How To Get Started with RedNote in the US (2025)

With the recent ban of TikTok in the United States due to concerns over data security and privacy, many creators are searching for alternative platforms to share their content. RedNote is emerging as a promising option for creating, sharing, and discovering short, impactful written content. While it offers a similar space for expression, it’s essential to note that RedNote could face similar risks of restrictions in the future. This makes it even more crucial to practice good creator hygiene by regularly saving your content offline.

Here’s how Americans can get started on RedNote while staying mindful of these considerations.

1. Download the RedNote app on your mobile phone

The RedNote app is available through both iOS and Android. Simply search for “rednote” to download the app. In some cases you may need to search for its Chinese name “xiaohongshu” to find the app.

2. Sign up for RedNote

There are multiple ways to sign up for the app. If you already have an WeChat account, you can connect it directly to RedNote to sign in. Otherwise, you can use your US phone number to register for an account.

Similar to how you have signed up for other apps in the past, simply enter your phone number (make sure the country code is +1 if you are based in the US). Then you will need to enter the verification code before linking your phone number to your new RedNote account.

I won’t go into too many details here as most people are able to sign up for RedNote easily and quickly. If you need a step-by-step tutorial, check out this article.

3. Share Your First Note

Here we are going to demo how to post an existing image or video you have already created and saved on your phone.

Step 1. Click on the red + sign at the bottom of your RedNote app

Step 2. Click on “Select more” to begin accessing your photos and videos on your mobile phone. (Without this step, nothing is shown under “All” for you to choose from)

Step 3. Under “Photos”, click on “Limited Access” and choose “Allow Full Access”.

If you feel uncomfortable doing this as I can imagine if this is your first time using RedNote to test drive the app, then simply choose “Edit Selected Photos”. This will allow you to choose only selected photos and videos to use with RedNote.

Step 4. To publish your first note, select the photo that now appears under “All”, hit “Next”, and you will see a more familiar interface to add any filter, text, sticker, crop the image and other options before moving onto the final step.

The final step (shown in the last image below) asks you to add a title and text before publishing your note. Similar to TikTok, you have the option to add hashtags for topics, tag other users, mark your location and more. We will not go into these topics for now in this first RedNote post.

Please let us know if you find this helpful and what else you’d like to learn next!