Understand TikTok’s data usage
The TikTok app can use a significant amount of data storage on your device. According to research, on average TikTok uses approximately 840MB (or just under 1GB) of data every hour [1]. The main causes of large TikTok data usage are downloading and saving videos, having a long feed history with lots of old videos, and watching videos at high quality settings.
When you watch, download, or save TikTok videos, they take up storage space on your device. Higher quality videos at 1080p resolution use more data than lower resolution videos. The more videos you view and accumulate in your feed over time, the more storage space TikTok takes up [2]. Old videos, drafts, cached data, and unused features can also build up and use substantial storage space even if you don’t notice it.
Delete old videos
One of the best ways to reduce your storage usage on TikTok is to delete old videos you no longer need. Over time, the videos you post can quickly eat up storage space on your device. Focus on removing videos you are no longer proud of or don’t align with your current content strategy.
To delete videos on TikTok:
- Open the TikTok app and go to your profile page.
- Tap on the video you want to delete.
- Tap the three dots in the bottom right corner.
- Select “Delete” to permanently remove the video.
Repeat this process for any old videos you want to delete. You can also tap and hold multiple videos on your profile and then tap “Delete” to remove them in bulk. This is an easy way to free up significant storage space.
Keep in mind that deleting a video from TikTok will not automatically delete the file from your device storage or camera roll. You’ll need to manually remove the videos from your phone’s gallery as well. For instructions on deleting videos from your camera roll, check your device’s user guide.
Avoid unnecessary downloads
One of the biggest reasons TikTok takes up storage space is because it automatically saves videos you watch to your device. While this allows you to easily rewatch videos later, it can quickly eat up your storage if you’re not careful.
To avoid unnecessary video downloads, consider the following tips:
- Watch videos within the TikTok app instead of downloading them. The app will stream videos without saving them.
- When sharing videos with friends, copy the link or use the share button rather than downloading and sending the actual video file. This prevents duplicate copies from being stored.
- Go through your downloads folder regularly and delete any TikTok videos you no longer need or didn’t intend to download in the first place. It’s easy to accidentally trigger a download.
Following these best practices will ensure only videos you truly want to keep end up taking up space on your device. TikTok downloading videos you watch can be convenient, but it also poses storage risks if you’re not proactive about removing unneeded downloads.
Use TikTok Lite
TikTok Lite is a lightweight version of the TikTok app that takes up less storage space and uses less data than the regular TikTok app. TikTok Lite is only 30MB in size compared to over 100MB for regular TikTok (https://www.guidingtech.com/tiktok-vs-tiktok-lite-comparison/).
Some key features of TikTok Lite include:
- Ability to watch, like, comment on, and share videos just like the regular TikTok app
- Create and post short videos up to 60 seconds
- Personalized video feed based on interests
- Special effects and filters for videos
- Duets and reactions to videos
The main benefits of using TikTok Lite for reduced data usage are:
- Uses less mobile data – TikTok Lite uses significantly less data than regular TikTok. One estimate is that it uses 2-3x less data per hour (https://twilinstok.com/tiktok-lite/).
- Smaller app size – The app itself takes up minimal storage space on your device.
- Cache clearing – TikTok Lite automatically clears cache to prevent storage build up.
- Option to limit data usage – You can set a daily data usage limit in the app.
So if you are concerned about your mobile data usage or storage space, switching to TikTok Lite can help reduce TikTok’s data and documents footprint.
Lower Video Quality
One way to reduce TikTok’s data usage is to lower the default video quality setting. This can be adjusted in the app’s settings. Go to your profile, tap the three dots in the top right corner, choose “Settings and privacy”, then select “Data usage”. Here you can choose between “Higher quality” or “Lower quality” videos.
Selecting the “Lower quality” option will upload and download videos at a lower resolution, which significantly reduces data consumption. According to Clipchamp, high quality videos can use up to 15 MB per minute, while lower quality uses around 4-5 MB per minute. So switching to lower quality could reduce your TikTok data usage by up to 70-80%.
The main downside is that lower quality videos will look more pixelated, blurry or compressed. But if you’re concerned about mobile data usage, reducing video quality can be an effective solution. Just keep in mind the visual tradeoffs.
