer K-12 tutoring (GOGOKID, 你拍一/NPY, 清北小班/Qingbei, 汤圆英语) following China's \"double reduction\" policy, and pivots Dali Education toward in-school/teacher-support services.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://www.dalijiaoyu.com/zh/services/tsy", "sources": [ "https://www.dalijiaoyu.com/zh/services/tsy", "https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/%E6%BD%AD%E6%B0%B4%E6%BA%90/id1601408181", "https://sj.qq.com/appdetail/com.bytedance.wfp", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7123989.html", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2022-02-21/doc-imcwipih4500229.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: genuine, ByteDance-owned, NEW (not in known list). App Store/Tencent-store publisher is 极课(北京)教育科技有限公司 with package com.bytedance.wfp (strong ownership signal); Jike is the 极课大数据 team ByteDance acquired, under Dali Education -> 大力创新科技(北京)有限公司, wholly owned by ByteDance. Confirmed on Dali Education's own official site (dalijiaoyu.com/zh/services/tsy). CORRECTION to candidate: status is ALI", "descZh": "潭水源是字节跳动大力教育于 2022 年初推出的一款公益性教师服务与教研社区应用，为 K12 教师提供优质教学资源、定制化培训、协同在线教研以及主题讨论论坛。它与字节跳动正式退出消费级 K12 培训（GOGOKID、你拍一、清北小班、汤圆英语）同步亮相，标志着大力教育转向校内/教师支持服务。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "教育 / 教师服务与教研社区（公益）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "Ai学 (AI学) (AI Xue (Ai Study))", "nameEn": "AI Xue (Ai Study)", "nameZh": "Ai学 (AI学)", "aliases": [ "Aixue", "AI Xue", "AI Study" ], "type": "service", "category": "In-school AI learning analytics / adaptive learning (B-end e", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2016", "dateKilled": "2021", "status": "merged", "publisher": "ByteDance / Dali Education (大力教育); originally Xuebajun (上海谦问万答吧云计算科技有限公司)", "developerEntities": [ "学霸君 (Xuebajun) — original developer", "字节跳动 ByteDance / 大力教育 Dali Education — owner since Sept 2018" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Ai学 (AI学) is a B-end, in-school AI learning-analytics and adaptive-learning platform — using big data, AI problem-solving and OCR handwriting recognition to provide personalized teaching/learning solutions for education regulators, schools, teachers, students and parents. Originally built by Xuebajun (学霸君) and covering 200+ schools, its toB business was acquired by ByteDance in September 2018 and later folded into the Dali Education (大力教育) brand alongside the separately-invested 极课大数据 (Jike Big Data).", "killedReason": "B-end/in-school edtech business scaled back after China's July 2021 \"双减\" (double reduction) K-12 crackdown; product folded into the 大力教育 (Dali Education) brand and effectively dormant. Not a standalone consumer product.", "link": "https://www.qbitai.com/2020/10/19520.html", "sources": [ "https://www.qbitai.com/2020/10/19520.html", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20201105/herald/99159f3d35b4a3a455bb52ac2ac90cf3_ths.html", "http://www.eeo.com.cn/2024/0220/637761.shtml", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/3706117.html", "http://www.duozhi.com/EduInformatization/201911229483.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Verified ByteDance-owned and genuinely missing from the known list. Distinct from 极课大数据 (Jike Big Data) — both are in-school products ByteDance brought in, but they are separate, and neither is in the known list. Also distinct from the known 大力智能学习灯 (lamp), 大力课堂, GoGoKid, 清北网校, 瓜瓜龙, and from the separate 2024 product 河马爱学 (Hippo Love Learning / Hema Aixue), which surfaced during this verification ", "descZh": "Ai 学是一个面向 B 端的校内 AI 学习分析与自适应学习平台——利用大数据、AI 解题和 OCR 手写识别，为教育主管部门、学校、教师、学生和家长提供个性化的教/学解决方案。它最初由学霸君开发，覆盖 200 多所学校，其 toB 业务于 2018 年 9 月被字节跳动收购，后并入大力教育品牌，与单独投资的极课大数据并列。", "reasonZh": "B 端/校内教育科技业务在中国 2021 年 7 月「双减」K12 整顿后被收缩；产品并入大力教育品牌并实质处于休眠状态。并非独立的消费级产品。", "categoryZh": "校内 AI 学习分析 / 自适应学习（B 端教育）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "清北小班 (Qingbei Xiaoban)", "nameEn": "Qingbei Xiaoban", "nameZh": "清北小班", "aliases": [ "Qingbei Xiaoban", "清北小班" ], "type": "service", "category": "K-12 online small-class live tutoring", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2020-08", "dateKilled": "2022-02-18", "status": "dead", "publisher": "ByteDance / Dali Education (大力教育)", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "大力教育 (Dali Education)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "清北小班 (Qingbei Xiaoban) was a ByteDance/Dali Education K-12 online tutoring app launched in August 2020 that used a small-class (≤25 students) live, interactive teaching model to bring premium Beijing teaching resources to primary and middle school students (Chinese, math, English) in lower-tier cities. It was distinct from the separately-acquired large-class product 清北网校 (Qingbei Online School), sharing only the \"清北\" brand.", "killedReason": "Shut down by ByteDance amid China's July 2021 \"双减\" (double-reduction) policy that banned for-profit, capital-backed K-12 academic tutoring. It ceased service by end of 2021 and was one of four Dali Education businesses (alongside GogoKid, 你拍一/NPY, and 汤圆英语/Tangyuan English) whose shutdown was officially announced on Feb 18, 2022.", "link": "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_16785544", "sources": [ "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_16785544", "https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20220221A04MAW00", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/4827990.html", "https://news.zol.com.cn/750/7502948.html", "https://www.iyiou.com/news/202008131006743" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: CONFIRMED genuine, distinct, missing ByteDance product. Independently re-verified via multiple primary sources. (1) isByteDance=true: launched by ByteDance's Dali Education in Aug 2020; confirmed by jiemian, IT之家, iyiou, ZOL. (2) alreadyKnown=false: genuinely distinct from the listed 清北网校 (Qingbei Online School) — 清北网校 was acquired May 2019 as a LARGE-class K12 product; 清北小班 was a separat", "descZh": "清北小班是字节跳动/大力教育于 2020 年 8 月推出的一款 K12 在线辅导应用，采用小班（≤25 名学生）直播互动教学模式，将北京的优质教学资源带给下沉城市的中小学生（语文、数学、英语）。它与单独收购的大班产品清北网校不同，二者仅共用「清北」品牌。", "reasonZh": "在中国 2021 年 7 月「双减」政策（禁止营利性、资本支持的 K12 学科培训）下被字节跳动关停。它于 2021 年底前停止服务，是大力教育四项业务之一（与 GogoKid、你拍一、汤圆英语并列），其关停于 2022 年 2 月 18 日正式宣布。", "categoryZh": "K12 在线小班直播辅导", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "河马爱学（更名为豆包爱学） (Hippo Aixue (renamed Doubao Aixue))", "nameEn": "Hippo Aixue (renamed Doubao Aixue)", "nameZh": "河马爱学（更名为豆包爱学）", "aliases": [ "Hippo Aixue", "Doubao Aixue", "河马爱学", "豆包爱学", "Hema Aixue" ], "type": "app", "category": "AI education / homework-help app", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2024-01", "dateKilled": "2024-09", "status": "rebranded", "publisher": "上海仁静信息技术有限公司 (Shanghai Renjing Information Technology Co.), controlled by 北京比特智学科技有限公司 — a ByteDance/Dali Education subsidiary", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 ByteDance", "大力教育 Dali Education", "大力教育 ZERO 团队 (ZERO team)", "上海仁静信息技术有限公司 Shanghai Renjing Information Technology", "北京比特智学科技有限公司 Beijing Bite Zhixue Technology" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "河马爱学 (Hippo Aixue) was an AI-powered homework-help / study app launched by ByteDance's Dali Education (大力教育) ZERO team in January 2024, targeting K-12 students with photo-based question answering, homework/mental-math/essay grading and Q&A. After the ZERO team merged into the Doubao team in H1 2024, the app was rebranded 豆包爱学 (Doubao Aixue) in September 2024 — the first app to carry the Doubao brand name — and folded into ByteDance's Doubao AI product matrix.", "killedReason": "The 河马爱学 brand was retired during a business restructuring: the Dali Education ZERO team was merged into the Doubao team in the first half of 2024, and the app was rebranded to 豆包爱学 (Doubao Aixue) and absorbed into the Doubao product matrix in September 2024. The product itself continues to operate under the new Doubao branding.", "link": "https://36kr.com/p/2937295848544898", "sources": [ "https://36kr.com/p/2937295848544898", "https://www.ithome.com/0/794/002.htm", "https://www.pingwest.com/w/298151", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/2024-09-06/doc-incnfawq4750952.shtml", "http://www.duozhi.com/industry/insight/2024090916584.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from the already-known 豆包/Doubao chatbot and from already-known Dali Education products (大力课堂, GoGoKid, 瓜瓜龙, 清北网校, 学浪, etc.) — this is a separate, sourced AI-education app. The 河马爱学 brand was killed/absorbed (qualifies for the dataset as a rebrand/merger), while the underlying product lives on as 豆包爱学 with continued investment (added 豆包老师/识万物 features through 2025). App Store developer 上海", "descZh": "河马爱学是字节跳动大力教育 ZERO 团队于 2024 年 1 月推出的一款 AI 驱动的作业辅导/学习应用，面向 K12 学生，提供拍照答题、作业/口算/作文批改和问答功能。在 ZERO 团队于 2024 年上半年并入豆包团队后，该应用于 2024 年 9 月更名为豆包爱学——成为首款冠以豆包品牌名的应用——并并入字节跳动的豆包 AI 产品矩阵。", "reasonZh": "河马爱学品牌在一次业务重组中退役：大力教育 ZERO 团队于 2024 年上半年并入豆包团队，该应用于 2024 年 9 月更名为豆包爱学并并入豆包产品矩阵。