Apple tonight updated its beta testing app TestFlight, seemingly to block U.S. users from accessing the TikTok beta on the iPhone and other devices.
The update adds this fine print to the app, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris:
Apple may use the IP address of your internet connection to approximate your location in order to determine whether certain beta apps that are subject to legal restrictions in some regions can be made available to you.
This development comes after Apple removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S. earlier tonight. In the U.S., a law banning TikTok unless Chinese company ByteDance divests ownership of the platform takes effect Sunday, January 19. The app is “temporarily unavailable” in the U.S., according to an in-app notice being shown to users tonight.
More details about the ban and what comes next are outlined in our earlier report.
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