How do I delete documents and data from TikTok?

Why You May Want to Delete TikTok Content

There are several common reasons why TikTok users may want to delete content they have posted:

Regret over posting something embarrassing or inappropriate. According to a Statista survey, 43% of social media users have deleted old posts to protect their reputation [1]. TikTok is no exception, and users may want to remove videos they later realize could reflect poorly on them.

Desire for more privacy and less digital footprint. Some people decide they no longer want their personal information and videos so public on social platforms. Deleting TikTok content can help manage one’s online presence.

Change in life circumstances making old content irrelevant. If users go through major life changes, past content may no longer fit their current situation. For example, after a break-up or new relationship, deleting couple videos may be desirable.

Removal of content that didn’t get engagement. If videos fail to gain views or likes, users may delete them to clean up their profile.

Concerns over data privacy and TikTok’s policies. With ongoing speculation over TikTok’s handling of user data, some prefer to delete their videos and engagement history.

Overall, people delete TikTok content for both personal and pragmatic reasons, whether to curate their image, increase privacy, or remove irrelevant or poorly-performing videos.

Deleting Individual TikTok Videos

If you want to delete a video you’ve posted to your TikTok profile or the For You page, follow these steps:

1. Open the TikTok app and go to your profile page. Tap on the video you want to delete to open it.
2. Tap on the three-dot menu icon in the bottom right corner of the video.
3. Select “Delete” from the menu that pops up. TikTok will ask you to confirm that you want to delete the video.
4. Tap “Delete” again to permanently remove the video from your profile and the FYP page. The video will no longer be publicly available.

You can also delete videos directly from your video manager. Go to your profile, tap the three-line menu icon, choose “Content”, then select “Delete” next to any video you want to remove.

Once a video is deleted, there is no way to recover it, so be certain before removing any content. Deleting a video will not delete any comments, likes, or views associated with that video.

Removing Liked Videos

If you want to unlike videos you’ve previously liked on TikTok to remove them from your Liked list, here are the steps:

1. Open the TikTok app and tap on the “Profile” icon in the bottom right.

2. Tap on the “Heart” icon to go to your Liked videos list.

3. Tap and hold on a video you want to unlike. A pop-up menu will appear.

4. Tap “Unlike” to unlike that video. It will be removed from your Liked videos list.

You can also unlike videos from your Following feed. Swipe up on a video and tap the heart icon to unlike it.

To unlike multiple videos faster, use the “Select” option in the top right of your Liked videos list to select multiple videos, then tap “Unlike”.

You can also use third-party apps like Social Typro to unlike TikTok videos in bulk.

Deleting Comments

Here are the steps to delete comments from your own videos or remove comments from others on your videos on TikTok:

To delete your own comments:

1. Open the TikTok app and tap on the Comments button on the video where you commented.
2. Long press on the comment you want to delete.
3. Tap the trash can icon to delete the comment.

To remove someone else’s comment from your video:

1. Go to the video that has the comment.
2. Tap on the Comments button.
3. Swipe left on the comment you want to delete and tap the trash can icon.

You can only delete comments from your own videos as the video owner. Other users cannot delete comments they have made on videos that are not theirs. However, video owners can remove any inappropriate or unwanted comments from their videos using the steps above.

For more details on managing comments on TikTok, see the TikTok Help Center.

Turning Off Duets

One way to prevent your TikTok videos from being reposted is to turn off the Duet feature. Duets allow other users to create reaction videos and duets using your original video. Here’s how to disable Duets on your TikTok videos:

1. Open the TikTok app and go to your profile page.

2. Tap the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner and select “Manage my account.”

3. Select “Privacy and safety.”

4. Tap “Disable features.”

5. Toggle off the switch next to “Allow Duets.”

This will prevent other users from duetting your videos across your entire TikTok account. You can also disable duets on individual videos by opening the video, tapping the Share icon, and toggling off “Allow Duet.” Disabling duets can help prevent unwanted reposting of your original videos.

