Indian Government Blocks TikTok (Here’s How to Unblock It ASAP)

Following a deadly clash between India and China at the end of June, the Indian government started forcing national ISPs to block TikTok in the country.

So at the moment, you can’t use or download the app if you’re in India. This isn’t the first time something like this is happening. TikTok went down for about a week back in 2019 too because it was allegedly exposing children to inappropriate content.

Don’t worry – there is a simple way you can unblock TikTok in India. We’ll tell you all about it in this article. If you’re in a hurry, though, here’s the TL;DR: you can get around Indian censorship with these VPNs in a matter of seconds.

How Does the Government Block TikTok?

Apparently, they rely on firewalls. Basically, they tell ISPs to blacklist TikTok’s servers on their networks. And your connections to TikTok have to pass through your ISP’s network. So they obviously won’t go through because the network will block them when it sees your destination.

The blocking isn’t only on the Indian government’s side, though. TikTok also delisted their app from the Indian app stores when the government asked Google and Apple to remove the app. So geo-restrictions are also stopping you from downloading TikTok.

We tried using TikTok and visiting its site while connected to an Indian VPN serverfrom ExpressVPN to see what would happen. This is the message we got:

Unblock TikTok in India with a VPN Today

Things might blow over in a week or so, but why wait until then when you can start unblocking TikTok right now?

Just use a VPN – an online service that hides your IP address and encrypts your traffic.

“Hides your IP address” means the VPN will act as an intermediate between you and TikTok. Your connection requests will go through a VPN server.

And TikTok and the app stores will see the requests coming from the server, not your device, meaning they will only see the VPN server’s IP address, not your address.

So you just need to use a VPN server that’s not in India to bypass the geo-blocks on the app stores. They will think you’re connecting from a whitelisted country, so they’ll let you download the app.

VPNs can also help you bypass the government’s censorship. You’ll use TikTok with a different IP address that has no firewall restrictions linked to it. So inbound and outbound traffic to and from TikTok’s servers can flow freely between the app and your smartphone.

And that’s not all. Here are the other perks of unblocking TikTok with a VPN:

• Your ISP will have no idea you’re doing it. They’ll only see that you’re connecting to the VPN server. They won’t know you’re connecting to TikTok’s servers.
• Your ISP won’t be able to analyze your data packets anymore because the VPN encrypts your traffic. They won’t know you’re using TikTok or downloading the app from Google Play or iTunes.

Having trouble finding a VPN that actually works? No problem – you can easily get around Indian censorship with these VPNs.

Dealing with Slow Speeds? Try These Two Things!

While VPNs are awesome tools, they do have one drawback – they can lower your speeds (sometimes by a lot). If you experience that, here’s what you can do:

1. Use a Nearby Server

You don’t necessarily have to use a server in Europe or the US to unblock TikTok in India. You can do the same thing with a server in Singapore or Japan. And you’ll get better speeds if you do that.

Why?

Because it takes less time for data packets to travel between your device and the VPN server. And they’re less likely to be lost in transit that way (which can cause your connection to drop).

2. Use a Lightweight Protocol

Encryption can really tank your VPN speeds if you’re not careful. While OpenVPN is an excellent protocol, it’s by no means the fastest one. Even if you use it over UDP, you might still get annoying slowdowns and dropped connections – especially on mobile.

So try using a less resource-intensive protocol – like WireGuard, IKEv2, L2TP/IPSec, or SoftEther.

We particularly recommend IKEv2 because it was made with smartphone users in mind. It has a feature (MOBIKE) that let you switch between networks (from mobile data to a coffee shop’s WiFi, for example) without your VPN connection dropping.

Can You Unblock TikTok with a Proxy Server?

A proxy server can hide your IP address just like a VPN. So you should be able to download and use TikTok in India with one.

However, please keep this in mind:

• You government can block proxy servers to stop you from using them. They can do the same to VPNs, but those services are more likely to update their IPs to bypass that block than proxies.
• Proxy servers often get overcrowded fast, so you’ll likely deal with slow speeds a lot.
• Unlike VPNs, proxies don’t offer powerful encryption. So you can’t fully hide that you’re unblocking TikTok from your ISP.

Can You Unblock TikTok with a Smart DNS?

Not really.

You might be able to use it to download TikTok from the app stores because it can help you get around geo-blocks.

But you won’t be able to use TikTok with it. A Smart DNS doesn’t hide your IP address, so it can’t bypass the government’s firewall.

Were You Able to Unblock TikTok in India with a VPN?

If yes, which one did you use? Also, if you got poor speeds, what else did you do to improve them?

And if you used a different method to unblock TikTok, go ahead and tell us about your experience.