News

TikTok Increases Video Length From 60 Seconds To 3 Minutes

Given that TikTok has around 1 billion users worldwide, it shouldn’t really surprise you that not all creators are happy with the expanded time limit.

Published

5 years ago

July 7, 2021

Joanna Melki

tiktok increases video length from 60 seconds to 3 minutes

Social media sites depend on their users just as much as their users have come to depend on them. To keep users happy and avoid becoming another MySpace, they must listen to their feedback and evolve based on their changing expectations. TikTok has been carefully listening to its audience and has recently announced a feature that’s been highly requested.

Originally, TikTok videos were up to 15 seconds long, but that turned out not to be nearly enough for users to express themselves, so the limit was increased to 60 seconds. Now, TikTok is bumping the video length limit one more time — this time to 3 minutes.

“With longer videos, creators will have the canvas to create new or expanded types of content on TikTok, with the flexibility of a bit more space,” said product manager Drew Kirchhoff. “Some of you might have come across a longer video on TikTok already — we’ve been letting creators around the world experiment with the expanded format.”

In just a few weeks, all TikTok users will be able to share with the rest of the world videos that are up to 3 minutes long, which is guaranteed to be a boon to all creators of educational, demonstrational, and explainer content, among others.

Creating a 3-minute video on TikTok is easy. When you access TikTok’s camera function, you can swipe directly above the record button to switch between 15 seconds, 60 seconds, or 3 minutes.

Also Read: How To Use TikTok Auto Captions To Make Your Videos More Accessible

Given that TikTok has around 1 billion users worldwide, including approximately 100 million in the United States, it shouldn’t really surprise you that not all creators are happy with the expanded time limit. They fear that it could destroy what the platform has always been about: users sharing short, addicting video clips with lots of viral potential.

What’s certain is that TikTok can’t afford to lose its appeal with its main demographic (teenagers) because its main competitors, including Triller, Dubsmash, and Byte doing what they can to attract as many new users as possible.

News

Abu Dhabi’s Robot Kitchen Is Serving Up Biryani, Not Burgers

Circus SE wants to put a tiny automated factory inside the buildings where Gulf residents live and work, bypassing part of last-mile delivery.

Published

6 days ago

October 20, 2026

Nour Nasir

abu dhabi's robot kitchen is serving up biryani not burgers

Circus SE

The most telling thing about a new autonomous kitchen now running in Abu Dhabi’s Marina Square is what it won’t cook:

“We don’t do fast food,” says Nikolas Bullwinkel, Founder and CEO of Circus SE. “We’ve actively decided not to build a machine that can only do burgers”.

Instead, the CA-1 system is built around pot-based cooking: curries, pastas, soups and rice dishes. After experimenting with highly personalized recipes, Circus deliberately leaned back toward recognizable food. “We’re going with a chicken biryani because you know it,” Bullwinkel says of the AED 40 dish.

circus se ca-1 robot system

The Germany-based robotics and food technology company operates across eight countries, and Abu Dhabi is its first deployment outside Europe. More locations are expected there and in Dubai.

In Germany, its units can be placed in supermarkets, gas stations, airports and hospitals. In the Gulf, Bullwinkel wants them inside residential and office buildings, replacing some of the complexity of last-mile delivery. “We’re basically bringing a very tiny factory a few square meters into your building,” he says. Catering company Royal Prestige supplies the ingredients and knowledge of local tastes.

The CA-1 manages up to 36 refrigerated ingredient silos alongside automated induction cooking, robotic plating and a self-cleaning dishwasher. Two robotic arms move ingredients through the system with minimal human intervention. It can produce up to 120 hot meals an hour, and a meal such as rice and curry can take around three to four minutes.

Also Read: Ooredoo Qatar’s 5G+ Network Is Built For Machines As Much As People

Five cameras and multiple sensors monitor heat, temperature and consistency, an attempt to approximate what a chef perceives. “You can hear something gets burned, you can smell it, you can see it at some point,” Bullwinkel says. CircusOS, the company’s operating system, adjusts recipes in real time.

You might think of the platform as a threat to kitchen staff, but Bullwinkel frames Circus as a way for chefs to develop recipes and distribute them at scale. With that being said, rising labor costs and shortages are also part of his case for automation.