产品本身在新的豆包品牌下继续运营。", "categoryZh": "AI 教育 / 作业辅导应用", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "百科名医网 (Baike Mingyi (Baike Famous Doctors))", "nameEn": "Baike Mingyi (Baike Famous Doctors)", "nameZh": "百科名医网", "aliases": [ "Baike Mingyi", "Baike Mingyiwang", "Baike Famous Doctors", "百科名医", "baikemingyi.com" ], "type": "service", "category": "Medical reference / health science content (online medical e", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2010-05", "dateKilled": "2024-01-31", "status": "merged", "publisher": "百科名医网（北京）科技有限公司 (acquired by 北京字节跳动 / ByteDance, legal rep changed to ByteDance exec)", "developerEntities": [ "百科名医网（北京）科技有限公司", "字节跳动 ByteDance", "小荷健康 / Xiaohe Health" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "An authoritative online medical encyclopedia / health-science content platform, founded May 2010, that held China's largest independent-copyright medical knowledge graph and was the sole designated website for the National Health Commission's authoritative medical popularization project. ByteDance fully acquired it in May 2020 (~RMB 500M) to seed its health business, then rebranded/upgraded it to 小荷医典 (Xiaohe Medical Encyclopedia) in early 2021; the original 百科名医网 site was reported to have ceased operating on Jan 31, 2024, with its five co-founders and original team having departed.", "killedReason": "Acquired by ByteDance (2020) and folded into its 小荷 health business — rebranded to 小荷医典 in early 2021; original site/brand wound down (reported ceased Jan 31, 2024) as ByteDance's standalone internet-healthcare push faltered and content/operations shifted toward Douyin (mini-program, health content, OTC drug live-selling). Original founding team departed.", "link": "https://www.jiemian.com/article/4409899.html", "sources": [ "https://www.jiemian.com/article/4409899.html", "https://m.jiemian.com/article/10759874.html", "https://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2020-08-13/doc-iivhvpwy0766226.shtml", "https://www.cls.cn/detail/1589308", "http://www.eeo.com.cn/2024/0204/634926.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely ByteDance-owned via full 2020 acquisition; corroborated by Jiemian, Sina Tech, Caixin (财联社), and Jingji Guancha. DISTINCT from the already-known \"小荷健康 Xiaohe Health\": 百科名医网 was a pre-existing (2010) independent company/website acquired by ByteDance with its own brand identity, later rebranded to 小荷医典 (which is the encyclopedia arm under the Xiaohe Health umbrella). It is closely related ", "descZh": "一个权威的在线医学百科/健康科普内容平台，创立于 2010 年 5 月，拥有中国最大的独立版权医学知识图谱，并且是国家卫健委权威医学科普项目的唯一指定网站。字节跳动于 2020 年 5 月将其全资收购（约 5 亿元人民币）以孵化其健康业务，随后在 2021 年初将其更名/升级为小荷医典；原百科名医网网站据报道已于 2024 年 1 月 31 日停止运营，其五位联合创始人和原班团队均已离开。", "reasonZh": "被字节跳动收购（2020 年），并入其小荷健康业务——2021 年初更名为小荷医典；原网站/品牌被清退（据报道 2024 年 1 月 31 日停运），因字节跳动独立互联网医疗的推进受挫，内容/运营转向抖音（小程序、健康内容、OTC 药品直播带货）。原创始团队离职。", "categoryZh": "医学参考 / 健康科普内容（在线医学百科）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "小荷医典 (Xiaohe Yidian (Xiaohe Medical Encyclopedia))", "nameEn": "Xiaohe Yidian (Xiaohe Medical Encyclopedia)", "nameZh": "小荷医典", "aliases": [ "Xiaohe Yidian", "Xiaohe Medical Encyclopedia", "Xiaohe Medical Dictionary", "百科名医 (predecessor)", "Baike Mingyi (predecessor brand)" ], "type": "service", "category": "Medical-knowledge / health science-popularization content pl", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2021-01-30", "dateKilled": "2023", "status": "merged", "publisher": "字节跳动 / ByteDance (北京字节跳动 / Beijing Douyin / Xiaohe Jiankang)", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 ByteDance", "小荷健康 Xiaohe Health (内部品牌)", "百科名医网 Baike Mingyi (acquired predecessor)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "小荷医典 (Xiaohe Yidian) was ByteDance's medical-knowledge / health science-popularization content platform, launched January 30, 2021 by upgrading and rebranding the 百科名医网 (Baike Mingyi) encyclopedia that ByteDance had acquired for ~500M yuan in May 2020. It carried 32,000+ professionally edited disease/medical entries and served as the authoritative health-content base for ByteDance's apps (Toutiao, Douyin, Xigua, and the 小荷健康 app).", "killedReason": "As ByteDance's broader medical ambitions cooled, the standalone 百科名医网 site was wound down (reduced to a bare text page) and the 小荷医典 knowledge base was folded into Douyin and Toutiao search/short-video health content rather than continuing as an independent destination. The associated 小荷健康 app/brand was largely absorbed into Douyin in 2023 (the 小荷医典 content team was reportedly retained to feed the Douyin health ecosystem). It no longer exists as a distinct consumer product.", "link": "https://m.jiemian.com/article/10759874.html", "sources": [ "https://m.jiemian.com/article/10759874.html", "https://www.cn-healthcare.com/articlewm/20220811/content-1416412.html", "https://finance.sina.cn/chanjing/gsxw/2023-02-02/detail-imyeierp4285797.d.html", "https://www.21jingji.com/article/20230213/herald/81d371e78374caa922a5033c2e54ed8e.html", "https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_9816051" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuine, well-sourced ByteDance product that is MISSING from the known list. (1) isByteDance=true: multiple independent outlets (Jiemian, 健康界/cn-healthcare, Sina Finance, The Paper) confirm ByteDance acquired 百科名医网 (May 2020, ~500M yuan) and relaunched it as 小荷医典 on 2021-01-30. (2) alreadyKnown=false, but with a caveat worth flagging to the merging step: it is NOT 互动百科 (different acquisit", "descZh": "小荷医典是字节跳动的医学知识/健康科普内容平台，于 2021 年 1 月 30 日推出，由字节跳动于 2020 年 5 月以约 5 亿元人民币收购的百科名医网升级更名而来。它收录了 32000 多条专业编辑的疾病/医学词条，作为字节跳动旗下应用（今日头条、抖音、西瓜及小荷健康 App）的权威健康内容基础。", "reasonZh": "随着字节医疗野心降温，独立的百科名医网被清退（缩减为纯文本页面），小荷医典知识库并入抖音和今日头条的搜索/短视频健康内容。关联的小荷健康 App/品牌于 2023 年基本并入抖音（内容团队据报保留以充实抖音健康生态）。已不再是独立消费级产品。", "categoryZh": "医学知识 / 健康科普内容平台", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "美中宜和 (Amcare Women's & Children's Hospital)", "nameEn": "Amcare Women's & Children's Hospital", "nameZh": "美中宜和", "aliases": [ "Amcare", "Amcare Healthcare", "Meizhong Yihe", "美中宜和", "禧月阁 (Xiyuege)" ], "type": "service", "category": "Private high-end women's & children's hospital / maternity &", "region": "China (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl Riv", "dateLaunched": "2006", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "Xiaohe Health (Hong Kong) Ltd. + Xiaohe Health Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (ByteDance subsidiaries)", "developerEntities": [ "ByteDance (字节跳动)", "Xiaohe Health 小荷健康", "Xiaohe Health (Hong Kong) Ltd. 小荷香港", "Xiaohe Health Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. 小荷健康科技（北京）有限公司" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Amcare (美中宜和) is a high-end private women's & children's hospital chain founded in Beijing in 2006, operating 7 maternity/women's & children's hospitals, 2 general outpatient clinics, and 5 postpartum-care (月子) centers (sub-brand 禧月阁) across China's three major economic regions. ByteDance took 100% control in mid-2022 for ~RMB10B / $1.5B through its Xiaohe Health subsidiaries, making it ByteDance's largest offline-healthcare bet.", "killedReason": "Not killed/divested as of mid-2026. In April 2024 ByteDance explicitly denied reports it was looking to sell Amcare (\"完全没有\"); the chain continues to operate independently and remains wholly owned. (The candidate's \"merged\" status is inaccurate — it was acquired and still operates; status is better captured as alive/wholly-owned.)", "link": "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2022-08-09/exclusive-bytedance-takes-over-private-hospital-operator-for-15-billion-101923752.html", "sources": [ "https://www.caixinglobal.com/2022-08-09/exclusive-bytedance-takes-over-private-hospital-operator-for-15-billion-101923752.html", "https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/10/tiktok-parent-bytedance-acquires-private-hospital-chain.html", "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bytedance-pays-1-5-billion-061438574.html", "https://www.cn-healthcare.com/articlewm/20220807/content-1413859.html", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20220805/herald/f87afb27a2c8913c91ffe56ffed61113.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely ByteDance-owned and NOT in the known list. Distinct from the already-known Xiaohe Health (小荷健康) digital app — this is the offline hospital chain Xiaohe acquired. Caveat: this is an offline service/hospital business rather than a software product or app, and it appears to still be operating (alive), so its fit for a \"Killed by ByteDance\" dataset depends on whether the dataset includes liv", "descZh": "美中宜和是一家高端私立妇儿医院连锁，2006 年创立于北京，在中国三大经济区运营 7 家妇儿医院、2 家综合门诊和 5 家月子中心（子品牌禧月阁）。字节跳动于 2022 年年中通过其小荷健康子公司以约 100 亿元人民币/15 亿美元取得 100% 控股权，成为字节跳动最大的线下医疗投资。", "reasonZh": "截至 2026 年年中并未关停/剥离。2024 年 4 月字节跳动明确否认有意出售美中宜和（「完全没有」）；该连锁继续独立运营，仍为全资持有。（候选「合并」状态不准确——它被收购后仍在运营，更准确的状态应为存续/全资持有。）", "categoryZh": "高端私立妇儿医院 / 妇产与儿科", "regionZh": "中国（京津冀、长三角、珠三角）" }, { "name": "松果门诊 / 小荷门诊 (Songguo Clinic (Pinecone Clinic) / Xiaohe Clinic)", "nameEn": "Songguo Clinic (Pinecone Clinic) / Xiaohe Clinic", "nameZh": "松果门诊 / 小荷门诊", "aliases": [ "Songguo Clinic", "Pinecone Clinic", "Xiaohe Clinic", "松果门诊", "北京松果门诊部", "小荷门诊" ], "type": "service", "category": "Offline clinic / healthcare", "region": "China (Beijing — Haidian/Zhongguancun, e世界财富中心/World Finance", "dateLaunched": "2020-11", "dateKilled": "2022", "status": "rebranded", "publisher": "北京松果门诊部有限公司 (Beijing Songguo Clinic Co., Ltd.), 100% held via 北京松果医疗 → 小荷健康科技(北京) → ByteDance; originally under 北京极光半径科技 (Aurora Radius)", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 ByteDance", "小荷健康科技(北京)有限公司 Xiaohe Health Technology (Beijing)", "北京松果医疗有限公司 Beijing Songguo Medical", "北京松果门诊部有限公司 Beijing Songguo Clinic", "北京极光半径科技有限公司 Beijing Aurora Radius Technology (极光 health division)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "松果门诊 (Songguo / \"Pinecone\" Clinic) was ByteDance's first brick-and-mortar comprehensive outpatient clinic, opened in Beijing's Zhongguancun in late 2020 under its 极光 (Aurora) health unit. After ByteDance took full control in Jan 2021 it was rebranded 小荷门诊 (Xiaohe Clinic) under the 小荷健康/小荷医疗 brand; following ByteDance's acquisition of the Amcare (美中宜和) hospital group it was renamed 新中关宜和门诊部 (New Zhongguancun Amcare Clinic), with its mini-program retired in favor of Amcare's.", "killedReason": "ByteDance's first offline clinic was folded into its newly acquired Amcare (美中宜和) hospital group: the 小荷门诊 brand lasted only about a month before being renamed 新中关宜和门诊部 (New Zhongguancun Amcare Clinic), its standalone mini-program was taken offline and replaced by Amcare's, and the parent 极光/小荷健康 health division was merged into Douyin in 2023. Reflects ByteDance's difficulty making online-to-offline (O2O) internet healthcare work.", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240520A08XN200", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240520A08XN200", "https://www.chinatimes.net.cn/article/124809.html", "https://www.pai.com.cn/137268.html", "https://m.gelonghui.com/p/428427", "https://www.chinaventure.com.cn/news/111-20220809-370487.