How to make my tik tok private

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TikTok is an inherently public platform, but not everyone wants a public profile, which is why it's easy for users to change their privacy settings.

TikTok privacy graphic

TikTok is an inherently public platform, but that doesn't mean accounts can't be private. The current darling of the social media world rewrote the rules on how users' home feeds are populated, serving its short-form video content by algorithm only rather than by what friends or connections are posting. It's a formula that's worked, with TikTok boasting somewhere north of 800 million monthly active users, but not everyone may want 800 million people able to view their profile.

The notion of setting social media accounts to private first came about with Twitter after its launch in 2006, with its accounts public by default but users able to set them to private and approve or reject follow requests. Prior to that, Facebook's early approach had been to allow users to see only the profiles of those they were friends with on the platform. The gradual opening up of and algorithmization of home feeds — of which the TikTok approach is an evolution — allows for platforms to serve users with content that they are most likely to engage with and increases opportunities for commercialization.

There are any number of reasons, though, why users might not want a social media profile to be publicly viewable and, like other platforms, TikTok provides a clear way to change the setting. On the platform, the profile and videos of public accounts are viewable by anyone whether or not they're a TikTok user, while the visibility of other features like Duets and Stitch depends on more granular privacy settings. Content on private accounts, meanwhile, can only be seen by users a follower has approved subsequent to setting the account to private. Other users are also not able to Duet with, Stitch, or download the videos of private accounts.

Setting A TikTok Account To Private Or Public

TikTok private account setting

To change the privacy setting of a TikTok account, users should tap the 'Me' tab, then the ellipsis menu in the top right corner that looks like three vertically-stacked dots, and navigate to the 'Privacy' section. Here, users can toggle the privacy of their account on or off, as well as change a number of other privacy settings. For example, it's possible to choose whether an account is suggested to others for following, to customize data sharing and ad serving, and to specify who can do what with an account's videos.

The simplicity and variety of privacy controls within TikTok is obviously a good thing, not least because it has a relatively young user base. However, people of any age may choose to set a TikTok account to private if they want to avoid being tracked down by certain offline connections, they've been getting abuse or harassment online, if they prefer their online connections to be only people they know, or they simply want to enjoy the content on TikTok with no other strings attached.

More: What You Need To Know About TikTok Personalized Ads

Source: TikTok

tiktok symbol

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If the thought of being TikTok famous is not your cup of tea or you would rather not share your profile and videos with strangers, then making your TikTok account private is the way to go. This social media platform lets you customize its privacy settings so that you choose who sees your content.

For content creators, switching your account from public to private gives you more control as to who views your videos, plus you get to further tweak account settings so that you're able to limit who sees your videos — even among your connections (via TikTok).

Additionally, If you are a teenager between the ages of 13 and 17 years old, TikTok has additional privacy controls for your safety. They include default settings that prevent strangers from downloading your video, stopping other users from doing a duet or stitching your videos, and eliminating all suggestion settings to make it harder for people to find you.

Make your account private

screenshot tiktok profile

If you have a public account, your profile and videos can be viewed and downloaded by anyone — even if they don't have an account (via Business Insider). They can also use your content to make stitches or duets once you've enabled it on your profile. By changing your profile to private, you put a stop to all that. You are now able to approve or deny follower requests, so that only people you approve of can view your videos, watch your live videos, read your bio, or see other content you like. 

Also, by putting your account on private mode, your followers will not be able to download your videos and cannot access your content to stitch or create duets. Switching your account from public to private is easy, and can be done in just a few steps.

Here's how you do it:

  1. Open the TikTok app on your phone.

  2. Tap on the Profile button in the bottom-right corner.

  3. Tap the 3-line icon on the top-right.

  4. Select the Settings and Privacy option.

  5. Toggle the Private Account tab on/off.

Privacy controls for every video

video privacy

hareluya/Shutterstock

Whether your profile is public or private, you can change the privacy settings at any time on each video you share (via TikTok). TikTok has three general privacy modes for all posts: everyone can see, only your followers can see, or only you can see. If your profile is already private, you have the option to allow your videos to be viewed by everyone who you're connected with or only your friends (these are your followers that follow you back), or for your eyes only. You can adjust your privacy settings before you upload or after you post.

To make your new posts private:

  1. Click on Create Your Video.

  2. After you record your video, tap the Privacy Settings button on the right.

  3. Select the privacy setting you want.

If you want to switch privacy settings after you post:

  1. Choose the video, you want to update

  2. Tap the 3-dot icon on the right side

  3. Select Privacy Settings at the bottom

  4. Choose a privacy setting from the Who Can Watch This Video tab.