TikTok is back in the US, but why is it not on the app store any more, can you redownload it, will it be back?

President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that “I’ll tell you what. Every rich person has called me about TikTok.” When he was then asked why he had changed his mind after trying to ban it back in 2020, Donald Trump said: “Because I got to use it.”

Although Donald Trump signed the executive order delaying the TikTok ban on Monday January 20, in the US, users have still been unable to download it from app stores.

USA Today reported that “Users who already had the app downloaded on their phones could jump back on the short-video platform following a brief period during the weekend when TikTok went dark. But as of Wednesday morning, TikTok could still not be downloaded from the Apple and Google app stores in the United States, even after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to delay enforcing a ban.”

When TikTok was shut down, users in the U.S. were greeted with the message: “Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now."

The message went on to read: “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!"

When will TikTok be available in the U.S. App Stores?

At the time of writing, it is still not clear when TikTok will once again return to Apple and Google’s app stores in the U.S. Forbes reported that “Users might have to wait until the tech giants receive additional legal protections to host the app or until ByteDance sells its U.S. assets — a process that could happen anytime before April 5, 2025, when Trump’s enforcement pause is set to expire.”

Elon Musk, MrBeast and Kevin O’ Leary, a celebrity investor on Shark Tank (America’s equivalent of Daragon’s Den) are all potential new owners of the social media giant.