Users Are Scared to Update Their Phones Because They Don't Want to Lose TikTok

As the fate of TikTok continues to hang in uncertainty, many users are worried that making any wrong move could mean that they lose the app forever. The app, which is still accessible in the U.S., is no longer available in U.S. app stores, which has led some to wonder whether they will lose the app if they allow their phone to do its regular updates.

While TikTok may eventually come back to app stores, it could also be gone. Here's what we know about whether you should update your phone:

Unfortunately, there's a lot of uncertainty about whether updating your phone leads to a loss of TikTok. Most people who have updated their phones since the ban went into effect still have access to the app, but there are a few stories floating around of people who went through updates and lost the app.

"I’ve seen mixed reports. A lot of people seem to be fine, but I feel like I’d somehow be one of the unlucky ones, and I’m really hesitant to take that chance," one person wrote on Reddit.

Others have suggested that upgrading shouldn't cause issues. The problems will come instead if you try to transfer your old phone data onto a new phone, because your new phone won't be able to download the app.

No announcement has been made suggesting that updates to any phones prevent TikTok from existing on those phones. At some point, though, the phone's new software will not be compatible with the outdated version of TikTok.

At the same time, you can't put off updating your phone forever, or your phone will also be incompatible with every other app on your device. The result is a bit of lose-lose scenario. If you don't update your phone, your phone will eventually stop working, but if you do update it, TikTok itself will eventually stop working.

There's no right answer here, but it seems like, at least for most people, updates didn't cause problems.

Although the TikTok ban is in effect in the U.S., and has been upheld by the Supreme Court, ByteDance is hoping that President Trump will intervene in some way to make sure that the app remains available in the U.S. The law gives the president the ability to extend the deadline for a sale by 90 days if it seems like there is a sale in progress. There's been no indication that a sale is close to final, though, and it's unclear whether one would even be possible.

Nevertheless, Trump has suggested that he doesn't want the ban to go into effect, and has said that he believes there's a way to resolve the issues without losing access to the app. Trump is doing a lot of things at the moment, though, so it's unclear if his priorities are on keeping TikTok accessible, and the app has now been in limbo for more than a week.