TikTok's Super App Push: From Must Eat Guides to Payments

TikTok Shop hit $15.82 billion in U.S. sales in 2025 after growing 108% for the year — and that's just the anchor of a much broader land grab. This week TikTok announced an in-app restaurant guide called "Must Eat," its latest move to become what the industry calls a super app: one destination for shopping, payments, travel, sports and entertainment.

The company, which transitioned to new, primarily U.S. ownership back in January, has applied the same playbook it used for commerce to nearly every vertical it touches. The strategy echoes China's WeChat, which bundles messaging, payments, an app store and social features into a single platform. Whether that model travels outside China remains an open question — but TikTok is clearly willing to test it.

What does Must Eat change for discovery?

TikTok has already become a go-to destination for restaurant recommendations, with viral videos regularly driving customers to local eateries. The new "Must Eat" feature formalizes that behavior. The community-driven guide draws on more than 40 million posts and comments to compile restaurant recommendations and curated lists in one place. Users can browse by city and filter by cuisine, price, rating and location.

The competitive read: this puts TikTok in more direct competition with Yelp and Google Maps. Discovery is no longer the byproduct of the feed — it's a product.

How far do the payments ambitions go?

According to Bloomberg, which reported in August, TikTok is developing a feature that would let users send each other money via direct messages. If rolled out, it would run through TikTok Pay, which is already live in Southeast Asia for TikTok Shop purchases.

Reuters reported in March that TikTok had applied to Brazil's central bank for approval to operate as a financial technology company offering lending and payment services. Bringing financial services in-house would deepen engagement, open new revenue streams and put TikTok in direct competition with fintech startups and e-commerce platforms.

Sports, travel and the war with Google

In early June, TikTok launched a dedicated hub for the FIFA World Cup, offering scores, match schedules, standings, trending videos, highlights and player content — no need to leave the app or open a sports app or Google. The hub runs on TikTok GamePlan, a sports-focused product built to let teams, leagues and broadcasters drive discovery and engagement. TikTok also holds partnerships with Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball for behind-the-scenes and exclusive content.

Travel is the sharper threat to Google. In May, TikTok launched TikTok GO in the United States, letting users discover and book hotels, attractions and experiences directly in the app. TikTok GO surfaces lodging and things to do through videos, search and location pages; users can view details, check availability and complete a booking without a third-party site. That moves TikTok beyond being a search alternative — it now wants to be the point of purchase for the trip itself, putting it up against Google's core Search and Maps businesses.

The broader search buildout backs this up. TikTok has launched a search experience that surfaces maps, local hashtags and reviews, plus dedicated place pages showing opening hours, star ratings and price ranges. Users who once had to jump to Google for a location or reviews increasingly don't need to.

The commerce engine behind it all

TikTok Shop remains the model for everything else. TikTok began testing Shop in 2021 and launched it in the U.S. in 2023. According to eMarketer, U.S. sales grew 407% in 2024 and another 108% in 2025, reaching $15.82 billion. TikTok accounted for 18.2% of total U.S. social commerce last year, a share eMarketer expects to hit 24.1% by 2027.

The company has kept pushing: TikTok Shop gift cards launched late last year, and the marketplace has expanded into luxury retail after being known mainly for cheap goods.

Where the bets haven't paid off

Not everything has worked. TikTok launched its TikTok Music streaming service in 2023 to take on Spotify and Apple Music, then shut it down a year later. The company said it would focus on driving music listening and partner with streaming services rather than compete with them — though it recently introduced a feature letting Apple Music subscribers play full songs in the app after discovering them on their "For You" feed.

The entertainment push continues elsewhere. TikTok has launched an in-app Minis section and a dedicated stand-alone app for microdramas — bite-sized TV shows delivered in one-minute episodes — putting it in even more direct competition with Netflix. It has also rolled out casual in-app games designed to get users spending more time on the platform and engaging with friends in DMs.

What does this change for everyone else?

For practitioners, the practical question is simple: what does this change for competitors and merchants? If TikTok can convert its discovery engine into bookings, payments and financial services, Yelp, Google, online travel agencies and fintech players all face a rival that already owns the top of the funnel. The 407%-growth year suggests TikTok can execute on monetization once a vertical is live — and the current roadmap shows no sign of slowing.