iPhones with TikTok installed listed for thousands of dollars on eBay after brief ban
As of Wednesday morning, TikTok remains absent from Apple's App Store despite millions of users who had the short-video platform installed having access.
Some iPhone users never deleted TikTok during its brief ban in the U.S., and now some of those individuals are selling their phones for thousands of dollars on eBay as the popular app remains absent from Apple's App Store.
Users with the app downloaded on their phones can access the short-video platform that returned for millions in the U.S. on Sunday and Monday. While some can jump back on TikTok without a hitch, others who either deleted or never downloaded the app remain in the dark as the Apple and Google app stores in the U.S. still don't have it available.
It is unclear when TikTok will return to the app stores despite President Donald Trump signing an executive order to delay enforcing the ban. Nonetheless, several iPhone owners who have kept the app downloaded are now selling their brand-new or used phones for up to $25,000.
Paste BN contacted TikTok and eBay on Wednesday but has not received a response.
What are iPhones with TikTok installed priced at on eBay?
An eBay user in Ruskin, Florida, listed an iPhone 15 Pro Max "With TikTok" for $10,000 or best offer. According to the listing, the device has received more than 1,800 views over the last 24 hours.
Other eBay users have listed iPhones with TikTok installed for prices between $500 and $25,000 depending on the model and condition. The $25,000 listing from a seller in Whittier, North Carolina, is for an iPhone 16 Pro Max with "TIKTOK INSTALLED."
It is unclear if the iPhones with TikTok installed are selling, but most of the more than 2,000 phones being auctioned on eBay do not have active bids. The phones that do have offers are older iPhone models that are going for about $100 to $200.
One eBay seller in Raleigh, North Carolina even listed a 128 gigabyte iPhone 15 Pro with TikTok and Cap Cut, a video-editing app owned by TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance, installed for more than $4.5 million.
When could TikTok return to Google and Apple app stores?
The timeline for TikTok's return to Google and Apple app stores is murky, but Trump has given the app's users hope as he proposed a joint venture involving the U.S. owning 50% of the app.
“They'll have something that's actually more valuable because they have the ultimate partner, and the United States will make it very worthwhile for them in terms of the permits and everything else,” Trump said after meeting with TikTok's owners.
Trump also said he is open to Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk or Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison buying TikTok. If either billionaire buys the app, this could speed up its return to app stores.
It seemingly would take a deal getting done to get TikTok back on the app stores, which is something General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford told Axios will get done during an event on Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.
General Atlantic is a major investor in ByteDance and Ford is on TikTok's Chinese parent company's board of directors.
"We'll get on with it, as soon as maybe the end of the week in terms of negotiating what might work … The Chinese government, the U.S. government and the company and the board all have to be involved in this conversation," Ford said, per Axios.