In a breaking update from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, attorney general Pam Bondi, representing Trump, has reportedly written a letter to Apple granting the company the go-ahead to reinstate TikTok in the App Store.
The situation regarding TikTok on iPhones is quite complex. Users who already have the app installed can continue using it, and it remains accessible via web browsers.
However, TikTok is unable to provide app updates through the App Store. If the app is deleted, it cannot be re-downloaded, and notably, it cannot be transferred between devices. For instance, it won’t be restored from an iCloud backup for Apple’s forthcoming budget iPhone release scheduled for next week.
According to Gurman, Apple has indicated that the app is expected to be reinstated by “Thursday evening.”
After China’s ByteDance did not divest ownership, both Apple and Google were legally obliged to remove TikTok from their respective app stores.
Although Congress passed legislation regarding the app and it was signed into law by former President Biden, the Biden administration chose to delay implementation, leaving it to the incoming Trump administration to determine the next steps.
Initially, President Trump was in favor of banning TikTok during his first term but later showed support for its continued availability. He granted ByteDance a 75-day extension to negotiate a deal with American companies and potentially the US government.
