TikTok users in the United States are eagerly waiting for the app’s return to the app stores.
According to Reuters, despite resuming service in the U.S. after temporarily going offline late on Saturday, January 18, 2025, just hours before the scheduled ban, the video-sharing app has not yet returned to the Apple and Google app stores.
After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ban law, ByteDance’s TikTok voluntarily went dark hours before the ban. However, when new U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would grant the social media platform an extension, the service was restored for over 170 million American users.
But users who had deleted the app after it went offline are now anxiously checking their iPhones and Android devices, only to find that the app is still unavailable for download.
Even though Trump signed the executive orders right after his inauguration on January 20, 2025, to delay the ban for 75 days, the legality of the order remains unclear, which is why Apple and Google stores have not restored the app to their platforms.
A notice on Apple’s App Store reads, “TikTok and other ByteDance apps are not available in the country or region you’re in,” while Google Play states, “Downloads for this app are paused due to current U.S. legal requirements.”
Furthermore, analysts believe that Google and Apple are delaying the return of TikTok to their stores because they are waiting for legal guarantees that they will not face fines or penalties for hosting or distributing the app.
