Replace: Apple and Google have restored TikTok to their respective app shops within the US. Now you can obtain TikTok for iOS and TikTok for Android as soon as once more via the platforms’ native shops.
The ban on TikTok technically stays in impact, nonetheless President Trump has ordered his administration to not implement it for 75 days, beginning January twentieth. Meaning Apple and Google may very well be required to tug the apps as soon as once more if the administration begins to implement the legislation and TikTok hasn’t met the phrases to keep away from a ban.
Our unique story stays beneath.
TikTok’s app remains to be working for individuals within the US — so long as it’s already on their cellphone. Whereas the service shortly returned after the temporary shutdown in January, the app itself is now not obtainable on both Apple’s App Retailer or Google’s Play Retailer. That implies that for those who eliminated the app, by no means had it downloaded within the first place, or are establishing a brand new cellphone from scratch, you’ll have to leap via some hoops to get entry.
At present, there are a couple of choices for individuals who wish to entry TikTok on their telephones and don’t have the app already. In case you’ve bought an Android machine, you possibly can obtain the app immediately from TikTok’s web site and alter a couple of settings in your cellphone to get it put in. However for those who’ve bought an iPhone, your choices are extra restricted — and much more tough to work round. We cowl all of those beneath.
Now you can obtain the TikTok app immediately from the corporate’s web site, though not from the Google Play Retailer.
- Go to tiktok.com in your pc. You’ll see a QR code — scan it along with your cellphone.
- Alternatively, you possibly can go to this hyperlink immediately out of your cellphone: tiktok.com/download.
- You’ll get a alternative of TikTok Lite (a smaller model that takes up 34.3MB) and TikTok (409MB). The Lite model is supposed for older, slower telephones and to be used with slower web connections. Choose which one you wish to obtain.
- As soon as the obtain is completed and also you’ve chosen Open, chances are you’ll get a discover telling you that your cellphone isn’t allowed to put in unknown apps and that it’s a must to change that in Settings. There might be a hyperlink to your Settings within the discover; faucet it.
- Toggle Permit from this supply on.
- You’ll then be requested, “Do you wish to set up this app?” Faucet Set up. When it’s executed, you possibly can open it and log in.
- If you wish to be secure from different outdoors apps being put in in your cellphone, you possibly can return into Settings > Apps > Particular app entry > Set up unknown apps > Chrome and toggle Permit from this supply off.
Remember that for those who’re in any respect nervous about downloading apps from outdoors the Play Retailer, you possibly can nonetheless entry TikTok utilizing your browser. Simply comply with the instructions for an iOS machine beneath.
In case you’re on an iOS machine that doesn’t have already got the TikTok app, you possibly can solely get TikTok through your internet browser. (It’s also possible to attempt utilizing a VPN, however I’ll take care of that in a minute.)
You’re additionally out of luck when you’ve got a brand new iPhone and tried to switch your current TikTok app over out of your earlier cellphone — in line with Apple’s support page, the apps “can’t be redownloaded if deleted or restored for those who transfer to a brand new machine.” (TikTok has an excellent variety of movies expressing the frustration of latest iPhone house owners.)
You may, nonetheless, nonetheless entry TikTok on a browser. In case you go to tiktok.com, you possibly can entry your feed, watch movies, see and add feedback, and add new favorites. You may even add an icon to your homescreen to entry it like a correct app. (You’ll be invited to do this the primary time you check in, or you are able to do it through Safari’s Share button.)
Nevertheless, whether or not I used TikTok in Safari or Chrome on an iPhone, I discovered I used to be unable to create a video. Each time I attempted, I bought a discover that the positioning was attempting to open one other app (my iPhone’s digital camera), and after I hit Permit, it tried to go to the App Retailer to obtain the nonexistent TikTok app.
This isn’t even mentioning the frustration of the fixed pop-ups and nudges telling me that I might “Get the complete app expertise” by downloading the app — which, after all, wasn’t obtainable to obtain.
When TikTok initially disappeared, one of many foremost ideas (in addition to transferring to a special app) was to make use of a VPN to “idiot” your cellphone or pc into pondering that you just weren’t within the US. And for those who’re a TikTok creator who makes use of an iPhone, you don’t appear to have many different alternate options proper now, in need of discovering an iPhone that also has a working app or going Android.
Apple has plenty of checks in place to ensure customers are visiting the right area’s App Retailer. Getting round that entails leaping via fairly a couple of hoops and in the end could not work out — it’s much more work than merely downloading a VPN and setting your location to someplace outdoors the US.
I haven’t tried the VPN technique myself, however individuals who declare to have fooled the App Retailer have needed to take fairly a couple of steps:
- Create a brand new Apple ID with a cellphone quantity from one other nation utilizing a service similar to Google Voice, OpenPhone, or Hushed.
- Discover and set up a VPN that may determine you as coming from that nation. There are a number of VPNs obtainable; two which were really helpful to me by colleagues are NordVPN and Proton VPN.
- Set your phone’s region to match the area in your VPN.
- Acquire a sound cost technique with a sound billing handle for the nation you’re pretending to be in.
It’s not a easy or foolproof course of, and some buddies have advised me that they tried it and hit a wall someplace alongside the road.