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TikTok is preparing to force all 170 million American users to download a completely new US-exclusive version of the app by March 2026 as the company races to comply with national ownership laws.
The Chinese-owned company has developed plans to launch the new app, internally called “M2,” on September 5, according to The Information. Users will eventually need to abandon the current TikTok app and switch to this separate version to continue using the service.
“It’s highly unusual for an app with a large following to ask users to download a separate new app, and the move would risk losing users,” sources familiar with the situation told The Information.
The migration timeline creates a tight window for TikTok. The current app will be removed from the Apple and Google app stores when M2 launches, although both versions will continue to work simultaneously until March 2026. After that deadline, the original TikTok app will cease to function entirely in the US.
This overhaul comes as the Trump administration closes in on a deal to sell TikTok’s US operations to a consortium of American investors led by Oracle. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, would retain only a minority stake under the proposed arrangement.
The sale aims to satisfy the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” which Congress passed last year over concerns that China’s government could access American user data or spread propaganda through the platform.
President Trump has already delayed the ban’s enforcement three times through executive orders, with the current deadline set for September 17. The timing places M2’s launch just twelve days before the law takes effect.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One Friday that the US was “close to a deal for a group to buy TikTok’s US operations” and that his administration would begin discussions with Chinese authorities this week.
However, any sale still requires approval from Beijing, which remains the biggest obstacle. Trump said on Friday that he was “not confident” of obtaining Chinese approval, according to Reuters.
“The project to build a new version of TikTok is a massive engineering undertaking. And getting all of TikTok’s users in the US to move over to a new app, bringing their profiles with them, could pose technical issues in practice,” one source told The Information.
Questions remain about whether the new app will incorporate TikTok’s core algorithm, which the Chinese government has insisted cannot be sold separately from the platform. The algorithm drives user engagement by determining which videos appear in feeds.
TikTok has roughly seven months to complete the migration process. Companies have not provided details about how they will communicate the transition to users or ensure profile data transfers successfully.
Moreover, TikTok representatives did not respond to requests for comment about the migration plans.
