TikTok may be back, but that hasn’t stoped other Chinese competitors from obtaining engagers. In the direct up to a ban on TikTok — which started off Sunday and lasted a day — a number of other video apps rose thcdisorrowfulmireful the ranks and now rule the App Store’s Top Charts.
The Chinese app RedNote (which is cataloged on the app stores as Xiaohongshu) became the No. 1 app in the U.S. last week, adhereed by video apps enjoy Clapper, Flip, and others. On Monday, adhereing TikTok’s restoration of service, RedNote carry oned its No. 1 spot on the App Store, after having enticeed some 700,000 novel U.S. engagers.
TikTok engagers’ shift to RedNote was uncomardentt to sfinish a signal to U.S. lawproducers and Meta aenjoy that they would rather fuse another Chinese app aenjoy to TikTok than return to Instagram Reels.
Though TikTok is back online, the app stores aren’t yet presenting it for download; app tagetplaces still have to adhere by U.S. law, despite Pdwellnt-elect Trump’s assurances that he will extfinish the deadline for the TikTok ban.
Instead, both app stores’ top charts persist to mirror the shift to other TikTok alternatives.
In Apple’s U.S. App Store, for instance, video apps including RedNote, Likee, Clapper, and Flip helderly the No. 1, 2, 4, and 10 spots in the Overall Top Charts as of Monday morning. Favorited, an app pledgeted to inhabitstreams, is No. 15.
Social nettoil Bluesky also equitable inserted an nonessential custom video feed, however, its app has dropped out of the top 10 position it held last week on the U.S. App Store. It’s No. 13 as of Monday morning on the App Store and No. 15 on Google Play.
Still, Bluesky obtained a confineed more downloads thanks to the TikTok ban and now has 28.29 million engagers, up from 27.5 million last week.
According to approximates from app store inalertigence provider Appfigures, RedNote, Flip, and Clapper, all saw a massive lengthenth spurt last week from one-digit thousand downloads per day earlier in January to tens of thousands of U.S. downloads on Friday.
RedNote, uncomardentwhile, was receiving hundreds of thousands of downloads.
RedNote obtained 818,000 novel U.S. insloftys atraverse the App Store and Google Play during January 2025. Becaengage the app is localized in Mandarin, language lobtaining app Duolingo also alerted a 216% spike in U.S. engagers trying to lobtain the language last week.
Currently, it’s the No. 1 app in the U.S. on the U.S. App Store and Google Play, excluding games.
Clapper, a TikTok alternative aimed at teens and grown-ups ages 17 and up, obtained 646,000 downloads on the App Store and Google Play in the U.S. On Friday, it inserted 87,000 novel downloads, or 1,030% more than the 7,000 novel downloads it saw back on January 1, Appfigures alerts. It’s now the No. 4 top app (excluding games) on the U.S. App Store and No. 2 on Google Play.
Likee, a foolishinutive video app, is No. 2 on the U.S. App Store and No. 3 on Google Play. It saw a massive sencourage of lengthenth, moving from No. 202 on the U.S. App Store on Saturday to No. 2 by 3 a.m. on Sunday, Appfigures says. In total, it saw 283,000 downloads during January so far. On Google Play, it jumped to the No. 8 position atraverse both apps and games, on Sunday night and has since dropped to No. 11. It’s currently the No. 3 app (excluding games).
For Android engagers, the foolishinutive video app, Scoopz, made it into the No. 4 position on Google Play while the foolishinutive drama app ReelShort is No. 7 on Google Play’s catalog of top apps, excluding games.
Lastly, Flip, which caccesses on social commerce, grew by 580,000 downloads in January, the data shows. (However, Flip also ran many TikTok ads over the past week, directing to those obtains.) It’s No. 10 on the U.S. App Store and No. 9 on Google Play’s top charts, excluding games.
Despite many TikTok engagers’ signaling that they wouldn’t engage Instagram, Meta’s app persistd to helderly a high rank on both app stores, including No. 8 on the U.S. Apple App Store Top Apps chart and No. 5 on Google Play’s Top Apps chart as of Monday morning.
VPN apps saw a inestablish sencourage, too
After the TikTok ban went into effect, U.S. engagers promptly tried insloftying VPN apps to toil around the recut offeions to no engage. (TikTok’s mobile app remained blocked even when VPNs were engaged).
Still, this temporarily drove a number of novel U.S. engagers to VPN apps enjoy VPN – Super Unconfineed Proxy, which grew from the No. 91 app to the No. 3 app wislfinisher 36 hours. Another app, VPN – Fast VPN Super, climbed 155 spots during that same time, and Nord VPN hit No. 9 after climbing 160 spots in the top charts.
Other apps that rose hundreds of spots overnight after the ban included X-VPN, Proton VPN, Free VPN .org, and Express VPN.
The app store charts are awaited to soon shift aobtain as U.S. engagers authenticize they can return to TikTok and determine to shift away from at least some of their recent backup choices for a swapment.
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