Musical.ly App Review: What Happened to Musical.ly and Is TikTok Okay for Kids?

If your child was in elementary or middle school around 2015 or 2016, there's a good chance they spent hours making lip-sync videos on Musical.ly. The app let users pick a song clip, film themselves performing along with it, add effects and share it with followers. It was hugely popular with tweens, many of them well under the app's minimum age. Musical.ly doesn't exist anymore, but its users, its format and its biggest issues all carried over into TikTok.

What Musical.ly was

Musical.ly launched in 2014. Users chose a short clip from a library of songs and sound bites, recorded a video of themselves lip-syncing or dancing, and posted it. Viewers could like, comment and "duet" with someone else's video. Popular creators, called "musers", built large followings.

The appeal was easy creativity: a few taps produced something that looked like a music video. The concerns were just as clear:

• Young users. The app's terms required users to be 13, but it was full of younger children.
• Public by default. New accounts were public, so anyone could view and comment on a child's videos.
• Direct messages from strangers. Users could message each other, and children reported receiving inappropriate messages.
• Song lyrics. Many popular clips included explicit lyrics.

What happened to Musical.ly

In November 2017, Musical.ly was bought by ByteDance, a Chinese company that already ran a similar short video app called TikTok outside the US. On August 2, 2018, the two apps were merged. Musical.ly accounts, videos and followers moved into TikTok, and the Musical.ly app disappeared.

The age issue followed the company. In February 2019, the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with Musical.ly, by then operating as TikTok, over collecting personal information from children under 13 without parental consent, in violation of COPPA. The company paid a civil penalty and created a separate, limited experience for younger users in the US.

In January 2026, TikTok's US business moved into a new US-based joint venture after years of legal and political debate. The app your teen uses works the same way, but the company running it in the US has changed.

TikTok in 2026: what parents need to know

TikTok is far bigger and more varied than Musical.ly ever was. Lip-syncing and dancing are still there, along with comedy, tutorials, news, shopping and live streams. Its For You feed is powered by a recommendation algorithm that learns quickly from what users watch.

Age rating. TikTok requires users to be at least 13, and the App Store currently rates it 13+. In the US, children under 13 who enter their real birthday are placed in a limited experience with curated videos and no posting, commenting or messaging.

Teen defaults. Accounts for 13 to 15 year olds are private by default. Direct messaging isn't available until 16. Hosting a LIVE requires being 18. Every account belonging to a user under 18 gets a default 60-minute daily screen time limit; after that, the teen has to enter a passcode to keep watching.

The feed. The biggest concern for many parents is the For You feed. It can quickly surface content around body image, dieting, risky challenges or mature themes. Content filters help, but they aren't perfect.

Set up Family Pairing

Family Pairing links your TikTok account to your teen's. Both of you need the app.

1. On your phone, open TikTok, go to your profile, then Settings and privacy.
2. Tap Family Pairing and choose Parent.
3. Scan the QR code from your teen's TikTok app, where they choose Teen in the same menu.
4. Once linked, review the settings you control.

With Family Pairing, parents can:

• Customize daily screen time limits, including different limits on different days.
• Turn on Restricted Mode to limit mature content.
• Filter out videos with keywords you choose.
• Control who can message your teen, or turn off messages.
• Decide whether your teen's account is private, and who can comment on their videos.
• Mute notifications during certain hours.

Talk about the algorithm

Settings only go so far. The most useful conversation is about how the For You feed works. Explain that TikTok shows more of whatever you linger on, so watching one video about extreme dieting can lead to dozens more. Show your teen how to tap "Not interested" and how to refresh their feed. Ask them what their feed looks like, and occasionally scroll it together.

For the original concerns about lip-syncing apps and public profiles, the advice hasn't changed: keep accounts private, use a nickname instead of a full name, and avoid filming in school uniforms or in front of your house. Our guide to live streaming risks and our overview of apps and websites to look out for cover related issues.

For kids under 13

If your child is under 13 and wants to make lip-sync or dance videos, the safest route is to record them on the device and share privately with family. Use app restrictions by age rating to keep 13+ apps off their device for now.

The bottom line

Musical.ly lives on as TikTok, with stronger teen protections but a much more powerful feed. Use this checklist:

• Wait until 13, and make sure the birthday on the account is accurate.
• Turn on Family Pairing and review screen time, content and messaging settings.
• Keep the account private.
• Talk about how the For You feed works and how to reset it.
• Check in regularly on what your teen is watching, not just posting.