TikTok has become an immensely popular social media platform, especially among Gen Z users. It currently has over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide [1]. TikTok’s short form videos have proven highly addictive for many users.
However, some iPhone users may eventually want to take a break from the app or delete it entirely. Reasons can include wanting to spend less time on their phone, concerns over privacy, or losing interest in the content. Deleting TikTok can be a way for users to reclaim storage space on their iPhones or exercise more control over their digital habits.
This guide will walk through the steps to fully remove TikTok from an iPhone’s library and storage. It will also cover options for backing up TikTok data before deletion as well as reinstalling the app afterwards if desired.
Locate TikTok App
To remove TikTok from your iPhone library, you first need to locate the TikTok app itself. This can be done by following these steps:
Open iPhone settings – Go to the Settings app on your iPhone’s home screen and tap to open it.
Select General – Scroll down and tap on “General” to open the General settings menu.
Choose iPhone Storage – Under the General settings, tap on “iPhone Storage” to see details about your storage usage.
This will bring up a list of all the apps installed on your iPhone along with the amount of storage they are using. Locate “TikTok” in the apps list.
Check TikTok Storage Usage
Before removing TikTok, it’s a good idea to check how much storage space the app and its data are taking up. This will give you an idea of how much space you can free up.
To check TikTok’s storage usage on an iPhone, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. Scroll down and select TikTok. Here you will see the total storage used by the TikTok app itself and the amount of documents and data stored by TikTok.
According to clario.co, social media apps like TikTok use around 100 MB of data per hour of streaming video. The TikTok app itself is around 100 MB. So if you are a heavy TikTok user, the app and its data may end up taking gigabytes of storage.
Checking the storage usage before deleting TikTok lets you know exactly how much space removing the app will free up.
Offload Unused TikTok Data
One way to free up storage space used by TikTok is to offload unused data from the app. Offloading removes the app’s cache, temporary files, and unused data while keeping the TikTok app itself on your device (Source).
To offload unused TikTok data on an iPhone, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. Tap on TikTok and select Offload App. This will remove the data cached by TikTok while retaining the app itself so you can easily reinstall it later if needed (Source).
Offloading unused TikTok data can free up significant storage space since the app caches videos and data from your usage. It’s a good option if you want to keep TikTok installed but reduce its storage impact. The app data and content will reload from the TikTok servers when you launch the app again after offloading unused data (Source).
Delete Entire TikTok App
To remove the TikTok app and all of its associated data from your iPhone, follow these steps:
1. Find the TikTok app icon on your Home Screen. Press and hold the icon until the icons start to shake.
2. Tap the “X” that appears on the top left corner of the TikTok icon. A message will pop up asking you to confirm that you want to delete the app.
3. Tap “Delete” to confirm. The TikTok app will be removed from your Home Screen.
4. Next, go to the Settings app and tap General > iPhone Storage. This will show you the storage usage of all your apps.
5. Scroll down and find TikTok, then tap on it. Tap on “Delete App” to completely remove the app and all of its data.
6. Confirm again that you want to delete it. TikTok and all of its associated data will now be permanently removed from your iPhone.1
Reinstalling TikTok
If you deleted the TikTok app from your iPhone but want to reinstall it, you can easily redownload the app from the App Store. However, reinstalling TikTok will not restore any of your previous data or account information that was associated with the app.
To reinstall TikTok on your iPhone:
- Open the App Store app.
- Tap the Search tab at the bottom.
- Type “TikTok” in the search bar.
- Tap the Get button or cloud download icon next to the TikTok app listing to redownload it.
Once TikTok has finished downloading, you can open the app and log in with your TikTok account credentials to access your profile. However, any previous videos, likes, comments, messages, or other app data will not be restored since that information was deleted when you originally removed TikTok from your iPhone 1.
If you want to recover any lost TikTok data from your previous install of the app, you will need to restore your iPhone from a recent iCloud or iTunes backup that contains that TikTok information before redownloading the app.
Alternative Options
If completely deleting the TikTok app seems too extreme, there are other options to help limit your TikTok usage and reduce distractions:
Disable notifications – You can turn off notifications for TikTok in your iPhone’s Settings app. Go to Settings > Notifications > TikTok and toggle off Allow Notifications. This prevents TikTok from sending you alerts and interrupting your day.
Limit app usage with screen time settings – The Screen Time feature in iOS lets you set daily limits on how much you can use TikTok and other apps. You can configure it to lock the TikTok app after a set amount of time each day. Go to Settings > Screen Time > App Limits to add a limit for TikTok.
Using Screen Time, you can also schedule “downtime” where certain apps are unavailable during set times, like at night. Overall, Screen Time gives you granular control to restrict TikTok usage rather than fully removing the app.
Backing Up TikTok Data
Before deleting the TikTok app, it’s important to back up any data you want to keep, such as favorites, messages, videos, and more. One easy way to do this is by using iCloud to back up your TikTok data:
To backup TikTok data with iCloud:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone
- Tap on your name at the top of the screen
- Select “iCloud”
- Make sure that “iCloud Backup” is turned on
- Tap “Back Up Now” to immediately back up your device, including TikTok data
According to Apple Support, iCloud backups save “information like your text messages, WhatsApp and iMessage conversations, contacts, calendar events, reminders, settings, and other data from apps” [1]. This means it should back up your favorites, messages, and other important TikTok data.
You can also connect your iPhone to your computer and back up locally using iTunes or Finder. This will similarly save app data like that from TikTok [2].
Once you’ve backed up your TikTok data either through iCloud or local backup, you can proceed to deleting the TikTok app knowing your information is safely stored.
Restoring Backed Up TikTok Data
If you want to restore your backed up TikTok data after deleting the app, you can do so by restoring your iPhone from an iCloud or iTunes backup that contains your TikTok data. Here’s how:
To restore from an iCloud backup:
- On your iPhone, go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups. Select the backup you want to restore from.
- Tap Restore Backup. Your iPhone will be restored to the state it was in when that backup was made, including all data from the TikTok app.
Restoring from a backup will recover your Favorited videos, messages, drafts, and other TikTok data that was saved in that backup. Just keep in mind it will also revert other apps and data on your iPhone to the state they were in at the time of the backup.
Once the restore is complete, you can reinstall TikTok from the App Store and your backed up data will be there.
Conclusion
In summary, removing TikTok from your iPhone involves locating the app, checking its storage usage, offloading unused data, deleting the app entirely, and reinstalling if desired. Key steps covered include:
- Finding the TikTok app on your iPhone’s home screen or in the App Library.
- Going into iPhone settings to view the app’s storage usage.
- Tapping “Offload App” to remove TikTok data you want to keep.
- Selecting “Delete App” to permanently delete TikTok from your iPhone.
- Re-downloading TikTok from the App Store if you change your mind later.
For additional help removing apps on an iPhone, check out Apple’s support site[1] or contact their customer service. You can also find useful tutorials on YouTube.
