After a nearly month-long absence, TikTok has returned to the U.S. app stores of Apple and Google. The short-form video platform was initially removed in response to a national security law that banned it from operating in the country.
The decision to reinstate TikTok came after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Apple, clarifying that the ban would not be immediately enforced, as reported by Bloomberg. Alongside TikTok, ByteDance’s video editing tool CapCut and social media app Lemon8 have also returned to the app stores.
Concerns over ByteDance’s Chinese ownership have long fueled political debates, with former President Joe Biden signing a law last year requiring the company to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations by January 19, 2025, or face a complete ban. The law, upheld by the Supreme Court in January, included hefty penalties for app store operators that failed to comply.
However, in a move that altered the timeline, newly elected President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 20, extending the deadline by 75 days and giving ByteDance additional time to find a buyer for its U.S. operations. This move temporarily lifted the pressure, allowing TikTok to resume services with support from infrastructure providers like Oracle.
Despite this, Apple and Google hesitated to relist the app immediately due to lingering uncertainty over potential penalties. As a result, U.S. users who had previously uninstalled TikTok found themselves unable to download it again, while those who never deleted the app continued using it without interruption.
Meanwhile, Trump has proposed an alternative solution—having the U.S. government take a 50% stake in TikTok through a joint venture with American tech firms. To support this idea, he also signed an executive order establishing a sovereign wealth fund, which could potentially facilitate the acquisition of TikTok’s U.S. operations. Oracle and Microsoft have reportedly shown interest in purchasing the platform.
With TikTok’s future still uncertain, competing social media platforms have seized the opportunity to attract users. Both X and Bluesky introduced vertical video features, while Meta announced a video editing app to rival CapCut.
According to analytics firm Sensor Tower, TikTok was the second most downloaded app in the U.S. last year, with 52 million downloads—a testament to its strong user base despite ongoing legal battles.