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TikTok has announced that users can now download the Android version of the app directly from its own website in the US. In a post on X, TikTok shared on Friday (Feb. 7) that Android users in the United States can now download or update the app straight from TikTok’s website. This comes after Google removed it from the Play Store last month due to a US ban.
The app briefly went offline on January 19, just before the law kicked in unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells it to a US-based owner. Under this law, both Apple and Google were required to remove TikTok from their app stores or face a $5,000 fine for every US user who downloaded it. While TikTok quickly restored access to its service within a day, the app is still missing from both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store in the country.
When President Donald Trump took office, he signed an executive order that put a 75-day pause on the ban, giving ByteDance until April to strike a deal. Trump has reportedly tasked Vice President J.D. Vance with handling negotiations for a potential sale before the deadline. While ByteDance has repeatedly said it has no plans to sell TikTok, one of its biggest investors recently suggested that a deal might be “in everybody’s interest.”
Plenty of interested buyers have already come forward, including Perplexity AI and YouTube star MrBeast.
Some users have stated on X that they’ve managed to download the app on their phones.
I'm an android user so I successfully just sideloaded the TikTok app back on my phone pic.twitter.com/Hhulynw0mb
— riya 🥰🃏 (@riyaisnotonfire) February 10, 2025
How to download the TikTok app on Android in the US
Users can download both TikTok and TikTok Lite, which is the lighter version made for slower internet connections. Once you’ve got the file, just open it, and approve the installation.
We're enhancing ways for our community to continue using TikTok by making Android Package Kits available at https://t.co/JoNVqKpnrS so that our U.S. Android users can download our app and create, discover, and connect on TikTok.
More information at our Help Center:…
— TikTok Policy (@TikTokPolicy) February 8, 2025
Just like Apple, Google has its own set of rules for apps to be listed on the Play Store, but TikTok isn’t necessarily bound by those rules when providing downloads directly from its own website. That said, TikTok reassures users that the app is still “safe and secure.” According to a help page (which has since disappeared), Oracle and independent security inspectors are still reviewing its source code. The groups were brought in by ByteDance last year after concerns that its Project Texas plan (meant to separate US operations from China) was just for show.
Since Apple doesn’t allow sideloading in the US, iOS users will have to stick to using TikTok in a web browser, at least until Apple decides to put it back on the App Store.
Featured image: Canva / TikTok
