TikTok doesn’t last long available in the United States– at least for now. But that’s not the only ByteDance-owned app currently available. blocked for US-based users.
Shortly before the federal government’s January 19 deadline, TikTok cut off access to anyone trying to access the app from the United States. “A law banning TikTok has been passed in the United States. Unfortunately, this means you cannot use the TikTok app at this time,” reads a block screen that appears to American users when they try to load the application. Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to restore TikTok once he takes office. Stay tuned!
Similar notifications appear on other apps owned by ByteDance, the China-based parent company of TikTok that is at the heart of controversy over a popular video app that, at least until Saturday, had 170 million users in the United States. Video editing app CapCut, photo and video sharing app Lemon8 and others are now shut down in the US.
A federal law passed last year prohibits ByteDance-owned apps from operating in the United States for national security reasons. In response to Chinese laws that require companies based in China to provide their data to the Chinese government and intelligence agencies, the Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act (PAFACA) has asked ByteDance to sell TikTok and its other apps to a non-China-based entity by Sunday.
This sale did not take place. As a result, TikTok began blocking US-based users on Saturday, January 18, ahead of the midnight deadline. Because PAFACA bans all apps operated by ByteDance, not just TikTok, users of its myriad other apps are subject to the same restrictions.
PAFACA does not require ByteDance to block users of its applications based in the United States. Instead, it prohibits any U.S. company from providing a service to “distribute, maintain, or update” applications owned by ByteDance. As a result, many of these apps are no longer available in the Apple and Google app stores. That could change soon after Donald Trump takes office on Monday, with the US president-elect indicating he plans to extend the deadline for selling TikTok by 90 days. Yes, this is all very confusing.
For now, here’s a look at 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 become unavailable along with the main app. These include TikTok Studio (allowing creators to manage content and check analytics), TikTok Shop Seller (allowing the app’s e-commerce sellers to manage their business operations), and TikTok Lite (a more smaller and faster than the original app which is only available in some countries). country).
CapCut
CapCut is a free video editing tool, optimized for vertical videos that can be posted on TikTok. It’s often the app 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 launched Lemon8 in February 2023 as a photo-based social media app. It is known to resemble RedNote, a particularly successful social networking application in China, which also became the destination for many TikTok users in exile this week. Some TikTok users had also chosen to migrate to Lemon8, but the app is also offline.
Gauth
With Gauth, students can take photos of their homework and the app 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 application shutdown announcement this weekend it “helped 300 million users with billions of questions.”
Marvel Snap, Land of Empires, Mission EVO
Several games, including the fast-action card game, are also affected by the ban on ByteDance-owned apps. Marvel Snap. Developed by Californian studio Second Dinner, Marvel Snap is published by ByteDance-owned Nuverse and launched in 2019. Second Dinner said in a statement published on that he did not expect to be part of the collateral damage from the law banning TikTok and pledged to restore access for American users. “Marvel Snap not going anywhere. We are actively working to release the game as quickly as possible and will update you as soon as we have more to share,” the company said.
Nuverse games Land of empires And Mission EVO are also no longer available in US app stores.
Hypical
Hypic, launching in 2022, 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 communication application for a Slack-like workspace. Originally created for ByteDance’s internal messages between employees, it has now become one of the most widely 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 drama series (Melolo) or read fiction novels online (Fizzo and MyTopia Books). MyTopia Books is the only one of these apps that has not ended its support for US-based users and somehow remains available on Apple’s US App Store.
Tokopedia
Tokopedia is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in Indonesia. 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, quoting “the need to protect small merchants and user data.”
It is no longer available on Apple’s US App Store, but will remain available on Google’s US Play Store upon release.
Updated 9 a.m. EST, January 19, 2025: Games added Marvel Snap, Land of Empires, And Mission EVO to the list of apps unavailable in the United States due to the ban on ByteDance-owned properties.