- TikTok was unavailable in app stores in the US until Thursday night.
- The company offered an Android package kit to download the app.
- TikTok Lite lets users watch content, follow creators, and interact with their content.
Update: On Thursday night Apple and Android brought TikTok back to their app stores.
TikTok created a way for users to download the app on Android while it was unavailable in app stores in the United States.
This week TikTok announced an Android package kit that allows users to download TikTok and TikTok Lite, the company’s alternative app with limited features for optimized performance and less data usage.
TikTok Lite lets users watch content, follow creators, and interact with their content, but some features like livestreams and the TikTok Shop are not available on the app. Some other social media companies like Facebook also offer lite versions of their apps that use less data.
Android users can download the app by visiting TikTok.com/download. When visiting the app on a mobile device, tap “download” and then follow the instructions to download the app.
TikTok recommends only downloading the app from TikTok’s website — not through any QR codes — to avoid malware.
TikTok had been absent from US app stores since the app briefly “went dark” on January 19 after the Supreme Court upheld a law banning the app inside the country. The law required TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest from the company and find an American buyer for the app.
Proponents of the law have criticized TikTok as harmful to children and raised concerns about ByteDance having control of American’s personal data. In 2020, TikTok entered a deal with US software company, Oracle, to store TikTok’s US user data in the Oracle Cloud.
TikTok said on its website that its “robust protocols” remain in place for the versions of its apps that can be downloaded through the Android package kit to ensure they are “safe and secure.”
“Oracle and our Independent Security Inspectors continue to have access to our app’s source code and can review it for potential vulnerabilities through technical security testing and validation of the TikTok US Platform,” the company said.
ByteDance has made no public comment on the potential sale of TikTok since President Donald Trump gave the company a 75-day extension to find an American buyer last month. In April 2024, ByteDance, said it would rather shut down TikTok in the US than sell it.
iPhone users can still put a shortcut to the TikTok mobile website on their homepage if the app is not already installed on their phone. To add TikTok to the iPhone home screen, navigate to the Safari app, go to TikTok’s website, and then press “add TikTok to home screen” to add a shortcut to the website.
TikTok did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider.
