iPhones with tiktok for sale on eBay for thousands of dollars

On January 24, 2025By Littum

As of Wednesday morning, Tiktok remains absent from Apple’s App Store despite millions of users having the short video platform installed with access.

Some iPhone users never deleted Tiktok during its brief ban in the US, and now some of those people are selling their phones for thousands of dollars on eBay as the popular app remains absent from Apple’s App Store.

Users with the app downloaded to their phones can access the short video platform, which returned to millions in the US on Sunday and Monday. While some can jump back on Tiktok without issue, others who either deleted or never downloaded the app are left in the dark as the Apple and Google App stores in the US still don’t have it available.

It is unclear when Tiktok will return to app stores despite President Donald Trump signing an executive order to delay enforcement of the ban. Nevertheless, several iPhone owners who have downloaded the app are now selling their brand new or used phones for up to $25,000.

USA Today reached out to Tiktok and eBay on Wednesday but has not received a response.

What is the price of iPhones with Tiktok installed on eBay?

An eBay user in Ruskin, Florida listed one iPhone 15 pro max “with tiktok” for $10,000 or best offer. According to the listing, the unit has received more than 1,800 views in the last 24 hours.

Other eBay users have listed iPhones with TIKTOK installed for prices between $500 and $25,000 depending on the model and condition. The $25,000 list From a seller in Whittier, North Carolina, is for an iPhone 16 Pro Max with “Tiktok installed.”

It’s unclear whether iPhones with Tiktok installed are selling, but most of the more than 2,000 phones auctioned on eBay don’t have active bids. The phones that have offers are older iPhone models that go for approx $100 to $200.

One eBay seller in Raleigh, North Carolina Even a 128 Gigabyte iPhone 15 Pro with Tiktok and Cap Cut, a video editing app owned by Tiktok’s Chinese parent company Bytedance installed, listed for more than $4.5 million.

When could Tiktok return to Google and Apple App stores?

The timeline for Tiktok’s return to the Google and Apple App stores is murky, but Trump has given the app’s users hope when he proposed a joint venture involving the United States, which owns 50% of the app.

“They have something that is actually more valuable because they have the ultimate partner, and the United States will make it very valuable to them in terms of the permits and everything else,” Trump said after meeting with Tiktok’s owners.

Trump also said he is open to Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk or Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison buying Tiktok. If either billionaire buys the app, this could speed up his return to app stores.

It would apparently take a deal to be done to get Tiktok back on the app stores, which is something General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford told Axios Will be completed during an event on Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.

General Atlantic is a major investor in Bytedance, and Ford is on the board of Tiktok’s Chinese parent company.

“We’re moving forward with that as soon as the end of the week in terms of negotiating what can work … the Chinese government, the U.S. government and the company and the board all need to be involved in this conversation,” Ford said per Axios.