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How much would you pay to get TikTok back?
Desperate users are willing to shell out the big bucks for access to the app after it became unavailable in the Apple App Store and Google Play due to the nationwide ban — meaning if TikTokkers deleted the application, they can’t redownload it.
On eBay, smartphones with TikTok still installed fetch hundreds to thousands of dollars, with one iPhone 16 Pro Max with the app is going for $5,000 and another iPhone 16 Plus asking for over $3,000.
Some used iPhones are even listed for over $1 million, like one in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Screen protector is only damage phone perfect and has TikTok,” the ad reads.
“If you deleted TikTok I’m selling one of my iPhones 16 WITH TIKTOK INSTALLED $5000,” one person offered on Threads.
While it seems unfathomable that someone would fork over thousands of dollars for the humble app, TikTokkers who accidentally deleted it after the Jan. 19 ban went into effect are now desperate to get it back once access was restored.
At the time, it seemed that they didn’t think it would be available for use so soon after going dark on Sunday — nor did they realize it wouldn’t be downloadable when it went live for US users again.
As a result, former users begged for help in online forums, asking people for workarounds to get the app back.
“I deleted TikTok and now I can’t get it back!” one person wrote on X. “I will pay someone $5,000 for an iPhone 16 Pro Max with TikTok still installed. DM me.”
“No way to get it back,” one disappointed person wrote on Reddit. “Have to wait for it to ever come back to the app store which has no ETA or if it’s going to come back to the app stores.”
“I deleted TikTok the day it got banned because I thought it was gonna be banned for a long time, until 12 hours later it was working again and I couldn’t download it,” one Apple user posted on a discussion board.
“If TikTok is useable and unbanned for users who haven’t deleted it or on devices that still have it, I think it should be put up back in app stores.”
Unfortunately for TikTokkers, it’s not so simple.
In a statement published this week, Apple announced that the company would comply with the law banning the app despite President Donald Trump’s extension for TikTok to find a buyer.
The bill, which “prohibits distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services for a foreign adversary controlled application,” has made TikTok — as well as other ByteDance Ltd. apps like CapCut, Lemon8, among others — unavailable to be downloaded or updated for the time being.
While former President Joe Biden said he would not enforce the ban, according to the law, operators that allow downloads or updates could face fees of $5,000 per person, meaning that the stores that offer TikTok, which hosts 170 million American users, could be fined billions.
“The law that Congress passed and the Supreme Court upheld requires Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores if it is still owned and controlled by a foreign adversary today – which it is,” author and Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Sobolik previously told The Post.
While TikTok is usable for users who still have the app on their phones, it won’t be able to receive service updates from developers, meaning it may eventually become incompatible with operating systems.
“If you already have these apps installed on your device, they will remain on your device,” Apple stated.
“But they can’t be redownloaded if deleted or restored if you move to a new device. In-app purchases and new subscriptions are no longer possible.”
It is not clear when TikTok, which Trump said would be “worthless” if he didn’t “approve it,” will be available for download from app stores.
The company was given 75 days to find a US buyer, according to an executive order signed on Monday.
