Phones with TikTok Installed Are Selling for Thousands After App Store Removal

Following a brief TikTok ban in the U.S., devices with the app preloaded are being listed online for exorbitant prices as new downloads remain unavailable.

TikTok was briefly banned in the U.S. on January 18 after the Supreme Court upheld a law requiring its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest ownership or face a shutdown.
Though TikTok service was restored on January 19 after President Trump delayed the ban's enforcement for 75 days, the app remains unavailable for download on Apple and Google app stores.
Phones and devices with TikTok pre-installed are being sold on platforms like eBay and Facebook Marketplace, with prices ranging from a few hundred dollars to as high as $5 million in some listings.
Some sellers claim to have received offers in the thousands, though it is unclear how many devices have actually sold at these inflated prices.
Experts caution buyers about potential risks, such as malware or spyware, on phones that have not undergone standard factory resets.