TikTok is building a new version of its app for its U.S. customers, according to a report from The Information. This app is set to be launched on Sept. 5, and the existing app would stop working by March 2026, though the timeline could shift. This comes ahead of the expected sale of the app to a group of investors.
While no names have been disclosed, President Donald Trump had mentioned this deal on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.” “We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way,” he said. “I think I’ll probably need China’s approval, and I think President Xi [Jinping] will probably do it.” He also added that the buyers were a group of “very wealthy people.” Analysts have previously estimated the U.S. operations of TikTok to be worth anywhere between $20 billion and $50 billion.
There has been a lot of uncertainty this year over the fate of the massively popular social media platform in the U.S. The U.S. Supreme Court had upheld a law back in January, which could potentially enact a ban on TikTok if it did not divest from Chinese-owned ByteDance. The platform went dark on Jan. 19 for the American users but was restored within 24 hours.
READ: TikTok gets 90-day extension on US sale-or-ban deadline (June 18, 2025)
President Trump, who took office earlier this year, signed an executive order which gave the app an initial 75 days to find a buyer by April 5. Trump extended the deadline for another 75 days in April, and now, yet another extension has been granted, this time for 90 days.
In April, a deal that transferred majority control of TikTok’s U.S. operations was nearly finalized. However, the introduction of additional tariffs on China stalled this development. “There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law,” TikTok parent company ByteDance said after this deal was stalled.
Trump has previously said he would be open to TikTok being sold to cloud computing giant Oracle, whose co-founder Larry Ellison is a long-time ally of Trump’s. Billionaire Frank McCourt, Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian are part of another team bidding for the platform. YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, also known as Mr. Beast, had also expressed an interest in buying TikTok as part of a different investor group.
READ: Trump mentions potential TikTok sale to ‘a group of wealthy people’ (June 30, 2025)
In addition to TikTok, parent-company ByteDance also has plans to release a U.S.-specific version of the video-editing app CapCut. Americans might have to download this version in order to continue using this app as well.
According to Business Insider, ByteDance has laid out plans to split U.S. users into a new version of CapCut called “CapCut US.” CapCut is currently one of the most popular apps among professional creators, as well as everyday social media users. The app has been downloaded over a billion times on Google Play Store, and it’s currently the top photo and video app in Apple’s U.S. app store, outranking Instagram and YouTube in the category. It is not known yet if ByteDance plans to make U.S. replicas of other apps it owns, such as its Instagram-style app Lemon8 or its education app Gauth, all of which are subject to the same divestment requirements as TikTok and CapCut.