Being a TikTok user in the United States has been a bit of a nightmare recently. However, parent company ByteDance has announced that the app is now back in the App Store on iPhones and the Google Play Store for Android phones.
The announcement reads, "The TikTok app is now available for download from the App Store and Google Play. Our U.S. users can download the latest version of our app and continue to create, discover, and share what they love on TikTok."
This comes at the same time that Bloomberg reported Apple and Google have received assurances in a letter from US Attorney General Pam Bondi that a ban on TikTok wouldn’t immediately be enforced. It's perhaps this guarantee of no legal action against them that persuaded Apple and Google to reinstate TikTok on their app stores.
TikTok was recently blocked from use in the U.S. after the government passed a law that forced the Chinese company Bytedance to sell TikTok's U.S. operations to an American-based company or cease operating in the country.
This law was justified by concerns that TikTok was supplying user data to the Chinese Government, which ByteDance vehemently denies. Whether accurate or not, TikTok still ended up being blocked on U.S. devices and removed from app stores on January 19th, 2025.
However, the enforcement of the ban was then delayed by 75 days following an executive order from President Donald Trump. While the order did mean that existing users had access to the app again (at least until April) it was still impossible to download it from app stores. This led to opportunistic eBay sellers putting devices with the app installed on the site for thousands of dollars.
The reinstatement of the TikTok app onto the App Store and Play Store is a positive sign. However, it is still up to President Trump to negotiate a permanent deal by April, and ByteDance is still adamant it won’t sell TikTok.
The TikTok event wasn't the only change we've seen on our phones since Trump took office. One of the most noticeable is the recent reactions of certain companies regarding the naming of the Gulf of Mexico/America. While Google Maps still includes both name options for international users, Apple has completely removed any trace of the Gulf of Mexico worldwide.
The reality is that, while it is now possible to download TikTok, its future still remains relatively uncertain. But given the app's popularity, and the apparent softening of the Trump administration's attitude towards it, perhaps we'll see some kind of resolution in the future, rather than a full-on permanent ban.
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