TikTok is a popular social media app that allows users to create and share short videos, usually set to music. The app has gained immense popularity since launching in 2016, with over 1 billion monthly active users as of 2022 (Bark, 2023).
Some of the key features of TikTok include:
- Creating and uploading short videos up to 3 minutes long
- Adding special effects, filters, and music to videos
- Commenting and engaging with other users’ content
- Following accounts and joining niche communities
- Discovering trending dances, songs, memes, and more
With its fun, entertaining format, TikTok has become a cultural phenomenon. However, like many social media platforms, it also raises questions around privacy and data collection.
Viewing Your Own TikTok History
TikTok allows users to view their own post history through the app. This includes videos you’ve liked, posted, drafted, and more. Here’s how to find your TikTok history:
To see your liked videos history, tap the “Profile” icon in the bottom right corner, then tap the bookmark icon. This will show your liked videos going back around 6 months.
For your posted video history, go to your profile page and tap on the 3 lines icon in the top right. Choose “Content and activity” then “Videos posted” to see your posting history. It will show all videos you’ve posted from when you joined TikTok.
Your draft video history can also be accessed from the “Content and activity” menu. Tap on “Drafts” to see all draft videos you’ve created but not posted.
TikTok also has a “Watch history” section that shows the videos you’ve recently watched. This can be cleared or disabled in Settings if desired. Overall, TikTok provides transparent access to your personal video history as a user.
Viewing Other Users’ Video History
Unlike with some other social media platforms, on TikTok there is no complete video viewing history available for other users’ profiles. This is because videos on TikTok can be deleted by the creator at any time. So a user’s current video gallery may not represent their full posting history on the app.
When you visit another TikTok user’s profile, you will only see the videos they have publicly posted that still remain on their account. Any videos they have removed or made private will not show up. There is no ability to look back through an archive of everything someone has posted in the past if they have since deleted it.
Some users may remove old videos to curate the look of their profile or erase content they no longer want associated with their account. The ephemeral nature of TikTok allows users to easily wipe their slates clean. So unlike platforms like YouTube or Instagram that maintain archives of all user uploads, you can only see a snapshot of a TikTok user’s videos at any given time. Their profile does not represent a comprehensive content history.
Finding Older/Deleted Videos
If you are looking to find older or deleted videos that are no longer available on TikTok, there are a few methods you can try:
One option is to use third-party TikTok download sites and apps. These sites allow users to enter a video URL to download and save TikTok videos. Some examples include ssstik.io, snaptik.app, and keepvid. If you previously had the URL of an old or deleted video, you may be able to use one of these sites to retrieve it, as long as the video hasn’t been completely scrubbed from TikTok’s servers.
You can also try searching Google and YouTube for reuploads of old TikTok videos. Sometimes if a video goes viral, other users will download and reupload it. Using unique keywords from the original video in your search query can help surface reuploads.
There are also a handful of websites that archive or aggregate older TikTok videos, although their collections are often limited. Examples include TikTok.fail, FilesButler, and Yout.
Unfortunately, if a video is deleted by the original uploader and you don’t have the URL, there is likely no way to retrieve it. TikTok does not have a feature to search for or recover deleted videos.
Viewing Comments History
Unlike most other social media platforms, TikTok does not provide users with a complete comment history. When viewing your own videos, you can only see comments that are currently live and public. As soon as a comment is deleted or hidden, it disappears from view and cannot be retrieved.
There are a couple ways to view your existing comment history on TikTok:
- On your profile, tap on a video to open it. Swipe up to view all live comments.
- Go to your profile and tap on “Liked videos” to see any videos you have liked. The comments you made should be visible here as long as the video is still public.
However, according to Adweek, once a comment is deleted or hidden, it is gone for good. TikTok does not have a view of historical comments like other platforms. The implication is that controversial, embarrassing, or regrettable comments essentially disappear after being removed.
For users looking to permanently delete their comment history, this can be achieved by deleting comments before hiding or removing the associated video. But there is no way to retrieve past comments after they have been hidden or removed.
Direct Message History
TikTok allows users to privately message each other through its direct messaging feature. To view your message history with another TikTok user:
1. Open the TikTok app and tap on the “Inbox” icon at the bottom of the screen. This will open up your messages page.
2. Tap on the message thread with the user you want to view history with. This will open up your full message history with that person.
You can scroll up to view your entire direct message history with that user, going back to your very first message. TikTok currently does not limit how far back you can look in a direct message thread.
However, if either you or the other user has blocked each other, you will no longer be able to view message history between you two. Blocking deletes the message thread and neither party can recover it ([1]https://support.tiktok.com/en/using-tiktok/messaging-and-notifications/direct-message-settings).
Search History
Unlike some other social media platforms, TikTok does not keep a complete record of users’ search histories that can be accessed later. According to Reddit users, there is no way to see your full TikTok search history beyond around 6 months ago (source).
When you tap on the search bar in the TikTok app, you will only see a list of your most recent searches from approximately the past 6 months. TikTok does not provide any tools or settings to allow you to view a full archive of your past search history beyond that time frame.
So in summary, while TikTok stores a limited search history that you can access directly in the app, there is no way for users to retrieve or look back at their full TikTok search history over the life of their account.
Account Data Download
TikTok allows users to download a copy of the data associated with their account. This can be done by going to the account settings and selecting “Download Your Data” [1]. The downloaded data includes information such as:
- Username, profile photo, bio, and contact info
- Videos posted, drafts, likes, comments, shares
- Messages and friends list
- Ads data and watch history
However, the download does not include some data such as analytics on views and traffic sources for videos. It also excludes some information that may have been deleted by the user such as past videos, comments, messages, etc [2].
Overall, the TikTok account data download provides a good snapshot of most account activity and personal information stored by TikTok. But it’s not a complete record, especially for content or data that has been removed.
Implications for Users
There are some important privacy and security implications for TikTok users to be aware of given the app’s data collection practices and account history functionality.
Firstly, users should understand that much of their TikTok data like videos, comments, messages, etc. can remain stored on TikTok’s servers even after being deleted from their account. While users can delete content from their own view, TikTok still has access to it according to their privacy policy (https://www.security.org/digital-safety/is-tiktok-safe/).
Secondly, TikTok’s data collection coupled with its algorithm raises concerns about how user data could be utilized or shared. TikTok gathers extensive data on users to personalize content feeds and target advertising. Experts warn this “aggressive data harvesting” could potentially be exploited by third parties (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jul/19/tiktok-has-been-accused-of-aggressive-data-harvesting-is-your-information-at-risk).
Users should be cautious about what personal information they share on TikTok, and be aware of how their data is being collected and used behind the scenes. Enabling privacy settings like making an account private can help protect against third-party data misuse.
There are also social consequences to consider on a platform like TikTok. Bullying and harassment can occur, and TikTok’s broad data collection means potentially embarrassing or problematic posts can remain associated with a user’s account even if deleted. Users should keep their audience in mind and post responsibly.
Conclusion
In summary, while TikTok does not have a complete historical record of all account activity like some other social media platforms, there are ways for users to access certain types of TikTok account history:
- Users can see who has viewed their profile if they enable Profile View History in settings.
- The Post View History setting shows users which accounts have viewed their videos.
- Comments left by a user on videos are stored and can be reviewed.
- Direct messages between users are saved and accessible.
- Searches made within the app are stored for a limited time.
- An account data download provides a snapshot of profile info, settings, etc.
While TikTok lacks a complete browsing history, the settings available do provide users with some visibility into their activity over time. Users should be aware of what account history is retained before posting videos or engaging with other accounts.
