TikTok has exploded in popularity in recent years, becoming one of the most downloaded and used social media platforms worldwide. According to Statista, TikTok was downloaded over 672 million times globally in 2022 alone. With over 1 billion monthly active users, TikTok has given rise to viral trends, challenges, dances, and an entirely new generation of online creators and influencers.
A key feature of TikTok is the ability to see who has viewed your profile and content. However, TikTok does not make this tracking feature obvious or transparent to users. Many wonder if their profile views on TikTok are private, if turning on view tracking affects privacy, and if there are ways to view TikTok profiles anonymously. This article will explore these key questions around TikTok profile views and privacy settings.
What Are TikTok Profile Views?
TikTok profile views allow users to see which accounts have visited their profile recently. When you view someone’s profile on TikTok, it registers as a “profile view” for that user. TikTok has a feature called “Profile View History” located in the app’s privacy settings that shows a list of users who have viewed your profile.
For a profile view to register, both the viewer’s account and the viewed account need to have profile view history enabled in settings. If only one person has it turned on, the view will not show up. Profile views only track direct visits to a profile – simply watching someone’s videos or interacting with their content does not count as a profile view.
The profile view history shows the username of accounts that visited your page, as well as the date and time. It does not show how many times a particular user has viewed your profile. The list refreshes approximately every 24 hours.
Viewing TikToks Anonymously
One of the main reasons people want to view TikToks anonymously is to avoid letting the creator know they’ve seen their content. When you view someone’s TikTok profile or videos from your own account, TikTok registers this activity. So if profile view tracking is enabled, the user will see that you’ve visited their profile. This can create unwanted social pressures, especially if you want to casually view someone’s content without them knowing.
Viewing TikTok anonymously gives users more privacy and control. They can browse videos and profiles discreetly without revealing their digital footprint. For some users, this ability to lurk anonymously makes them more likely to explore content they find interesting or entertaining. They don’t have to worry about awkward social explanations for why they interacted with certain videos or accounts.
Overall, anonymous TikTok viewing appeals to users who want to indulge their curiosity without leaving a trail. It allows them to privately enjoy content in the app without worrying about public perceptions or social judgments.
Turning On Profile View Tracking
Users can turn on profile view tracking in their TikTok settings to see who has viewed their profile. To enable this feature:
1. Open the TikTok app and tap on the “Me” tab at the bottom.
2. Tap on the three dots in the top right corner to access settings.
3. Select “Privacy and safety” and then tap on “Profile views.”
4. Toggle on “Profile view history” to start tracking views. This will now show a list of users who have visited your profile.
According to TikTok’s support page, “To turn Profile view history on or off from your Profile views page: 1. In your TikTok app, tap Inbox at the bottom. 2. Tap the notification that someone has visited your profile. 3. Tap Turn On to enable the feature or Turn Off to disable it.” https://support.tiktok.com/en/account-and-privacy/account-privacy-settings/tiktok-profile-visit-history
Once enabled, you’ll be able to see a list of users who have checked out your profile within the last 30 days. This can help you identify new followers or viewers engaging with your content.
Private vs Public Accounts
On TikTok, you can choose to make your account either private or public. This setting determines what information is visible to other users.
With a public account, anyone can view your profile information, follower count, videos, likes, and comments. Essentially all activity on your account is publicly visible.
With a private account, your videos, likes, followers, and any other account activity is hidden from people you don’t approve to follow you. Only approved followers can see your private content. Your bio, profile photo, and username remain public.
So in summary, public accounts allow anyone to view all account activity, while private accounts restrict access so only approved followers can view your content (source). This privacy setting is important to understand when viewing other accounts on TikTok.
Viewing Private Accounts
Private accounts on TikTok allow users to restrict who can see their content. Only approved followers can view private accounts.
However, according to Quora, viewing a private account without having a TikTok profile yourself does not notify the private account or get tracked. The owner of the private account has no way of knowing you viewed their profile if you don’t have a TikTok account.
Once you create a TikTok profile, views of private accounts will be tracked and show up in your view history. Private account owners will be notified of any views from real TikTok accounts. But anonymous browsing of private profiles does not get captured.
Overall, private account views only get tracked if viewed by an actual TikTok profile. Anonymous browsing of private accounts goes untracked by TikTok.
Using Secondary Accounts
One way to view TikTok profiles anonymously is by using a secondary TikTok account. This allows you to browse and watch TikToks without the account you’re viewing being notified. According to gologin.com, TikTok allows the use of multiple accounts from one device without issue.
However, it’s important not to use secondary accounts for business promotion purposes, as this can get flagged by TikTok’s systems and lead to bans. The secondary account should only be used for viewing purposes.
Reddit users also suggest using a secondary account if you want to view someone’s profile anonymously. Just don’t promote the second account on your primary account, as then the connections between accounts will be apparent.
Clearing Your View History
If you want to browse TikTok profiles more anonymously, you can clear your view history periodically so those accounts won’t know you’ve visited them. Here are the steps to clear your TikTok view history on both iOS and Android:
On iOS:
- Open the TikTok app and tap the profile icon in the bottom right.
- Tap the three horizontal lines icon in the top right corner.
- Select “Settings and privacy.”
- Tap “Content and activity.”
- Tap “Watch history.”
- Tap “Clear” to erase your view history.
On Android:
- Open the TikTok app and tap the profile icon in the bottom right.
- Tap the three horizontal lines icon in the top right corner.
- Select “Settings and privacy.”
- Tap “Watch history.”
- Tap the three dots icon in the top right corner.
- Select “Clear watch history” to erase your view history.
Clearing your view history regularly will make it harder for other TikTok users to see which profiles you’ve visited. Just keep in mind it only removes views from that point forward – any views prior to clearing will still show up for those users.
TikTok’s Official Stance
TikTok has stated that they allow for anonymous viewing of public profiles to a certain extent. Users who are not logged in can browse and view public profiles anonymously. However, if someone tries to interact with content by liking, commenting, etc then they will be prompted to log in or create an account before doing so.
TikTok’s reasoning is that they want to give users the choice to browse publicly available content without an account if they wish, but require an account for any engagement. They believe this strikes a balance between allowing anonymous viewing while still associating engaged users with an account.
So in summary, TikTok officially supports anonymous viewing of public profiles in a read-only capacity, but not for interactive engagement, as that requires an identifiable account.
Conclusion
In summary, if you want to view someone’s TikTok profile anonymously, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- By default, TikTok does not notify users when you view their profile or videos. However, users can turn on view tracking in their settings.
- Viewing profiles of private accounts will alert the user, even if you don’t follow them. It’s best not to view private profiles you don’t intend to interact with.
- Using a secondary account is the best way to browse TikTok anonymously, as your main profile’s views will not be tracked.
- You can clear your TikTok view history at any time to remove your past views. However, this does not delete any views already seen by profile owners.
- While TikTok states they keep individual views anonymous, enabling view tracking means your profile views are visible to others.
In the end, maintaining your anonymity on TikTok comes down to carefully managing your settings, accounts, and viewing history.
