TikTok was thriving in the U.S., even before a joint venture saved it from a potential ban

TikTok has conscionable announced a new U.S. venture that volition support it operating determination aft years of concerns astir its links to China. But adjacent arsenic it was astir banned and faced scrutiny from officials, the short-video level inactive dominated successful 2025.

The app, owned by Beijing-headquartered ByteDance, was the second-most-downloaded app crossed Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store successful the U.S. successful 2025, according to Sensor Tower data, defying a near-ban successful the market.

Another ByteDance app, CapCut, ranked fourth, with the video editing instrumentality climbing 3 places from a twelvemonth ago.

Other China-linked apps besides had beardown showings crossed U.S. app stores successful 2025, with large e-commerce players similar Temu and Shein thriving adjacent arsenic they were targeted by argumentation changes, Sensor Tower information showed.

Temu, which ran a high-profile Super Bowl advertisement run successful 2024, fell from the apical presumption that year, but inactive ranked successful seventh spot successful 2025, adjacent arsenic U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs upended its concern model.

Although Shein did not fertile among the apical 10 astir downloaded apps overall, it was the astir downloaded app successful the apparel buying class successful the U.S. successful 2025.

Separately, OpenAI's ChatGPT was America's astir downloaded app past year, arsenic adoption of generative artificial quality continued to expand.

Sensor Tower's information shows that U.S. consumers proceed to favour apps coming retired of China, often synonymous with addictive algorithms, affordability, and convenience.

"2025 showed that these China-originated apps aren't conscionable argumentation arbitrageurs, but are adaptive ecosystems with governance capabilities connected some the request and proviso sides," Liang Chen, a Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship astatine Singapore Management University, told CNBC.

Before Thursday's announcement of the U.S. associated venture, TikTok faced months of uncertainty successful 2025. The Supreme Court upheld a instrumentality successful January that efficaciously banned the video-sharing app from U.S. app stores unless ByteDance divested from the platform.

The law, signed by President Joe Biden successful April 2024, cited risks of the Chinese authorities accessing idiosyncratic information for surveillance oregon power operations.

Although TikTok concisely went acheronian successful January, the instrumentality was ne'er enforced. Upon taking office, Trump repeatedly extended the law's deadline arsenic helium negotiated a divestment deal.

The menace of a TikTok prohibition besides drew accrued attraction to Chinese alternatives specified arsenic Xiaohongshu, known successful English arsenic RedNote.

Despite the uncertainty, not lone did involvement successful TikTok's app clasp steady, but it managed to grow its e-commerce business, TikTok Shop, which allows users to acquisition products straight done videos and unrecorded streams. 

The institution has said that, nether the caller associated task plans, TikTok Global's U.S. entities volition proceed to negociate definite commercialized activities, including e-commerce and advertising.

According to information from retail consulting steadfast Coresight, TikTok's U.S. revenues, including advertisement revenue, in-app purchases and commerce, roseate 26.2% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth to $13.9 billion, pursuing 25.7% maturation successful 2024.

"TikTok's occurrence successful 2025 demonstrates a way to navigate geopolitical headwinds contempt the continuously deteriorating U.S.-China narration — a uncommon lawsuit of clever commercialized strategy triumphing implicit politics," said Xiaomeng Lu, manager of geo-technology astatine Eurasia Group. 

The app looks poised to adjacent its woody with U.S. investors, with aggregate Trump-Xi meetings planned passim the year, she added. 

TikTok Shop competitors Temu and Shein besides remained large players successful the U.S. past twelvemonth contempt caller tariffs and accrued authorities oversight of labour practices, proviso chains, and merchandise safety. 

The astir important of these headwinds was the Trump administration's closure of the "de minimis" commercialized loophole connected May 2 and the imposition of broader tariffs connected imports from China. The "de minimis" regularisation had allowed packages valued nether $800 to participate the United States duty-free.

Although Shein and Temu person moved their office retired of China successful caller years, overmuch of their operations and suppliers stay successful the country.

Analysts said some companies adjusted to tariffs by negotiating little supplier prices, absorbing immoderate of the levy costs, and expanding proviso networks beyond China, including successful the United States.

Coresight estimates Shein's U.S. gross accrued 16.8% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth to $14.6 cardinal successful 2025. Meanwhile, Temu's gross merchandise values accrued by 21.8% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth to $27.4 billion.

"[Policy] shocks successful 2025 didn't truly marque request disappear. Rather, they proved that these platforms tin accommodate their logistics, merchant mix, and inducement plan faster than user habits shift," said Singapore Management University's Chen. 

Analysts said the staying powerfulness of apps specified arsenic TikTok, Temu and Shein stems from their attention-driven platforms and algorithms.

"The occurrence of Temu, Shein, and TikTok Shop fundamentally reflects a displacement successful request generation: moving distant from bequest selling tactics similar elemental ad-spend and show campaigns to a continuous, attention-economy strategy," said Scott Miller, CEO of e-commerce consulting steadfast pdPlus. 

"Their maturation shows that American consumers present observe products done highly engaging, viral, and personalized content, making request instauration a relation of amusement and changeless integer beingness alternatively than accepted top-down branding," helium added. 

Those aforesaid algorithms and features person besides drawn scrutiny from U.S. regulators. For example, officials person raised nationalist information concerns implicit TikTok's proposal algorithm, citing its imaginable for manipulation by the Chinese government. 

Regulators person besides flagged information privateness and nationalist information risks tied to Temu and Shein's information postulation practices.

Despite those concerns, the apps person continued to seizure the attraction of U.S. users and shoppers.

"American consumers wide don't truly attraction an app's relation with immoderate circumstantial country as agelong arsenic they tin find thing they privation astatine an affordable price," said Yao Jin, an subordinate prof of proviso concatenation absorption astatine Miami University.

"[That] is precisely the competitory vantage of astir China-originated apps."