In case you've been living under a rock, TikTok is a short-form video app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. Launching in 2016, it quickly rose to popularity, eventually becoming one of the most-downloaded apps in the U.S. by 2018.

To abide by American law, TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, must sell the app to someone who will operate it within the US.

TikTok is developing a new app for its more than 170 million U.S. users alongside a potential sale, according to a report from The Information. The news follows comments President Donald Trump made on Friday that he “pretty much” has a deal for a U.S. company to purchase TikTok’s U.S. operations, although he did not disclose the potential buyer.

According to new reporting from The Information, TikTok is building a new app ahead of a sale to non-Chinese investors. American users will need to download the new app, which will replace the existing TikTok app in the United States.

Popular video-sharing app TikTok is still available to US users only because President Trump issued an executive order in early 2025 to postpone the ban the Chinese app is facing. Trump has extended the delay two more times since then, with the latest extension coming just a few weeks ago.

A new TikTok app may be coming for users in the U.S. and that could mean an almost entirely different user experience.

The United States has banned TikTok from U.S. app stores if TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance does not divest its shares. But President Donald Trump has repeatedly delayed the deadline, with the latest being Sept.

LONDON (AP) — TikTok is facing a fresh European Union privacy investigation into user data sent to China, regulators said Thursday.