Apple and Google restore TikTok to their US app stores
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Google Play said it restored TikTok to the US app store on Thursday, following promises by President Donald Trump to save the app and an executive action delaying the enactment of a ban on the wildly popular social media platform.
Bloomberg and CNBC also reported that Apple will restore the app to its app store on Thursday evening. TikTok was available on app stores as of Thursday evening, according to CNN attempts to download the app on different phones.
TikTok’s uncertain future stems from a law signed last April by then-President Joe Biden, which gave China’s ByteDance 270 days to sell the app to an owner from the United States or one of its allies or face a ban, based on US national security concerns. The day before the blackout, the Supreme Court upheld the ban.
TikTok shut down for roughly 14 hours in January but attributed its quick return to promises made by the then president-elect Donald Trump to keep the platform working in the US.
But its 175 million users still ran into at least one problem: The app was, as of that January weekend, unavailable on Apple and Google Play stores, along with Lemon8 and CapCut, which are also owned by TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance.
Apple previously said in a statement it removed TikTok from the app store because of the ban, but the app remained available for customers who already downloaded it.
Trump signaled before taking office that he would sign an executive action delaying enforcement of the ban and TikTok had credited him for the reason the app came back.
“I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on January 19. He added that he would not hold TikTok’s technology partners — including Apple, Google and cloud computing company Oracle — liable for continuing to make the app available until he signed the order.
The law required only that TikTok’s technology partners — including Oracle, which hosts TikTok’s content in the United States, and Apple and Google, which host the app on their app stores — stop supporting the app or face fines of up to $5,000 per person who has access to the platform starting Sunday.
Trump took office the next day, on January 20. He signed the executive order later that day, giving TikTok another 75 days to find a new owner.
The action says the 75-day delay would help the Trump administration attempt to “determine the appropriate course forward in an orderly way that protects national security while avoiding an abrupt shutdown of a communications platform used by millions of Americans.”
Trump told reporters that he changed his mind on TikTok because he “got to use it.”
“And remember, TikTok is largely about kids, young kids,” Trump said in the Oval Office when asked what changed his mind. “If China is going to get information about young kids out of it, to be honest, I think we have bigger problems than that.”
He also told reporters the action that he signed on TikTok gave him the right to either “sell it or close it.”
“I have the right to either sell it or close it, and we’ll make that determination,” Trump added.
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TikTok returns to U.S. app stores amid uncertainty about ban
The logo of TikTok is displayed on a smartphone screen on December 24, 2024 in Shanghai, China. Photo by Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images
TikTok, the popular short-form video social media app that remains in danger of shutting down in the U.S. unless it’s sold, reappeared in American app stores Thursday evening amid uncertainty regarding its future in the country.
Both Google and Apple restored the app to their app stores after the U.S. Department of Justice, under President Donald Trump, recently assured the companies that they wouldn’t be fined for carrying the TikTok app in their stores, the New York Times reported.
The app had been removed from U.S. app stores when it briefly shut down last month to comply with a law former President Joe Biden signed that prevented American companies from hosting content on the Chinese-owned social media platform unless it sold itself to a U.S. buyer or one of its allies, CNN reported.
The social media platform was restored hours later, but users in the U.S. who had deleted it were unable to redownload the app since it was already removed from app stores.Trump in an executive order on Jan. 20 delayed enforcement of the ban for 75 days so that his administration has “an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward” and instructed his attorney general not to take action, the New York Times previously reported.
TikTok, Apple and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reach Jordan Parker: Jordan.Parker@sfchronicle.com
Jordan Parker is a breaking news reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. He graduated from Sacramento State University in May 2022 with a degree in journalism. During his time there, he spent three years as a reporter and editor for the university’s award-winning student newspaper, The State Hornet. He spent his senior year of college serving as The Hornet’s first Black editor in chief, leading the organization to two Pacemaker awards and several other national honors from the Associated Collegiate Press. When he’s not chasing down a story, he likes watching movies, traveling and trying new restaurants.
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Jordan Parker is a breaking news reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. He graduated from Sacramento State University in May 2022 with a degree in journalism. During his time there, he spent three years as a reporter and editor for the university’s award-winning student newspaper, The State Hornet. He spent his senior year of college serving as The Hornet’s first Black editor in chief, leading the organization to two Pacemaker awards and several other national honors from the Associated Collegiate Press. When he’s not chasing down a story, he likes watching movies, traveling and trying new restaurants.
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Apple, Google Restore TikTok App After Assurances From Trump
TikTok Ban:
Apple confirmed that the app will return Thursday evening.
Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google are restoring ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok to their app stores on Thursday following assurances in a letter from US Attorney General Pam Bondi that a ban wouldn’t immediately be enforced.
The two companies had removed TikTok in the US last month to comply with a law passed in 2024. In a Jan. 20 executive order, Trump said he instructed the attorney general “not to take any action to enforce the act for a period of 75 days from today to allow my administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward.”
