Does TikTok Work in China?

How to use TikTok in China

To use TikTok in China, you need a connection that leaves mainland China before it reaches TikTok, and preferably one that doesn’t come out in Hong Kong, where TikTok doesn’t operate. There are two ways to get one: a travel eSIM or home roaming that routes your data abroad, and a VPN. Set them up before you fly. Our guide eSIM or VPN for China? explains how each one works.

On a travel eSIM or home roaming

A travel eSIM that routes your data outside mainland China gets you past the firewall without a VPN. Airalo, an eSIM seller, says its China, Regional Asia and Global eSIMs send your traffic through gateways outside mainland China. Not every plan works this way. Salil Kanhere, a cybersecurity expert at UNSW, told the Bega District News in July 2026 that a local Chinese SIM or a China-specific eSIM typically remains subject to local filtering.

For TikTok, it also matters where your data comes out. Notes from China, a blog with affiliate links, says TikTok shows a black screen on an eSIM that routes through Hong Kong. It says TikTok works normally when the data comes out in Singapore, Thailand or another place outside Hong Kong, and that Airalo’s China eSIM, most of MobiMatter’s China plans and Lucky2, a Hong Kong carrier, route through Hong Kong. Find Your eSIM, another site with affiliate links, says companies like TikTok often block access from Hong Kong themselves.

eSIM sellers don’t agree on TikTok. Yesim says its China plans let you use TikTok without restrictions. Simify says TikTok may be restricted or unavailable on its eSIMs in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Japan, and that the network supplier enforces this. In a June 2026 Reddit thread about one travel eSIM, a user said it works “with everything but TikTok”. Check where a plan’s data comes out before you buy. Our eSIM comparison shows how each provider we track routes data in China.

Home roaming can work too. Kanhere said roaming data is in many cases routed through your home carrier or an overseas gateway, so some apps that are usually blocked might still work. Ask your carrier what roaming in China costs.

Either way, it only works on mobile data. Airalo says you have full access to blocked sites “as long as you are using your eSIM data (and not the hotel Wi-Fi)”. Turn Wi-Fi off before you open TikTok. Video also uses a lot of data: Notes from China estimates that an hour of TikTok at standard quality uses about 1 GB.

Is TikTok banned in China even with a VPN?

A VPN can get TikTok working in China, but reports say it’s hit or miss. A VPN works on any connection, including hotel Wi-Fi, so it’s also your backup when an eSIM can’t reach TikTok. Notes from China says that if your eSIM routes through Hong Kong, a VPN set to a US, Japan or Singapore server can still get TikTok working, as long as any Chinese SIM is turned off. Choose a server outside mainland China and Hong Kong. Reddit users in r/chinalife said in July and September 2026 that TikTok won’t work through a Hong Kong address.

Reports say VPNs in China have become less dependable. ABC News reported in June 2026 that telecom carriers in parts of China had been asked in April to block all VPN services, according to a censorship analyst. MyChinaGuide, which makes a China travel app, says VPNs that ran smoothly for years now drop, throttle or fail to connect. Airalo says VPNs can slow down your connection and drain your battery.

Install and test the VPN at home. Ihsan Yilmaz, a Deakin University professor who has studied censorship, said in the same ABC News report that China’s measures include removing VPN apps from app stores. See which VPN works in China now, and compare the VPNs we track on our VPN page.

Why your SIM card matters

TikTok uses your SIM card’s region, among other things, to estimate where you are. Its help center says that when location services are off, TikTok still estimates your approximate location from device and network information, “such as SIM card region, IP address, and device system settings.” It doesn’t say whether it blocks the app based on that. When TikTok left Hong Kong in 2020, Fortune reported that it seemed to restrict access based on a phone’s SIM card and IP address, and that Hong Kong SIM cards appeared to block it. A user in mainland China told Fortune that taking out the SIM card and turning on a VPN worked there too.

Travelers say a Chinese SIM card in the phone is often enough to stop TikTok, even with a VPN. Notes from China says TikTok reads your SIM card’s country code and may block access if a Chinese physical SIM is inserted, even while you use eSIM data. It suggests turning the Chinese SIM off in your phone’s cellular settings, or taking it out. Reports aren’t unanimous: a user in Foshan wrote on Reddit in June 2026 that turning their Chinese SIM on or off made no difference, and that the VPN was what mattered.

Some guides also suggest turning off location for TikTok. BitJoy, an eSIM seller, recommends doing it both in the app and in your phone’s settings. In the app, TikTok says the setting is under Profile, then the Menu button, Settings and privacy, Privacy and Location Services. BitJoy says none of this is a guarantee: some travelers report TikTok stopping mid-trip with a “No internet connection” message while their other apps keep working.

Is TikTok banned in China?

TikTok isn’t available in mainland China, and it doesn’t load on Chinese networks. TikTok said in October 2019 that it “does not operate in China, nor do we have any intention of doing so in the future.” When TikTok left Hong Kong in 2020, Al Jazeera reported that it had been “designed so it could not be accessed by mainland China.”

China’s firewall blocks it as well. GreatFire’s test page for www.tiktok.com answers “No” to whether it opens from mainland China, as of its last test on October 8, 2026.

ByteDance runs two separate apps. Marketplace’s China correspondent explained in 2024 that the Chinese government wants control over all the content within the country. So ByteDance built Douyin, which follows China’s censorship and content rules, and TikTok for everywhere else.

Is TikTok banned in China for tourists?

