TikTok recovers from dip in usage that benefited rival apps following U.S. ownership change

TikTok has mostly recovered from a flimsy dip successful progressive users successful the days pursuing its ownership change, erstwhile a radical of American investors took power of the video app’s operations successful the United States. The decline, though brief, benefited competing video apps similar UpScrolled and Skylight Social, which saw accelerated idiosyncratic adoption arsenic immoderate looked for TikTok alternatives.

According to estimates from integer marketplace quality steadfast Similarweb, TikTok saw usage dip into the scope of 86-88 cardinal regular progressive users successful the U.S. instantly aft the ownership change. That compares with a emblematic mean of 92 cardinal regular progressive users.

The app has bounced backmost to much than 90 cardinal regular progressive users, indicating that galore who near TikTok person since returned.

AsTikTok saw a tiny dip successful usage, alternate video-sharing apps, UpScrolled and Skylight Social, began increasing quickly. Although lone a tiny fraction of TikTok’s size, UpScrolled topped 138,500 regular progressive users astatine its highest connected January 28; it has present dropped backmost down to 68,000.

Meanwhile, Skylight Social deed 81,200 regular progressive users, according to Similarweb’s estimates and has since dropped to 56,300 regular progressive users. Overall, Skylight Social saw its idiosyncratic sign-ups summation to 380,000 arsenic of precocious January, the institution told TechCrunch.

Image Credits:Similarweb

TikTok’s usage decline, which prompted immoderate to effort the caller apps, wasn’t driven by the ownership alteration directly, but alternatively by however users feared it would interaction their TikTok experience. There were increasing concerns astir TikTok’s updated privateness policy, which gave the app support to way users’ precise GPS location. (This summation could beryllium related to TikTok’s tests of a “Nearby” feed to amusement users videos from section creators, but was added to the argumentation alongside the alteration successful ownership, starring to idiosyncratic backlash implicit privateness concerns.)

When speechmaking the privateness argumentation anew, immoderate users besides discovered disturbing language, similar however TikTok said it whitethorn cod users’ “immigration status,” among different idiosyncratic data. However, this turned retired to beryllium a notation that was included due to the fact that of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which requires businesses to pass consumers if they cod definite delicate data. TikTok does that — successful the consciousness that thing idiosyncratic shares connected the level successful their video contented technically becomes portion of the platform, truthful it requires disclosure.

In addition, TikTok experienced an unluckily timed, multi-day information halfway outage, which caused the app to not relation properly, sometimes breaking search, likes, and comments, causing video glitches, disrupting the algorithm, and creating issues with the in-app chat. Users believed these glitches meant TikTok was present censoring their content, which sent them looking for alternatives.

The institution announced connected Sunday evening that the data halfway outage was resolved, chalking it up to a winter-storm-driven powerfulness outage.

As users made bid with the caller presumption and conditions and the outage-driven issues were resolved, users returned to the platform, Similarweb’s information shows. But there’s inactive anticipation for the newcomers, arsenic the steadfast notes that TikTok’s usage has been dilatory declining implicit the second portion of 2025, erstwhile usage peaked astatine 100 cardinal regular progressive users from July to October 2025, compared with the 90+ cardinal seen now.