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Almost a month after disappearing from U.S. Apple and Google app stores, TikTok is back.
Apple and Google made TikTok available on their app stores on Thursday evening after pulling the app on January 18 to comply with a law called the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The law gave TikTok’s Beijing-based owner ByteDance until January 19 to sell the app or face a U.S. ban.
Related: TikTok’s Wild Weekend, Explained: From a Ban to an Executive Order, Here’s What to Know.
TikTok went dark on January 18 for 170 million U.S. users after failing to find a buyer by the deadline but quickly came back online the following day after President Donald Trump pledged to save the app. Trump signed an executive order on January 20, extending the app’s operations in the U.S. by 75 days and giving it more time to find a buyer. TikTok has been available to its U.S. users since January 19 — but it was still unavailable to download on app stores until Thursday.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photographer: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images
In the close to a month that TikTok was off of U.S. app stores, eBay sellers began selling unlocked iPhone 14s with the TikTok app downloaded for $3,000 to $3,500 — more than the usual $300 to $500 for unlocked iPhone 14s sold at Walmart and Best Buy.
Trump’s TikTok executive order allows his administration to deliberate on “the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok.” The order prohibits the Department of Justice from imposing penalties on companies like Apple and Google for non-compliance with the Act by allowing TikTok back on their platforms.
Many groups have submitted formal offers to acquire TikTok, including billionaire and former L.A. Dodgers owner Frank McCourt who teamed up with Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary to announce a $20 billion bid. AI startup Perplexity also submitted a bid last month to merge its business with TikTok’s U.S. division for more than $50 billion.
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