AppLovin launches – AppLovin, which failed in its bid to buy TikTok, has quietly launched a new app called Gist this month. The adtech company is positioning the referral-code feed—blending photo carousels, videos, and mini-games—as a way to build a user base and content pipeline
For AppLovin, losing TikTok didn’t end the chase—it just changed the playbook.
This month. the adtech firm quietly released a new app called Gist. built around a feed that’s meant to feel familiar to anyone who already uses TikTok-style social discovery. The app requires a referral code to access, then serves users a mix of photo carousels, videos, and mini-games. When people join. Gist greets them with “Welcome to Gist. ” describing itself as a “handbook for the curious. the grounded. and the real.”.
Inside the app, users can choose content categories they’re interested in, including travel, relationships, and career advice. The feed includes travel recommendations presented as photo carousels. before-and-after weight-loss journeys. AI-generated videos of otters. and even a Flappy Bird rip-off. In look and feel, Gist overlaps with apps like Lemon8 and RedNote.
The launch arrives without a formal announcement. But the structure suggests AppLovin is trying to grow slowly—building out accounts and material before opening the floodgates. There are already dozens of accounts on the app. including lifestyle content creators who receive a special “founding creator” star next to their profiles.
AppLovin’s move is a sharp turn from its core business. The company’s main business is mobile-app advertising. and rolling out a creator-focused social platform is a different bet—one that’s aimed at traffic the company can monetize directly. Giovanni Ge. AppLovin’s product and engineering chief. said in a February podcast that the goal was to bring exclusive. monetizable traffic to the company. adding that “the path forward would not be easy.” AppLovin declined to comment.
The company is already taking steps to keep Gist supplied with content. To fill the platform with fresh and relevant material, AppLovin is hiring a specialist focused on recruiting US creators and overseeing “operational workflows to ensure high-quality content production.”
That creator push is also tied to the broader reason AppLovin wanted TikTok in the first place. In April 2025. AppLovin told President Donald Trump it wanted to “explore a purchase of TikTok in all markets outside of China.” The company ultimately lost to a buyer consortium that included Oracle and investment firms MGX and Silver Lake. Before that sale. ahead of the consortium’s eventual deal. AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi told Business Insider that his thesis for buying TikTok was that AppLovin’s proven ad revenue machine could help boost what he described as an undermonetized asset. Foroughi also pointed to AppLovin’s expertise in handling user data and controlling complex algorithms. saying the company would have helped remove biases from TikTok’s content recommendation system—one of the reasons TikTok’s Chinese ownership drew US government scrutiny.
Even after failing to buy TikTok, AppLovin continued to place bets in the same direction. It invested in Flip, another TikTok competitor that went belly up at the end of last year.
The same thinking could be applied to Gist, with another potential benefit layered on top: AppLovin may also see the app as a way to bolster its e-commerce ads business, since popular social apps like TikTok tend to attract that cohort of marketers.
AppLovin’s broader strategy has already been moving in that direction. The company originally grew by helping mostly gaming app developers make money through advertising and by helping them find new users by placing ads on other apps. In 2024. it began a push for e-commerce advertisers. and Wall Street responded by sending its stock soaring as investors saw potential to unlock billions more in growth.
As of Friday, AppLovin’s market cap was over $163 billion. On a May earnings call, Foroughi said AppLovin’s consumer vertical—non-gaming advertisers—was “growing even faster than gaming,” with the segment’s March revenue up 25% versus January.
Now, with Gist, AppLovin is attempting to build the top of the funnel itself—turning the creator economy into an owned pipeline rather than something it simply advertises into.
AppLovin Gist TikTok bid social media app Lemon8 RedNote mobile app advertising creator platform e-commerce ads Giovanni Ge Adam Foroughi Oracle MGX Silver Lake Flip