Apple and Google restore TikTok to their US app stores

After President Donald Trump pledged to save TikTok and issued an executive order delaying a ban on the popular social media platform, Google Play has restored TikTok to its U.S. app store.

Bloomberg and CNBC also reported that Apple would also restore the app to its app store that day. According to CNN, TikTok was available in the app store that day through attempts to download the app on different phones.

The uncertainty surrounding TikTok's future stems from a law signed by former President Joe Biden last April, which gave China's ByteDance 270 days to sell it to owners from the U.S. or its allies, or face a ban based on U.S. national security concerns. The Supreme Court upheld the ban one day before it was to take effect.

TikTok was shut down for about 14 hours in January, but attributed its swift restoration to a promise made by then-President-elect Trump to keep the platform running in the U.S. But its 175 million users still encountered at least one problem: as of a weekend in January, the app was unavailable in both the Apple and Google Play stores, along with Lemon8 and CapCut, which are owned by TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance.

Apple previously said in a statement that it had removed TikTok from the App Store due to the ban, but that customers who had downloaded the app could still use it. Trump said before taking office that he would sign an executive order delaying the ban, which TikTok believes is the reason the app was restored.

“I will be issuing an Executive Order on Monday to extend the time limit on the ban so that we can work out a deal to protect our National Security,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on January 19. He also added that he would not hold TikTok's technology partners, including Apple, Google, and cloud computing company Oracle, responsible for continuing to provide the app until he signed the order.

The law only required TikTok's technology partners—including Oracle, which hosts TikTok content in the U.S., and Apple and Google, which host the app in their app stores—to stop supporting the app, or face fines of up to $5,000 (AU$7,900) for each person who could access the platform, starting Sunday. Trump was inaugurated the next day, January 20.

He signed the executive order later that day, giving TikTok another 75 days to find new owners. The action stated that the 75-day delay would help the Trump administration attempt to "determine the appropriate path forward in an orderly manner that protects national security while avoiding the abrupt shutdown of a communications platform used by millions of Americans."

Trump told reporters that he changed his mind about TikTok because he "started using it." "Remember, TikTok is primarily for children, young children. If China is going to get information about young children from it, frankly, I think we have bigger problems than that," Trump said in the Oval Office when asked what changed his mind.

He also told reporters that the actions he signed regarding TikTok gave him the right to "sell it or shut it down." "I have the right to sell it or shut it down, and we're going to make that decision," Trump added.