If you need to download and install TikTok in the US, you can do so on Android even though the app isn’t back in the Play Store yet. In a tweet, the TikTok Policy account has announced that the service has made Android Package Kits available for download through its official web site. Engadget reported.
Companies don’t typically endorse sideloading, but TikTok is, of course, a special case.
The app briefly went offline on January 19 before a law banning it in the US — unless its parent company ByteDance sells it to an owner based in the country — took effect. Under that law, the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store are required to remove its listing if they don’t want to get slapped with a fine amounting to $5,000 for every user in the US who downloads the app.
It didn’t take a full day before TikTok restored access to its service, but it’s app has yet to reappear on Google’s and Apple’s stores in the US.
The Verge reported: TikTok is now offering US downloads of the Android version of the app on its own website, the company announced last night. With the change, Android users in the United States now have an easy way to download or update the app for the first time since Google removed it from Google Play last month in response to a US ban on the app.
You can download both TikTok and TikTok Lite, a version of the app designed to work with lower internet connections. Once that’s done, you can install or update the app just by opening the file and approving its installation.
Like Apple, Google requires app makers to follow certain rules to be listed on the Play Store — rules TikTok isn’t necessarily bound to when offering the download on its own. A TikTok help page claims that, nevertheless, the app “remains safe and secure.”
Forbes reported: More bad news for tens of millions of U.S. TikTok users today, as its suddenly better to be an Android users than an iPhone user. But given reports that eBay was listing TikTok enable iPhones for tens of thousands of dollars, this is a cheaper way to get your fix.
TikTok has been absent on Apple App Store and Google’s Play Store since the short-lived ban last month. While users can use installed apps almost as usual, there have been no new installs or updates. This is a nightmare for those changing phones but also a security issue, with no updates available to fix bugs or vulnerabilities.
Bad news for iPhone users, though. With no stateside sideloading, there’s no way for TikTok to do the same for them. The App Store blackout continues.
In my opinion, it appears that it might take some time before Apple users can expect to access TikTok on their iPhones.