(Asian Tech Press) TikTok's Chinese version Douyin plans to launch a version for older users, according to a source close to the company.

The company is currently testing the large character mode within the existing Douyin App, and the new version will be launched soon.

There are three modes for the Douyin App: one by default, and the other two being large and extra-large, sources familiar with the matter said.

Large and extra-large modes, compared to the default one, Douyin's interface will be different in the font and related functional design.

For example, in large and extra-large modes, only the functional fonts and words are retained, and the numbers that are not easy to read are also removed and replaced with characters. Another is to enlarge the font size to provide convenience for elderly users.

At the end of last year, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) planned to carry out a year-long "Special Action Plan for Internet Application Aging-Friendly and Barrier-Free Transformation" from January 2021. The Plan focuses on solving the difficulties encountered by the elderly, people with disabilities and other special communities in using the Internet and other intelligent technologies.

So far, Chinese tech giants have launched APP versions or models suitable for elderly users, including Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat, Ant Group's Alipay, Baidu and others.

As a popular app, Douyin, TikTok's Chinese version, has also a huge number of elderly users, and the launch of the new version is also in line with the trend.