Culver City, California – TikTok is trying out a new "stories" feature in efforts to become the best and most-encompassing version of itself.

Though many other social media platforms have either tried or successfully added a "stories" feature to their app, TikTok appears to be making up for time lost.

The new feature, simply called "TikTok Stories," was first spotted by Twitter user and social media commentator Matt Navarra on August 4. The app's latest update appears to work similarly to Snapchat's story feature that Instagram later copied.

TikTok Stories lives in its own slide-over sidebar within the app, where users will be able to view stories posted by accounts they follow for 24 hours, when they will be automatically deleted. Those who share stories have the option to delete them from their account prior to auto-deletion.

Just like on Snapchat and Instagram, TikTok users will be able to reply or react to stories they view, and can easily watch anyone's stories by simply tapping on their profile picture.

TikTok confirmed the new feature in an email to The Verge, adding that the feature provides users with a new way to interact with their followers.

"Currently, we’re experimenting with ways to give creators additional formats to bring their creative ideas to life for the TikTok community," a spokesperson for TikTok told The Verge.

To post a story on TikTok, users simply tap the "create" button in the app's new sidebar. Users will be able to customize their stories with the same captions, music, and text features available when creating TikTok videos.

Given that TikTok has been a video-sharing app since day one, the platform is staying true to itself by only allowing stories to be created and shared in video-form