Setlog, a social app that lets close friends share short videos, is expanding its user base after ranking No. 2 in social media app downloads in South Korea and Japan.

Sensor Tower App Performance Insights on Wednesday showed Setlog, released on iOS in December last year, has about 1.5 million cumulative global downloads. Japan accounted for the largest share at 40.6 percent, followed by South Korea at 23.5 percent, Vietnam at 7.6 percent and Taiwan at 5.6 percent.

South Korea initially led downloads, but Japan overtook it to become the largest market from mid-July this year. This year, Setlog ranked No. 2 in social media app downloads in both South Korea and Japan. It also ranked No. 1 in download growth in both markets.

Setlog is a service that lets users create small private groups and share daily life in short videos over a day. Videos uploaded by users are automatically assembled into a single vlog format without separate editing.

Usage patterns also differed from major existing social media. In Japan, average daily time spent on Setlog was about 9 minutes, shorter than TikTok at 53 minutes, X at 47 minutes and Instagram at 33 minutes. Average daily sessions were about 15, a relatively high level after X at 20 and Instagram at 16.

A similar pattern appeared in South Korea. Setlog users stayed on the app for less than 1 minute per use but launched it an average of 14 to 15 times a day.

Sensor Tower analysed the behaviour as tied to the service structure, which encourages brief visits to record daily life or check friends' updates rather than spending long periods browsing content feeds.

In Japan, inflows through organic search also increased. The share of total downloads coming from organic search rose to 54 percent in August from 41.6 percent in June and 42.2 percent in July.

Users were also younger than on major social platforms. Sensor Tower Audience Insights showed the average age of Setlog users was 30, lower than the 34 to 36 average for Instagram, X, TikTok and Threads users.

Sensor Tower said Setlog has a structure in which users come in mainly through friend recommendations and invitations. It said interest spread among younger users and later led to direct app store searches and installations.

Sensor Tower analysed that Setlog's growth suggests a possibility that sharing daily life in short, frequent bursts focused on close relationships, rather than long hours of content consumption, could become a new form of social media use.