The Recently Viewed section on TikTok shows users a history of the videos they have watched in the past 7 days. This feature allows people to easily find and rewatch videos they’ve seen before. The section provides a useful way for users to rediscover videos they enjoyed, shared with friends, or meant to save but forgot. Having a log of recently watched content can help jog users’ memories so they can more easily locate videos again. Overall, the Recently Viewed feed serves as a helpful lookup tool to find and remember videos you’ve watched recently on TikTok.
Viewing History
The Recently Viewed feature on TikTok allows users to see the TikTok videos they have watched in chronological order. This viewing history shows the last few dozen videos a user has viewed in reverse chronological order, with the most recently watched video appearing first.
As the name implies, Recently Viewed provides a log of the TikTok videos you have viewed most recently on the app. It functions similarly to a web browsing history, giving visibility into the content you’ve consumed through the platform. This can help users rediscover videos they enjoyed or remind themselves of videos they may want to watch again or share.
TikTok’s algorithm curates a personalized “For You” feed for each user. While this feed aims to serve up relevant and engaging content, it doesn’t necessarily reflect the exact videos a user has watched. The Recently Viewed feature supplements the algorithmic feed by allowing users to see their precise viewing history in order.
Overall, the Recently Viewed section on TikTok gives users a way to double back and look through their viewing history, jogging their memory about videos they’ve previously enjoyed on the platform. It provides a linear chronology of the content a user has watched most recently.
Time Frame
The Recently Viewed section on TikTok shows videos you’ve watched in the past 24-48 hours 1. This means your viewing history for the last 1-2 days will be available in that section. After 48 hours, the videos you watched will disappear from Recently Viewed. So this feature provides a snapshot of your recent TikTok viewing rather than a comprehensive long-term history.
The limited time frame means you won’t be able to access your full viewing history going back weeks or months. But Recently Viewed does allow you to rediscover videos from the past couple days that you may have forgotten about or want to watch again. Just keep in mind that the videos only stay in that section for 24-48 hours before dropping off.
Private Account Settings
If a TikTok user has set their account to private, their videos will not show up in your Recently Viewed list, even if you have viewed their videos while their account was public. This is because private accounts restrict access to their content to only approved followers. According to a post on Quora, “If I have a private account on TikTok, only my followers will be able to see my videos. This means that if someone appears at the top of your viewer list, he has most recently viewed your account.”
So if you view someone’s videos and then they switch their account to private, those videos will no longer be visible in your Recently Viewed. Their account and videos essentially become invisible to anyone not approved to follow them. The privacy settings take effect immediately and retroactively. This allows users to protect and control access to the content they have posted.
Deleting Videos
To delete individual videos from your Recently Viewed section on TikTok, you can tap and hold on a video thumbnail and select “Delete” from the menu that appears. This will remove that specific video from your viewing history. Alternatively, you can tap into the video, then tap the share icon in the bottom right and choose “Delete” from the options.
Deleting a video will remove it from your Recently Viewed so it no longer shows up in your history. This is useful if there are certain videos you don’t want cluttering up your Recents or that you don’t want others to see if they access your account. According to TikTok’s support page, deleting videos individually is the only way to remove specific videos from your Recently Viewed section.
Clearing All Videos
If you want to delete your entire Recently Viewed video history on TikTok, you can do so through the app’s settings. Simply go to your profile page and tap the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner. Select “Settings and privacy” then choose “Privacy.” Under “Content and Activity” tap “Watch History” and toggle the switch off to stop TikTok from recording your viewing history going forward. To clear your past history, tap “Clear All Watch History” on this same page. This will delete your full Recently Viewed video history from the app. Just note that it can take up to 24 hours for the change to be fully reflected across TikTok (TikTok).
Personalized Experience
Note how Recently Viewed provides a customized video feed unique to each user. When you open the Recently Viewed section, TikTok displays videos and content based on your previous viewing history and interactions (Source: https://www.adweek.com/media/tiktok-how-to-find-a-video-youve-watched/). This allows users to easily rediscover videos they’ve watched before but didn’t like or follow at the time. The Recently Viewed feed also helps users pick up where they left off if they took a break from scrolling through videos.
TikTok’s algorithm takes your unique preferences, engagement, and history into account when curating the videos shown in Recently Viewed. So this section provides a personalized viewing experience, rather than a generic chronological list of recently watched videos (Source: https://www.quora.com/Does-TikTok-analytics-show-who-viewed-your-profile). The goal is to show you content you’re likely to enjoy watching again based on your past TikTok activity.
Finding New Content
The “Recently Viewed” section on TikTok allows users to easily rediscover videos they’ve watched previously. This can be helpful for finding funny or interesting videos you want to watch again or share with friends. According to The Marketing Heaven, TikTok’s “Recently Viewed” section makes it easy to organize and categorize your saved content. It is located under the “Liked” tab, allowing you to scroll through videos you’ve watched recently
Having a “Recently Viewed” section helps the TikTok algorithm understand what types of videos you prefer watching. As explained on Shutterstock, TikTok’s algorithm curates the “For You” feed based on your interests and past viewing behavior. So revisiting old videos in “Recently Viewed” further signals to TikTok the content you like. This can lead to better recommendations and tailored discovery of new videos in your feeds.
Privacy Concerns
While TikTok’s Recently Viewed feature can be useful, some users have expressed concerns over potential privacy issues. According to one source, allowing access to your camera and microphone on TikTok can raise privacy concerns (source).
In particular, some Reddit users have pointed out that the Recently Viewed feature allows anyone to see who has viewed your profile without consent (source). This means complete strangers can monitor your profile views without you knowing.
To mitigate privacy risks, experts recommend reviewing your privacy settings and disabling the Recently Viewed feature if you are uncomfortable with it. You can also make your account private to limit profile views to only approved followers.
Conclusion
The “Recently Viewed” feature on TikTok allows users to see a list of accounts that have recently viewed their profile. This can provide insight into who is interacting with your content, though the list only shows accounts you follow back. The feature shows the last 30 days of views, and accounts drop off the list after that time period. While some users find it useful for engagement, others feel it can lead to privacy concerns or social pressures. Overall, “Recently Viewed” aims to help creators understand their audience and encourage more connections on the platform, though users have the option to limit profile visibility in their settings if desired.
In summary, the “Recently Viewed” section gives TikTok users visibility into recent profile views to foster engagement, provides a limited 30 day view history, respects some privacy preferences, and can be disabled by users in their account settings. Used proactively, these insights can help creators adapt their content strategy and better interact with their supporters on TikTok.
