Can Someone See Who Viewed Their TikTok?
Uncover how TikTok handles view transparency. Learn what's visible, what's private, and how to manage your own activity.
TikTok has emerged as a prominent social media platform, captivating a vast global audience with its short-form video content. As users engage with the platform, questions often arise regarding privacy and the visibility of their interactions. Understanding how TikTok tracks user engagement, particularly concerning profile and content views, is a common concern for many.
Profile View History Feature
TikTok offers a feature called “Profile View History” that enables users to see who has visited their profile. This functionality provides a list of accounts that have viewed your profile within the last 30 days. For this feature to work, both the profile owner and the visitor must have the setting enabled. Users must be at least 16 years old and typically have fewer than 5,000 followers to access this option.
To activate or deactivate this feature, navigate within the app. From your profile, tap the Menu icon (three lines) in the top right corner, then select “Settings and privacy.” Choose “Privacy,” then locate “Profile views” to toggle the setting on or off. Alternatively, a footprint icon on your profile page also leads to these settings.
When enabled, you will see the usernames of those who have visited your profile, and your visits to other profiles will be visible to them if their feature is active. This feature specifically pertains to profile visits, not individual video views.
Anonymity of Video Views
Unlike Profile View History, TikTok does not allow users to see who has viewed their individual videos. When you post a video, the platform displays the total number of views it has received, but it does not reveal the identities of the viewers. This distinction means the “who viewed” functionality does not extend to video content.
The anonymity of video views is due to user privacy and the immense scale of content consumption. With billions of video views daily, providing specific viewer identities for each video would present considerable technical and privacy challenges. This design ensures users can watch videos without their viewing habits being individually tracked and disclosed to content creators.
Controlling Your Visibility
Users have several options to manage their privacy and visibility on TikTok. One direct action is to turn off your own Profile View History. By disabling this setting, your profile visits to other accounts will not be visible to them, provided they also have the feature enabled. However, if you turn off this feature, you will also lose the ability to see who has viewed your own profile. Any profile views recorded before disabling the feature may remain visible for a period, typically up to 30 days.
Setting your account to “Private” is another way to control visibility. A private account restricts who can see your content and profile; only approved followers can view your videos, bio, likes, and follower lists. This setting also prevents others from Duetting, Stitching, or downloading your videos. To make your account private, go to “Profile,” tap the Menu icon, select “Settings and privacy,” then “Privacy,” and toggle the “Private account” option.
Other privacy settings can refine your digital footprint. The “Activity Status” setting, under “Privacy,” controls whether your online status is visible to mutual followers. Both you and the mutual follower must have this feature enabled to see each other’s activity status. Under “Privacy,” you can also adjust “Suggest your account to others” settings, which determine if TikTok recommends your profile to other users based on factors like shared contacts or Facebook friends.