TikTok has become one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 1 billion monthly active users. With its fun videos, viral trends, and powerful algorithm, it’s easy to get sucked into endless scrolling. However, some users reach a point where they want to take a break from the app or delete their account altogether. There are a few key reasons users may want to delete their data on TikTok:
– Privacy concerns – TikTok collects a significant amount of user data and some are uncomfortable with how much personal information the app gathers.
– Too addictive – The endless stream of entertainment can become addictive and some want to reduce screen time.
– Embarrassing old videos – Old videos resurfacing can be embarrassing if a user’s interests have changed.
– Breakups and harassment – After a breakup or harassment, users may want to delete traces of the other person.
– Fresh start – Deleting an old account and starting fresh can help some refocus their use of the app.
While deleting your entire TikTok account is straightforward, actually removing all your data and past videos takes some extra steps. This guide will walk through how to delete your TikTok data.
Viewing Your TikTok Data
TikTok allows users to view and access much of the data associated with their account. This includes things like your profile information, videos you’ve liked, comments you’ve made, and more. To view your TikTok data:
1. Open the TikTok app and go to your profile page.
2. Tap on the three dots in the top right corner and select “Settings and privacy” from the menu.
3. Select “Data privacy” from the Settings and privacy page.
4. Tap on “Download your data” to see options for viewing your TikTok data. This includes your “Videos”, “Profile and settings”, “Liked videos”, and more.
5. Tap on any of the categories to view and download the specific data related to that part of your TikTok account. For example, tapping on “Videos” will show you a list of all the videos you’ve posted.
You can also go to https://www.tiktok.com/discover/how-to-view-your-data-on-tiktok and request a copy of your TikTok data be sent to your email address.
Overall, TikTok makes it relatively simple to view and access your personal data from within the app. Just go to your account settings and tap on “Download your data” to get started.
Deleting Your TikTok Account
TikTok allows users to delete their account permanently, removing all associated data. According to AVG, here are the steps to fully delete a TikTok account:
- Open the TikTok app and tap the Profile button.
- Tap the Menu button.
- Tap Settings and privacy > Account.
- Tap Deactivate or delete account.
- Tap Delete account.
- Tap Continue.
- Tap Continue again to confirm.
- Verify your account to complete the deletion.
Once an account is deleted, the username is released and all content, messages, followers/following lists are permanently removed, according to TikTok. Users cannot reactivate a deleted account.
Removing Specific TikTok Videos
If you want to delete individual videos you’ve posted on TikTok, there are a couple ways to do so. The easiest is directly within the TikTok app on your mobile device.
To delete a single video:
- Open the TikTok app and go to your profile page.
- Tap on the video you want to delete.
- Tap the ‘Delete’ icon in the bottom right corner.
- Confirm that you want to delete the video.
The video will be immediately removed from your profile and other users will no longer be able to view it. However, according to TikTok’s privacy policy, deleting content doesn’t necessarily mean it’s immediately deleted from TikTok’s servers.
You can also delete videos in bulk from TikTok’s website. Log into your account settings, go to the ‘Videos I posted’ section, select the videos you want to remove, and click ‘Delete’.
While individual videos can be deleted, completely removing their existence from TikTok’s records is more difficult. The platform may retain data for ‘legal, regulatory, fraud prevention, or other compliance reasons.’
Clearing Search History
TikTok allows you to remove your search history from the app to protect your privacy. This will erase the record of what you’ve previously searched for. To clear your search history on TikTok:
Tap on your profile icon in the bottom right corner, then tap on the three horizontal lines icon in the top right corner to access the menu. Select “Settings and privacy” then “Privacy”. Tap on “Clear watch and search history”. Finally, confirm that you want to permanently delete your search history by tapping “Clear”.
Your TikTok search history should now be erased. The app will no longer store a record of what you’ve searched for. However, this does not delete your video viewing history. To remove your full watch history, you’ll need to delete your account. Clearing just your search history can help limit the data TikTok collects on your interests and searches.
Stopping Data Collection
You have some options for preventing TikTok from collecting additional personal data, though you cannot completely stop data collection while using the app. According to Digital Music News, you can limit further data collection by going to your profile, selecting “Settings”, then navigating to “Privacy” > “Personalize” > “Data”. From there, you can toggle off options like “Personalized Ads” and “Allow TikTok to access your browsing history”. This will limit TikTok from collecting more specific data about your interests and online activity, but won’t stop all data collection. The app needs some data to function, like your basic account info, posts, and usage analytics. Still, limiting these options can reduce TikTok’s access to detailed personal data.
Downloading Your Data
TikTok allows you to download all of the data associated with your account, including your profile information, videos, messages, login history, and more. Here are the steps to download your TikTok data:
1. Open the TikTok app and go to your profile page.
2. Tap on the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner and select “Privacy and settings”.
3. Select “Data and privacy” from the menu.
4. Tap on “Download your data” and follow the prompts.
5. Enter your password or verification code when asked.
6. Select the types of data you want to download. You can choose things like your profile info, videos, messages, contacts, and more.
7. Tap “Request data” at the bottom. TikTok will then compile and zip your data.
8. After a few days, you’ll get a notification that your data is ready to download. Return to the “Download your data” page to download it.
The downloaded data will be in JSON format and contain all of the TikTok information you selected. You can use this to maintain a backup of your data or before deleting your account. For details, see TikTok’s support page on downloading your data.
Deleting Messages
TikTok allows users to delete direct messages in a conversation by tapping and holding on a specific message. This will bring up the option to ‘Delete’ that message. However, this only deletes the message from the sender’s view, not the recipient’s. The recipient can still see the message in the conversation.
To delete a message for both parties, users can tap and hold on the message, then choose ‘Delete for Me and Recipient’. This will permanently remove the message from the conversation view for both the sender and recipient. According to TikTok’s support page, deleted messages cannot be recovered.
There is no current option to mass delete or bulk delete messages in TikTok. The only way to remove messages is to manually delete each one. Users can also delete an entire conversation by blocking the recipient, which erases the chat history.
Limiting Past Data Access
Even after deleting your TikTok account or removing specific videos, TikTok may retain some of your past data for an unspecified amount of time. According to Whizcase, “TikTok’s Data Retention Period is also unclear, not offering a specific period but claiming that ‘We retain information for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy'”.
Therefore, users have limited control over how much of their past TikTok data is retained after taking steps to remove it. The exact retention period is vague and at the discretion of TikTok based on their policies. If limiting access to your previous TikTok data is a priority, it’s important to understand that deletions may not fully erase everything right away.
Conclusion
In summary, there are several options for deleting your own data on TikTok. You can delete your entire TikTok account, which will remove all your videos, comments, likes, and other data associated with your profile. You can also go through and delete specific videos you’ve posted if you only want to remove certain content.
TikTok allows you to clear your search history and turn off data collection features to limit how much new data is gathered moving forward. You can also request to download your TikTok data to see what information the platform has collected about you so far. Options like deleting direct messages and limiting past data access can further help protect your privacy.
While TikTok makes it easy to post new videos and engage with content, it takes a bit more effort to manage and delete the data you produce on the platform. But with the right settings and some proactive housekeeping, you can curate the information TikTok stores about you over time.
