How a lot would you pay to get TikTok again?
Determined customers are keen to shell out the massive bucks for entry to the app after it turned unavailable within the Apple App Retailer and Google Play as a result of nationwide ban — that means if TikTokkers deleted the applying, they will’t redownload it.
On eBay, smartphones with TikTok nonetheless put in fetch a whole bunch to hundreds of {dollars}, with one iPhone 16 Professional Max with the app goes for $5,000 and one other iPhone 16 Plus asking for over $3,000.
Some used iPhones are even listed for over $1 million, like one in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Screen protector is only damage phone perfect and has TikTok,” the advert reads.
“If you deleted TikTok I’m selling one of my iPhones 16 WITH TIKTOK INSTALLED $5000,” one individual provided on Threads.
Whereas it appears unfathomable that somebody would fork over hundreds of {dollars} for the standard app, TikTokkers who by chance deleted it after the Jan. 19 ban went into impact are actually determined to get it again as soon as entry was restored.
On the time, it appeared that they didn’t suppose it could be obtainable to be used so quickly after going darkish on Sunday — nor did they understand it wouldn’t be downloadable when it went reside for US customers once more.
In consequence, former customers begged for assist in on-line boards, asking folks for workarounds to get the app again.
“I deleted TikTok and now I can’t get it back!” one individual wrote on X. “I will pay someone $5,000 for an iPhone 16 Pro Max with TikTok still installed. DM me.”
“No way to get it back,” one dissatisfied individual wrote on Reddit. “Have to wait for it to ever come back to the app store which has no ETA or if it’s going to come back to the app stores.”
“I deleted TikTok the day it got banned because I thought it was gonna be banned for a long time, until 12 hours later it was working again and I couldn’t download it,” one Apple person posted on a dialogue board.
“If TikTok is useable and unbanned for users who haven’t deleted it or on devices that still have it, I think it should be put up back in app stores.”
Sadly for TikTokkers, it’s not so easy.
In an announcement printed this week, Apple introduced that the corporate would adjust to the legislation banning the app regardless of President Donald Trump’s extension for TikTok to discover a purchaser.
The invoice, which “prohibits distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services for a foreign adversary controlled application,” has made TikTok — in addition to different ByteDance Ltd. apps like CapCut, Lemon8, amongst others — unavailable to be downloaded or up to date in the meanwhile.
Whereas former President Joe Biden stated he wouldn’t implement the ban, in line with the legislation, operators that permit downloads or updates may face charges of $5,000 per individual, that means that the shops that supply TikTok, which hosts 170 million American customers, could possibly be fined billions.
“The law that Congress passed and the Supreme Court upheld requires Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores if it is still owned and controlled by a foreign adversary today – which it is,” creator and Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Sobolik beforehand instructed The Publish.
Whereas TikTok is usable for customers who nonetheless have the app on their telephones, it received’t be capable of obtain service updates from builders, that means it could ultimately develop into incompatible with working methods.
“If you already have these apps installed on your device, they will remain on your device,” Apple acknowledged.
“But they can’t be redownloaded if deleted or restored if you move to a new device. In-app purchases and new subscriptions are no longer possible.”
It’s not clear when TikTok, which Trump stated could be “worthless” if he didn’t “approve it,” will probably be obtainable for obtain from app shops.
The corporate was given 75 days to discover a US purchaser, in line with an govt order signed on Monday.
