On January 18, TikTok suddenly went dark for U.S. users, leaving millions confused and frustrated. The temporary shutdown was a preemptive move, as the app was facing a potential nationwide ban set to take effect on January 19. Fortunately, the blackout didn’t last long—TikTok restored access less than a day later, much to the relief of its massive American user base.
The controversy surrounding TikTok’s future in the U.S. has been brewing for a while, with concerns about national security and data privacy at the center of the debate. U.S. law required ByteDance, the China-based parent company of TikTok, to either sell the platform or face an outright ban by January 19, 2025. Just a day after taking office on January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that extended that deadline by 75 days, pushing it to April 4. This gave TikTok a temporary reprieve, but the uncertainty surrounding its future remained.
During the brief shutdown, TikTok also disappeared from both the Apple App Store and Google Play. While the app itself came back online, it has yet to return to app stores. This means that anyone who deleted TikTok before the shutdown—or got a new phone—still can’t reinstall it. Even users who kept the app can’t download future updates, which could lead to performance issues over time.
The absence of TikTok in the app stores has left many users frustrated and confused. Social media was flooded with questions, with people tagging TikTok’s official U.S. account, asking when the app would return. Some even noticed that in TikTok’s absence, a new most-downloaded app had taken the top spot—DeepSeek, a Chinese AI-powered platform.
On January 27, Apple confirmed that all apps developed by ByteDance—including TikTok, CapCut, and Lemon8—were no longer available for U.S. users. They also warned that since TikTok can no longer receive updates, the app could soon run into compatibility issues with future iOS and iPadOS versions. Some users have already reported changes in their algorithm’s behavior since TikTok’s services resumed.
One major reason for the app’s continued absence from the stores likely comes down to money—specifically, the massive fines at stake. Under federal law, app stores could face fines of up to $5,000 for every U.S. user granted access to TikTok. With roughly 170 million American users, the potential financial penalties could climb into the hundreds of billions. Even though Trump assured that service providers wouldn’t be punished, the risk is too high for app stores to take any chances.
For now, TikTok remains in limbo. Whether it will return to app stores—or how long users can continue using it without updates—remains unclear. Until there’s a concrete resolution, it seems that app store providers are playing it safe, leaving TikTok’s fate hanging in the balance.