Deleted TikTok? People are selling phones with the banned app pre-downloaded for an eye-watering price
What’s TikTok worth to you? For some, apparently, the answer is: thousands of dollars.
After TikTok’s brief ban in the U.S., a number of people have found a way to cash in by selling phones with the app already installed on eBay.
When the short-form video app went dark on on Saturday (January 18) night, many people embraced the ban imposed by the Supreme Court by deleting it from their phones.
The closure came after Congress passed a law last year requiring the Chinese app to be sold to an American buyer by January 19 or be banned from US app stores, citing threats to national security.
However, just 12 hours after it went down, TikTok was back after President Donald Trump promised to sign an executive order extending the appeal period by 75 days on Monday evening following his second inauguration.
This left a number of people with seller’s remorse as the app is currently unavailable to download meaning many are scrambling for ways to retrieve it.
While TikTok’s fate hangs in the balance, several eBay sellers have taken advantage of the situation, listing phones with the app installed at steep prices for anyone desperate.
Over 36,000 posts come up when searching “phone with TikTok installed” on eBay.
Prices go from $2,000 to $1 million, depending on the phone model and the seller’s level of ambition.
Regular iPhones sold at the Apple store range from $699 for an iPhone 15 to $1,599 for the top of the range iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Some “TikTok phones” priced above $10,000 on eBay have already sold. However, the price at which they sold could be much lower as buyers are able to bid below the asking price.
Most of the iPhones available are described as “pre-owned” with only a select few being offered as “brand new.” The most important detail is that TikTok is installed.
As of now, the government has yet to change its mind about wanting TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell to a U.S. buyer.
If ByteDance doesn’t sell its app to someone in the U.S., the Trump Administration could pass new legislation to overturn the previous decision and save TikTok in the U.S.
However, Trump has not promised or expressed much interest in doing so.
“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up.”
