TikTok is recovering from usage that benefited competing apps after the change in US ownership

TikTok has recovered significantly from the partial suspension of users in the following days change of ownershipwhile the group of American dealers managed video programming operations in the United States. The decline, albeit short-lived, benefited competing video programs like UpScrolled and Images of Skylight Socialwhich saw rapid user adoption as others sought alternatives to TikTok.

According to the comparison of the digital market intelligence company Similar websiteTikTok saw usage drop between 86-88 million daily users in the US shortly after the change in ownership. This compares to approximately 92 million daily users.

The app has returned to more than 90 million daily users, showing that many who left TikTok have returned.

AsTikTok saw a slight decline in usage, other video sharing apps, UpScrolled and Skylight Social, began to grow rapidly. Although only a fraction of TikTok’s size, UpScrolled exceeded 138,500 daily users at its peak on January 28; now it is down to 68,000.

So far, Skylight Social has hit 81,200 daily users, according to Similaweb estimates and has dropped to 56,300 daily users. Overall, Skylight Social saw the user subscribers increase to 380,000 As of late January, the company told TechCrunch.

The decline in the use of TikTok, which led some to try the new apps, was not driven by the change in ownership directly, but by how users feared it would affect their TikTok experience. There was growing concern TikTok privacy policy updatedwhich gave the app permission to track the actual GPS location of the user. (This addition may be compatible with TikTok test for “Nearby” feeds. (showing user videos from local producers, but was added to the policy along with the change in ownership, which allows users to return to privacy.)

While reading the privacy policy, some users also found confusing language, such as TikTok says it can collect users “”immigrants.”,” among other personal information. However, this was evidence that was included because of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which requires businesses to notify consumers if they receive certain products.

In addition, TikTok has met with unfortunate times, A multi-day data center outagewhich caused the app to malfunction, sometimes breaking search, likes, and comments, causing videos to be garbled, messing up the algorithm, and creating issues with in-app chats. Users believe that these disruptions mean that TikTok is now monitoring their content, which sent them looking for more.

The company he announced Sunday evening that the data center shutdown has been resolvedcausing power outages in the storm.

As users made peace with the new culture and the issues with the shutdown were resolved, users returned to the platform, Similarweb data shows. But there is still hope for newcomers, as the company says that the use of TikTok has decreased gradually by the end of 2025, while the use has increased to 100 million users every day from July to October 2025, compared to the 90+ million seen now.