Clear cached data
Clearing the cached data stored by TikTok is an easy way to free up storage space. TikTok caches things like videos you’ve watched, ads, and other temporary data. This cache can build up over time and take up significant storage, especially if you use TikTok frequently.
To clear the TikTok cache on iPhone or Android:
- Open the TikTok app
- Go to your profile page
- Tap the three dot menu icon in the top right
- Select “Settings and privacy”
- Tap “Clear cache”
This will immediately delete all the temporary cached TikTok data on your device.[1]
It’s generally recommended to clear your TikTok cache about once a month. This prevents the cached data from accumulating and taking up too much space, while still allowing TikTok to function smoothly day-to-day.[2]
Clearing the cache does not delete anything important like your profile, drafts, followers, or favorites. It only removes temporary cached files that can be re-downloaded as needed when you use the app again.
Uninstall unused features
TikTok has a variety of add-ons and extra features you can enable, like filters, stickers, emoji, and more. However, many of these can take up additional storage space without you realizing it. According to a Reddit user, features like filters and stickers used over 1 GB of space on their device
To see what TikTok features are using storage, go to your profile > settings > app > app size. Here you’ll see a breakdown of storage usage by feature. Examine the list and determine what you can live without. Uninstalling unused stickers, filters, or other features you don’t need can potentially free up hundreds of megabytes.
To uninstall TikTok features safely on iOS, tap on each feature and select ‘Delete’ or ‘Remove Download.’ For Android, tap the three dot menu next to each feature and select ‘Delete.’ This will remove the feature and free up device storage without impacting the rest of the app.
Regularly pruning unnecessary TikTok features is an easy way to reduce bloat and free up significant storage space over time. Stick to the essentials you actually use to keep your data storage lean.
Use Storage Saving Settings
One way to reduce TikTok’s data usage is by enabling the “Save to device” option in settings. This stores videos locally on your device rather than relying on data to stream them each time. According to Wikihow, enabling this can significantly reduce mobile data usage by TikTok1. However, it comes at the cost of increased device storage used.
You can also restrict background data usage in the app settings. As noted by Dexerto, this prevents TikTok from eating up data when running in the background2. The downside is you may not receive notifications as quickly when TikTok can’t refresh in the background.
Overall, while enabling storage saving settings can reduce TikTok’s data usage, it requires sacrificing some convenience and performance. You’ll need to decide if the tradeoff is worthwhile based on your data limits and usage preferences.
Get creative with uploads
One way to reduce TikTok’s storage usage is to get creative with how you upload and host videos. Here are some tips:
Edit and compress videos before uploading. Use the video editor in your phone or a third party app to trim any unnecessary footage, lower the resolution, or compress the file size. This will allow you to upload a smaller, more optimized video to TikTok without sacrificing too much quality. See this guide for best practices on editing and sizing videos before uploading to TikTok.
Consider hosting longer videos on YouTube. TikTok has a 60 second limit for uploads from mobile devices. If you want to share a longer video, upload it to YouTube instead, then post a small teaser or highlight from that video on TikTok with a link back to the full YouTube video for viewers to watch. This saves storage space on TikTok.
Be strategic with drafts. Store draft videos that you aren’t ready to post in your camera roll or a cloud storage service instead of saving everything as TikTok drafts which take up local storage space.
Upgrade your device storage
If you find yourself constantly running out of storage due to heavy TikTok use, upgrading your device’s storage capacity may be the best solution. How much extra storage you need depends on your usage – heavy users may need anywhere from 64GB to 512GB. For iPhone users, this would mean upgrading to a model with more internal storage. Android users can often add removable Micro SD cards to expand storage. High capacity SD cards up to 1TB are available from brands like SanDisk and Samsung.
Before upgrading, estimate your needed storage by tracking your TikTok app data usage over a month. On iPhone, check Settings > General > iPhone Storage to see the app size. On Android, go to Settings > Storage > Apps. If TikTok regularly uses over 50% of your free space, it’s a sign you could benefit from more device storage.
Adding more onboard storage or an SD card lets you store far more TikTok videos and data before hitting capacity limits. Just be sure to transfer any existing TikTok files to the new storage to free up the original space. With more room, you won’t have to constantly manage and delete content.
