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tiktok return to app store memes
tiktok return to app store memes
Cora Pursley via Dupe
Culture > Digital

These Memes About TikTok’s Return To App Stores Are Hilarious

TikTok users, rejoice! The app is finally available for download (or re-download) after 27 days of being unavailable in the Apple and Google app stores. This is the latest in a long saga regarding the Chinese-owned app being banned in the United States due to national security concerns. 

If you need a little recap, in 2024, the U.S. government created a law that essentially gave an ultimatum to ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok: Sell TikTok to a U.S. owner by Jan. 19, 2025, or the app would be banned in the country. However, TikTok beat the ban to the punch and took itself offline the day before the deadline, on Jan. 18. And although the app’s absence was infamously brief (it resumed its service in the U.S. on Jan. 19, citing cooperation from President Donald Trump), not everything went back to normal. Namely, the app didn’t return to app stores, meaning those who deleted the app after it went dark weren’t able to re-download it even when it came back online, leaving them painfully out of the loop for the past few weeks (or resulting to finding ~creative~ ways to access the app’s content). 

Obviously, there are still a lot of uncertainties about TikTok, including whether a U.S. buyer will actually end up taking control of the app, and what’s going on behind the scenes to keep it up and running in the meantime. But for right now, these memes about TikTok’s return to app stores are all people can talk about. 

For many, the return of the beloved app inspired nothing but true celebration, with users sharing their joy, as well as their plans to doomscroll and go on TikTok Shop shopping sprees. 

That said, some users were a bit skeptical of why TikTok returned to the app stores, considering how intensely Congress had fought for the ban and how committed the Supreme Court was to upholding it. Some wondered what kind of deals were made in order to make this happen.

Users also poked fun at what Congress’s inevitable reaction would be to this kind of triumph for the app they worked so hard to ban.

Memes also immediately started spreading about the people who may have bought iPhones with TikTok pre-downloaded on them from sites like eBay to work around the ban. Yes, you heard that right. When TikTok was no longer available to download, many in the U.S. saw it as a lucrative business opportunity and were selling their used iPhones with TikTok still downloaded for as much as $25,000. (One iPhone listed for $10,000 got 18,000 views on eBay in 24 hours.) Now that the app is available again, those who bought the outrageously priced phones might be feeling a little silly, to say the least. 

And of course, TikTok itself was flooded not only with users returning to the app, but jokes and memes all about it.

@xxanna216

#Meme #MemeCut #kendricklamar #tiktok #appstore

♬ WE ARE BACK BABY – iluvtargaryen
@ladashahh

welcome back! #appstore #apple #googleplay #tiktokupdate #itsback #ohmygod #idkaybif19 #Meme #MemeCut #CapCut

♬ original sound – CRISE
@stlcardsmom93

#Meme #MemeCut #tiktok #tiktokshop #applestore #googlestore @apple @Google #unitedstates #unitedstatesofamerica🇺🇸 #hummor #tiktokviral #viralvideo #foryoupage #fyp #fypシ #viralvideo #viraltiktok #share #like #comment

♬ original sound – I Green Screen Things

Although the return of TikTok to app stores has prompted hilarious celebration, some of the skeptics may be right to feel cautious, as the future of the app is very much still uncertain. Early in his presidency, Trump signed an executive order that gave Bytedance 75 additional days to sell its U.S. assets, pushing the ban’s deadline to April 4. That deadline still looms, but for now, at least, users can get back to the app they know and love. 

Emily Manus

UC Riverside '25

Emily is a fourth-year, currently pursuing her BA in Public Policy with a minor in Media and Cultural Studies. Emily is Co-President and Co-Editor of Her Campus at UC Riverside as well as a Her Campus National Writer. Emily's interests include the arts, media, and culture.