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Verified from scratch. Ownership chain (ByteDance 100% via Xiaohe Health Tech → Songguo Medical → Songguo Clinic) confirmed by pai.com.cn business-registry reporting; 极光半径科技 exited as shareholder 2021-01-19. DISTINCT from the already-known '小荷健康 Xiaohe Health' app — this is the offline physical clinic / 门诊部 service, a different product. CANDIDATE NAME CORRECTION: the rebrand is 新中关宜和门诊部 (宜和 = from", "descZh": "松果门诊是字节跳动首家实体综合门诊，于 2020 年底在北京中关村开业，隶属其极光健康部门。字节跳动于 2021 年 1 月取得全资控股后，将其更名为小荷门诊，归入小荷健康/小荷医疗品牌；在字节跳动收购美中宜和医院集团后，又被更名为新中关宜和门诊部，其小程序退役，改用美中宜和的小程序。", "reasonZh": "字节跳动首家线下门诊被并入其新收购的美中宜和医院集团：小荷门诊品牌仅存续约一个月即被更名为新中关宜和门诊部，其独立小程序下线并被美中宜和的取代，母级极光/小荷健康部门于 2023 年并入抖音。这反映出字节跳动在打通线上到线下（O2O）互联网医疗方面的困难。", "categoryZh": "线下门诊 / 医疗", "regionZh": "中国（北京——海淀/中关村，e世界财富中心）" }, { "name": "北京宏达爱瑞医疗科技 / 北京美中爱瑞肿瘤医院 (Beijing Hongda Arei Medical Technology / Beijing Meizhong Arei Tumor Hospital)", "nameEn": "Beijing Hongda Arei Medical Technology / Beijing Meizhong Arei Tumor Hospital", "nameZh": "北京宏达爱瑞医疗科技 / 北京美中爱瑞肿瘤医院", "aliases": [ "Hongda Arei", "Hongda Airy", "Meizhong Arei", "美中爱瑞肿瘤医院", "宏达爱瑞", "Beijing Arei International Medical Complex (爱瑞国际医疗综合体, new AI hospital campus)" ], "type": "service", "category": "Offline oncology hospital / healthcare (holding company + tu", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2022-04", "dateKilled": "", "status": "acquired", "publisher": "Beijing Hongda Arei Medical Technology Co., Ltd.; controlled by ByteDance's 小荷健康 (Xiaohe Health) entities — 小荷健康 64.42% + 小荷健康(香港) 26.7% (>90% total)", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 (ByteDance)", "小荷健康 (Xiaohe Health)", "小荷健康(香港) (Xiaohe Health HK)", "抖音集团 (Douyin Group)", "北京宁和康瑞医疗管理有限公司 (related 2024 entity, reg. capital 734M yuan)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "北京宏达爱瑞医疗科技是字节跳动旗下小荷健康控股(合计超90%)的医疗控股公司，其100%控股北京美中爱瑞肿瘤医院——一家民营三级肿瘤专科医院。这是字节跳动线下医疗布局的核心资产之一；2025年7月该体系动工建设投资约60亿元的\"北京爱瑞国际医疗综合体/AI医院\"新院区。ByteDance, via its Xiaohe Health subsidiary, holds a >90% controlling stake in Beijing Hongda Arei, which in turn wholly owns Beijing Meizhong Arei Tumor Hospital, a private tertiary oncology specialty hospital and a centerpiece of ByteDance's offline medical push.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://www.chinaventure.com.cn/news/111-20220809-370487.html", "sources": [ "https://www.chinaventure.com.cn/news/111-20220809-370487.html", "https://www.cnfin.com/gs-lb/detail/20220427/3595199_1.html", "https://www.cn-healthcare.com/articlewm/20220811/content-1416412.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250124A090Y100", "https://www.zgcsb.com/news/pinDao/2025-07/14/a_605605.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED as a genuine ByteDance-controlled entity (high confidence, multiple independent sources: cnfin/Xinhua, cn-healthcare, Tencent News, Sina Finance, Zhongguo Chengshi Bao). Clarification: 宏达爱瑞 (Hongda Arei) is a HOLDING company; the actual hospital it 100%-owns is 北京美中爱瑞肿瘤医院 (Beijing Meizhong Arei Tumor Hospital). Distinct from already-known 小荷健康 Xiaohe Health (which is the controlling paren", "descZh": "北京宏达爱瑞医疗科技是字节跳动旗下小荷健康控股（合计超 90%）的医疗控股公司，其 100% 控股北京美中爱瑞肿瘤医院——一家民营三级肿瘤专科医院。这是字节跳动线下医疗布局的核心资产之一；2025 年 7 月该体系动工建设投资约 60 亿元的「北京爱瑞国际医疗综合体/AI 医院」新院区。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "线下肿瘤医院 / 医疗（控股公司＋肿瘤医院）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "东方IC（后升级为 IC photo） (Oriental IC / IC photo)", "nameEn": "Oriental IC / IC photo", "nameZh": "东方IC（后升级为 IC photo）", "aliases": [ "Oriental IC", "Dongfang IC", "IC photo", "东方IC", "上海映脉文化传播" ], "type": "service", "category": "Stock photography / commercial image licensing", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2000", "dateKilled": "2024-10", "status": "divested", "publisher": "ByteDance (acquired via Toutiao 2016); operating entity 上海映脉文化传播有限公司, 95% controlled by 图虫网络 / 5% by 上海东方网股份有限公司", "developerEntities": [ "字节跳动 ByteDance", "今日头条 Toutiao", "图虫网络 Tuchong Network", "上海映脉文化传播有限公司" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "东方IC (Oriental IC), founded 2000, was a Chinese commercial image-licensing agency (representing international agencies including Magnum Photos). ByteDance/Toutiao acquired it via a 2016 strategic investment, folding it under its Tuchong equity; the brand was upgraded to \"IC photo\" in 2019. It was a paid stock/editorial image library, distinct from Tuchong's photographer community, and was divested together with Tuchong to 即时设计 (Jishi Design) in October 2024.", "killedReason": "As ByteDance pivoted from the text-image era to short video (Douyin) after 2017, the image-copyright business became marginal, and AIGC text-to-image further eroded the stock-photo market. In Oct 2024 ByteDance sold off Tuchong and its team (which controlled IC photo's operating entity 上海映脉文化传播, 95%) to design-tool company 即时设计 (Jishi Design), divesting the entire image-licensing business.", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231108A05WD800", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231108A05WD800", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20241104A09IG300", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/11833717.html", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/discovery/2024-10-17/doc-incsvscz9681612.shtml", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%9C%E6%96%B9IC/581345" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "CANDIDATE WAS MISLABELED: the \"name\" field said 百科名医网 (Baike Mingyi, ByteDance's 2020 medical-knowledge acquisition that became 小荷医典/Xiaohe Health — already covered by '小荷健康 Xiaohe Health' in the known list), but the description, category, aliases (Oriental IC) and the cited source URL all clearly refer to 东方IC. I verified 东方IC as the real candidate. VERDICT: genuinely ByteDance-owned (2016 acquis", "descZh": "东方 IC 创立于 2000 年，是一家中国商业图片授权机构（代理包括玛格南图片社在内的多家国际机构）。字节跳动/今日头条于 2016 年通过战略投资将其收购，归入图虫股权之下；该品牌于 2019 年升级为「IC photo」。它是一个付费的图片/编辑类图库，区别于图虫的摄影师社区，并于 2024 年 10 月与图虫一同被出售给即时设计。", "reasonZh": "随着字节 2017 年后从图文转向短视频（抖音），图片版权业务边缘化，AIGC 文生图进一步侵蚀图库市场。2024 年 10 月字节将图虫及其团队（持 IC photo 运营主体上海映脉 95% 股份）售予即时设计，剥离整个图片授权业务。", "categoryZh": "图库摄影 / 商业图片授权", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "图吧 (Tuba)", "nameEn": "Tuba", "nameZh": "图吧", "aliases": [ "Tuba", "图片社区图吧", "Image Bar" ], "type": "app", "category": "Photo-sharing / image community (UGC)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2013", "dateKilled": "2014", "status": "acquired-shut", "publisher": "N/A (pre-acquisition independent startup; acquired by ByteDance/今日头条 Toutiao in 2014)", "developerEntities": [ "张楠 (Zhang Nan / Kelly Zhang) founding team", "字节跳动 ByteDance / 今日头条 Toutiao (acquirer)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "图吧 (Tuba) was an early Chinese photo-sharing / image community mobile app founded by Zhang Nan (张楠, later Douyin and ByteDance China CEO) in 2013; it reportedly grew to hundreds of thousands of users within months, catching Zhang Yiming's attention. ByteDance/Toutiao acquired it in 2014 in an acqui-hire, absorbing the founding team while the standalone product was discontinued.", "killedReason": "Acqui-hire: ByteDance/Toutiao acquired the startup primarily to bring in founder Zhang Nan and her team (who took over UGC product work, e.g. 内涵段子, and later built Douyin). The standalone 图吧 product was not continued and was folded after the team joined ByteDance in 2014.", "link": "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%BC%A0%E6%A5%A0_(%E5%AD%97%E8%8A%82%E8%B7%B3%E5%8A%A8)", "sources": [ "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%BC%A0%E6%A5%A0_(%E5%AD%97%E8%8A%82%E8%B7%B3%E5%8A%A8)", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231108A05WD800", "https://www.sohu.com/a/532401995_350699", "https://startup.aliyun.com/info/1053428.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Genuinely ByteDance-connected via acquisition (acqui-hire), confirmed by Chinese Wikipedia, Tencent News, Sohu, and Aliyun startup. DISTINCT from 图虫 Tuchong (already-known, a different photo platform ByteDance also owns) and from unrelated look-alikes that share the name '图吧': 图吧导航 / Mapbar (a navigation/map product by 四维智联/mapbar.com, NOT ByteDance) and 中关村图吧/ZOL hardware community (NOT ByteDance", "descZh": "图吧是一款早期的中国图片分享/图片社区移动应用，由张楠（后任抖音及字节跳动中国 CEO）于 2013 年创立；据报道它在数月内增长至数十万用户，引起了张一鸣的注意。字节跳动/今日头条于 2014 年以人才收购的方式将其收购，吸纳了创始团队，独立产品则被停运。", "reasonZh": "人才收购：字节跳动/今日头条收购这家创业公司主要是为了引入创始人张楠及其团队（她接手了 UGC 产品工作，如内涵段子，后来打造了抖音）。