As first spotted by Wired, there are currently about 9,000 eBay item listings for various smartphones that already have TikTok installed. There’s a wide array of devices depending on the preferred make,
Existing TikTok users were able to resume using the popular social media app following a short shutdown on Sunday, but anyone seeking to download or update the app in the past week have run into notifications from the app stores that they cannot download them.
Smartphone users are selling their devices for thousands of dollars for having installed the TikTok app prior to the Jan. 19 ban. All apps owned by ByteDance, which include TikTok and CapCut, were removed from app stores in the United States after a ban went into effect with the approval of the Supreme Court.
The iPhone 15 and 16 models generally sell for between $1,200 and $1,500 on eBay. When the app was first banned iPhones with TikTok installed were listed for as much as $1 million during the app's 14 hour blackout, Ukrainian technology news outlet ITC reported.
Many people are listing iPhones with TikTok installed on eBay for thousands of dollars as the app remains absent on Google and Apple app stores.
If you still have TikTok installed on your phone, you might be able to make a few thousand dollars by listing it on eBay.
While the U.S. TikTok blackout may have lasted only hours, the app has still not made a return to the iPhone's App Store.
As for Apple’s unprecedented action, this was spotted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in a post on X, who pointed out that Apple issued a support document about TikTok, titled “About availability of TikTok and ByteDance Ltd. Apps in the United States.”
GameStop wants to buy iPhones with TikTok installed as the app continues to not be available in the app store.
Some iPhones with the TikTok app, which is currently unavailable in the Apple and Google app stores, are fetching big bucks on eBay in the wake of the video-sharing app's brief ban in the United States.
With TikTok being removed from the App Store and people unable to download it, iPhones with the app installed on them are being sold for tens of thousands
If you have an iPhone with TikTok, you might be in luck, as these devices are currently being listed for up to $25,000 on eBay in the United States of America. According to a report by USA Today, over 2,000 iPhones are being auctioned on eBay, with prices ranging from $100 to $25,000.