It’s been a tumultuous several days for TikTok in the United States.The app went offline on Saturday night and was removed from the App Store by Apple.On Sunday afternoon, however, TikTok restored service in the United States thanks to “necessary clarity” provided by President Trump.
Despite TikTok being online once again in the United States, however, the app remains unavailable from the App Store.Here’s what you need to know about that ever-evolving situation.A brief timeline of the TikTok drama In April of 2024, President Biden signed a ban that gave TikTok’s China-linked parent company to divest the app within the next nine months or else face a ban in the United States.
That timeline expired on January 19.TikTok subsequently went dark in the United States on January 18 at 10:30 p.m.ET.
The company was under no obligation to go dark, but chose to do so anyway.Instead, TikTok’s partners like web host Oracle, app store providers like Apple and Google, were tasked with enforcing the ban under the federal law.Moments later, Apple removed TikTok from the App Store in the United States and said it is “obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates.” At around 12:30 p.m.
on January 19, TikTok announced it was in the process of “restoring service” in the United States.The company said that President Trump had provided “the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing.” Even as TikTok came back online in the United States, Apple has not added TikTok back to the App Store.Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have also not added the app back to their respective app stores.
This is because Oracle and its partners have decided to take the risk of hundreds of billions of dollars in fines under the “assurance” provided by Trump that he will not enforce the ban.Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, however, are seemingly not willing to take that risk, as we explained this morning.What does this mean for TikTok users? If you’re an iPhone user, this means a few different things.
First, if you already have TikTok on your iPhone, you can access the service.Apple did not remove the TikTok app from anyone’s device, nor did Apple play any role in blocking access to the service for existing users.TikTok is still unavailable on the App Store, preventing new users from downloading it.
Previous TikTok users who deleted the app also can’t re-download it.Moreover, TikTok can’t receive updates through the App Store.The last update was released last week.
Most of the normal functionality is available in the TikTok app for iPhone now that TikTok itself has restored access to the service.For example, TikTok’s physical goods storefront, known as TikTok Shop, is fully functional via the iPhone app and Apple Pay is a payment option.However, the situation around digital purchases made with Apple’s In-App Purchase system is slightly different.
In-App Purchases made before the TikTok federal ban went into effect on Saturday night are fully accessible.You cannot, however, make new In-App Purchases in the TikTok app for iPhone.This is because Apple cannot legally enable this functionality under the rules of the federal ban.
You can make digital purchases via the TikTok website and those purchases can be accessed via the TikTok app on iPhone.What happens next for TikTok remains to be seen.As I was writing this story, President Trump was officially sworn into office.
Trump has suggested he will delay enforcement of the TikTok ban by 90 days.Trump also said he would “like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture” for TikTok.Whether that is something ByteDance is willing to accept remains to be seen.
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