TikTok has largely recovered from a slight dip in active users that occurred in the days following its ownership change. A group of American investors took control of the video app’s operations in the United States, and during that brief period, competing video apps like UpScrolled and Skylight Social saw rapid user adoption as some people looked for TikTok alternatives.
According to estimates from the digital market intelligence firm Similarweb, TikTok’s usage dipped into the range of 86 to 88 million daily active users in the U.S. immediately after the ownership change. That compares with a typical average of 92 million daily active users. The app has now bounced back to more than 90 million daily active users, indicating that many who left have since returned.
As TikTok saw that small dip, alternative apps began growing quickly. Although only a tiny fraction of TikTok’s size, UpScrolled topped 138,500 daily active users at its peak on January 28. It has now dropped back down to 68,000. Meanwhile, Skylight Social hit 81,200 daily active users according to Similarweb’s estimates and has since dropped to 56,300. Overall, Skylight Social told TechCrunch that its user sign-ups increased to 380,000 as of late January.
TikTok’s usage decline, which prompted some to try the new apps, wasn’t driven by the ownership change directly, but rather by how users feared it would impact their TikTok experience. There were growing concerns about TikTok’s updated privacy policy, which gave the app permission to track users’ precise GPS location. This addition could be related to TikTok’s tests of a “Nearby” feed to show videos from local creators, but it was added to the policy alongside the ownership change, leading to user backlash over privacy concerns.
When reading the privacy policy anew, some users also discovered language stating TikTok may collect users’ “immigration status,” among other personal data. However, this turned out to be a reference included because of the California Consumer Privacy Act, which requires businesses to inform consumers if they collect certain sensitive data. TikTok includes this disclosure because anything a user shares in their video content technically becomes part of the platform.
In addition, TikTok experienced an unfortunately timed, multi-day data center outage. This caused the app to not function properly, sometimes breaking search, likes, and comments, causing video glitches, disrupting the algorithm, and creating issues with the in-app chat. Users believed these glitches meant TikTok was now censoring their content, which sent them looking for alternatives. The company announced that the data center outage was resolved, attributing it to a winter-storm-driven power outage.
As users made peace with the new terms and conditions and the outage-driven issues were resolved, users returned to the platform, Similarweb’s data shows. But there’s still hope for the newcomers, as the firm notes that TikTok’s usage has been slowly declining over the latter part of 2025, when usage peaked at 100 million daily active users from July to October, compared with the 90-plus million seen now.