Yes, the block applies to tourists too. MyChinaGuide says hotel and café Wi-Fi send your traffic back through Chinese infrastructure, where it’s filtered again, and BitJoy says a Chinese SIM or a hotel Wi-Fi network is enough to trigger TikTok’s block. Tourists who use TikTok in China do it on a travel eSIM, home roaming or a VPN set up before the trip.

A VPN comes with a legal caveat. The UK government says China’s cybersecurity laws require online products and services such as VPNs to be licensed by the Chinese government. BitJoy says enforcement against individual tourists is rare. Read Is a VPN legal in China? before you go.

TikTok in China: what Reddit users report

Reddit reports from late 2025 and 2026 are mixed. They’re individual accounts, not tests.

• Chinese SIM cards, September 2026. On r/China, a user in Jiangxi said TikTok didn’t work with their Chinese SIM in the phone, even over Astrill, but did after they took the SIM out. On r/travelchina, someone planning to stream on TikTok from Wuhu was told that with a mainland SIM in the phone, you won’t be able to access TikTok. On r/chinalife, a user whose TikTok stopped after a month on Astrill heard the same, at least for Android. They replied that it had happened on their iPhone and on an iPad without a SIM card.
• Hong Kong addresses, July 2026. On r/chinalife, a user with a Chinese SIM couldn’t open TikTok over a VPN, even after removing the SIM. Replies said not to use Chinese or Hong Kong IP addresses, and that a Hong Kong eSIM won’t work for TikTok either. One said they had only got it working on a laptop, with the VPN set to a location outside China and Hong Kong.
• Travel eSIMs, July 2026. A traveler on r/travelchina said their Trip.com mainland China eSIM got past the firewall “for everything except tiktok”, and that NordVPN and an Airalo eSIM didn’t help either.
• Working, then not. A user in Shenzhen on Mullvad said in June 2026 that TikTok works fine for days or weeks, then stops, then works again weeks later. In November 2025, a user with LetsVPN and a Trip.com eSIM said TikTok worked on their first day and then kept saying “no internet connection”.
• After the trip, July 2026. A traveler whose TikTok stopped after they used it on Wi-Fi in China said it started working again on its own, about a week after they left. Another said theirs came back after a few days.

If you plan to go live on TikTok from China, our guide to livestreaming from China covers the setup.

What is TikTok called in China?

TikTok’s Chinese counterpart is Douyin (抖音, Dǒuyīn). The MDBG Chinese dictionary describes Douyin as a Chinese app for creating and sharing short videos, “released in its international version as TikTok”. The name is made of 抖 (dǒu), “to tremble”, and 音 (yīn), “sound”.

Douyin and TikTok are separate apps. TechNode reported in 2019 that they’re strictly segregated in accounts and content, and that you can’t log in to Douyin with your TikTok account, or the other way round. NPR described Douyin in March 2026 as “the Chinese version of TikTok”.

Douyin, the TikTok app in China

The TikTok-style app that works in China is Douyin. It works on Chinese networks without a VPN: GreatFire’s test page for www.douyin.com answers “Yes”, as of its last test on August 16, 2026. It’s in Apple’s China and Hong Kong App Stores, from Beijing Douyin Technology, but not in the US store.

You can watch without signing up. Douyin’s user agreement, updated in February 2026, says you can use the app without an account, but not all its features. Before you post videos, go live or send messages, you need to register and complete real-name verification, as Chinese law requires (our translation). Lizhi News reported in January 2025 that overseas users with foreign passports can’t pass the verification normally. China Survival Kit, which sells a China travel toolkit, says that if you already have WeChat, signing in with it is the easiest way for foreigners to get an account, but that for most tourists, Douyin is a read-only tool.

TikTok in China vs the US

In China, the app is Douyin, run by Beijing Douyin Technology. In the US, TikTok has had its own company since January 2026. TikTok says the new TikTok USDS Joint Venture is majority American-owned, and that ByteDance keeps 19.9% of it. The joint venture is in charge of US user data, content moderation and retraining the recommendation algorithm on US data.

The rules differ too. Marketplace reported in 2024 that Chinese online accounts generally require real names linked to ID cards or phone numbers. Douyin is also stricter with children. In September 2021, ByteDance said users in China under 14 would only be able to use Douyin in a youth mode, Euronews reported. It said the mode would limit them to 40 minutes a day, between 6 am and 10 pm.

TikTok in Hong Kong and Macau

TikTok doesn’t work in Hong Kong either. It left in July 2020, the week after China’s legislature passed a national security law for the city. “In light of recent events, we’ve decided to stop operations of the TikTok app in Hong Kong,” a TikTok spokesperson said. Fortune reported that users there then saw a message saying “we have discontinued operating TikTok in Hong Kong”. The app still isn’t in Apple’s Hong Kong App Store. It is listed in Apple’s Macau store.

Other blocked apps are different. MyChinaGuide says Hong Kong and Macau are outside the mainland Great Firewall, so apps like Instagram, WhatsApp and YouTube work normally there. That’s why an eSIM whose data comes out in Hong Kong unblocks those apps but, the eSIM guides above say, often not TikTok.

Downloading TikTok in China

Install TikTok before you travel. It isn’t in Apple’s China or Hong Kong App Stores, and on Android, Google Play is blocked in mainland China: GreatFire’s test page for play.google.com answers “No”. BitJoy suggests updating TikTok to the latest version while you’re still at home.

Related guides

• How to livestream from China
• Instagram in China
• YouTube in China
• WeChat in China
• eSIM or VPN for China?
• Which VPN works in China now
• Apps to download before going to China