In the weeks and months leading up to TikTok’s U.S. ban in mid-January, millions of short-form video addicts went searching for a TikTok equivalent—fearing that the app would permanently shut down in the U.S. on Jan. 19. 

They found RedNote, a TikTok-like app built by a Shanghai-based startup that is popular with China’s Gen Z. 

In the week leading up to the U.S. TikTok ban, more than 3 million American “TikTok refugees” downloaded the app, Reuters reports. Google search volume for “RedNote” began picking up on Jan. 12, and peaked Jan. 19, when TikTok briefly went offline in the U.S. 

[Image of Google Trends results for “RedNote”] 

[Caption] Google Trends result for “RedNote” from the past 30 days, captured Jan. 29, 2025 

At Start.io, we saw a similar trend in the data, with RedNote downloads jumping by 4x on Jan. 13, compared to their baseline average from the previous two weeks. RedNote downloads peaked on Jan. 19 when TikTok went offline, with an estimated 26x more mobile app downloads than average. 

 Source: Start.io analysis of relative download volume of RedNote, Dec. 30, 2024 to Jan. 12, 2025 

As expected, RedNote downloads fell Jan. 20, after the incoming U.S. administration said it would not enforce the ban immediately, giving TikTok more time to find an American buyer. 

Interestingly, RedNote downloads didn’t drop to their baseline, and remained relatively high in the week following the TikTok reversal, suggesting Americans are still interested in checking out TikTok alternatives. 

Even on Jan. 26, a full week after TikTok’s ban was temporarily halted, downloads to RedNote were still 15x higher than their average baseline, as measured between Dec. 30, 2024, and Jan. 12, 2025. 

This higher-than-average download activity suggests that short-form video content creators are hedging their bets, and trying to build an audience on RedNote, in case a future TikTok ban in the U.S. is permanent. 

Per capita, U.S. downloads of the RedNote app were heaviest in Nevada and Oregon, followed closely by California. A Start.io analysis of TikTok mobile app installs from 2024 suggests that roughly half of people in Nevada have downloaded TikTok. 

Worldwide, the U.S. is the sixth-largest market for RedNote, behind China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, according to Start.io data. 

Start.io delivers hundreds of millions of ads per day to more than 500,000 active mobile apps. Where allowed, Start.io collects anonymized first-party mobile data, which it uses to help advertisers target consumers with relevant ads.