TikTok Returns to US App Stores

On February 13, both Apple and Google reinstated the TikTok app to their respective app stores after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to delay its ban in the US and promised the tech companies they would not be fined for distributing it, as originally reported by Bloomberg.

The ban, part of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, was set to take effect on January 19. Signed by former President Joe Biden, the act required ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, to divest its US operations or face a nationwide ban.

By January 19, the ban came into effect for less than 12 hours before TikTok was allowed to continue US operations under an executive order signed by Trump. The app remained unlisted from both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, since under the act’s specifications, companies that “distribute, maintain, or update” ByteDance-owned apps could be subject to a hefty fee.

During this period, users searching for the app on the iOS app store would encounter a message that read “TikTok and other ByteDance apps are not available in the country or region you’re in,” while the Google Play store would display: “Downloads for this app are paused due to current US legal requirements.”

TikTok was restored to both marketplaces only after US Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Apple and Google confirming that the ban would not be immediately enforced. Trump instructed the attorney general “not to take any action to enforce the act for a period of 75 days” to allow his administration time to determine the next steps.

While this decision offers temporary relief for TikTok and its estimated 170 million US users, the app’s future remains uncertain. If a deal is not reached by early April, TikTok could face another shutdown under the federal act.

“We have a lot of people interested in TikTok, and I hope to be able to make a deal,” Trump told reporters. Though TikTok representatives have declined to comment on the app’s return to marketplaces, ByteDance’s official position remains that TikTok is not for sale.