Musical.ly Inc. was founded by long time friends Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang in Shanghai, China.

Why did they change Musical.ly to TikTok?

We want to capture the world's creativity and knowledge under this new name and remind everyone to treasure every precious life moment. Combining Musical.ly and TikTok is a natural fit given the shared mission of both experiences — to create a community where everyone can be a creator.”

When was Musical.ly first made?

That's when Zhu realized he could combine music, videos, and a social network to attract the early-teen demographic. The team turned Zhu's new idea into an app in 30 days, and launched Musical.ly in July 2014.