Worried about the TikTok ban? This is how it might look on your phone

By Nadeem Sarwar Published January 18, 2025

The US Supreme Court has decided to uphold a law that would see TikTok banned in the country on January 19. Now, the platform has issued an official statement, confirming that it will indeed shut down unless it gets some emergency relief from the outgoing president.

“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” said the company soon after the court’s verdict.

So, far, there is no official statement on what exactly TikTok means by “going dark.” There is a lot of speculation out there on how exactly the app or website will look once TikTok shutters in the US.

Well, I have some ideas. I hail from a country where TikTok was banned, alongside a whole bunch of other apps with links to China. The status quo remains the same to this day. In a few other places, it has been banned only for devices owned by the federal agencies, or has been on an on-off trajectory in countries like Pakistan and Albania.

If you are wondering what it’s like to access the platform while living in a country where it is officially banned, this is what the screen flashes:

The message, of course, mentions that the platform is restricted in India and how it is in the process of complying with the local agencies. The ban has been in place since 2020, but the message has remained the same to date.

For the American users, the language of the message will differ accordingly, but the execution will most likely be similar. If you are trying to access any other TikTok domain like the newsroom, you might run into a network issue, that might look something like this:

What about the apps? Well, in compliance with the laws, Apple and Google will have to pull TikTok’s listings from the App Store and Play Store respectively. Fresh downloads, therefore, will no longer be available.

If you try to open the listing from a web link, this is how it currently looks as the request lands on the Google Play Store.

In case of Apple’s App Store, this is what I am seeing right now on my iPhone:

So, is there no escape possible? As per the company’s official response to the Supreme Court’s verdict, it is holding on to the hopes of the Biden administration rescuing it. However, there is speculation floating around that upcoming president, Donald Trump, might save it soon after he assumes his electoral role a day after the deadline.

TikTok CEO, as per The New York Times, is expected to be among the attendees at Trump’s inauguration. The Washington Post also reports that Trump could pass an executive order that could extend the ban deadline by two to three months, but the legal details of exactly how it could transpire remain unclear.

Separately, NBC News reports that the Biden administration hopes to keep the troubled social platform accessible in some fashion after the ban goes into effect. “Americans shouldn’t expect to see TikTok suddenly banned on Sunday,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying.