TikTok is no longer available in the United States — at least for now. But it’s not the only ByteDance-owned app currently blocked from users in the US.
Shortly before the January 19 deadline set by the federal mandate, TikTok cut off access to anyone trying to access the app from the US. “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately, this means you can’t use the TikTok app for now,” reads a block screen that confronts US users when they try to load the app. “We are happy that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to restore TikTok once he takes office, please stay tuned!
Similar notices appear on other apps owned by ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, which is based in China and is at the heart of the controversy surrounding a popular video app that, at least as of Saturday, had 170 million users in the US . Video editing app CapCut, photo and video sharing app Lemon8, and others have now gone dark in the US.
A federal law passed last year bans ByteDance-owned apps from operating in the US on national security grounds. In response to Chinese laws requiring China-based companies to provide their data to the Chinese government and intelligence agencies, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversaries Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) required ByteDance to sell TikTok and its other apps to an entity not based in China. by Sunday.
That sale did not take place. As a result, TikTok began blocking users in the US on Saturday, January 18, ahead of the midnight deadline. Because PAFACA bans all apps operated by ByteDance, not just TikTok, users of its numerous other apps are subject to the same restrictions.
PAFACA does not require ByteDance to block US-based users of its applications. Instead, it prohibits any US company from providing any service to “distribute, maintain or update” byteDance-owned programs. As a result, many of these apps are no longer available in Apple’s and Google’s app stores. However, that could change shortly after Donald Trump took office on Monday, with the US president indicating that he plans to extend the deadline for a sale of TikTok by 90 days. Yes, it is all very confusing.
For now, here’s the overview of all the apps that US users can no longer access due to the US ban on ByteDance-owned apps.
TikTok, TikTok Studio, TikTok Store Seller, TikTok Lite
Not only TikTok, but other ByteDance-owned apps that work for the TikTok ecosystem have also not become available alongside 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 and faster version of the original application that is only available in certain parts) countries).
CapCut
CapCut is a free video editing tool, optimized for vertical videos that can be posted on TikTok. It is often the application of choice for amateur creators, due to its professional features. Some creators also use CapCut to first produce videos before uploading them to platforms other than TikTok.
Lemon8
ByteDance released Lemon8 in February 2023 as a photo-based social media app. It is known to resemble RedNote, a particularly successful social media app in China that has also become the destination for many exiled TikTok users this week. Some TikTok users also chose to migrate to Lemon8, but the app also went offline.
Gauth
With Gauth, students can take photos of their homework, and the app will use artificial intelligence to understand the problem and provide step-by-step solutions. It also has other features that help students be more productive while studying. According to the program’s closing announcement this weekend, it has “helped 300 million users with billions of questions.”
Marvel Snap, Land of Empires, Mission EVO
Several games are also being swept up by the ban on ByteDance-owned apps, including the fast-paced action card game Marvel Snap. Developed by studio Second Dinner in California, Marvel Snap is published by Nuverse, which owns ByteDance and launched in 2019. Second Dinner said in a statement posted to X that it does not expect to be part of the collateral damage of the TikTok ban law and promised to restore access for US users. “Marvel Snap don’t go anywhere We are actively working to get the game up and running as soon as possible and will update you as soon as we have more to share,” the company said.
New games Land of Empires and Mission EVO is also no longer available in US app stores.
Hippies
Launched in 2022, Hypic is a photo editing tool with a strong focus on generative AI tools. It uses AI to help users improve photo quality or turn a photo into a cartoon.
Lark
Lark is a Slack-like workspace communication app. Originally created for ByteDance’s own internal messaging among employees, it has now become one of the most used office communication apps in China, with several million active users.
Melolo, Fizzo, MyTopia Books
Poligon, a Singapore-based subsidiary of ByteDance, publishes several apps that allow users to watch short vertical dramas (Melolo) or read online fiction novels (Fizzo and MyTopia Books). MyTopia Books is the only one of those apps that hasn’t ended support for US users, and remains available in some way on Apple’s US App Store.
Tokopedia
Tokopedia is one of Indonesia’s largest e-commerce platforms. It was acquired by ByteDance in December 2023 and merged with TikTok Shop’s operations in the country after the Indonesian government banned the latter app, citing “the need to protect smaller merchants and users’ data.”
It has not become available in Apple’s US App Store, but remains available in Google’s US Play Store as of publication.
Updated 09:00 EST, January 19, 2025: Added the games Marvel Snap, Land of Empires, and Mission EVO to the list of apps unavailable in the US due to the ban on properties owned by ByteDance.