Ads on Lapse? Not yet—but marketers are keeping an eye on the new platform
The year TikTok officially debuted in the US in 2018, it had roughly 271 million monthly active users. Fast forward to 2023, and it now has more than 1 billion, according to Statista.
Not every new social media app has enjoyed that scale (we’re looking at you, Peach, BeReal, and Vsco)—but there are still plenty of apps working to stand out. This fall, a new app, Lapse, briefly topped the App Store after it required new users to invite friends before signing up.
Lapse allows users to take photos and share them, unedited, once they “develop,” like a digital version of a disposable camera. While it remains to be seen whether it will manage to outlive initial interest, the UK-based app is working on perfecting its current iteration, co-founder Dan Silvertown told Marketing Brew—and some marketers said they are keeping an eye on the app to see if it becomes a viable tool for their clients.
Second time’s the charm?
Lapse, which first debuted in 2021, is in a reinvention phase. The first version, Silvertown said, encouraged people to take photos with their friends when they were all together, sharing the pictures with the whole group afterward. And while photos were snapped during group gatherings like parties or vacations, the structure “didn’t work so well day to day,” he said.
The latest iteration of Lapse, which is the one currently available and which rolled out in August, was introduced to help sustain interest in the app, Silvertown told us.
“This new version of Lapse takes the same idea and concept of shooting on a disposable camera, but rather than shooting in a collaborative way, the shooting actually happens in an individual way,” he said. “It can be used by someone to journal their day and capture their memories.”
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