独立的图吧产品未被延续，在团队于 2014 年加入字节跳动后被并入。", "categoryZh": "图片分享 / 图片社区（UGC）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "悟空浏览器 (Wukong Browser)", "nameEn": "Wukong Browser", "nameZh": "悟空浏览器", "aliases": [ "Wukong Browser", "读readall", "readall", "com.cat.readall" ], "type": "app", "category": "Mobile web browser (incentivized / \"earn money\" content brow", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2021-09", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "北京无限维度科技有限公司 (Beijing Wuxian Weidu Technology Co., Ltd.) — indirectly wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary, via 北京星云创迹科技有限公司 / 抖音有限公司", "developerEntities": [ "北京无限维度科技有限公司 (Beijing Wuxian Weidu Technology Co., Ltd.)", "字节跳动 ByteDance", "抖音有限公司 (Douyin Ltd.)", "北京星云创迹科技有限公司 (Beijing Xingyun Chuangji Technology)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Wukong Browser (悟空浏览器, package com.cat.readall) is a ByteDance mobile web browser launched in September 2021 under the slogan \"a browser that makes money.\" It bundles algorithm-recommended news/content, video, free novels, and a cash-reward section where users earn coins by browsing/reading/watching that convert to cash withdrawable via Alipay (min 1 yuan). It targets lower-tier-market users, positioned as a rival to Baidu's lite/extreme-speed app. It is part of ByteDance's \"Wukong\" product family but is a distinct browser product, separate from Wukong Search and Wukong Q&A.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://www.chinaz.com/2021/0908/1301430.shtml", "sources": [ "https://www.chinaz.com/2021/0908/1301430.shtml", "https://finance.sina.cn/tech/2021-09-08/detail-iktzscyx2953201.d.html", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%82%9F%E7%A9%BA%E6%B5%8F%E8%A7%88%E5%99%A8/61357319", "https://sj.qq.com/appdetail/com.cat.readall", "https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/digi/2025-02-27/doc-inemwpwn7256421.shtml" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CANDIDATE STATUS WAS WRONG: candidate listed 'discontinued', but the app is ALIVE as of June 2026. Tencent App Store (sj.qq.com/appdetail/com.cat.readall) shows v17.2.0 updated 2026-06-17; ByteDance upgraded it with AI assistance in Nov 2024 and integrated the DeepSeek R1 model in Feb 2025; ~20M MAU as of 2023 (8M DAU Jan 2023). Publisher is NOT directly 'ByteDance' on app stores — it is shell/sub", "descZh": "悟空浏览器（包名 com.cat.readall）是字节跳动于 2021 年 9 月以「一个能赚钱的浏览器」为口号推出的移动网页浏览器。它整合了算法推荐的新闻/内容、视频、免费小说，以及一个现金奖励板块——用户通过浏览/阅读/观看赚取金币，金币可兑换现金并通过支付宝提现（最低 1 元）。它瞄准下沉市场用户，定位为百度极速版应用的竞品。它隶属字节跳动「悟空」产品家族，但是一款独立的浏览器产品，与悟空搜索和悟空问答相区分。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "移动网页浏览器（激励式 /「赚钱」内容浏览器）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "才云科技 (Caicloud)", "nameEn": "Caicloud", "nameZh": "才云科技", "aliases": [ "Caicloud Compass", "Caicloud Clever", "Caicloud Cabernet", "杭州才云科技有限公司" ], "type": "service", "category": "Kubernetes / cloud-native container PaaS & AI platform", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2015", "dateKilled": "2020", "status": "merged", "publisher": "Caicloud (杭州才云科技有限公司), acquired by ByteDance", "developerEntities": [ "Caicloud / 才云科技 (founded 2015 by ex-Google/CMU PhD Zhang Xin 张鑫)", "ByteDance 字节跳动 (acquirer)", "Volcano Engine 火山引擎 (integration unit)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Caicloud was a Hangzhou-based Kubernetes/container cloud-native PaaS startup (founded 2015 by ex-Google engineers, CNCF KCSP-certified) whose products included the Caicloud Compass container platform and Caicloud Clever AI middle platform, serving ~100 large enterprises such as China UnionPay, China Merchants Bank and Haier. ByteDance wholly acquired the company in 2020 and merged its team and business into Volcano Engine, with CEO Zhang Xin leading ByteDance's cloud-native business.", "killedReason": "Wholly acquired by ByteDance (deal disclosed late July 2020, announced complete ~18 Aug 2020); the standalone Caicloud company/brand was absorbed and its team and products folded into ByteDance's Volcano Engine (火山引擎) cloud-native offering.", "link": "https://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2020-08-18/doc-iivhvpwy1632846.shtml", "sources": [ "https://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2020-08-18/doc-iivhvpwy1632846.shtml", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20200818A061DM00", "https://www.sohu.com/a/413649203_430392", "https://equalocean.com/news/2020081914566", "https://www.crunchbase.com/acquisition/bytedance-acquires-caicloud--a1941360" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from the already-known Volcano Engine 火山引擎 — Caicloud is the separately-founded startup that ByteDance acquired and merged INTO Volcano Engine, so it is a genuinely new dataset entry. This is a B2B enterprise/cloud-native acquisition rather than a consumer product, and was an acquire-and-absorb (the Caicloud brand was retired) rather than an outright shutdown. Verified independently from ", "descZh": "才云科技是一家总部位于杭州的 Kubernetes/容器云原生 PaaS 创业公司（2015 年由前 Google 工程师创立，通过 CNCF KCSP 认证），其产品包括才云 Compass 容器平台和才云 Clever AI 中台，服务约 100 家大型企业，如中国银联、招商银行和海尔。字节跳动于 2020 年将该公司全资收购，并将其团队和业务并入火山引擎，由 CEO 张鑫领导字节跳动的云原生业务。", "reasonZh": "被字节跳动全资收购（交易于 2020 年 7 月底披露，约 2020 年 8 月 18 日宣布完成）；独立的才云科技公司/品牌被吸纳，其团队和产品并入字节跳动火山引擎的云原生业务。", "categoryZh": "Kubernetes / 云原生容器 PaaS 与 AI 平台", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "武林闲侠（海外港澳台版：放肆武林） (Wulin Xianxia (overseas: Fangsi Wulin))", "nameEn": "Wulin Xianxia (overseas: Fangsi Wulin)", "nameZh": "武林闲侠（海外港澳台版：放肆武林）", "aliases": [ "Wulin Xianxia", "Wulin Idle Heroes", "放肆武林", "Fangsi Wulin", "Unbridled Wulin" ], "type": "game", "category": "Wuxia (martial-arts) idle / card RPG", "region": "China mainland + Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan (overseas as 放肆武林)", "dateLaunched": "2021-11-18", "dateKilled": "2023-10-31", "status": "dead", "publisher": "北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 (Nuverse) — ByteDance's wholly-owned game publishing subsidiary; CN App Store/store publisher under Nuverse, overseas under Nuverse brand", "developerEntities": [ "成都西山居世游科技有限公司 / 金山世游 (Seasun / Kingsoft World Game) — developer", "北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 / Nuverse (ByteDance) — publisher" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "武林闲侠 was a guofeng wuxia-themed idle/placement card RPG developed by Kingsoft's Seasun studio (西山居世游/金山世游) and published by ByteDance's game arm Nuverse (朝夕光年). It launched in mainland China on Nov 18, 2021, peaked at iOS top-10 grossing, and was promoted by Kingsoft CEO Lei Jun; an overseas HK/Macau/Taiwan version, 放肆武林, also reached the iOS free chart top spot on launch day.", "killedReason": "Steady revenue and ranking decline (out of top-100 by June 2023, below top-200 by September); an August crossover collaboration failed to revive it. Mainland CN operations terminated Oct 31, 2023, amid ByteDance's broad 2023 retrenchment/divestiture of its gaming business; the overseas 放肆武林 version was likewise wound down.", "link": "https://www.yfchuhai.com/article/11438.html", "sources": [ "https://www.yfchuhai.com/article/11438.html", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%AD%A6%E6%9E%97%E9%97%B2%E4%BE%A0/59117174", "https://www.9game.cn/wulinxianxia1/8674952.html", "https://zh.moegirl.org.cn/zh-hans/%E6%9C%9D%E5%A4%95%E5%85%89%E5%B9%B4", "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%9C%9D%E5%A4%95%E5%85%89%E5%B9%B4/56116840" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED GENUINE and NEW (not in known list). Publisher Nuverse/朝夕光年 confirmed as ByteDance's wholly-owned game subsidiary (founded Jan 2019). Developer is Kingsoft/Seasun (西山居世游), publishing/operation by ByteDance. NOT among the already-known Nuverse titles (晶核/Crystal of Atlan, 星球重启/Earth Revival, 航海王热血航线/One Piece Fighting Path, 花亦山心之月/Moonlit Oath, etc.). CORRECTION to candidate: the alias 'Yg", "descZh": "武林闲侠是一款国风武侠题材的放置类卡牌 RPG，由金山西山居工作室（西山居世游/金山世游）开发，由字节跳动游戏部门朝夕光年发行。它于 2021 年 11 月 18 日在中国大陆上线，曾登上 iOS 畅销榜前十，并获金山 CEO 雷军推广；其海外港澳台版本放肆武林也在上线当日登顶 iOS 免费榜榜首。", "reasonZh": "营收和排名持续下滑（2023 年 6 月跌出前 100，9 月跌至前 200 之外）；8 月的一次联动合作未能挽回颓势。中国大陆运营于 2023 年 10 月 31 日终止，正值字节跳动 2023 年全面收缩/剥离游戏业务之际；海外放肆武林版本同样被关停。", "categoryZh": "武侠放置类卡牌 RPG", "regionZh": "中国大陆＋港澳台（海外为放肆武林）" }, { "name": "索尼克在2020东京奥运会 (Sonic at the Olympic Games – Tokyo 2020 (China server))", "nameEn": "Sonic at the Olympic Games – Tokyo 2020 (China server)", "nameZh": "索尼克在2020东京奥运会", "aliases": [ "索尼克在2020东京奥运会", "Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020", "索尼克 东京奥运会" ], "type": "game", "category": "Licensed sports/endless-runner mobile game", "region": "China (mainland)", "dateLaunched": "2021-07-12", "dateKilled": "2022-05-31", "status": "dead", "publisher": "Nuverse / 朝夕光年 (ByteDance)", "developerEntities": [ "SEGA (developer)", "Nuverse / 朝夕光年 (ByteDance, mainland China publisher)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "A SEGA-developed mobile game tied to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the only officially licensed Olympic mobile game, published exclusively in mainland China by ByteDance's game brand Nuverse (朝夕光年). It launched around July 12, 2021 and topped the iOS App Store free chart on day one, with cross-promotion on Douyin including integrated friend lists.", "killedReason": "Discontinued during ByteDance/Nuverse's wave of game shutdowns; mainland China service ceased at 12:00 on May 31, 2022. The game was an event-tied licensed title with limited longevity after the Tokyo Olympics.", "link": "https://x.com/zhugeex/status/1416893368827842561", "sources": [ "https://x.com/zhugeex/status/1416893368827842561", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231128A0BQAY00", "https://www.taptap.cn/moment/164434554071812530", "https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/543810166", "https://zh.moegirl.org.cn/%E6%9C%9D%E5%A4%95%E5%85%89%E5%B9%B4" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Distinct from Nintendo's \"Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020\" console title. ByteDance role confirmed by industry analyst Daniel Ahmad (zhugeex) and by Chinese sources (Tencent News, TapTap, Moegirl) listing it among Nuverse's published/ceased titles. Not present in the ALREADY-KNOWN list.", "descZh": "一款由世嘉开发、与 2020 东京奥运会绑定的手游，是唯一官方授权的奥运手游，在中国大陆由字节跳动游戏品牌朝夕光年独家发行。