With TikTok’s fate in the U.S. uncertain — its ban in the country has been paused, but only temporarily, thanks to an executive order from President Donald Trump — the ByteDance-owned company is now encouraging Android device owners to sideload its video app onto their phones and tablets.
The company announced in a Friday X post that its Android app would be available for direct download on the website TikTok.com/download. This allows it to take advantage of an Android feature that lets users download apps from outside the Google Play Store. A similar option is not yet available on iPhones outside the EU.
The Android app download is being made available as an Android Package Kit, more commonly known as an APK file, which contains the app’s code, assets, and other resources that TikTok needs to run.
By offering a standalone download, TikTok can at least temporarily skirt the current app store ban, which still prevents both Google Play and Apple’s App Store from hosting the app while the ban’s enforcement remains paused.
