In case you've been living under a rock, TikTok is a short-form video app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. Launching in 2016, it quickly rose to popularity, eventually becoming one of the most-downloaded apps in the U.S. by 2018.

It’s looking increasingly likely that any deal to transfer control of TikTok to new owners will mean US users have to download a new TikTok. And that could mean an almost entirely different experience on the app.

To abide by American law, TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, must sell the app to someone who will operate it within the US.

TikTok is developing a new app for its more than 170 million U.S. users alongside a potential sale, according to a report from The Information. The news follows comments President Donald Trump made on Friday that he “pretty much” has a deal for a U.S. company to purchase TikTok’s U.S. operations, although he did not disclose the potential buyer.

Popular video-sharing app TikTok is still available to US users only because President Trump issued an executive order in early 2025 to postpone the ban the Chinese app is facing. Trump has extended the delay two more times since then, with the latest extension coming just a few weeks ago.

TikTok is building a new version of its app for users in the United States ahead of a planned sale of the app to a group of investors, The Information reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.

A new TikTok app may be coming for users in the U.S. and that could mean an almost entirely different user experience.

TikTok's owner, ByteDance, has plans to move Americans to a US-specific version of CapCut as it looks to meet requirements for a divest-or-ban law.

According to new reporting from The Information, TikTok is building a new app ahead of a sale to non-Chinese investors. American users will need to download the new app, which will replace the existing TikTok app in the United States.

The Information's new report adds credence to that claim, as it says that the company's working on the new app ahead of the sale. The current deadline for ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, to sell the company's U.S. assets to an American company, is September 17.

Even with the TikTok divest-or-ban law officially in effect since January, the app has only shut down service in the US for one day. Now, The Information reports that an agreement for a sale satisfying the law’s requirements is close and would come with a new, separate version of the app.

An app just for U.S. users, which looks set to run on an algorithm and data system that’s separate from TikTok’s global platform, could pave the way for a possible sale.