它约于 2021 年 7 月 12 日上线，首日即登顶 iOS App Store 免费榜，并在抖音上进行交叉推广，包括整合好友列表。", "reasonZh": "在字节跳动/朝夕光年的游戏关停浪潮中被停运；中国大陆服务于 2022 年 5 月 31 日 12:00 终止。该游戏是与赛事绑定的授权作品，在东京奥运会后续航能力有限。", "categoryZh": "授权体育/跑酷手游", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "热血街篮 (Basketrio: Allstar Streetball)", "nameEn": "Basketrio: Allstar Streetball", "nameZh": "热血街篮", "aliases": [ "Basketrio", "Basketrio: Allstar Streetball", "极限街篮", "极限街篮：零秒出手", "Rexue Jielan" ], "type": "game", "category": "Mobile basketball game (3v3 streetball, mid-core)", "region": "China (domestic 热血街篮) + International (as Basketrio: Allstar", "dateLaunched": "2020-03-12", "dateKilled": "2023-20", "status": "divested", "publisher": "Published/operated by 北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 (Beijing Nuverse Info Tech Co., wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary); developed by 竞技世界（成都）网络技术有限公司 (JJ World) and ALL9FUN LTD. International App Store/Play listings", "developerEntities": [ "北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 (Beijing Nuverse / 朝夕光年, ByteDance subsidiary) — publisher/operator", "竞技世界（成都）网络技术有限公司 (JJ World) — developer", "ALL9FUN LTD. — co-developer/intl operator" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "A 3v3 streetball mobile game with stylized 3D cartoon graphics and motion-capture animation, launched in China on 12 March 2020 as one of ByteDance/Nuverse's (朝夕光年) first three mid-core agency-publishing titles. It briefly hit #2 on the iOS free-games chart at launch but lost momentum within about a week and was widely regarded as an underperformer. It was released internationally as \"Basketrio: Allstar Streetball\" (极限街篮).", "killedReason": "Commercial underperformance plus ByteDance's November 2023 decision to wind down/divest its gaming business (朝夕光年/Nuverse). As a well-enough-performing live title it was divested rather than shut down: operations and the official site (rxjl.jjworld.net) were transferred to developer 竞技世界 (JJ World), with players migrated to JJ World accounts; ByteDance/Nuverse ceased to be the publisher.", "link": "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_6488215", "sources": [ "https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_6488215", "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E8%A1%97%E5%A4%B4%E7%AF%AE%E7%90%83_(%E6%B8%B8%E6%88%8F)", "https://www.gameres.com/877465.html", "https://m.21jingji.com/article/20231127/herald/1db143c9d051d9efd64484360e09ece4.html", "https://rxjl.jjworld.net/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuine ByteDance product, NEW (not in known list), keep. (1) ByteDance link confirmed: published/operated by Nuverse (朝夕光年), a wholly-owned ByteDance subsidiary; The Paper names 北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 as operator. It was a Nuverse *publishing* (代理发行) title (developed by JJ World/ALL9FUN), one of the same 2020 batch as the already-known 终结战场 and 灵猫传 — but this basketball title is itself distinct ", "descZh": "一款 3v3 街头篮球手游，采用风格化 3D 卡通画面和动作捕捉动画，于 2020 年 3 月 12 日在中国上线，是字节跳动/朝夕光年首批三款中核代理发行作品之一。它在上线时一度冲到 iOS 免费游戏榜第二，但约一周内便失去势头，被普遍视为表现不佳之作。它的国际版名为「Basketrio: Allstar Streetball」（极限街篮）。", "reasonZh": "商业表现不佳，加上字节 2023 年 11 月收缩/剥离游戏业务（朝夕光年）。作为表现尚可的在运营作品，它被剥离而非关停：运营和官网转交给开发商竞技世界（JJ World），玩家迁移至 JJ World 账号，字节/朝夕光年不再担任发行方。", "categoryZh": "篮球手游（3v3 街头篮球，中核）", "regionZh": "中国（国内为热血街篮）＋国际（Basketrio: Allstar Streetball）" }, { "name": "火影忍者：巅峰对决 (Naruto: Peak Showdown)", "nameEn": "Naruto: Peak Showdown", "nameZh": "火影忍者：巅峰对决", "aliases": [ "Naruto: Summit Showdown", "Naruto: Peak Duel", "火影忍者:巅峰对决" ], "type": "game", "category": "Licensed 3D open-world action RPG mobile game (Naruto IP)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "", "dateKilled": "2025", "status": "dead", "publisher": "朝夕光年 (Chaoxi Lightyear / Nuverse), a ByteDance subsidiary — exclusive China distributor/publisher", "developerEntities": [ "雪彩网络 (Xuecai Network) — developer, went bankrupt", "凯撒文化 / 凯撒(中国)文化股份有限公司 (Kaiser/Kaisa Culture, 002425.SZ, later ST凯文) — Naruto IP licensee", "朝夕光年 / Chaoxi Lightyear (ByteDance subsidiary) — exclusive China publisher/distributor" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "An officially Naruto IP-licensed 3D open-world action RPG mobile game for which ByteDance's gaming subsidiary Chaoxi Lightyear (Nuverse) held exclusive China distribution/publishing rights. It secured an import game license (版号) in late 2020 and amassed over 8.7 million pre-registrations, but never launched: development was hit by COVID-era delays in Shanghai/Suzhou and then the bankruptcy of developer Xuecai Network, after which ByteDance dismantled its gaming arm in November 2023.", "killedReason": "Never released; developer 雪彩网络 (Xuecai Network) went bankrupt and progress stalled at 2023. ByteDance shuttered/divested its 朝夕光年 gaming business in Nov 2023, leaving no active publisher. IP holder 凯撒文化 (ST凯文) booked the project as an impairment write-down by July 2025.", "link": "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%81%AB%E5%BD%B1%E5%BF%8D%E8%80%85%EF%BC%9A%E5%B7%85%E5%B3%B0%E5%AF%B9%E5%86%B3/52430070", "sources": [ "https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%81%AB%E5%BD%B1%E5%BF%8D%E8%80%85%EF%BC%9A%E5%B7%85%E5%B3%B0%E5%AF%B9%E5%86%B3/52430070", "https://syzs.qq.com/blog/news/20210421A04OF800", "http://www.nbd.com.cn/rss/toutiao/articles/1907596.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230926A09FDR00", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/7718992.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Caveat for the dataset: ByteDance's role was PUBLISHER/exclusive China distributor (via 朝夕光年/Nuverse), NOT owner or developer. The Naruto IP was licensed by 凯撒文化/Kaiser Culture (a separate listed firm, 002425.SZ→ST凯文) and the game was built by 雪彩网络/Xuecai Network. The original candidate note wrongly conflated the developer (Xuecai Network) with the IP licensor (Kaiser Culture). Pre-reg figure veri", "descZh": "一款官方授权《火影忍者》IP 的 3D 开放世界动作 RPG 手游，字节跳动游戏子公司朝夕光年（Nuverse）持有其中国独家分发/发行权。它于 2020 年底获得进口游戏版号，积累了超过 870 万预约，但始终未能上线：开发先后受到新冠时期上海/苏州的延误，以及开发商雪彩网络破产的冲击，此后字节跳动于 2023 年 11 月解散其游戏部门。", "reasonZh": "始终未发布；开发商雪彩网络破产，进度在 2023 年停滞。字节跳动于 2023 年 11 月关停/剥离其朝夕光年游戏业务，使该作再无在运营发行方。IP 持有方凯撒文化（ST 凯文）于 2025 年 7 月前将该项目计提为减值损失。", "categoryZh": "授权 3D 开放世界动作 RPG 手游（火影忍者 IP）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "境·界 刀鸣 (BLEACH: Soul Resonance)", "nameEn": "BLEACH: Soul Resonance", "nameZh": "境·界 刀鸣", "aliases": [ "境界刀鸣", "Bleach Soul Resonance", "BLEACH Realm: Blade Resonance", "Jingjie Daoming" ], "type": "game", "category": "Licensed Bleach 3D action RPG / gacha (mobile)", "region": "China + Global (West via Crunchyroll/A Plus Japan; Asia via ", "dateLaunched": "2025-11-21", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 (Beijing Chaoxi Guangnian Information Technology Co., Ltd. / Nuverse) in China & Asia; Crunchyroll Games and A PLUS JAPAN in Western markets. Developer: Black Moon Studio (Nuverse inter", "developerEntities": [ "Black Moon Studio (黑月工作室, Nuverse)", "Nuverse / 北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司 (ByteDance)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "A 3D licensed action RPG / gacha mobile game based on Tite Kubo's BLEACH manga/anime, developed by Nuverse's Black Moon Studio with the cel-shaded visual style of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc. Announced July 2023, it was caught up in the November 2023 Nuverse shutdown news but was one of the projects ByteDance retained and brought in-house; it launched on iOS/Android on November 21, 2025 (China/Asia under Nuverse, Western markets via Crunchyroll Games and A PLUS JAPAN) and remains live (v1.27 as of May 2026).", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://bleach-soulresonance.nvsgames.cn/fab", "sources": [ "https://bleach-soulresonance.nvsgames.cn/fab", "https://www.taptap.cn/app/374914", "https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2025-10-15/bleach-soul-resonance-game-to-launch-globally-for-android-ios-devices/.229878", "https://gamingonphone.com/news/nuverses-bleach-soul-resonance-launches-globally-this-november-21/", "https://www.rpgsite.net/news/19004-bleach-soul-resonance-download-now-available-for-ios-android-english" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "CANDIDATE STATUS WAS WRONG. The candidate listed this as \"cancelled / part of the contracted slate cut in the gaming retreat\" — that is incorrect. The game survived the 2023 Nuverse retreat (the news.qq.com source dates to that period), was retained and developed in-house by ByteDance, ran a test in March (2024), and ultimately LAUNCHED globally on 2025-11-21. It is currently ALIVE. Also the candi", "descZh": "一款基于久保带人《境·界》（BLEACH）漫画/动画的 3D 授权动作 RPG/抽卡手游，由朝夕光年黑月工作室开发，采用千年血战篇的赛璐珞渲染视觉风格。