TikTok is no longer available in the US – at least not yet. But it’s not the only ByteDance-owned app currently blocked for US-based users.
Shortly before the January 19 federal deadline, TikTok cut off access to anyone trying to access the app from the United States. The block page that US users will encounter when trying to download the app reads: “There is a law in place to ban TikTok in the US. Unfortunately, this means that you cannot use the TikTok app at this time. ” Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to bring TikTok back, so please stay tuned.
Similar notices appear on other apps owned by ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, which is based in China and is at the heart of the controversy over a popular video app that had 170 million users in the United States as of at least Saturday. Video editing app CapCut, photo and video sharing app Lemon8 and others are now dark in the US.
A federal law passed last year prohibits ByteDance-owned apps from operating in the United States on national security grounds. In response to Chinese laws that require Chinese-based companies to hand over data to the Chinese government and intelligence agencies, the Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act (PAFACA) required ByteDance to remove TikTok and its other apps. sell to a non-resident entity in China. until sunday
That sale did not happen. As a result, TikTok began blocking US-based users on Saturday, January 18, before the midnight deadline. Because PAFACA bans all apps run by ByteDance, not just TikTok, countless users of its other apps are subject to similar restrictions.
PAFACA does not require ByteDance to block US users of its apps. Instead, it prohibits any US company from providing services to “distribute, maintain or update” ByteDance-owned apps. As a result, many of these apps are no longer available in the Apple and Google stores. That may soon change after Donald Trump takes office on Monday, but the US president-elect has indicated he plans to extend TikTok’s sales deadline by 90 days. Yes, it’s all very confusing.
For now, here’s a rundown of all the apps that US users can no longer access due to the US ban on ByteDance-owned apps.
TikTok, TikTok Studio, TikTok Store Seller, TikTok Lite
Not only TikTok, but other ByteDance-owned apps that work for the TikTok ecosystem are also not available with the original app. These include TikTok Studio (for creators to manage content and review analytics), TikTok Store Seller (for e-commerce sellers in the app to manage their business operations), and TikTok Lite (a smaller and faster version of the original app that is only available in some cases in available.countries).
CapCut
CapCut is a free video editing tool optimized for vertical videos that can be posted on TikTok. Because of its professional features, it is often the program of choice for amateur creators. Some creators also use CapCut to produce videos before uploading to platforms other than TikTok.
Lemon 8
ByteDance released Lemon8 in February 2023 as a photo-based social media app. Due to its similarity to RedNote, a very successful social media app in China, it has also become a destination for many TikTok users in exile this week. Some TikTok users had also chosen to migrate to Lemon8, but this app is also offline.
Gaut
With Gauth, students can take pictures of their assignments and the app uses artificial intelligence to understand the problem and provide step-by-step solutions. It also has other features that help students be more productive while studying. According to the announcement of the weekend shutdown, the app has “helped 300 million users with billions of questions.”
hippy
Launched in 2022, Hypic is a photo editing tool with a strong focus on productive AI tools. It uses artificial intelligence to help users enhance photo quality or turn photos into cartoons.
lark
Lark is a Slack-like workspace communication app. Originally created for ByteDance’s own internal messaging among employees, the app has now become one of the most used office communication apps in China with several million active users.
Melolo, Fizzo, MyTopia books
Poligon, a subsidiary of ByteDance in Singapore, publishes several apps that allow users to watch short vertical dramas (Melolo) or read fictional novels online (Fizzo Books and MyTopia). MyTopia Books is the only one of those apps that hasn’t ended support for US users and is available in some form in Apple’s US App Store.
Tokopedia
Tokopedia is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in Indonesia. The app was acquired by ByteDance in December 2023 and merged with TikTok’s store operations in the country after the Indonesian government banned the latter, citing “the need to protect smaller merchants and user data.”
It is not available in Apple’s US App Store but has been available in Google’s US Play Store since its release.
