If the TikTok U.S. ban goes through, here are your alternatives
What platform will be the next TikTok?
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We will soon know for sure whether or not TikTok will be banned in the U.S. or not, but that is more complicated than it sounds. The U.S. Government wanted ByteDance, the Chinese TikTok owner to find an outside buyer within nine months and that date will expire on Sunday.
There are about 170 million U.S. app users, so this can be a big deal, especially if you’re a content creator or you’re marketing your products on the platform.
The president can extend this period and the authorities are still looking for ways to avoid this problem, but that doesn’t mean we can’t discuss the alternatives if the ban does go through. It would be a bit tricky because App Store and Google Play will be banned from offering the app, so you will have to download it straight from the TikTok dedicated website.
What alternatives do you have if the TikTok U.S. ban is enforced?
1. You can still use TikTok by using VPN on your device or browser
A VPN can mask your IP which is used to pinpoint the location of your device. If you turn on the VPN and select a server from another country or region, you will be able to open TikTok in a browser on a PC, laptop, or even a mobile device.
We already have a list of browsers with built-in VPNs that will help you with that, and the first option we’re considering is Opera and its free VPN. You just need to open a new private window in the browser, click on the VPN icon, and select Europe.
However, your login options are important as well. For this to work, you will also need to create another TikTok account and specify a different location for the service. Also, if you’re using it on a mobile device, you will probably have to disconnect the location services on the device.
We created a guide on how to bypass the TikTok ban in U.S. when the first talks about this move even started. So, yeah, you can use TikTok after the U.S. ban.
2. Embracing another platform: TikTok alternatives
If you’re one of the 170 million Americans speed watching the content from the Chinese platform, you need to know that there is life after TikTok. In fact, there are a few contenders that might make you forget about TikTok in just a few days. Here are the best options to consider:
- Instagram Reels: You don’t have to watch very closely to notice that Reels is almost a clone that closely mimics TikTok. In fact, many creators also post the same content on Instagram Reels as well. You probably know everything about Instagram and you probably already have it installed. This will probably be the best option for everyone, but that’s up to users like you to decide.
- YouTube Shorts: Google created Shorts after the huge success of TikTok and there are a lot of existing YouTube content creators who were incentivized to release a lot of short clips last year. Yeah, some of the clips are just chopped-up long videos, but it’s still very easy to create YouTube Shorts, and again, a lot of TikTok creators post on YouTube’s platform too.
- RedNote: This is another rising star alternative that somehow mixes the Pinterest design with the TikTok shopping feature. However, the best feature that drove people to this app was the awesome live streaming tool that mimics Instagram Live. However, this is also a Chinese app, so you probably don’t want to get attached to it after a powerful break-up like the one from TikTok.
There are some other contenders out there such as Lemon8, Snapchat Spotlight, or Likee, to mention just a few. However, they are all far from the huge popularity of TikTok.
We hope that the U.S. authorities will find a way to keep TikTok running for Americans, but now you know what else you can do if the ban goes through. In the meantime, we can discuss this matter in the comments below.
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