How to Get Around the TikTok Ban With a VPN – Free & Paid
TikTok has been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride this year – at least in the US. Indeed, in just a few short months, the app went from topping the US app store charts to being banned in the country, joining ranks with India and Iran (among others), where the app has long been censored. However, immediately after President Trump’s inauguration, the ban was (temporarily) reversed.
Confused? That’s understandable.
We’ll start by recapping the timeline of events and then provide tips on circumventing the ban by using a VPN, highlighting both a paid and free service.
Let’s start.
The TikTok Timeline
Things started to heat up for TikTok in the US in early 2024 when Congress introduced the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), which mandated TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest its operations in the US. If the company did not comply, it would face a nationwide ban.
TikTok challenged the law, but in early 2025, the US Supreme Court upheld it, and the app was shut down in the US on January 19th.
But just a day later, after President Trump’s inauguration, he signed an executive order delaying the ban for 75 days. And the app was permitted again (at least for 75 days).
But while Americans were now free to use the app, many had deleted it from their devices. It hadn’t been made available for download in either Apple’s or Google’s respective app stores, as these companies needed clarification that they would not be in legal trouble for reinstating the app in their US app stores.
Hence, many Americans turned to VPNs to circumvent the ban, as TikTok remained available in other countries.
Because VPNs enable you to spoof your location, many US TikTok users emulated what users in India and Iran have been doing to gain access to TikTok: simply use a VPN. In this post, we’re going to show you how to do just that.
Why Use a VPN to Bypass the TikTok Ban?
While some countries, like India and Iran, have censored TikTok for years, PAFACA is exclusive to the United States. So when the law took effect, It simply added one more country to the small list of countries in which TikTok is banned. It remained available in other countries. If you could get to an app store in a country in which the app is available, you’d be good.
Enter VPNs
Because VPNs enable you to appear in a different location by tunneling your traffic through a remote VPN server, they’re the ideal tool to sidestep the TikTok ban. By connecting to a VPN server located in a country where TikTok was available, VPN users were able to download TikTok from non-US app stores.
We’ll show you how to do this on Android and iOS.
iOS
There are two ways to achieve this on iOS (and on Android):
- You can match the location of your current Apple account with the VPN location.
- You can create a new Apple account for the VPN location.
Matching your current account’s location with the VPN location
- Download a VPN app to your iPhone/iPad and connect to a server in a country where TikTok is available. (Canada is a good option).
- On your device, open the Settings app and tap your name.
- Select Media and Purchases > View Account.
- From there, change your Country/Region to the same location as your VPN.
- Enter random address details in the address field. The App Store on your device will now default to the Canadian App Store.
- Open the App Store and search for TikTok. You should be able to download the app without issue.
Creating a new account for the VPN location
- Download a VPN app to your iPhone/iPad and connect to a server in a country where TikTok is available. (Again, Canada is a good option).
- With the VPN connected, create a new email address and enter location information from the above country if prompted.
- Open the Settings app on your device and sign out of your current Apple account.
- Create a new Apple account using the email you just created, and select the country to which your VPN is connected.
- Verify your new account using any phone number (the phone number doesn’t need to be from the same country).
Open the App Store, sign in with your new Apple account, and search for TikTok. You should be able to download the app without issue.
Android
The same two methods as above apply here, too. Bear in mind that Google limits the number of times you can change your Play Store region to once a year. So make sure you select the correct country.
Matching your current account’s location with the VPN location
- Download a VPN app to your Android device and connect to a server in a country where TikTok is available. (We’re using Canada in these examples).
- Open the Google Play app, select your Profile Icon, and navigate to Settings > General > Account & device preferences > Country & profiles.
- Select a new country (Canada in our example).
- Close and relaunch the Google Play app and search for TikTok. You should be able to download the app without issue.
Creating a new account for the VPN location
- Download a VPN app to your Android device and connect to a server in a country where TikTok is available. (We’re using Canada in these examples).
- With the VPN connected, create a new email address and enter location information from the above country, if prompted.
- Open the Google Play app and log out of your current Google account.
- Create a new Google account using the email you just created, and select the country to which your VPN is connected.
- Close and relaunch the Google Play app and search for TikTok. You should be able to download the app without issue.
And that’s how you do it.
Recommended VPNs to Bypass the TikTok ban
The crux of sidestepping the TikTok ban is spoofing your location. And every single VPN out there does that. So, in recommending VPNs for that purpose, we’re actually just recommending a good all-purpose VPN based on its features and the provider’s commitment to its service offering.
We’ll provide a recommended paid option and a free option.
Recommended Paid VPN: NordVPN
NordVPN is based in Panama and is one of the most well-known VPN providers. It offers many features for security, privacy, and convenience. On top of offering many server locations, it provides ad-blocking, DNS leak protection, robust encryption, and a VPN kill switch.
A strict no-logging policy, a thoughtful privacy policy, and anonymous payments have your back for privacy. Its service is very user-friendly and provides native apps for every major platform.
NordVPN offers monthly, yearly, and bi-yearly plans. You can sign up for as low as $3.39 per month.
Recommended Free VPN: Windscribe
I don’t typically recommend free VPNs. They tend to be low-bandwidth and low-privacy. However, Windscribe, one of the smaller commercial VPN providers, is an exception. It’s based in Ontario, Canada, and offers 10GB of monthly bandwidth to ten servers for free.
Windscribe provides a strong feature set that offers both privacy and convenience. The service supports split tunneling and port forwarding while providing secure VPN protocols and an ad blocker.
Its free subscription supports the same features as the paid plans, except for the limited bandwidth and number of servers. Good stuff.
Wrap Up
So that’s how you can download TikTok if the ban comes back into effect in the US. Nobody yet knows what the outcome will be, so it’s good to know. And if you’re in a country where TikTok is censored, you now have options.
And while any VPN will enable you to change your location, it’s always important to use a reputable VPN service that will provide you with a good measure of privacy and security online.
Stay safe.
FAQ
If you’re in a country in which TikTok is banned (i.e., India, Iran, and potentially the US), the app will not be available for download in your respective app store in your country. However, the app remains available in the app store of other regions. By using a VPN to change your (digital) location, you can access the Apple or Google app store in a different country and download TikTok.
The answer to that question is yes. But because you’ll have to set your Apple or Google account to that region as well, it’s recommended to choose a country that uses a language you understand – for obvious reasons.
Another consideration will be latency and speed. You should aim to connect to a server as close as possible to your actual physical location so your connection speed doesn’t get bogged down. VPNs add overhead to your connection because of the encryption/decryption of your traffic and the extra hop the VPN server represents between your device and the sites you’re accessing.
Yes. You can use pretty much any VPN app to achieve this. I would simply recommend going for a reputable provider so you benefit from a good server selection, good speeds, a proper privacy policy, and fair prices. More often than not, the big players with the best reputations in the VPN space actually offer the best prices. You should take advantage of that.
