using TikTok on the PC

There's the web version of TikTok, but it lacks some important features, like support for Collections.

Below are some Android emulators that you can install on your PC:

Bluestacks 5

• (see notes here)
• Note: You will have to disable Hyper-V and install a "Pie 64-bit" instance.

Windows Subsystem for Android

• only available on Windows 11 or later
• Windows Subsystem for Android does require Hyper-V to be enabled.

LDPlayer

• this is sometimes recommended in combination with TikTok
• LDPlayer says it runs with higher performance when Hyper-V is disabled. It's 100% functional with Hyper-V enabled, just slower.
• to install TikTok, do not use the LD Store (there's like a trillion duplicates), instead click System Apps > Play Store.
• go to LDPlayer settings > Advanced, and enable "Mobile mode"
• Currently TikTok crashes shortly after I launch it, within LDPlayer9.
  • Install Logcat Reader
    • Set filter to "fatal", hit the "start recording" button, open TikTok, wait for it to crash, then come back. The specific error message is found at the bottom of this page.
      • CANNOT LINK EXECUTABLE "ls": "/data/app/com.zhiliaoapp.musically-igbxCZ10GD9HSqkYzCROVg==/lib/arm64/libnpth_dumper.so" has unexpected e_machine: 183 (EM_AARCH64)
      • If you download the .apk and unzip it, you see that lib/arm64-v8a/libnpth_dumper.so exists, but there is no directory called lib/arm64/.
        • "arm64-v8a" means ARMv8-A based CPUs, which support the 64-bit AArch64 architecture
    • Set filter to just Keyword = "zhiliaoapp", and you get LOTS of logs. Too many.
      • Install Gmail. Go back to Logcat Viewer, click on the top-right menu, choose Save > Share > Gmail, and mail it to yourself. Save the file on your PC and open it with your favorite text editor.
• I tried installing LDPlayer 4 (64 bit), but TikTok failed there too, with almost the same error message:
  • CANNOT LINK EXECUTABLE "ls": "/data/app/com.zhiliaoapp.musically-1/lib/arm64/libnpth_dumper.so" has unexpected e_machine: 183
• (TODO — there are older version of the TikTok .apk available, poke through them and see if earlier ones were built for just "arm64")

NoxPlayer

• IMPORTANT: Navigate to the installed directory (typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Nox\bin), run MultiPlayerManager.exe, go to ☰ > Settings, and disable "Autorun on startup". Otherwise you'll get spammy advertisements for their games, even when NoxPlayer is closed.
  • Heck, delete that EXE. I definitely did, and I'm not aware of any impairment in functionality.
• Initial impressions:
  • Um, this looks a lot like BlueStacks 5, especially its Settings menu. Is this a clone/ripoff? [2] [3]
  • There's a lot of pop-ups and self-promotion of their games and such. It's annoying but not a barrier to obtaining the desired functionality.
  • To install apps from the Google Play Store, open the Browser and navigate to play.google.com.
• TikTok works pretty well, at first. Collections are available, and there's minimal lag while playing videos.
  • However, if the app gets closed for any reason, the second/third/etc times it starts up, it will crash with the error pid: 9094, tid: 9228, name: tp-default-7 >>> com.zhiliaoapp.musically <<<
  • You can get TikTok to start working again by going to Tools > Settings > Apps > TikTok > Force Stop, then click on Storage > Clear Data. This means you have to login all over again, every time you start TikTok anew, but at least it's ONE way to run TikTok on your PC?
• notes to self:
  • apps I'm currently using — Shortcut Maker, MiXplorer Silver File Manager
    • to create a desktop shortcut, MiXplorer > long-click on the folder > the triple-dot icon > Add to... > Home screen
  • the app's data can be found within /data/data/com.zhiliaoapp.musically/
  • how to copy files from inside the VM to the outside: %USERPROFILE%\Nox_share\Download\