它于 2023 年 7 月公布，曾被卷入 2023 年 11 月朝夕光年关停的传闻，但属于字节跳动保留并转为自研的项目之一；它于 2025 年 11 月 21 日在 iOS/安卓上线（中国/亚洲由朝夕光年运营，西方市场通过 Crunchyroll Games 和 A PLUS JAPAN），目前仍在运营（截至 2026 年 5 月为 v1.27 版本）。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "授权《境·界》3D 动作 RPG / 抽卡（手游）", "regionZh": "中国＋全球（西方通过 Crunchyroll/A Plus Japan，亚洲通过朝夕光年）" }, { "name": "神仙道3 (Shenxiandao 3)", "nameEn": "Shenxiandao 3", "nameZh": "神仙道3", "aliases": [ "Shenxiandao 3", "Tale of Immortal 3", "神仙道III", "Shen Xian Dao 3" ], "type": "game", "category": "Idle/placement strategy card RPG (Chinese mythology)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2023-06-07", "dateKilled": "2023-12-01", "status": "divested", "publisher": "朝夕光年 (Nuverse), ByteDance's game publishing label — operations transferred to developer 飞鱼科技 (Feiyu Technology / FEIYU) on 2023-12-01", "developerEntities": [ "飞鱼科技 (Feiyu Technology / FEIYU Inc.) — developer & IP owner", "朝夕光年 (Nuverse / Shanghai Chaoxi Guangnian) — ByteDance publishing/operating entity" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "神仙道3 (Shenxiandao 3) is an idle/placement strategy card RPG set in Chinese mythology, developed by Feiyu Technology (飞鱼科技) using its own 神仙道 IP (originating from a 2011 browser game) and published/operated in mainland China by ByteDance's game label Nuverse (朝夕光年). It launched in all-platform open beta on June 7, 2023, reaching #1 on the China App Store free chart on launch day and roughly #12 on the grossing chart in its first week, before Nuverse handed operations back to Feiyu on December 1, 2023 amid ByteDance's gaming-business retreat.", "killedReason": "ByteDance's game label Nuverse divested the title back to its developer Feiyu Technology as part of ByteDance's November 2023 wind-down (\"大撤退\") of its gaming business. Nuverse stopped operating the game on 2023-12-01, migrating player data to a Feiyu-run version. The game continues to exist under Feiyu (not ByteDance), so it is divested rather than fully shut down.", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240221A09G7A00", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240221A09G7A00", "https://www.taptap.cn/moment/468379655133465808", "https://www.taptap.cn/app/225255", "https://feiyu.com/news/4-293.html", "http://www.kankancity.com/yule//2023061763493.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Candidate's claim that it was \"published by Nuverse\" is correct, but the developer was Feiyu Technology (not Nuverse) and Feiyu owns the IP. \"iOS top-15\" corroborated: #1 free / ~#12 grossing in first week. The original 神仙道 series long predates ByteDance; only this Nuverse-published entry of 神仙道3 (June–Dec 2023) is the ByteDance-relevant product. Status best classified as 'divested' (operations re", "descZh": "神仙道 3 是一款以中国神话为背景的放置类策略卡牌 RPG，由飞鱼科技开发，使用其自有的神仙道 IP（源自一款 2011 年的网页游戏），在中国大陆由字节跳动游戏厂牌朝夕光年发行/运营。它于 2023 年 6 月 7 日全平台公测，上线当日登顶中国 App Store 免费榜，首周畅销榜约第 12 位，随后朝夕光年于 2023 年 12 月 1 日将运营交还飞鱼，正值字节跳动游戏业务退潮之际。", "reasonZh": "字节跳动游戏厂牌朝夕光年作为其 2023 年 11 月游戏业务收缩（「大撤退」）的一部分，将该作剥离交还给开发商飞鱼科技。朝夕光年于 2023 年 12 月 1 日停止运营该游戏，将玩家数据迁移至飞鱼运营的版本。该游戏在飞鱼旗下（而非字节跳动）继续存在，因此属于剥离而非完全关停。", "categoryZh": "放置类策略卡牌 RPG（中国神话）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "世界计划 缤纷舞台！feat. 初音未来 (国服) / 初音未来：缤纷舞台 (Project Sekai: Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku (Chinese servers))", "nameEn": "Project Sekai: Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku (Chinese servers)", "nameZh": "世界计划 缤纷舞台！feat. 初音未来 (国服) / 初音未来：缤纷舞台", "aliases": [ "Project Sekai: Colorful Stage (China)", "Project SEKAI Colorful Stage feat. Hatsune Miku", "初音未来：缤纷舞台", "世界计划 缤纷舞台 国服", "プロセカ (中国版)", "PJSK CN" ], "type": "game", "category": "Rhythm / music game (Hatsune Miku / Vocaloid IP), gacha", "region": "Greater China — mainland China (Simplified) and Taiwan/Hong ", "dateLaunched": "2021-09-30", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "ByteDance gaming arm Nuverse / 朝夕光年: Beijing Chaoxi Lightyear Information Technology Co., Ltd. (北京朝夕光年信息技术有限公司) for the mainland Simplified Chinese server (ICP 京ICP备13010862号 = ByteDance); Ariel Netwo", "developerEntities": [ "SEGA (developer)", "Colorful Palette / Craft Egg (developer)", "Crypton Future Media (Hatsune Miku IP)", "Nuverse / 朝夕光年 — Beijing Chaoxi Lightyear Information Technology Co., Ltd. (China publisher)", "Ariel Network 艾瑞尔网路 (TW/HK/Macau publisher, Nuverse-affiliated)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "The Chinese-region service of SEGA's hit Vocaloid rhythm/gacha game Project Sekai: Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku, licensed and published by ByteDance's gaming arm Nuverse (朝夕光年). Nuverse-affiliated Ariel Network launched the Traditional Chinese (Taiwan/HK/Macau) server on 2021-09-30, and Nuverse (Beijing Chaoxi Lightyear) launched the Simplified Chinese mainland-China server on 2025-03-27 after obtaining a game licence (版号) on 2024-06-05.", "killedReason": "", "link": "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E8%AE%A1%E5%88%92_%E7%BC%A4%E7%BA%B7%E8%88%9E%E5%8F%B0%EF%BC%81_feat.%E5%88%9D%E9%9F%B3%E6%9C%AA%E6%9D%A5", "sources": [ "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E8%AE%A1%E5%88%92_%E7%BC%A4%E7%BA%B7%E8%88%9E%E5%8F%B0%EF%BC%81_feat.%E5%88%9D%E9%9F%B3%E6%9C%AA%E6%9D%A5", "https://www.yfchuhai.com/article/12420.html", "https://www.iyingdi.com/tz/post/5380859", "https://projectsekai.fandom.com/wiki/Project_SEKAI_COLORFUL_STAGE!", "https://en.namu.wiki/w/%ED%94%84%EB%A1%9C%EC%A0%9D%ED%8A%B8%20%EC%84%B8%EC%B9%B4%EC%9D%B4%20%EC%BB%AC%EB%9F%AC%ED%92%80%20%EC%8A%A4%ED%85%8C%EC%9D%B4%EC%A7%80!%20feat.%ED%95%98%EC%B8%A0%EB%84%A4%20%EB%AF%B8%EC%BF%A0/%ED%95%B4%EC%99%B8%20%EC%84%9C%EB%B9%84%EC%8A%A4" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "STATUS CORRECTED — candidate is genuinely ByteDance-published and new to the dataset, but the candidate's claim of 'discontinued / affected by the games-division pullback' is FACTUALLY WRONG and self-contradicting. The candidate's own cited source (yfchuhai.com/article/12420.html) explicitly lists 世界计划缤纷舞台 among the titles Nuverse RETAINED and continued operating through the late-2023 pullback. Ha", "descZh": "世嘉热门 Vocaloid 节奏/抽卡游戏《世界计划 缤纷舞台！feat. 初音未来》的中国区服务，由字节跳动游戏部门朝夕光年授权并发行。朝夕光年关联公司 Ariel Network 于 2021 年 9 月 30 日推出繁体中文（台港澳）服务器，朝夕光年（北京朝夕光年）则在 2024 年 6 月 5 日取得版号后，于 2025 年 3 月 27 日推出简体中文中国大陆服务器。", "reasonZh": "", "categoryZh": "节奏 / 音乐游戏（初音未来 / Vocaloid IP），抽卡", "regionZh": "大中华区——中国大陆（简体）及台港澳（繁体）" }, { "name": "全明星激斗 (SNK: All-Star Fight (All-Star Battle))", "nameEn": "SNK: All-Star Fight (All-Star Battle)", "nameZh": "全明星激斗", "aliases": [ "SNK All-Star Fight", "SNK: All Star Fight", "All-Star Brawl", "All-Star Battle", "Project F" ], "type": "game", "category": "Mobile game (SNK-licensed 3D strategy card RPG / gacha using", "region": "China (mainland; also released internationally)", "dateLaunched": "2022-11-01", "dateKilled": "", "status": "divested", "publisher": "中手游 CMGE (publisher/operator after divestiture); co-developed with ByteDance Nuverse 朝夕光年", "developerEntities": [ "朝夕光年 (Nuverse / ByteDance gaming division)", "101工作室 (101 Studio, Nuverse)", "中手游 (CMGE / China Mobile Games and Entertainment Group)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "全明星激斗 (SNK: All-Star Fight) is an officially SNK-licensed mobile game that crosses over characters from SNK fighting-game franchises (The King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, Metal Slug, Fatal Fury, The Last Blade, Ikari Warriors). Despite the \"fighting\" branding it is built as a 3D strategy card-collection RPG with gacha summons. It was co-developed by ByteDance's gaming division Nuverse (朝夕光年, via its 101 Studio) and CMGE; after Nuverse's 101 Studio was dissolved, the title was handed off to CMGE, which launched it in mainland China on 1 November 2022 and operates it (it topped the free chart and grossed an estimated 50M+ RMB in its first week).", "killedReason": "ByteDance's gaming arm Nuverse (朝夕光年) co-developed the SNK-licensed title through its 101 Studio, but the studio was dissolved/dismantled. The project was transferred (divested) to co-developer CMGE (中手游), which launched it on 1 Nov 2022 and continues to operate it. ByteDance exited the title; this preceded ByteDance's broader November 2023 shutdown/divestiture of Nuverse's game business.", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231128A0BQAY00", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231128A0BQAY00", "https://www.yfchuhai.com/article/12420.html", "https://www.osogoo.com/article/af86e664c299135b.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20221108A092MS00", "http://www.gamelook.com.cn/2022/10/500778/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Verified ByteDance co-development confirmed by multiple sources stating \"SNK正版授权，朝夕光年和中手游联合开发\" and that after 101工作室 dissolved the game was transferred to CMGE. CAUTION on candidate note: I could NOT corroborate the specific claim that Zhang Yiming \"tried to halt it\" pre-launch — that detail does not appear in the cited Tencent/yfchuhai sources and looks like an unsupported embellishment (the veri", "descZh": "全明星激斗是一款官方授权 SNK 的手游，集结了 SNK 格斗游戏系列（《拳皇》《侍魂》《合金弹头》《饿狼传说》《月华剑士》《怒之铁拳》）的角色。尽管打着「格斗」旗号，它实际构建为带抽卡召唤的 3D 策略卡牌收集 RPG。它由字节跳动游戏部门朝夕光年（通过其 101 工作室）与中手游联合开发；朝夕光年 101 工作室解散后，该作交由中手游负责，后者于 2022 年 11 月 1 日在中国大陆上线并运营（它登顶免费榜，首周流水估计超 5000 万元人民币）。", "reasonZh": "字节游戏部门朝夕光年通过 101 工作室联合开发了这款 SNK 授权作品，但该工作室被解散。项目转交（剥离）给联合开发商中手游，后者于 2022 年 11 月 1 日上线并持续运营。