Potential TikTok ban: Which social media apps are showing up in app stores?


A number of social media apps have appeared in the positions of the app store charts as a possible ban in the United States is hanging over the heads of TikTok and its American users.

Apps like Xiaohongshu, Lemon8, Clapper and Flip occupied the top five of Apple and Google’s respective rankings for “Top Free” apps in the US on Thursday morning.

Two of the apps, Xiaohongshu and Lemon8, have been particularly in the spotlight.

Lemon8 allows users to “discover and share useful content related to beauty, fashion, travel and more” through photos and videos, according to a recent TikTok press release.

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It belongs to the Chinese technology company behind TikTok, ByteDance. Some of Lemon8’s interfaces seem to have similarities to Instagram and Pinterest.

The Lemon8 app on a smartphone held in the Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, on Friday, March 31, 2023. As political scrutiny continues to intensify on the short video app TikTok, much popular in the US and around the world, Lemon8 is owned by ByteDance Ltd., is going viral. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Lemon8 app on a smartphone in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on Friday, March 31, 2023. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Shanghai-based Xiaohongshu has been around since 2013. The app, nicknamed RedNote, was co-founded by Charlwin Mao and Miranda Qu, according to its website.

“Xiaohongshu is a lifestyle platform that inspires people to discover and connect with a variety of diverse lifestyles, where more than 300 million users each month share their life experiences,” said its description in the Apple App Store.

The Xiaohongshu logo was arranged on an Apple Inc. iPhone. in Shanghai, China, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. A pair of Chinese-made social apps, Xiaohongshu and Lemon8, have taken the top two positions on Apple's iPhone download charts in the US as users search alternatives to TikTok before an imminent ban. Photographer: Raul Ariano/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Xiaohongshu logo was seen on an Apple Inc. iPhone. in Shanghai on Thursday, January 16, 2025. (Raul Ariano/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Its U.S. ranking in the Apple and Google app stores Thursday morning was No. 1 for free apps.

The base in the United States social networking application Clapper is “focused on providing local and global video to all people,” according to its website. It has video, live streaming and radio capabilities.

It said in a blog post that its features make it the “perfect candidate to replace TikTok” if the ban happens.

Flip has also appeared in the US App Store rankings for the best free apps.

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It’s a “social shopping app for discovering and buying” with videos, Flip said on its website. The app is currently only available in the US

The app’s high rankings on the app store charts come amid concerns among TikTok users about a possible ban on the ByteDance-owned app in the US and what other apps they are using.

Instagram, YouTube and other popular social media apps also offer short-form video capabilities that may appeal to TikTok users considering new platforms in the event of a US ban.

large technological social networks

A photo illustration of US online social networks and social networking services. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images/Getty Images)

The threat of a TikTok ban stems from a law signed last year by President Biden that aims to ban the platform in the US on Sunday if ByteDance does not complete a divestment.

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Attorneys for the government and TikTok presented oral arguments in a case focused on the potential ban on the Supreme Court late last week, and since then the nation’s highest court has been weighing how to decide.

The law that seeks to ban TikTok in the US if there are no divestments focuses on apps and websites “operated, directly or indirectly” by ByteDance, TikTok and affiliates.

This illustration shows a TikTok logo on a smartphone.

A US federal appeals court on Friday upheld a law forcing China-based ByteDance to sell its popular short video app TikTok in the US or face a ban. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/File Photo/Reuters)

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More than 170 million people in the United States use TikTok. The app, headed by CEO Shou Chew, launched in the United States in 2018.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, Lemon8 and other apps like CapCut and Lark, was founded in 2012.



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