Google and Apple restore TikTok to US app stores

TikTok returned to Google and Apple app stores for U.S. users Thursday.

Apple restored the app after Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to the company assuring it will not face fines for violating a law that banned the video-sharing platform last month, according to a person familiar with the correspondence. A Google spokesperson did not give a reason for why the app was restored.

Both companies took the app off their online stores after a ban on TikTok took effect in the U.S. on Jan. 19. Apple and Google had kept TikTok unavailable for downloads even after President Donald Trump signed an executive order promising his administration would not enforce the law for 75 days.

The order also directed the attorney general to “issue a letter to each provider stating that there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability.” Bondi was sworn in last Wednesday.

The app has remained online aside from a short takedown, with cloud providers Oracle and Akamai Technologies servicing it.

Earlier Thursday, Trump said he’s still working on a deal to engineer a sale of TikTok from its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance. In recent weeks, the president has floated multiple ideas including buying the app with a new U.S. sovereign wealth fund and entering a joint venture that could result in the American government owning a piece of TikTok alongside ByteDance.

The Justice Department and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment.