All the Apps ByteDance Operates in the US

TikTok's future in the United States is totally up in the air. Should the United States government get its way, the app will be banned starting Sunday—though there may be ways to still use it. The Supreme Court could step in to save it, as could Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, or even incoming president Donald Trump. The only thing absolutely certain is that Congress, in concert with the Biden administration, wanted TikTok sold to an American company, or out of Americans' hands.

The thing is, ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, owns and operates other apps within the U.S. None of these apps are currently in talks to be banned, but they all should, in theory, have many of the same concerns that caused the government to go after TikTok. ByteDance is based in China, and, as such, would be beholden to the Chinese government should the latter ask for the data of any American users.

In fact, the law that sets TikTok on the course to be banned on Sunday makes it clear no ByteDance app is safe. At the top of the law, it says the act's goal is, "To protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications, such as TikTok and any successor application or service and any other application or service developed or provided by ByteDance Ltd. or an entity under the control of ByteDance Ltd."

The following is every app ByteDance and its subsidiaries currently operate in the U.S. that I could find. As such, it is possible that each is in danger of a future ban, at least under the current law—though some are likely smaller targets than others.

TikTok

This is the big one: ByteDance, of course, owns TikTok, the app at the center of all this national security drama. You might be addicted to the app yourself.

What you might not know, however, is that the TikTok we know started out life not as a ByteDance property, nor as "TikTok" itself; rather, the app was originally called Musical.ly, and was designed for users to post short videos lip-syncing to popular songs. It amassed a large following, which caught ByteDance's attention, just as it had its sights set on expanding its short-form social media app, Douyin, globally. ByteDance went international with a new version of Douyin, TikTok, in 2017, and almost immediately after, acquired Musical.ly for nearly $1 billion.

The rest, of course, is history. TikTok has become a world-wide phenomenon, capturing the attentions of one billion users. 170 million of those users happen to be in the U.S., which makes you wonder how a looming ban of the app will affect TikTok's bottom line.

TikTok Lite

If you have an Android device, you might have seen TikTok Lite before. This app is TikTok, only a lighter, more streamlined version. Like other "lite" apps, this one is designed for phones with limited RAM, data, or unstable connections.

TikTok Lite is not that popular, especially when compared to TikTok proper. It only has 100,000 downloads compared to TikTok's more than one billion. It gets left out of the ban discussion, but if I had to guess, I would say ByteDance would cut service to TikTok Lite in addition to the main TikTok app.

TikTok Studio and TikTok Shop Seller

TikTok Studio isn't made for consumers. Rather, it's an app for TikTok creators to manage posts on their accounts. Similarly, there's TikTok Shop Seller Center, an app for users who sell products on TikTok to manage their digital shops.

These apps are likely convenient for these users now, but who would want to use them if TikTok itself is gone?

CapCut

In the past, if you wanted to get into video production, you need to spend quite a bit of money: You needed a camera, a computer, and editing software, none of which came cheap, and most of which required a good deal of technical know-how. These days, anyone with a smartphone can make videos. Many of us interested in doing so have turned to CapCut, which just so happens to be owned by none other than ByteDance.

To say CapCut is popular is a wild understatement. The app has over a billion downloads on Android alone, and is also available on iOS, Mac, Windows, and even on the web. Like other video editors, CapCut offers tools for chopping up your clips into content to post on your socials, but there are a number of extra features available as well. That includes templates to get a part of your video started, video effects, AI features, music integration, stock videos, and more.

All these features aside, the reason CapCut is so popular has likely just as much (if not more) to do with the fact that it is owned by the same parent company as TikTok. That means a few things: CapCut offers an easy workflow from editing to posting on TikTok; TikTokers use the app and promote it themselves; and ByteDance can advertise CapCut on TikTok as much as it wants.

Hypic

On the other side of the editing aisle, there's Hypic, ByteDance's photo editing tool. This app isn't nearly as big as CapCut, but it's still pretty large (over 10 million downloads on the Play Store). The app offers standard photo editing tools, but also other perks: There are AI-powered tools, such as cutouts, background removal, and filters; a feature that lets you add "trending" makeup to images; and other options, like stickers and templates.

Lemon8

In protest of the government's potential ban on TikTok, users are flocking to other Chinese-based social media apps in protest. One such app is Lemon8, a "lifestyle" social media platform. Like TikTok, Lemon8 also supports video sharing, but that's not its only focus. Users can also post images, including to carousels, offering an Instagram-like experience. Plus, you can engage with multiple types of content at the same time, akin to Pinterest. As Jessica Maddox, associate professor of digital media technology, tells NBC News, “If those three apps came together and had a baby, it would be Lemon8."

Marvel Snap

Marvel Snap is a popular mobile card game, incorporating character from the Marvel universe. Players draw decks of 12 cards, and play for control of three locations. Whichever player controls at least two locations after six turns wins. While Marvel itself might be an American property, the game is operated by Nuverse, a ByteDance subsidiary, which potentially places it in the crosshairs of the U.S. government.

Land of Empires

Land of Empires is another game owned by Nuverse. This title is a strategy game that pits you against an enemy army of demons. Like other strategy games, you fortify your lands, fight enemies in combat, and engage in large battles. It's not quite as popular as Marvel Snap, but it's not all that niche, either, sporting over a million downloads on the Play Store.

Lark

Chances are, you've never heard of Lark. (I certainly hadn't.) Lark offers a collection of business apps and services. The standalone Lark app for iOS and Android is described as a "team collaboration" app, which, for all intents and purposes, means its basically a Microsoft Teams or Slack competitor. Lark has features like in-app messaging and video calling, as well as collaborative document sharing.

This probably isn't something you'll ever use on your own, but rather a service you use through your company. Should the government's attention on ByteDance grow wider, however, your company may have to consider alternatives.

Tokopedia and Tokopedia START

Tokopedia is a shopping service based out of Indonesia, but it has apps available to users in the U.S. Also available from the company is Tokopedia START, an app that appears to have been made for a 2022 tech conference. Tokopedia, as you may have guessed, is a subsidiary of ByteDance