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Mastering TikTok Privacy: Turning Off Your Activity and Taking Control

Want to fly under the radar on TikTok? You’ve come to the right place. The platform, while buzzing with trends and connections, offers options to manage your activity visibility. Let’s get straight to the point: Turning off activity on TikTok isn’t a single switch, but rather a series of adjustments to different privacy settings that collectively minimize your footprint. It involves controlling who can see your likes, following list, profile views, and even whether your account is suggested to others.

Controlling Your TikTok Privacy: A Deep Dive

Here’s a breakdown of the key areas you need to address to effectively control your TikTok activity:

Limiting Profile Views Visibility

TikTok introduced the profile view history feature, which lets you see who’s been peeking at your profile, and vice versa. To turn this off, follow these steps:

Go to your Profile page on TikTok.
Tap the three lines in the top right corner to open the menu.
Select Settings and privacy.
Tap on Privacy.
Find the Profile views option.
Toggle the Profile view history setting to off.

Keep in mind that if you disable profile view history, you also won’t be able to see who has viewed your profile. It’s a two-way street.

Hiding Your Liked Videos

By default, your liked videos are visible to anyone who follows you. If you prefer to keep your video preferences private, here’s how:

Go to your Profile page.
Tap the three lines in the top right corner.
Select Settings and privacy.
Tap on Privacy.
Find the Liked videos option.
Choose Only me. This makes your liked videos visible only to you.

Managing Your Following and Followers Lists

While you can’t completely hide your following and followers lists, you can control who sees them. Switching to a private account achieves this:

Go to your Profile page.
Tap the three lines in the top right corner.
Select Settings and privacy.
Tap on Privacy.
Toggle the Private account setting to on.

With a private account, only users you approve can follow you and see your following and followers lists, as well as your videos.

Preventing Account Suggestions to Others

TikTok suggests accounts to other users to help them find people to follow. If you want to limit this, you can adjust your “Suggest your account to others” setting:

Go to your Profile page.
Tap the three lines in the top right corner.
Select Settings and privacy.
Tap on Privacy.
Select Suggest your account to others.
Here, you can uncheck the boxes for various methods TikTok uses to suggest your account, such as contacts, Facebook friends, or people who open or send links to you.

Adjusting Your Activity Status

This feature, if enabled, tells your friends on TikTok when you are active.

Go to your Profile page.
Tap the three lines in the top right corner.
Select Settings and privacy.
Tap on Privacy.
Select Activity status.
Toggle the Show activity status setting to off.

TikTok Privacy FAQs: Your Burning Questions Answered

Here are answers to frequently asked questions to further enhance your TikTok privacy knowledge:

1. Will turning off profile views also hide my views of other profiles?

Yes, disabling profile view history is reciprocal. If you turn it off, you won’t be able to see who viewed your profile, and others won’t be able to see that you viewed theirs.

2. Can I selectively hide my liked videos from certain users?

Unfortunately, no. The “Liked videos” setting only offers two options: “Only me” or visible to “Followers.” Selective hiding from specific users isn’t possible.

3. If I make my account private, can people still find me through search?

Yes, even with a private account, your profile can still appear in search results based on your username or name. However, they won’t be able to see your videos or following/followers lists unless you approve their follow request.

4. Does blocking someone prevent them from seeing my profile if it’s public?

Yes, blocking a user prevents them from seeing any of your content, even if your account is public. They won’t be able to find your profile through search, view your videos, or interact with your account in any way.

5. Will turning off “Suggest your account to others” completely prevent new people from finding me?

No, it will reduce the likelihood, but not eliminate it. People can still find you through search if they know your username or name, or if you appear in videos they see. This setting primarily limits TikTok’s automatic suggestions.

6. If I download a video, will the creator know?

No, TikTok doesn’t notify creators when someone downloads their videos using the built-in download function (if the creator has enabled downloads).

7. How do I control who can duet or stitch with my videos?

You can control this in two ways:

Account-level: In Settings and privacy > Privacy > Duet/Stitch, you can choose who can duet or stitch with your videos (Everyone, Friends, or No one).
Video-level: When posting a video, you can individually allow or disallow duets and stitches for that specific video.

8. Can I see a list of accounts I’ve blocked?

Yes. Go to Settings and privacy > Privacy > Blocked accounts to see and manage your blocked accounts list.

9. What’s the difference between a private account and restricting someone?

A private account limits visibility to approved followers, while restricting someone limits their interactions with you, such as comments only you can see and direct messages going to a separate request inbox. Restricting doesn’t prevent them from seeing your public content if your account isn’t private.

10. If I change my username, will it affect my privacy settings?

No, changing your username won’t directly affect your privacy settings. However, be aware that a new username might make it harder for people who knew you by your old username to find you.

11. Does TikTok track my location? How can I limit this?

TikTok can access your location data, depending on your device permissions. To limit this:

On your device (iOS or Android): Revoke TikTok’s location access in your device’s settings.
Within TikTok (for specific features like Nearby): Disable location-based features within the app.

12. How often should I review my TikTok privacy settings?

It’s a good practice to review your TikTok privacy settings periodically, at least every few months. TikTok updates its features and settings regularly, so staying informed helps ensure your privacy preferences are up-to-date and aligned with your comfort level.