字节退出该作，早于其 2023 年 11 月对朝夕光年游戏业务的整体关停。", "categoryZh": "手游（SNK 授权 3D 策略卡牌 RPG / 抽卡）", "regionZh": "中国大陆（亦有国际发行）" }, { "name": "火力对决 (Strike Royale)", "nameEn": "Strike Royale", "nameZh": "火力对决", "aliases": [ "Huoli Duijue", "超凡火力 (Super Fire Force, original working title)", "冲击同盟 (Charge/Impact Alliance, internal rename)", "Speed Gunfire", "com.duoli.oversea.hldj" ], "type": "game", "category": "Cartoon-style MOBA + third-person shooter (TPS) hybrid, 3v3 ", "region": "Overseas soft-launch (Southeast Asia, Europe) + China develo", "dateLaunched": "2019-12-23", "dateKilled": "2021", "status": "cancelled", "publisher": "Nuverse (朝夕光年), ByteDance's game division; overseas Android build signed under entity \"Duoli\" (package com.duoli.oversea.hldj). Originally developed by Shanghe Network (上禾网络) before ByteDance acquired", "developerEntities": [ "朝夕光年 (Nuverse) — ByteDance gaming division", "101工作室 (Studio 101) — internal ByteDance studio", "上禾网络 (Shanghe Network) — original developer, acquired by ByteDance", "Duoli / 朵力 — overseas app-signing entity (com.duoli.oversea.hldj)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Strike Royale (火力对决) was a cartoon-style 3v3 MOBA + third-person-shooter hybrid mobile game. It began as 超凡火力 (\"Super Fire Force\") at studio Shanghe Network (上禾网络); after ByteDance acquired the studio it became a Studio 101 / Nuverse project, was internally renamed 冲击同盟, and ran an overseas soft-launch in Southeast Asia (Dec 2019) and Europe (early 2020) under the name \"Strike Royale.\" Development was halted in early 2021.", "killedReason": "Development ceased in early 2021 as a strategic abandonment during ByteDance/Nuverse project culling; internal sources tied the decision to ByteDance's concurrent ~$4B acquisition of Moonton (Mobile Legends), which reprioritized resources away from in-house MOBA efforts. Studio 101 was later dissolved in September 2022 amid broader gaming-portfolio restructuring.", "link": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231128A0BQAY00", "sources": [ "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231128A0BQAY00", "https://www.yfchuhai.com/article/12420.html", "https://apkcombo.com/strike-royale/com.duoli.oversea.hldj/", "https://speedy-gunfire.en.uptodown.com/android", "https://www.bluestacks.com/apps/action/strike-royale-on-pc.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED GENUINE, NEW, and ByteDance-owned. ByteDance link is well-sourced via Tencent News / yfchuhai industry retrospective (\"朝夕光年崩塌前的25款自研\") which names the 上禾网络 acquisition -> Studio 101 -> Nuverse lineage; multiple app aggregators independently credit \"Nuverse\" as developer. Package com.duoli.oversea.hldj (\"hldj\" = 火力对决 pinyin, \"oversea\" = overseas build) definitively links the English \"Strik", "descZh": "火力对决是一款卡通风格的 3v3 MOBA＋第三人称射击（TPS）混合手游。它起初是上禾网络旗下的超凡火力；字节跳动收购该工作室后，它成为 101 工作室/朝夕光年的项目，内部更名为冲击同盟，并以「Strike Royale」之名在东南亚（2019 年 12 月）和欧洲（2020 年初）进行海外软启动。开发于 2021 年初停止。", "reasonZh": "开发于 2021 年初停止，是字节跳动/朝夕光年项目筛汰中的战略放弃；内部消息将该决定与字节跳动同期约 40 亿美元收购沐瞳（《无尽对决》）联系起来，资源被重新优先分配，远离自研 MOBA。101 工作室后于 2022 年 9 月在更广泛的游戏组合重组中被解散。", "categoryZh": "卡通风格 MOBA＋第三人称射击（TPS）混合，3v3", "regionZh": "海外软启动（东南亚、欧洲）＋中国开发" }, { "name": "芒果斗地主 (Mango Doudizhu)", "nameEn": "Mango Doudizhu", "nameZh": "芒果斗地主", "aliases": [ "Mango Doudizhu", "Mango Dou Dizhu", "Mango Fight the Landlord" ], "type": "game", "category": "Card game (Doudizhu / 棋牌)", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2020-09-15", "dateKilled": "2024", "status": "divested", "publisher": "Developer: 深圳市林子互娱科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Linzi Huyu) — became 100%-owned by ByteDance affiliate 北京游逸科技有限公司 (Beijing Youyi Technology) in April 2021. Co-published / later operated under 北京畅元国讯科技有限公司 (Beijing", "developerEntities": [ "深圳市林子互娱科技有限公司 (Shenzhen Linzi Huyu Technology)", "北京游逸科技有限公司 (Beijing Youyi Technology, ByteDance affiliate, 100% owner from 2021-04)", "朝夕光年/Nuverse 绿洲工作室 (Oasis Studio)", "北京畅元国讯科技有限公司 (Beijing Changyuan Guoxun, operator)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "芒果斗地主 (Mango Doudizhu) is a casual Doudizhu card game that started as a viral Douyin mini-game (over 2M Douyin followers, ~570M hashtag views). Its developer, Shenzhen Linzi Huyu, was 100%-acquired by ByteDance affiliate Beijing Youyi Technology in April 2021 and folded into Nuverse's Oasis Studio (绿洲工作室) as project \"P7.\" It is a genuine ByteDance/Nuverse-owned title, distinct from Oasis Studio's other hit 晶核 (Crystal of Atlan).", "killedReason": "Caught in ByteDance's November 2023 wind-down/divestiture of its game (Nuverse) business. NOTE: contrary to the candidate's claim, the game was NOT discontinued/killed in the 2023 shutdown — sources (including the candidate's own) explicitly show it survived alongside 晶核 and remained in the iOS top-grossing 200. ByteDance subsequently divested its acquired game studios (e.g. 有爱互娱 sold to a China Ruyi/Tencent-affiliated buyer in May 2024 for RMB 259M); the 芒果斗地主 / Linzi Huyu asset's exact disposition is less documented, but the game continued operating and now appears under a non-ByteDance operator (北京畅元国讯), with versions/updates running into 2025. So the correct status is 'divested' and the title itself is still live — not dead.", "link": "https://www.youxituoluo.com/527174.html", "sources": [ "https://www.youxituoluo.com/527174.html", "https://www.36kr.com/newsflashes/1178545399693831", "https://www.jiemian.com/article/5939427.html", "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231128A0BQAY00", "https://www.yfchuhai.com/article/12420.html" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: KEEP — genuinely ByteDance-owned, genuinely new (not in known list), but FIX the status. Evidence: (1) ByteDance affiliate 北京游逸科技 acquired 100% of developer 林子互娱 in April 2021 (游戏陀螺, 36氪, 界面新闻 all confirm). (2) Both candidate-cited sources list 芒果斗地主 as Oasis Studio's P7 self-dev project ('一款由字节收购的林子互娱所研发的休闲棋牌游戏'). (3) CANDIDATE ERROR: status 'discontinued' / 'affected by 2023 shutdown' i", "descZh": "芒果斗地主是一款休闲斗地主卡牌游戏，起初是抖音上的爆款小游戏（抖音粉丝超 200 万，话题播放量约 5.7 亿）。其开发商深圳林子互娱于 2021 年 4 月被字节跳动关联公司北京有爱科技 100% 收购，并入朝夕光年绿洲工作室，立项为「P7」。它是字节跳动/朝夕光年真正自有的作品，区别于绿洲工作室的另一款爆款晶核（Crystal of Atlan）。", "reasonZh": "被卷入字节 2023 年 11 月游戏（朝夕光年）业务的收缩/剥离，但游戏并未关停——它与晶核一同存续并保持 iOS 畅销榜前 200。字节随后剥离收购的游戏工作室，该游戏现归非字节运营方（北京畅元国讯）旗下，更新延续至 2025 年。故正确状态为「剥离」，游戏本身仍在线。", "categoryZh": "卡牌游戏（斗地主 / 棋牌）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" }, { "name": "高能手办团 (Figure Story (JP) / Figure Fantasy (Global))", "nameEn": "Figure Story (JP) / Figure Fantasy (Global)", "nameZh": "高能手办团", "aliases": [ "Figure Fantasy", "フィギュアストーリー", "Model Girls: AWAKE", "高能手办团", "Gaoneng Shoubantuan" ], "type": "game", "category": "Figure-collecting idle gacha RPG (anime/figurine theme)", "region": "Overseas (Japan & Southeast Asia, the ByteDance/Nuverse-oper", "dateLaunched": "2021-06-24", "dateKilled": "2024-06-21", "status": "divested", "publisher": "Nuverse / 朝夕光年 (Beijing Zhaoxi Guangnian Information Technology Co., ByteDance's indirect wholly-owned subsidiary) — Japan & SEA publisher only. Developer is the INDEPENDENT third party Reflex Fox Stu", "developerEntities": [ "Reflex Fox Studio (反射狐工作室)", "Hangzhou Xinguang Liumi Network Technology Co. (杭州心光流美网络科技有限公司)", "Nuverse / 朝夕光年 (ByteDance subsidiary, Japan & SEA publisher only)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "高能手办团 (Figure Story in Japan, Figure Fantasy internationally) is a 3D figurine-collecting idle gacha RPG where players collect anime-style scale figures via blind-box gacha, view them with AR, and use them in grid-based strategic battles. It was developed by the independent studio Reflex Fox Studio (under Hangzhou Xinguang Liumi); ByteDance's gaming subsidiary Nuverse acted only as the publisher/operator for the Japan and Southeast Asia versions, which were divested/shut down during ByteDance's 2023-2024 retreat from gaming.", "killedReason": "The Nuverse-operated Japan (and Southeast Asia) servers were shut down / divested as part of ByteDance's November 2023 decision to wind down its Nuverse game-publishing arm and exit gaming; the Japan server ended service 2024-06-21. The game itself was NOT killed — it is a third-party title that continues globally under its independent developer (China version still live; International version operated by the developer since May 2024; Japan version later remade/relaunched by others).", "link": "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E9%AB%98%E8%83%BD%E6%89%8B%E5%8A%9E%E5%9B%A2", "sources": [ "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E9%AB%98%E8%83%BD%E6%89%8B%E5%8A%9E%E5%9B%A2", "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E5%BF%83%E5%85%89%E6%B5%81%E7%BE%8E", "https://m.tgbus.com/chinajoy/news/161368", "https://www.youxituoluo.com/527589.html", "https://apps.qoo-app.com/en/app/17419" ], "confidence": "medium", "notes": "CAUTION / BORDERLINE INCLUSION. (1) The candidate's Chinese aliases \"眩境物语\" and \"手办物语\" are INCORRECT/fabricated — the real Chinese name is 高能手办团; zero sources support \"眩境物语\". (2) ByteDance/Nuverse was ONLY the Japan & SEA publisher; the game is owned and developed by the independent third party Reflex Fox Studio / Xinguang Liumi (backed by Kaiying, NetEase, Bilibili, Sequoia, Makers Fund), NOT a By", "descZh": "高能手办团（日服为 Figure Story，国际版为 Figure Fantasy）是一款 3D 手办收集放置类抽卡 RPG，玩家通过盲盒抽卡收集动漫风格比例手办，用 AR 观赏，并在格子棋盘式策略战斗中使用它们。它由独立工作室 Reflex Fox Studio（隶属杭州新光流觅）开发；字节跳动游戏子公司朝夕光年仅作为日本和东南亚版本的发行/运营方，这些版本在字节跳动 2023 至 2024 年退出游戏期间被剥离/关停。", "reasonZh": "朝夕光年运营的日本及东南亚服务器作为字节 2023 年 11 月退出游戏的一部分被关停/剥离，日服于 2024 年 6 月 21 日停服。