ByteDance's Doubao: China’s most popular AI chatbot with a colorful UI
When I first saw ByteDance’s Doubao on my phone, the bright icons and playful layout caught my eye right away. The app claims it “has more features and a more colorful user interface that keeps you interested longer,” which sounds like a deliberate push to keep people scrolling. Doubao calls itself “the Everything App,” packing tools that remind you of ChatGPT, Midjourney, Sora, Character.ai, TikTok, Perplexity, Copilot and a few others into one place.
You can chat by typing or speaking, and the article hints at other input methods that weren’t fully listed - maybe images or video. All that suggests a one-stop shop for generative AI, but the piece doesn’t say much about how well it works, what it costs, or how it handles your data. It’s hard to tell if the flashy UI hides any real limits.
Still, the multi-modal, feature-heavy design feels like ByteDance’s try at gathering a lot of AI tricks under one roof, and the buzz around it shows people are at least curious.
Doubao has more features and a more colorful user interface that keeps you interested longer.” The Everything App Doubao offers users a little bit of everything—it’s like ChatGPT, Midjourney, Sora, Character.ai, TikTok, Perplexity, Copilot, and more in a single app. It can chat via text, audio, and video; it can generate images, spreadsheets, decks, podcasts, and five-second videos; it allows anyone to customize an AI agent for specific scenarios and host it on Doubao’s platform for others to use. One of the most important things about the app, however, is that it’s deeply integrated with Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, allowing it to both attract users from the video platform and send traffic back to it.
Somehow, ByteDance’s ambitiously sprawling strategy for Doubao has turned out to be exactly what Chinese users wanted. A little over two years since its launch, Doubao has quietly become the AI app that Chinese people—particularly those who aren’t very AI savvy—are actually using.
Has Doubao really become the go-to AI hub for Chinese users? By August, ByteDance said its chatbot had taken back the top spot among AI apps in China, nudging DeepSeek aside. The team credits the app’s bright UI and a longer feature list - it now mixes text, audio and images - for the bounce back, noting it “keeps you interested longer.” In practice Doubao feels like a mash-up of ChatGPT, Midjourney, Sora, Character.ai, TikTok, Perplexity, Copilot and a few others.
That breadth hints at an “everything app” vibe, but it’s still unclear how well each tool stacks up against specialists. The quick swing in attention also makes me wonder whether users are sticking around or just chasing the newest thing. Tens of millions have given it a try, yet I’m not sure the UI and multimodal angle will hold the lead.
For now, ByteDance’s push shows a Chinese AI market where a slick product can flip popularity in weeks.
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Common Questions Answered
What specific features make Doubao's user interface more colorful and engaging?
Doubao's colorful user interface is designed to keep users interested longer by incorporating vibrant visual elements and interactive design. This strategy is part of ByteDance's approach to enhance sustained engagement, as highlighted in the article's description of the app's appeal.
How does Doubao position itself as 'the Everything App' by bundling capabilities?
Doubao bundles capabilities from multiple platforms like ChatGPT, Midjourney, Sora, Character.ai, TikTok, Perplexity, and Copilot into a single application. It offers text, audio, and video chat, along with tools for generating images, spreadsheets, decks, podcasts, and five-second videos, creating a comprehensive AI hub.
What evidence supports the claim that Doubao reclaimed the top spot among AI apps in China by August?
ByteDance reported that by August, Doubao had overtaken DeepSeek to become the most popular AI chatbot in China. The app's rebound is credited to its colorful interface and expanded feature set, which the company states keeps users engaged for longer periods.
What customization options does Doubao offer for creating AI agents on its platform?
Doubao allows users to customize AI agents for specific scenarios and host them directly on its platform. This feature enables personalized interactions tailored to individual needs, enhancing the app's versatility as a multi-functional tool.