As TikTok's destiny within the US sits in limbo, the ByteDance-owned firm figured now's nearly as good a time as any to spruce up the platform's (beforehand lackluster) desktop expertise. New options embrace a repositioned navigation bar, an Discover tab, a floating participant for Chrome and — in a transfer that ought to catch Twitch's consideration — dwell recreation streaming in panorama orientation.
Earlier than Thursday's modifications, TikTok's net app format included a search bar and shortcuts working throughout the highest of the display screen alongside hyperlinks down the left aspect. Now, all of them have been consolidated into the vertical navigation bar to the left. The concept is to scale back distractions for extra immersive viewing because the platform strikes to compete with the likes of YouTube and Twitch.
Talking of Twitch, TikTok now helps full-screen dwell recreation streaming in portrait and panorama modes. Earlier than right now, you would solely do the latter utilizing TikTok's Stay Studio app. If you stream dwell in panorama, desktop customers will see that view by default, whereas cell customers can rotate their units to look at in widescreen (like everybody did earlier than TikTok got here alongside).
In the meantime, a floating participant that retains TikTok seen above your different home windows is unique to Chrome for desktop.
There's additionally a brand new Collections function (just like YouTube's playlists), the place you possibly can manage your favourite movies in customized classes, making it simpler to return to them later. Cellular app options shifting to the desktop embrace the For You feed, the place you'll discover algorithmically chosen content material primarily based in your pursuits, and the Discover web page, which exhibits trending hashtags and widespread content material.
The modifications to the desktop browser model at the moment are accessible globally.
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