ByteDance's new app is called Douyin Search and is already available for download on multiple Android app stores, but has yet to appear on Apple's App Store.

ByteDance's Douyin Search, developed by Beijing Douyin Technology, bills itself as "practical and trustworthy," offering "powerful search and accurate recommendations" from the Douyin short video platform.

Douyin Search is also powered by ByteDance's artificial intelligence (AI)-based recommendation system.

ByteDance seeks to challenge Baidu's dominance in search

This is the fifth time ByteDance has developed a search app, following Toutiao Search, Wukong Search, Toutiao Search Lite, and Shandian Search. Only Toutiao Search Lite is still available for download from major app stores.

The main Toutiao Search app has been revamped into a Youshi content community, and Wukong Search has also become an AI assistant.

Douyin Search is the latest in a series of efforts by tech giants to leverage their dominance in specific areas to challenge Baidu's dominance in the search market.

In 2021, Tencent Holdings also acquired Sogou, another popular search engine in China, then shut down the mobile app after a year.

In 2016, Alibaba Group Holding also launched the Quark search engine.

Despite recent controversies, Baidu still maintains tight control over Internet search in the Chinese market.

According to StatCounter, a web traffic analytics company, the company had about 52% market share as of July 2024. It was followed by Microsoft's Bing, 360 Search and Sogou with 32, 7 and 4% respectively.