How to Delete a TikTok Account + 5 Essential Things to Know First
By Matt RedererUpdated on August 16, 2024
Are you over the TikTok fever or find you’re wasting too much time on the app? Watching videos on TikTok can definitely be very addictive; before you know it, you may end up wasting hours of your day watching videos that may not add any value.
Privacy may also be a chief concern. If you’re getting too many unwanted or inappropriate messages from unknown people, or are being bullied or trolled in the app, then you may consider changing your privacy settings instead of deleting your TikTok account.
If you’ve decided to delete TikTok from your phone, know that just deleting or uninstalling the app from your phone does not delete your account or video content. You must delete or deactivate your account first before deleting the app. This article will guide you through a step-by-step approach to doing that.
What is covered in this article
Let us begin by looking at what you need to do before you delete your TikTok account.
5 important things to do before you delete your TikTok account
Personal data is sensitive, so it’s important to know how to protect your information on social networking sites like TikTok. Before you delete your account, make sure you do the following things:
1. Save important and personal data from the app to your phone
If there are videos on your profile that you wish to save before you delete the app, it’s a good idea to do so now. Download and save all your content before you decide to deactivate your TikTok account.
There are two ways to download your videos from TikTok, which you can then access from your phone:
Using “More Options”
- Select the video that you want to download, and tap on it to open it.
- Tap the “…” (More Options) button.
- Tap Save Video to save the video to your phone’s Camera Roll or Gallery.
Tapping and holding on a video
- Select the video on your profile that you want to download, and tap on it to open it.
- Tap and hold on the video to get a pop-up with two options. Tap on Save Video. Within a few seconds, you should be able to access the video from your phone’s Camera Roll or Gallery.
2. Delete all video content on your profile
Before deleting your account, make sure to delete all your profile information and videos that you have created or uploaded to your profile. Your profile must not contain any content when you are ready to delete your TikTok account. This is important, as TikTok keeps your data for 30 days before they delete your account. You don’t want to put your data at risk during this period.
Here’s how you can delete your videos from your TikTok profile:
1. Open a video on your TikTok profile.
2. Tap on the “…” (More Options) button on the bottom right section of your screen.
3. Scroll to the right along the bottom and select Delete.
4. You will be prompted to confirm this. Click Delete again to successfully delete the video.
5. Repeat this process for all your videos before you delete your TikTok account.
3. Double-check other social media services where you’ve shared your TikTok videos
If you have shared your videos on other social networks, deleting your video from TikTok doesn’t automatically delete your content from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. You will have to go to your profile on these social platforms to delete your content off them as well.
4. Cancel your ad spend
If you have been using TikTok as a professional content creator or for your brand, and you don’t wish to use the platform anymore, make sure you cancel your future ad spend before you delete your profile. If you have already planned collaborations with influencers or ads, you may want to put off your account cancellation until after they go live.
5. In-app purchases cannot be refunded
If you have any unused coins that you purchased on the app, they will not be refunded when you delete your account. If you wish to spend your coins by sending them as gifts to other users, you may do so before deleting your account.
How to delete your TikTok account from your smartphone
The process to delete your TikTok account is the same on Android or iOS, since the interface is the same once you are in the app. Follow the steps given below to delete your TikTok account:
1. Navigate to Settings & privacy from your profile
Tap on Me on the bottom right section of the homepage to proceed to your profile. Tap the “…” (More Options) button at the top right of your profile and select Settings and Privacy.
2. Verify your account to continue
Under Settings and privacy, tap on Manage Account to continue to the next screen. Tap on Delete Account to proceed to the verification screen.
3. Verify account deletion
To ensure that only the account owner can delete their account, you will need to verify that you want to delete your account. To proceed, you need to complete the verification step. This will be different depending on whether you set your account up using your email or your phone number.
For your email, you will need to enter your password and click Continue.
For your phone, click Send Code. A four digit verification code will be sent via SMS. Once you receive the verification code, enter the code and click Continue.
4. Confirm deletion of your TikTok account
Next, you’ll advance to the confirmation screen, which will remind you what will happen when you delete your account.
- You will no longer be able to log in to TikTok with that account.
- You will lose access to any videos you have posted.
- You will not be able to get a refund on any items you have purchased.
- Information that is not stored in your account, such as chat messages, may still be visible to others.
- Your account will be deactivated for 30 days. During deactivation, your account won’t be visible to the public. After 30 days, your account will be then deleted permanently.
To confirm and delete your account permanently, click Delete Account. Another prompt will come up, to ensure you don’t delete your account by mistake. Click Delete to finalize the process.
You’re all done!
Once you delete your account, you will automatically get directed to the TikTok home screen. You can continue to watch videos created by others, but will not be able to like or comment on them.
If you have deleted your TikTok account and don’t wish to keep the app on your phone, you can delete/uninstall it from your phone now.
Pro Tip
You can recover your account within 30 days of deactivation by logging in with your TikTok username and password. When you proceed to the next screen, you will be told that your account is under deactivation. Tap on Cancel Deactivation. Your TikTok account is now live again, and you can continue to post your videos.
5 best alternatives to TikTok after you delete your account
If you still enjoy watching short video content, but want to explore other platforms, here are our top five picks:
1. Snapchat — Users can share live stories instantly with their friends using fun filters and stickers.
2. Cheez — Users can challenge their friends and followers in short, fun battles like a dance-off. Or they can just upload fun videos.
3. Video-Star — Users can shoot and edit music videos on the go, and share them with their followers on their social network.
4. Triller — Users just have to shoot a few takes of their performance and tap the Triller icon for the app to generate a professionally-edited music video. In case the user doesn’t like any part of the video or even the entire video, Triller can create a brand new video using different shots from the takes.
Apps like TikTok give users the potential to show their creativity, build confidence, develop their personality, and also learn movie-making skills. They also help users to tell their stories and express themselves in 30 seconds, like an elevator pitch.
That wraps up our lesson on how to delete your TikTok account. But if you are looking to find the best platform to share your thoughts and ideas, we can help! Check out our Youtube, Instagram, or SnapChat tutorials.