Byte (service)
Byte (stylized as byte) is a short-form video hosting service where users post 6-second looping videos. It was created by a development team led by Dom Hofmann as a successor to a now-defunct service that he co-founded, named Vine. Byte was referred to as "v2" during its development stages, before it was indefinitely postponed in 2018, and later resumed as the "Byte" project. After a closed beta period, it was launched for the iOS and Android platforms on January 24, 2020.

History

Vine 
Byte's predecessor, Vine, was founded in June 2012. It was acquired by Twitter in October 2012. It underwent a staggered launch on iOS, Android and Windows Phone throughout 2013. It was eventually shut down as a standalone platform by Twitter in early 2017, disallowing new videos to be uploaded, but maintaining the service with the ability for users to view previously uploaded content.

v2 and Byte 
Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann announced in the December of 2017 via a Tweet that he intended to launch a successor to Vine. At the time, he called it "v2". In the May of 2018, Hofmann posted an update on the v2 community forum titled "Taking a step back", announcing that the project was being put on hold. Among other things, he said that the biggest reason for this was "financial and legal hurdles". He described that his intention was to fund the new service himself as a personal project, but the attention that the announcement generated suggested that the cost to build and run a service that was sustainable at launch would be too high. In November 2018, Hofmann announced that the project was moving forward once again with new funding and a team, under the new "Byte" branding. At the time, the Byte website invited users to sign up for updates and for content creators to join its "creator program".

Byte was officially launched to the public on the iOS and Android platforms in over 40 countries on January 24, 2020, with the tagline "creativity first". This date also happened to be the 7th anniversary of Vine’s launch.

Additionally, the company has promised a program that intends to compensate creators for their work, saying "byte celebrates creativity and community, and compensating creators is one important way we can support both."

Features 
Byte allows users to publish videos from 2 up to 6.5 seconds long either captured through the app or previously recorded and stored on their devices.

Similarly to other social media platforms, Byte allows users to follow other accounts. New accounts automatically follow Byte's official account on their service. The main home screen features a scrollable feed of content from accounts that the user is following. The platform also supports the ability to "like" and "rebyte" videos.

The app also features a search screen with tiles for popular and latest content along with video categories like Comedy, Animation and others.