TikTok was thriving in the U.S., even before a joint venture saved it from a potential ban

TikTok has just announced a new U.S. venture that will keep it operating there after years of concerns about its links to China. But even as it was nearly banned and faced scrutiny from officials, the short-video platform still dominated in 2025.

The app, owned by Beijing-headquartered ByteDance, was the second-most-downloaded app across Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store in the U.S. in 2025, according to Sensor Tower data, defying a near-ban in the market.

Another ByteDance app, CapCut, ranked fourth, with the video editing tool climbing three places from a year ago.

Other China-linked apps also had strong showings across U.S. app stores in 2025, with major e-commerce players like Temu and Shein thriving even as they were targeted by policy changes, Sensor Tower data showed.

Temu, which ran a high-profile Super Bowl ad campaign in 2024, fell from the top position that year, but still ranked in seventh place in 2025, even as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs upended its business model.

Although Shein did not rank among the top 10 most downloaded apps overall, it was the most downloaded app in the apparel shopping category in the U.S. in 2025.

Separately, OpenAI’s ChatGPT was America’s most downloaded app last year, as adoption of generative artificial intelligence continued to expand.

Sensor Tower’s data shows that U.S. consumers continue to favor apps coming out of China, often synonymous with addictive algorithms, affordability, and convenience.

“2025 showed that these China-originated apps aren’t just policy arbitrageurs, but are adaptive ecosystems with governance capabilities on both the demand and supply sides,” Liang Chen, a Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship at Singapore Management University, told CNBC.

Before Thursday’s announcement of the U.S. joint venture, TikTok faced months of uncertainty in 2025. The Supreme Court upheld a law in January that effectively banned the video-sharing app from U.S. app stores unless ByteDance divested from the platform.

The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April 2024, cited risks of the Chinese government accessing user data for surveillance or influence operations.

Although TikTok briefly went dark in January, the law was never enforced. Upon taking office, Trump repeatedly extended the law’s deadline as he negotiated a divestment deal.

The threat of a TikTok ban also drew increased attention to Chinese alternatives such as Xiaohongshu, known in English as RedNote.

Despite the uncertainty, not only did interest in TikTok’s app hold steady, but it managed to expand its e–commerce business, TikTok Shop, which allows users to purchase products directly through videos and live streams. 

The company has said that, under the new joint venture plans, TikTok Global’s U.S. entities will continue to manage certain commercial activities, including e-commerce and advertising.

According to data from retail consulting firm Coresight, TikTok’s U.S. revenues, including ad revenue, in-app purchases and commerce, rose 26.2% year over year to $13.9 billion, following 25.7% growth in 2024.

“TikTok’s success in 2025 demonstrates a path to navigate geopolitical headwinds despite the continuously deteriorating U.S.-China relationship — a rare case of clever commercial strategy triumphing over politics,” said Xiaomeng Lu, director of geo-technology at Eurasia Group. 

The app looks poised to close its deal with U.S. investors, with multiple Trump-Xi meetings planned throughout the year, she added. 

TikTok Shop competitors Temu and Shein also remained major players in the U.S. last year despite new tariffs and increased government oversight of labor practices, supply chains, and product safety. 

The most significant of these headwinds was the Trump administration’s closure of the “de minimis” trade loophole on May 2 and the imposition of broader tariffs on imports from China. The “de minimis” rule had allowed packages valued under $800 to enter the United States duty-free.

Although Shein and Temu have moved their headquarters out of China in recent years, much of their operations and suppliers remain in the country.

Analysts said both companies adjusted to tariffs by negotiating lower supplier prices, absorbing some of the levy costs, and expanding supply networks beyond China, including in the United States.

Coresight estimates Shein’s U.S. revenue increased 16.8% year over year to $14.6 billion in 2025. Meanwhile, Temu’s gross merchandise values increased by 21.8% year over year to $27.4 billion.

“[Policy] shocks in 2025 didn’t really make demand disappear. Rather, they proved that these platforms can adapt their logistics, merchant mix, and incentive design faster than consumer habits shift,” said Singapore Management University’s Chen. 

Analysts said the staying power of apps such as TikTok, Temu and Shein stems from their attention-driven platforms and algorithms.

“The success of Temu, Shein, and TikTok Shop fundamentally reflects a shift in demand generation: moving away from legacy marketing tactics like simple ad-spend and display campaigns to a continuous, attention-economy strategy,” said Scott Miller, CEO of e-commerce consulting firm pdPlus. 

“Their growth shows that American consumers now discover products through highly engaging, viral, and personalized content, making demand creation a function of entertainment and constant digital presence rather than traditional top-down branding,” he added. 

Those same algorithms and features have also drawn scrutiny from U.S. regulators. For example, officials have raised national security concerns over TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, citing its potential for manipulation by the Chinese government. 

Regulators have also flagged data privacy and national security risks tied to Temu and Shein’s data collection practices.

Despite those concerns, the apps have continued to capture the attention of U.S. users and shoppers.

“American consumers overall don’t really care an app’s association with any specific country as long as they can find something they want at an affordable price,” said Yao Jin, an associate professor of supply chain management at Miami University.

“[That] is exactly the competitive advantage of most China-originated apps.”