TikTok may be back, but that hasn’t prevented other Chinese competitors from gaining users. In the lead up to a ban on TikTok — which kicked off Sunday and lasted a day — a number of other video apps rose through the ranks and now dominate the App Store’s Top Charts.
The Chinese app RedNote (which is listed on the app stores as Xiaohongshu) became the No. 1 app in the U.S. last week, followed by video apps like Clapper, Flip, and others. On Monday, following TikTok’s restoration of service, RedNote retained its No. 1 spot on the App Store, after having attracted some 700,000 new U.S. users.
TikTok users’ move to RedNote was meant to send a signal to U.S. lawmakers and Meta alike that they would rather join another Chinese app similar to TikTok than return to Instagram Reels.
Though TikTok is back online, the app stores aren’t yet hosting it for download; app marketplaces still have to abide by U.S. law, despite President-elect Trump’s assurances that he will extend the deadline for the TikTok ban.
Instead, both app stores’ top charts continue to reflect the shift to other TikTok alternatives.
In Apple’s U.S. App Store, for instance, video apps including RedNote, Likee, Clapper, and Flip hold the No. 1, 2, 4, and 10 spots in the Overall Top Charts as of Monday morning. Favorited, an app dedicated to livestreams, is No. 15.
Social network Bluesky also just added an optional custom video feed, however, its app has dropped out of the top 10 position it held last week on the U.S. App Store. It’s No. 13 as of Monday morning on the App Store and No. 15 on Google Play.
Still, Bluesky gained a few more downloads thanks to the TikTok ban and now has 28.29 million users, up from 27.5 million last week.
According to estimates from app store intelligence provider Appfigures, RedNote, Flip, and Clapper, all saw a massive growth spurt last week from single-digit thousand downloads per day earlier in January to tens of thousands of U.S. downloads on Friday.
RedNote, meanwhile, was receiving hundreds of thousands of downloads.
RedNote gained 818,000 new U.S. installs across the App Store and Google Play during January 2025. Because the app is localized in Mandarin, language learning app Duolingo also reported a 216% spike in U.S. users trying to learn the language last week.
Currently, it’s the No. 1 app in the U.S. on the U.S. App Store and Google Play, excluding games.
Clapper, a TikTok alternative aimed at teens and adults ages 17 and up, gained 646,000 downloads on the App Store and Google Play in the U.S. On Friday, it added 87,000 new downloads, or 1,030% more than the 7,000 new downloads it saw back on January 1, Appfigures reports. It’s now the No. 4 top app (excluding games) on the U.S. App Store and No. 2 on Google Play.
Likee, a short video app, is No. 2 on the U.S. App Store and No. 3 on Google Play. It saw a massive surge of growth, moving from No. 202 on the U.S. App Store on Saturday to No. 2 by 3 a.m. on Sunday, Appfigures says. In total, it saw 283,000 downloads during January so far. On Google Play, it jumped to the No. 8 position across both apps and games, on Sunday night and has since dropped to No. 11. It’s currently the No. 3 app (excluding games).
For Android users, the short video app, Scoopz, made it into the No. 4 position on Google Play while the short drama app ReelShort is No. 7 on Google Play’s list of top apps, excluding games.
Lastly, Flip, which focuses on social commerce, grew by 580,000 downloads in January, the data indicates. (However, Flip also ran many TikTok ads over the past week, leading to those gains.) It’s No. 10 on the U.S. App Store and No. 9 on Google Play’s top charts, excluding games.
Despite many TikTok users’ signaling that they wouldn’t use Instagram, Meta’s app continued to hold a high rank on both app stores, including No. 8 on the U.S. Apple App Store Top Apps chart and No. 5 on Google Play’s Top Apps chart as of Monday morning.
VPN apps saw a brief surge, too
After the TikTok ban went into effect, U.S. users immediately tried installing VPN apps to work around the restrictions to no avail. (TikTok’s mobile app remained blocked even when VPNs were used).
Still, this temporarily drove a number of new U.S. users to VPN apps like VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy, which grew from the No. 91 app to the No. 3 app within 36 hours. Another app, VPN – Fast VPN Super, climbed 155 spots during that same time, and Nord VPN hit No. 9 after climbing 160 spots in the top charts.
Other apps that rose hundreds of spots overnight after the ban included X-VPN, Proton VPN, Free VPN .org, and Express VPN.
The app store charts are likely to soon shift again as U.S. users realize they can return to TikTok and decide to move away from at least some of their recent backup choices for a replacement.
