YouPorn’s new video app is like an X-rated TikTok

Adult entertainment site YouPorn has created its own TikTok-style app that will fill your feed exclusively with porn. The web app, called SWYP, cuts out a lot of the chaos that exists on the standard adult site, like disruptive ads and the clusterfuck of NSFW thumbnails, and instead offers a continuous, swipeable stream of full-screen video previews. Once you find one you want to watch, just swipe left.

It’s a lot to take in at first — The format means you’ve got a lot of body parts suddenly thrust in your face. To be fair, that’s kind of what you’re there for, but even still, the influx of close-ups that fill your entire smartphone display is... a lot. Most people will probably get over that pretty quickly, though.

Thankfully, the feed is silent — something I discovered only after sheepishly warning the Input office about the porn possibly blaring from my phone — and sound will only play once you swipe for the full video, where you can tap to unmute. But you're probably only doing this in a private place anyway, right?

YouPorn knows it's a carbon-copy of TikTok — Much like other popular short video apps such as TikTok or the recently-launched Byte, SWYP displays brief, choppy clips on a neverending feed, each of which lasts just a few seconds. The parallels are obvious, and the company isn't hiding where it got its inspiration. But, unlike these other platforms, YouPorn’s app lets you watch full-length videos by swiping across the preview. Users can choose to watch in portrait mode or switch over to landscape for better viewing.

Over time, it’ll also theoretically help you more easily find the content you want to see. According to YouPorn, SWYP uses machine learning to curate your feed based on what you skip or decide to watch, and how long you stuck around for.

It's not the worst move — An app like SWYP is a pretty obvious next step for porn consumption, especially considering all of the other types of content we ingest have already started going this route. Why not porn, too? That being said, I can’t be alone in wondering how secure this is. If YouPorn's app is keeping track of your viewing habits to make more personalized recommendations, there better be some thought to user privacy worked into it.

Update: A company spokesperson told Input that any data the site collects is "anonymous and non-identifying." And, that information is only taken from users who are logged into their accounts, which makes sense. YouPorn also offers Private Sign In, they noted, which lets regular visitors maintain anonymity by allowing them to use a unique ID number instead of an email address or other personal information.