What Is a Private TikTok Account?
A private TikTok account is an account where only approved followers can view the account holder’s videos (Quora). Compared to a public TikTok account where anyone can view videos, a private account gives the user more control over who sees their content.
With a private account, the user must approve each follower request before that person can see any videos. This allows the account holder to restrict access to a smaller circle of family, friends, or other approved individuals. Public accounts have no such restriction, so any TikTok user can watch posted videos.
Private accounts grant more privacy, though analytics are still collected. The main difference is limiting your viewership to vetted followers rather than the entire TikTok community (Today). This gives private account holders discretion over who interacts with their content.
How to Make Your TikTok Account Private
Making your TikTok account private is easy to do directly within the TikTok app. Here are the step-by-step instructions:
1. Open the TikTok app on your mobile device and go to your profile page.
2. Tap the three-dot menu icon in the upper right corner and select “Privacy and safety” from the menu.
3. Under “Account privacy,” toggle the switch for “Private account” to the on position.
4. Confirm that you want to make your account private when prompted.
Once you toggle your account to private, TikTok will immediately make all of your existing videos private. Any new videos you post will also be private by default. You can still change video privacy settings individually if you want certain videos to be public while keeping your account private overall.
For more details, refer to TikTok’s instructions on making your account public or private.
Who Can See Your Videos on a Private Account?
When your TikTok account is set to private, only followers that you have approved can view your videos. Your videos will not show up on the For You page or in any public areas of TikTok where they could be seen by random users.
TikTok explains that “Only your approved followers can see your private videos. Your private videos won’t appear on hashtag or sound pages” (TikTok Help Center).
So setting your account to private limits your videos to be seen only by followers you accept. This gives you control over who can view the content you post, rather than it being public for anyone on TikTok to find.
Approving Followers on a Private Account
One of the key features of a private TikTok account is the ability to manually approve followers. When your account is set to private, anytime someone wants to follow you, they have to send a follow request. This request will show up in your notifications tab.
You can then choose to approve or deny each request individually. If you approve the request, that user will be added as a follower and be able to see your private videos. If you deny it, they will not be able to access your private account.
According to TikTok’s support article, you can also set filters like minimum age for follow requests if you want to limit requests to a certain demographic (https://www.tiktok.com/safety/en-us/account-settings/). So a private account allows granular control over who can view your content.
Once someone is approved as a follower, you can also remove them later if you change your mind. Removing a follower instantly blocks them from accessing your private videos again. So you’re not permanently stuck with any followers you approve.
Differences from a Public Account
When your TikTok account is private, there are some key differences compared to a public account:
– Less discoverability: Your private videos won’t show up on TikTok’s public feeds like the “For You” page, so they can only be seen by approved followers. This means your account and content has less chance of going viral and reaching a wide audience on TikTok.
– More control over audience: You get to approve who can see your private videos, rather than them being public to anyone on TikTok. This allows you to restrict your audience to only people you know and trust.
According to TikTok’s support page, making your account private gives you “more control over your viewing audience.” The ability to approve followers helps ensure your videos stay within your intended circle.
Private Account Benefits
One of the main benefits of having a private TikTok account is avoiding unwanted attention. With a public account, anyone can view, comment on, and share your videos. This opens creators up to harassment, bullying, and unwanted interactions. By making an account private, a user can limit their audience to only approved followers.
This allows TikTok users to share more personal videos with a select inner circle. For example, users may feel comfortable posting silly dances or inside jokes for close friends and family to see. But they likely wouldn’t want these casual videos going viral with millions of strangers. A private account gives users control over who sees their content.
According to TikTok’s support article, “a private account is a TikTok profile that isn’t accessible to anybody who doesn’t have the phone number of the user.” Only approved followers can view private videos. This provides TikTok creators with privacy and protects them from mass public attention.
Private Account Drawbacks
While there are many benefits to having a private TikTok account, there are some potential drawbacks as well that are worth considering before making your account private.
One of the main drawbacks of a private account is that it can limit your potential for engagement and growth on TikTok. Since only approved followers can view your videos, the pool of users who can stumble upon your content organically is much smaller. This means you may get less viewership and engagement on your videos compared to if your account was public (1).
Having a private account also makes it much harder for any of your videos to go viral and be seen by a massive audience. Videos generally need to be public and get pushed out to TikTok’s algorithm to have a chance at exploding in popularity. The limited visibility of a private account makes virality considerably less likely (2).
In summary, while private accounts provide more control and privacy, the tradeoff is reduced exposure and limitations on growth. You’ll miss out on opportunities for your videos to reach and engage the broader TikTok community. So if your main goal is to build an audience and maximize viewership, a public account may be preferable.
Analytics on a Private Account
Even with a private account on TikTok, you are still able to view analytics for your own videos and account performance. This allows you to track important metrics like views, likes, comments, shares, followers gained, etc. However, your analytics are limited compared to a public account.
On a private TikTok account, you can only see analytics related to your own account. You cannot view public data on content performance and trends. TikTok notes in their privacy policy that “TikTok Analytics are provided only regarding the TikTok Account holder’s own account and based on Engagement Data related to their account.”
While a public account lets you benchmark against others, a private account analytics view is restricted. As explained by TikTok’s Creator Portal, you can only “see how your own videos are performing against each other.” You cannot see how you rank among other creators.
So in summary, a private account limits your analytics to your own performance data. But it still provides the crucial metrics you need to track growth and engagement over time.
Switching Back to Public
If you decide you want to change your private TikTok account back to public, you can revert at any time. To make your account public again:
1. Open the TikTok app and go to your profile page.
2. Tap the menu icon in the top right corner.
3. Select “Settings and privacy” then tap “Privacy”.
4. Toggle the “Private account” setting to off.
Your account will now be public. Anyone will be able to view your profile and videos without needing approval to follow you. You can toggle between private and public as often as you want based on your preferences at the time.
According to TikTok’s support article on private accounts (https://support.tiktok.com/en/account-and-privacy/account-privacy-settings/making-your-account-public-or-private), switching to a public account means previously approved followers will remain, but followers you rejected will need to send a new follow request.
Tips for Using a Private TikTok Account
Here are some recommendations for making the most of your private TikTok account experience:
Carefully curate who you allow to follow you. Only approve follower requests from people you know and trust, to maintain privacy.
Review your account analytics regularly to see how your private videos are performing. While metrics are limited, you can still get insights.
Use privacy settings like comments and duets to limit engagement from followers-only, if you wish.
Create high-quality content you feel comfortable sharing with your close followers without going viral.
Interact frequently with your followers by commenting on their videos to maintain an engaged audience.
Go live occasionally to give your followers exclusive behind-the-scenes access.
Consider switching back to public if you want to grow your audience and get content discovered more easily.
Leverage other social platforms to promote your private TikTok account to gain followers.
Stay mindful of TikTok’s community guidelines – even private content may get reported.
