Marvel Snap, a popular game that was caught up in the TikTok ban, returned to the App Store today and it is once again available for download.
The game was published by TikTok parent company ByteDance, which led to its removal from the App Store when a law banning ByteDance apps from being distributed in the U.S. went into effect on January 19.
Marvel Snap creators Second Dinner said on January 19 that the removal of the app and a simultaneous gameplay outage came as a surprise. The developers went to work getting the app reinstated, and promised to find a new publisher to prevent any further issues.
The game was back up and running as of January 20, and on January 24, Second Dinner said that Marvel Snap would return to the App Store as soon as this week. Along with re-adding Marvel Snap to the App Store, Apple removed Marvel Snap from its list of ByteDance apps that are not being distributed in the U.S. at the current time. Second Dinner has not yet provided details on the situation with ByteDance, or if it has secured a new publisher.
To make up for the downtime, Marvel Snap players in the United States are being provided with extra experience and in-game rewards.
The January 19 TikTok ban affected several other apps that are affiliated with ByteDance, including TikTok, TikTok Studio, TikTok Shop Seller Center, CapCut, Lemon8, Hypic, Lark - Team Collaboration, Lark - Rooms Display, Lark Rooms Controller, and Gauth: AI Study Companion.
All of these apps are still unavailable in the App Store in the United States, but are accessible for those who already downloaded the titles. U.S. President Donald Trump gave ByteDance a reprieve by ordering the DoJ to hold off on any enforcement of the law for 90 days, but as the law is still in place, Apple is required to comply. If Apple were to continue to distribute TikTok, it would be violating the law and could be punished after the 90-day period.
If you already have these apps installed on your device, they will remain on your device. But they can't be redownloaded if deleted or restored if you move to a new device. In-app purchases and new subscriptions are no longer possible.
Users in the United States won't receive updates for these apps, which could potentially impact performance, security, and compatibility with future versions of iOS and iPadOS, and some app functions might become limited or stop working since the app can't receive updates.
It is not clear what will happen with TikTok and the other ByteDance apps. The law requires ByteDance to divest TikTok, giving control of the app over to an American company. Trump is reportedly discussing the sale of TikTok with "many people," and current rumors suggest that Oracle and a group of investors could take over the app.
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