Welcome Back TikTok! Listing for the app returns to the App Store and Play Store
Last month TikTok got a reprieve from President Donald Trump after being forced to shut down in the U.S. thanks to a bill signed by then-President Joe Biden last April. That legislation, called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, required TikTok's parent company, China's ByteDance, to divest its interest in TikTok and sell the app or face a ban in the U.S.. The deadline for the sale was January 19, 2025.
U.S. lawmakers wanted to shut down TikTok for a couple of reasons. First, they were concerned that as a Chinese company, TikTok has been collecting the personal data of American subscribers including teens. Additionally, there was concern that TikTok was sending Chinese propaganda to American youth via the content it disseminated to subscribers. On Saturday night, January 18th, TikTok went dark and was removed from Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store.
The next day, TikTok was back up and running as a just about to be inaugurated Donald Trump said that he would give ByteDance additional time to find a company or individual to sell TikTok to. But while the app was entertaining and informing Americans once again, Apple and Google both decided to keep TikTok out of the App Store and Play Store respectively. Despite Trump's assurances that he would give ByteDance extra time to satisfy the requirements of the legislation, Apple and Google were concerned that keeping TikTok listed in their app stores could leave them exposed to some very hefty fines.
TikTok is back with a listing in the Apple App Store. | Image credit-PhoneArena
In a January 20th executive order, Trump had written that he had told his Attorney General "not to take any action to enforce the act for a period of 75 days from today to allow my administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward." Last night both Apple and Google received a letter from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi stating that a ban on TikTok would not be imminent.
The listing for TikTok returns to the Google Play Store. | Image credit-PhoneArena
Armed with this protection, Apple and Google felt that they could bring back their listings for TikTok and so the app reappeared in the App Store and Play Store allowing iOS and Android users to install TikTok on their phones. Both app stores had pulled their TikTok listing when TikTok went dark on January 18th and even though ByteDance turned the app back on the next day, Apple and Google had kept the app out of the App Store and Play Store until February 13th.
If you're interested in installing TikTok on your iPhone, you can tap on this link. Android users can install TikTok on their Android device by pressing on this link.
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