TikTok stopped functioning in the United States late Saturday, shortly before a federal ban on the Chinese short-video app took effect.

The app is no longer available on Apple's iOS App Store or Google's Play Store. The U.S. Congress passed a law in April requiring parent company ByteDance to either sell TikTok to a non-Chinese owner or face a complete shutdown. It chose the latter.

TikTok said divestment was "simply impossible: commercially, technically, legally". The company stayed on this course until the end.

The app's demise has been five years in the making. Donald Trump first proposed banning TikTok through an executive order in mid-2020, but was unsuccessful. Multiple members of Congress proposed the same measure, but only one passed. The Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act becomes law, requiring the sale or ban of TikTok.

“The United States has enacted laws banning TikTok, which unfortunately means you can’t use TikTok right now. Fortunately, President Trump has said he will work with us on solutions to restore TikTok once he takes office. Stay tuned ,” said a message sent to users trying to use the app.

TikTok's lawyers told the Supreme Court that the app will "shut down" on January 19. When TikTok disappears from the app store and blocks new downloads and updates, it will gradually become obsolete while the ban remains. Without regular maintenance, the application's smooth functionality will glitch and may be vulnerable to cyberattacks.

TikTok fought tooth and nail against this in court, arguing that blocking an app beloved by so many people would violate their free speech rights, but ultimately lost. The bill appears likely to disappear before being enacted, like a similar provision in Montana, which banned TikTok within its borders in 2023, the first time in the United States to do so. The state's law was struck down before it could take effect.

Two days before ByteDance's deadline to sell the popular app used by 170 million Americans, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the law is constitutional and its provisions should stand. Biden said he would leave enforcement of the bill to Trump. The White House said in a statement on Friday that TikTok "should remain available to Americans, but only owned by Americans."

In response to the ruling, TikTok CEO Shou Chew asked the president-elect to save his app. "On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all users across the country, I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to working with us to find solutions that will keep TikTok available in the United States," he said in a video posted to TikTok.

Trump tried to intervene in the Supreme Court case on behalf of TikTok at 11 o'clock, even though he himself is the father of the ban. During the 2024 presidential campaign, he became interested in the app after discovering its large number of users. He is due to take office on Monday and may order the Justice Department not to enforce the bill, although he said the Supreme Court's ruling should be "respected." It's unclear whether he can completely circumvent the TikTok ban.

Trump said on Saturday he would "probably" give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after taking office on Monday.

"A 90-day extension is the most likely thing to get done because it's appropriate," he told NBC. "If I decide to do it, I'll probably announce it on Monday."

U.S. TikTok users are not turning to YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels (although both products are likely to see growth after the ban), but to Chinese video-sharing app Xiaohongshu (aka RedNote).

As one user put it: "I would have my DNA shipped directly to the front door of the Chinese Communist Party before watching an Instagram Reel."

Reporting contributed by Reuters