The US court's blocking of the TikTok ban has only a limited effect and TikTok's fate still depends on the unsubstantiated deal.

District of Columbia Federal Court Judge Carl Nicholas issued a ruling on September 27 to block the download ban of TikTok imposed by the Trump administration, hours before the order took effect.

The ruling came after TikTok last week filed a request for the judge to issue a preliminary ruling blocking the new US Department of Commerce regulation.

Trump previously ordered a ban on downloading and updating TikTok from September 27.

AFP said the judge's decision "is a temporary victory" for TikTok.

Even so, the ban still makes a lot of sense as maintaining access to updates means longtime TikTok users will receive security patches to keep them better protected while

The judge asked TikTok and the US to work out a schedule to deal with the matter, which usually means the court wants the opposing parties to reach an agreement.

With the US court's decision, TikTok can operate without interruption at least until the full trial takes place.

However, legal analysts say the US administration is less likely to appeal, as lawyers often do not want to oppose the judge early in a lawsuit by attacking their judgment.

Meanwhile, TikTok's lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of executive orders Trump has enacted continues to progress.

Trump in August signed executive orders forcing ByteDance to sell back shares to a US company, otherwise it would have to shut down.

Outside the courtroom, TikTok may continue to try to make the deal or alliance to allay US concerns.

Trump said a deal between TikTok and two US companies, including technology company Oracle and retail supermarket chain Walmart, is being promoted.

ByteDance has not completed an agreement with Oracle and Walmart due to the failure to agree on the share-sharing terms, and who will control TikTok's data and algorithms.

David E. Sanger, an analyst for NYTimes, said even if the TikTok deal is successful, it may not be Trump's win.

"This is a tough problem and defeating TikTok is not a strategy to deal with China," said Amy Zegart, senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and Stanford University's Freeman-Spogli Institute.