China's Beijing ByteDance Technology Co. Ltd., parent company of short video app TikTok, launched a new social app that combines instant messaging and internet-based forums, TechNode reported.

Feiliao, or Flipchat in English, is described as an interest-based social app where users can join open chat groups centered around different topics, such as TV series and celebrities.

The app has two kinds of chat groups: open and normal groups. With open groups, all posts are visible to users and there is no limit to the number of members. Meanwhile, normal groups have a limit of 100 users per group.

The app's launch was met with some pushback from ByteDance rival Tencent Holdings Ltd., which does not allow links to Feiliao to be opened on WeChat. As a result, ByteDance partnered with Tencent rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to provide Alipay as a payment method in the app.

Analysts earlier said ByteDance has a solid chance at cracking the Tencent-dominated digital games market in China.