TikTok is no longer available in the United States — at least for now. But this isn’t the only Bytedance-owned app currently blocked from U.S. users.
Shortly before the federal government's January 19 deadline, TikTok cut off access to anyone trying to access the app from the United States. "The United States has enacted a law banning TikTok. Unfortunately, this means you are now unable to use the TikTok app," reads the screen US users face when trying to load the app. “We are fortunate that President Trump has stated that he will work with us to develop a solution to restore TikTok after taking office, so stay tuned!”
Similar notifications have appeared on other apps owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance. Bytedance, based in China, is at the center of controversy over a popular video app that, at least as of Saturday, had 170 million users in the United States. Video editing app CapCut, photo and video sharing app Lemon8, and others are now shut down in the United States.
A federal law passed last year bans ByteDance-owned apps from operating in the United States on national security grounds. In response to Chinese laws that require Chinese companies to provide data to the Chinese government and intelligence agencies, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) requires ByteDance to sell TikTok and other apps to non-Chinese entities to Sunday.
That sale didn't happen. As a result, TikTok began blocking U.S. users ahead of a midnight deadline on Saturday, January 18. Since PAFACA bans all apps operated by ByteDance, not just TikTok, users of its countless other apps face the same restrictions.
PAFACA does not require ByteDance to block U.S. users from using its app. Instead, it bans any U.S. company from providing any services that “distribute, maintain or update” ByteDance-owned apps. As a result, many of these apps are no longer available in Apple and Google’s app stores. However, that may soon change after Donald Trump takes office on Monday, with the US president-elect saying he plans to extend the sale of TikTok by 90 days. Yes, this is all very confusing.
Currently, the list of all apps that US users can no longer access due to the US ban on apps owned by ByteDance is as follows.
Not only TikTok, but other Bytedance-owned apps for the TikTok ecosystem have also become unavailable along with the main app. These include TikTok Studio (for creators to manage content and check analytics), TikTok Shop Seller (for e-commerce sellers on the app to manage their business operations), and TikTok Lite (a smaller, faster version of the original app, available only on Available in certain countries).
CapCut is a free video editing tool optimized for vertical videos that can be published on TikTok. Because of its professional features, it's often the go-to app for amateur creators. Some creators also use CapCut to create videos before uploading them to platforms other than TikTok.
ByteDance released Lemon8, a photo-based social media app, in February 2023. It is known for being similar to RedNote, a particularly successful social media app in China that has also become a destination for many exiled TikTok users this week. Some TikTok users also chose to migrate to Lemon8, but that app has also been offline.
Through Gauth, students can take photos of assignments and the app will use artificial intelligence to understand the problem and provide step-by-step solutions. It also has other features to help students be more productive while studying. According to the app's shutdown announcement this weekend, it has "helped 300 million users solve billions of questions."
Launched in 2022, Hypic is a photo editing tool with a focus on generative AI tools. It uses artificial intelligence to help users improve the quality of their photos or turn them into cartoons.
Lark is a workspace communication app similar to Slack. Originally created for internal messaging between ByteDance employees, it has become one of the most used office communication apps in China, with millions of active users.
Poligon, a subsidiary of ByteDance in Singapore, has launched several apps that allow users to watch short-form dramas (Melolo) or read online novels (Fizzo and MyTopia Books). MyTopia Books is the only one of these apps that has not ended support for US users and is somehow still available on Apple's US App Store.
Tokopedia is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in Indonesia. In December 2023, ByteDance acquired the app and merged it with TikTok Shop's operations in the country after the Indonesian government banned the latter app citing the "need to protect small merchants and user data."
It's no longer available on Apple's US App Store, but was still available on Google's US Play Store at launch.