For more information, see TikTok’s instructions on duets: https://support.tiktok.com/en/using-tiktok/creating-videos/duets

Deleting Messages

To delete messages on TikTok:

1. Open the TikTok app and go to your inbox.
2. Tap on the conversation with the messages you want to delete.
3. Press and hold on the specific message you want to remove.
4. A menu will pop up – tap “Delete” to remove the message.
5. The message will be deleted from the conversation for you, but the other person will still be able to see it unless they also delete it on their end.
6. To delete the entire conversation, tap on the name of the person at the top of the chat and select “Delete chat.”

According to TikTok’s Help Center, individual messages can only be deleted on one side of the conversation. The other person will still be able to see messages you delete. To fully remove a message for both sides, the other person will also need to delete it from their inbox.

Removing Downloaded Videos

When you download a video from TikTok, it saves a copy of that video to your device’s local storage. This allows you to watch TikTok videos offline when you don’t have an internet connection. However, over time these downloaded videos can take up a significant amount of storage space on your phone or tablet.

To delete downloaded videos on an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > General > iPhone/iPad Storage. This will show you a breakdown of all the apps using storage on your device. Tap on TikTok and it will show you how much space is being used. Tap again and you’ll see a list of all your downloaded videos. Tap Edit and delete any videos you want to remove. This will delete them from your device’s storage.¹

On Android, go to Settings > Storage > Free Up Space. This will show you which apps have cache data or large files you can delete. Tap TikTok and you’ll be able to review your downloaded videos. Check the boxes next to any you want to delete, then tap Free Up to remove them from storage.

You can also go directly into the TikTok app. Tap on your profile icon > Settings and privacy > Manage my account > Storage and caching. Here you’ll see options to manage both your online videos and downloaded videos. Tap Remove downloaded videos to delete any you’ve saved locally on your device.

Clearing Search History

TikTok allows users to delete parts or all of their search history. This can be useful if you want to remove potentially embarrassing or private searches. According to Dexerto, to clear your entire TikTok search history:

1. Open the TikTok app and tap on your profile icon in the bottom right corner.
2. Select the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top right corner.
3. Choose ‘Settings and privacy’ > ‘Content and activity’ > ‘Watch history’.
4. At the bottom of the page, tap ‘Clear all’ to delete your full search history.

You can also selectively remove search terms by tapping ‘Select’ and choosing particular searches to delete, as noted by ScreenRant. This allows you to clear only certain searches while keeping others.

Deactivating Account

If you want to take a break from TikTok without permanently deleting your account, you can temporarily deactivate it. Deactivating pauses your account and hides your profile and videos from other users, but keeps all of your content stored so you can reactivate later. Here are the steps to deactivate your TikTok account:

1. Open the TikTok app and tap on your profile icon in the bottom right corner.

2. Tap on the three-line “hamburger” menu icon in the top right corner.

3. Select “Manage account” from the menu.

4. Tap on “Delete account” and then “Continue” to confirm.

5. Choose “Deactivate account” and follow the on-screen prompts to temporarily deactivate your account.

Your profile will immediately be hidden from other users. To reactivate your account later, simply log back in with your username and password. Your profile, followers, likes, comments, and videos will be restored.

Permanently Deleting Account

If you want to delete your TikTok account and all associated data permanently, here are the steps you need to take:

1. Open the TikTok app and tap on your profile icon in the bottom right corner.

2. Tap on the menu icon in the top right corner (three horizontal lines).

3. Select “Settings and privacy” from the menu.

4. Tap on “Manage account” and then “Delete account”.

5. Select “Permanently delete my account” and tap “Next”.

6. Enter your password and tap “Permanently delete”.

Once you permanently delete your account, all your videos, likes, comments, messages, and other data associated with your account will be removed from TikTok’s servers and cannot be recovered. The process may take up to 30 days to be fully completed.

If you simply want to take a break from TikTok without losing your data, you can deactivate your account instead through the app settings. With deactivation, your profile, videos, likes etc. are hidden but not deleted so you can reactivate your account later.