TikTok may be back, but that won't prevent other Chinese competitors from gaining users. Ahead of TikTok's ban (which started on Sunday and lasted for one day), many other video apps rose through the ranks and now dominate the App Store's top charts.
Last week, Chinese app RedNote (listed as Xiaohongshu in the app store) became the No. 1 app in the US, followed by video apps like Clapper, Flip, and more. On Monday, after TikTok's service was restored, RedNote gained about 700,000 new users in the U.S. and maintained its No. 1 spot on the App Store.
TikTok users' migration to RedNote was intended to send a signal to U.S. lawmakers and metas that they would rather join another Chinese app similar to TikTok than return to Instagram Reels.
TikTok is back online, but the app store isn't hosting it for download yet. Despite President-elect Trump's promise to extend the TikTok ban, app marketplaces still need to comply with U.S. law.
Instead, the top charts in both app stores continue to reflect a shift to other TikTok alternatives.
For example, in Apple's U.S. App Store, video apps like RedNote, Likee, Clapper, and Flip occupied the No. 1, No. 2, No. 4, and No. 10 spots on the overall top chart as of Monday morning. The live streaming app “Favorited” ranks 15th.
Social network Bluesky also just added an optional custom video feed, but its app fell from the top 10 spot it held in the US App Store last week. As of Monday morning, it was ranked 13th on the App Store and 15th on Google Play.
Still, Bluesky gained more downloads thanks to the TikTok ban and now has 28.29 million users, up from 27.5 million last week.
Estimates from app store intelligence providers Appfigures, RedNote, Flip and Clapper all show significant increases in the past week, from single-digit thousand downloads per day in early January to tens of thousands of downloads in the U.S. on Friday. Ta.
RedNote, on the other hand, received hundreds of thousands of downloads.
RedNote gained 818,000 new installs in the US across the App Store and Google Play in January 2025. Because the app is localized to Chinese, language learning app Duolingo also reported a 216% spike in US users trying to learn the language last week.
It is currently the number one app on the US App Store and Google Play, excluding games.
Apple App Store Image credit: Apple's US App Store on Monday, January 20, 2025
Clapper is a TikTok alternative aimed at teens and adults ages 17 and older that has garnered 646,000 downloads on the U.S. App Store and Google Play. On Friday, it added 87,000 new downloads, an increase of 1,030% from the previous 7,000 downloads. Appfigures reported on January 1st. It is currently the #4 top app (excluding games) on the US App Store and #2 on Google Play.
Likee is a short video app that ranks #2 on the US App Store and #3 on Google Play. According to Appfigures, it jumped from No. 202 on Saturday to No. 2 on the U.S. App Store by 3 a.m. Sunday. The total number of downloads so far in January was 283,000. On Google Play, it jumped to No. 8 in both apps and games on Sunday night, but has since dropped to No. 11. It is currently the number 3 app (excluding games).
Image credit: Monday, January 20, 2025, Google Play in the US
For Android users, short video app Scoopz ranked 4th on Google Play, and short drama app ReelShort ranked 7th on Google Play's top apps list (excluding games).
Finally, Flip, which focuses on social commerce, saw an increase of 580,000 downloads in January, data shows. (However, Flip has also run a lot of TikTok ads over the past week, resulting in these gains.) It ranks 10th in the U.S. App Store and 9th in Google Play's top charts, excluding games. It has become.
Despite signals that many TikTok users are no longer using Instagram, Meta's app remains popular in both app stores, including No. 8 on the U.S. Apple App Store's Top Apps chart and No. 5 on Google Play's Top Apps chart. Maintained a high ranking. As of Monday morning.
VPN apps also saw a temporary surge.
After the TikTok ban went into effect, US users immediately tried to install VPN apps to get around the restrictions, but to no avail. (TikTok's mobile app remained blocked even when a VPN was used).
Still, this temporarily drove a lot of new US users to VPN apps like VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy, which grew from the #91 app to the #3 app within 36 hours. Another app, VPN – Fast VPN Super, rose 155 places in the same period, while Nord VPN rose 160 places to number 9 on the top charts.
Other apps that rose hundreds of ranks overnight after the ban included X-VPN, Proton VPN, Free VPN .org, and Express VPN.
The app store charts are likely to change again soon, as US users realize they can return to TikTok and decide to move away from at least some of their recent backup options as an alternative.