TikTok

Every self-respecting app has a dark mode, so why should TikTok be any different? Especially given that it's the sort of app you could end up scrolling through endlessly at 2 a.m. in the morning. Any respite from that blinding white interface is likely to be welcomed by your poor bleary eyes, which is why it's always a good idea to turn on TikTok's Dark mode. That said, it's worth noting ...

Well, that didn't last long. Less than a day after TikTok became temporarily unavailable in the U.S., the app is now functional again. In an in-app notice, TikTok says the app has been restored "as a result of President Trump's efforts." Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else ...

Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...

Apple tonight updated its beta testing app TestFlight, seemingly to block U.S. users from accessing the TikTok beta on the iPhone and other devices. The update adds this fine print to the app, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris:Apple may use the IP address of your internet connection to approximate your location in order to determine whether certain beta apps that are subject to ...

Apple tonight removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., meaning that the app can no longer be freshly installed on iPhones and iPads there. In other countries, the app remains available on the App Store and is fully functional. iPhone and iPad users in the U.S. who already installed TikTok can no longer use the app either as of tonight, as TikTok has made the app "temporarily...

On Sunday, January 19, Apple will need to remove TikTok from the U.S. App Store, because the app will be officially banned in the United States. On the 19th, app distributors and websites will be prohibited from distributing, maintaining, or updating the TikTok app, though the app itself could continue to function on devices where it has already been downloaded. TikTok has said, however, that it...

TikTok is likely to be banned in the United States on January 19, after the United States Supreme Court indicated that it's leaning toward upholding the sell or ban law. As highlighted by Bloomberg, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the case today, and it didn't go well for TikTok. Most of the justices indicated that worry over U.S. national security overrides free speech, and there were...

Social network TikTok today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to temporarily halt an imminent ban as TikTok waits for the appeal process to play out. TikTok is set to be banned from U.S. app stores starting on January 19 because parent company ByteDance did not sell TikTok to a non-Chinese company as mandated by a bill in April. TikTok is calling on the Supreme Court to hear its appeal, and it...

Popular social network TikTok did not receive a reprieve from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and it is still facing a ban that is set to be enacted in January, reports The Wall Street Journal. TikTok and several of the social network's users challenged an April bill that is forcing Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok. The bill provided ByteDance with a...

TikTok is rolling out new direct messaging features including "highly requested" group chats with support for up to 32 people, the company has announced. Group chats allow users aged 16 and over to share and comment on TikTok videos with friends and family members without having to open a separate messaging app like WhatsApp or Messenger. Starting a group chat can be done in a couple of...

The United States Department of Justice today sued TikTok and its parent company ByteDance for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA makes it illegal for websites to collect, use, and disclose data from children under the age of 13 without parental consent. The lawsuit [PDF] alleges that from 2019 on, TikTok has knowingly allowed children to create TikTok...

TikTok this week announced that it has started automatically labeling AI-generated content created on third-party platforms, preventing AI images and videos from confusing and misleading viewers. Content made using TikTok's AI creation tools has included an AI label for more than a year, but going forward, TikTok will also label AI images made through other platforms. TikTok's tool will read ...

TikTok parent company ByteDance today filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government in an effort to put a stop to the bill requiring TikTok to be sold off to a non-Chinese company in a matter of months, or face a U.S. ban. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that passed in April requires ByteDance to divest its TikTok ownership within nine months, with...

The U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to pass a bill that will either ban TikTok from app stores operating in the country or force Chinese company ByteDance to sell the short-form video app. The landmark bill has now passed both chambers of Congress, having already been approved by the House of Representatives. President Biden says he will sign the bill into law on Wednesday. Once that...

The U.S. House of Representatives today approved legislation that would force TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media network or face a ban in the United States. The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act will now go to the Senate, where its fate is unclear. U.S. lawmakers want TikTok to be sold to a company outside of China due to concerns that the...

TikTok appears to be planning to expand into photo sharing via the launch of a new "TikTok Photos" app, according to TheSpAndroid blog. A large number of references to the app were discovered in the latest version of TikTok, revealing some of its functionality, integrations, and even its app icon. Among these, phrases like "Open TikTok Photos," "Get TikTok Photos," and "Share this post to...

TikTok today announced that it has released an app for Apple's Vision Pro headset. The app is optimized for visionOS's spatial design style, with TikTok promising a more "immersive" viewing experience for its short-form videos. "Experience your For You feed in an entirely new way through this immersive content view," said TikTok, in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as...

TikTok today launched its new "Add to Music App" feature with support for Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music. The feature allows users to directly save songs they find on TikTok to their preferred music streaming service library via an Add Song button located beside the track name at the bottom of a TikTok video. Users can also use the Add to Music App feature from an artist's Sound...

New York City has decided to ban TikTok from city-owned devices used by NYC employees, reports The Verge. The New York City Cyber Command said that TikTok is a "security threat to the city's technical networks." City employees are no longer allowed to download or use the TikTok app on city-owned devices, and they are also not allowed to access the TikTok website. New York state previously...

TikTok has announced it is introducing support for passkeys, providing an easier and more secure login method for users of the popular short-form video platform. Apple integrated passkeys into iOS with the launch of iOS 16, and they are also available in iPadOS 16.1 and later and macOS Ventura. Passkeys are an industry standard developed by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web...

The Biden administration is reportedly demanding that TikTok's Chinese owners sell their stake in the short-form video sharing app or it could face a possible U.S. ban. First reported by The Wall Street Journal, the demand is said to have come from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., a multiagency federal task force that oversees national-security risks in cross-border...