游戏本身并未消亡——作为第三方作品在其独立开发商旗下继续全球运营（国服仍在线，国际版自 2024 年 5 月由开发商运营）。", "categoryZh": "手办收集放置类抽卡 RPG（动漫/手办主题）", "regionZh": "海外（日本与东南亚，字节跳动/朝夕光年运营的版本）" }, { "name": "魔法战棋 (Magic Chess: Go Go)", "nameEn": "Magic Chess: Go Go", "nameZh": "魔法战棋", "aliases": [ "Magic Chess: Go Go", "MCGG", "魔法战棋", "Magic Chess GoGo" ], "type": "game", "category": "Auto-battler / auto-chess strategy mobile game", "region": "Global (excl. mainland China; SEA-led launch)", "dateLaunched": "2024-11-29", "dateKilled": "", "status": "divested", "publisher": "Moonton (Moonton Technology) — a ByteDance subsidiary during the game's development and launch; ByteDance agreed to divest Moonton to Savvy Games Group on 2026-03-20. Play/App Store dev-of-record: Moo", "developerEntities": [ "Moonton Technology", "ByteDance (parent 2021–2026, divesting)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "Standalone multiplayer auto-battler (auto-chess) mobile game developed and published by Moonton, spun out from the popular 'Magic Chess' mode inside Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Soft-launched in Malaysia/Singapore on 2024-11-29, expanded to APAC on 2025-02-21, and launched globally on 2025-05-28; it surpassed 30 million downloads by June 2025 and runs its own esports circuit (debuted at the 33rd SEA Games and the GO1 World Championship).", "killedReason": "Not shut down — the game itself remains live. Listed under 'divested' because ByteDance, which fully owned developer Moonton from 2021, signed a definitive agreement on 2026-03-20 to sell Moonton to Saudi PIF-owned Savvy Games Group for ~$6B (deal signed, pending regulatory close as of reporting). This is part of ByteDance's broader exit from high-budget gaming (following the 2023 Nuverse wind-down).", "link": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Chess:_Go_Go", "sources": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Chess:_Go_Go", "https://en.moonton.com/news/152.html", "https://escharts.com/news/bytedance-6-billion-sale-mlbb-publisher-savvy-games-group", "https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-20/bytedance-agrees-to-sell-moonton-to-savvy-games-for-6-billion", "https://escharts.com/news/introduction-magic-chess-go-go" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERIFIED NEW + ByteDance (via divestiture angle). Distinct from MLBB, which is already in the known list — Magic Chess: Go Go is a separate standalone SKU, not a rename/translation of MLBB. ByteDance ownership is real but transitional: Moonton was wholly owned by ByteDance (acquired 2021 ~$4B) throughout this game's entire conception, development, and global launch (2024–2025); ByteDance agreed to", "descZh": "由沐瞳（Moonton）开发并发行的独立多人自走棋手游，脱胎于《无尽对决：Bang Bang》内广受欢迎的「魔法棋」模式。它于 2024 年 11 月 29 日在马来西亚/新加坡软启动，2025 年 2 月 21 日扩展至亚太地区，2025 年 5 月 28 日全球上线；到 2025 年 6 月下载量突破 3000 万，并运营自有电竞赛事（在第 33 届东南亚运动会和 GO1 世界锦标赛上亮相）。", "reasonZh": "并未关停——游戏本身仍在线。列为「剥离」是因为自 2021 年起全资拥有开发商沐瞳的字节，于 2026 年 3 月 20 日签署协议，将沐瞳以约 60 亿美元售予沙特 PIF 旗下 Savvy Games Group（已签，待监管批准）。这是字节退出高投入游戏的一部分。", "categoryZh": "自走棋策略手游", "regionZh": "全球（不含中国大陆；东南亚主导上线）" }, { "name": "放置少女 (Idle Girls (official QooApp/EN store name: \"Depose Girls\"))", "nameEn": "Idle Girls (official QooApp/EN store name: \"Depose Girls\")", "nameZh": "放置少女", "aliases": [ "放置少女〜百花繚乱の萌姫たち〜", "Houchi Shoujo", "ほうちしょうじょ", "Depose Girls", "Idle Girls", "Idle Princess" ], "type": "game", "category": "Idle / auto-battle bishōjo (anime girl) cultivation RPG with", "region": "Japan (primary / flagship market, ~32% of ByteDance mobile-g", "dateLaunched": "2017-03-24", "dateKilled": "", "status": "alive", "publisher": "Developed by C4games (北京有爱互娱科技有限公司 / Beijing Youai Huyu, a ByteDance/Nuverse 100% subsidiary). Japan operations run by C4 Connect株式会社 (transferred from C4games Mar 1, 2021); JP dev arm also operated a", "developerEntities": [ "C4games (有爱互娱 / 北京有爱互娱科技有限公司)", "C4 Connect株式会社 (Japan operator since 2021-03-01)", "C4games株式会社 / FightSong (fsgames.co.jp, JP dev arm)", "Nuverse / 朝夕光年 (ByteDance gaming unit, parent)", "ByteDance / 字节跳动 (ultimate owner)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "放置少女 (Idle Girls; official English store name \"Depose Girls\"; full JP title 放置少女〜百花繚乱の萌姫たち〜) is an idle/auto-battle bishōjo cultivation RPG with gacha, themed around Three Kingdoms and Japanese-history figures reimagined as anime girls. It was the flagship and single biggest revenue title of C4games/有爱互娱, which ByteDance fully acquired via its Nuverse gaming unit in two stages (Sept 2020 and April 2021); the game became ByteDance's top-grossing mobile title in Japan (its largest market) and reportedly grossed over RMB 11 billion lifetime.", "killedReason": "Not killed. Still in active service (major update Dec 2025, regular top-50 Japan iOS/Google Play presence into 2026). Note: when ByteDance sold the 有爱互娱/C4games shell (and its 红警OL/Red Alert OL SLG) to Tencent-affiliated China Ruyi (中国儒意) for ~RMB 2.59B in May 2024, 放置少女 was explicitly CARVED OUT and RETAINED by ByteDance — so it stayed in the ByteDance umbrella rather than being divested.", "link": "https://en.pingwest.com/w/8513", "sources": [ "https://en.pingwest.com/w/8513", "https://kr-asia.com/bytedance-acquires-c4-games-challenging-tencent-overseas", "https://recgame.jp/news/detail/1439", "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%94%BE%E7%BD%AE%E5%B0%91%E5%A5%B3%E3%80%9C%E7%99%BE%E8%8A%B1%E7%B9%9A%E4%B9%B1%E3%81%AE%E8%90%8C%E5%A7%AB%E3%81%9F%E3%81%A1%E3%80%9C", "https://www.4gamer.net/games/396/G039619/20210225056/" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuine, NEW, missing ByteDance product — recommend INCLUDE (with corrected name). The candidate's name \"后宫少女 / Houkyuu Shoujo\" is GARBLED: it is actually 放置少女 (Houchi Shoujo) — 放置 (\"idle\", Hou-chi) was corrupted to 后宫 (\"harem\", Hou-kyuu) because both begin \"Hou-\". Same game. The \"Last-Origin-style gacha\" alias is also inaccurate framing — it is an idle/auto-battle bishōjo RPG, not a Smar", "descZh": "放置少女（国际商店英文名「Depose Girls」；日文全称《放置少女〜百花繚乱の萌姫たち〜》）是一款带抽卡的放置/自动战斗美少女养成 RPG，以重新演绎为动漫少女的三国和日本历史人物为主题。它是 C4games/有爱互娱的旗舰兼营收最高的作品，字节跳动通过其朝夕光年游戏部门分两阶段（2020 年 9 月和 2021 年 4 月）将其全资收购；该游戏成为字节跳动在日本（其最大市场）营收最高的手游，据报道累计流水超过 110 亿元人民币。", "reasonZh": "并未关停。仍在正常运营（2025 年 12 月有重大更新，2026 年稳居日本 iOS/Google Play 前 50）。2024 年 5 月字节将有爱互娱/C4games 壳公司及红警 OL 售予腾讯关联的中国儒意时，放置少女被明确剥离保留——故它留在字节旗下，而非被剥离。", "categoryZh": "放置 / 自动战斗美少女养成 RPG（含抽卡）", "regionZh": "日本（主要/旗舰市场，约占字节跳动手游营收 32%）" }, { "name": "A-SOUL", "nameEn": "A-SOUL", "nameZh": "A-SOUL", "aliases": [ "枝江娱乐 (Zhijiang Entertainment, operating team)", "朝夕光年虚拟偶像 (Chaoxi Light Year virtual idol)", "Project V", "向晚/贝拉/嘉然/乃琳/珈乐 (Ava/Bella/Diana/Eileen/Carol)" ], "type": "service", "category": "Virtual idol group / VTuber IP (motion-capture virtual lives", "region": "China", "dateLaunched": "2020-11-23", "dateKilled": "2024-04-19", "status": "divested", "publisher": "朝夕光年 / Chaoxi Light Year (a.k.a. Nuverse), ByteDance's gaming & interactive entertainment subsidiary; IP held via 杭州看潮信息咨询有限公司, majority-owned by ByteDance wholly-owned subsidiary 北京游逸科技有限公司 (Beijing ", "developerEntities": [ "朝夕光年 (Chaoxi Light Year / Nuverse)", "北京游逸科技有限公司 (Beijing Youyi Technology, ByteDance wholly-owned)", "杭州看潮信息咨询有限公司 (copyright holder)", "枝江娱乐 (Zhijiang Entertainment, operating team)", "乐华娱乐 (Yuehua Entertainment, co-founder / artist-management partner)" ], "appStoreId": "", "description": "A-SOUL was a five-member Chinese virtual idol / VTuber group (Ava, Bella, Carol, Diana, Eileen) co-created in November 2020 by ByteDance's gaming arm 朝夕光年 (Chaoxi Light Year, internationally branded Nuverse) and Yuehua Entertainment, with ByteDance as the actual controller providing the motion-capture technology, operations, and holding the IP/copyrights through wholly-owned subsidiaries. It became one of China's most prominent virtual idol acts on Bilibili before ByteDance exited the business.", "killedReason": "ByteDance divested the entire A-SOUL IP — including technology, code, copyrights, equipment, and domain names — selling it to partner Yuehua Entertainment (assets transferred to 尼斯未来/Nice Future) for ~RMB 30 million, announced April 19, 2024. ByteDance's broader retreat from virtual-idol/livestream-entertainment ventures (and earlier 2022 controversy over performer overwork / member Carol's hiatus) preceded the exit; member Ava also left as her voice actress declined the new Yuehua contract.", "link": "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/A-SOUL", "sources": [ "https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/A-SOUL", "https://www.vrtuoluo.cn/539963.html", "https://www.pingwest.com/a/246568", "https://k.sina.com.cn/article_6012711797_16662b37501901876a.html", "https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_27107166" ], "confidence": "high", "notes": "VERDICT: Genuine NEW ByteDance product, recommend INCLUDE. Triple-confirmed by independent zh sources (Chinese Wikipedia, PingWest/品玩, VR陀螺, Sina, jiemian/界面, ThePaper/澎湃). ByteDance was the IP owner & actual controller (via Beijing Youyi Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary) and even invested in Yuehua itself in 2021 — so this is not merely a Yuehua product mislabeled. Caveats for the dataset: (", "descZh": "A-SOUL 是一个由五名成员（嘉然、贝拉、珈乐、向晚、乃琳）组成的中国虚拟偶像/VTuber 团体，于 2020 年 11 月由字节跳动游戏部门朝夕光年与乐华娱乐共同打造，字节跳动作为实际控制方，提供动作捕捉技术、运营，并通过全资子公司持有 IP/版权。在字节跳动退出该业务之前，它曾是中国哔哩哔哩上最知名的虚拟偶像团体之一。", "reasonZh": "字节将整个 A-SOUL IP（技术、代码、版权、设备、域名）以约 3000 万元售予合作方乐华娱乐（资产转入尼斯未来），2024 年 4 月 19 日宣布。此前字节已更广泛退出虚拟偶像/直播娱乐业务；成员向晚也因其声优拒签新乐华合约而离开。", "categoryZh": "虚拟偶像团体 / VTuber IP（动作捕捉虚拟直播）", "regionZh": "中国大陆" } ]