[sschueller]

This may be one reason but it doesn't apply to me and I have used both significantly.

I spend far more time on TikTok now than Instagram and that is for a few reasons which may appear minor but make the difference:

  - When you open instagram you will see a photo/video and after a few seconds you are sent to the top unable to find what you just saw. TikTok does not do this unless you swipe out.
  - Videos on instagram can not be properly paused so when you need to stop a video for a few. seconds you can't. Instagram also doesn't allow you to seek/ffw some content, same issue in youtube shorts. 
  - On Tiktok you have all kinds of analytics about each post you make as a regular user.
  - From reports that I have read, tiktok pays creators a lot more than instagram.
  - When I post on tiktok I get far more interaction and this is probably also due to the localization of content and how it is broadcast/spread.

[jbverschoor]

Instagram recently removed keyboard slipping in stories. Now it’s useless. Some people have 50 items in their featured stories.

If you stop/switch while watching anything, you’ll have to start one again. If does allow you to scrub within certain videos but the UI is very finicky.

They try to trick you into “opening” ads by swapping gestures for ads (swipe down is different)

TikTok is simply a lot faster in terms of ui and responsiveness.

At a certain point, if will hang with videos until you change networks. Might be related to my network, but if it’s the only app that has this issue.

Search is just bad… super bad. I have to rely on google to search on Instagram

No links/ ways to go to part 2 etc.

[izacus]

For me the reason is actually much more simple - I just get better content. Instragram gives me bunch of marketing and influencer stuff not unlike the crap on Facebook feed. TikTok has much more dumb entertaining content. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[kaoD]

Not sure why you were downvoted. This is exactly my experience. TikTok content is just better.

All Instagram feeds I've seen are boring attention-grabbing videos from so-called influencers. TikTok is grandma cooking pasta, my weird cousin doing some funny shit on his bedroom, some random bloke making a joke to his dog and the dog farts... I know. It sounds stupid... but it's way more entertaining.

Might be the culture (Instagram was already ridden with influencer culture), might be the algorithm, but TikTok content is just more entertaining. The fact that the app is better (which it is) is just the silver lining.

[yieldcrv]

the article sort of highlights the first point

the patent wars between multiple big tech companies have left the news cycle for a long time, but I wonder if this is a component of these distinctive UIs and algorithms, because TikTok's is obviously superior for both platform's goals