TikTok has become a phenomenon in the social media world, boasting over 1.2 billion active users in 2021 and projected to reach 1.5 billion by the end of 2022. With such a massive user base, it’s no surprise that there may be times when you want to archive a TikTok video you accidentally posted. Luckily, TikTok offers a few options to reduce the visibility of your videos and ease your privacy concerns.
Privacy Settings on TikTok
Before resorting to archiving your videos, you can explore the privacy settings available on TikTok to control who sees your content. Here are some changes you can make from the privacy section of your profile:
- Making your account private: By making your account private, only users you approve can view your TikTok videos.
- Blocking select users: When you block a user, they won’t be able to view your videos or send you direct messages.
- Modifying Duet and Stitch settings: You can restrict who can use your TikTok videos for Duets and Stitches, providing an extra layer of privacy even for users who can’t see your videos directly.
How to Archive a TikTok
While TikTok doesn’t offer an official archiving function, you can still limit the visibility of your videos through two primary methods.
Method #1: Deleting Your TikTok After Saving It on Your Device
This foolproof method allows you to archive a TikTok offline, ensuring that even if someone gains access to your account, they won’t be able to view the video. If you change your mind in the future, you can easily reupload and edit the video. To save a TikTok video on your phone and delete it, follow these steps:
- Launch the TikTok app on your smartphone.
- Log into your account and tap the “Profile” button on the bottom-right corner of the screen.
- Browse through your videos and select the one you want to save.
- Tap on the video and access the additional options by choosing the three-dot button at the bottom of the screen.
- From the pop-up menu, select the “Save video” option.
- Once the video is saved on your device, go back to the additional options for the same video, swipe left on the menu, and tap the “Delete” button.
- Confirm the deletion, and the video will be removed from your TikTok account.
It’s important to note that TikTok does not save any videos on their servers once you delete them, as stated in their User’s Agreement.
Method #2: Increasing the Privacy of Your Video
Another way to archive your TikTok, to some extent, is by adjusting its privacy settings. This method is quicker and doesn’t require saving the video on your device. Here’s how:
- Launch the TikTok app and log into your account.
- Go to the “Profile” section from the menu at the bottom of the screen.
- Browse through your uploaded TikToks and find the one you want to archive.
- Tap on the video and click on the three dots in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
- From the pop-up menu, choose the “Privacy settings” option.
- Select “Who can watch this video” on the following page.
- Set it to “Only me.”
Your changes will take effect immediately, and you can always adjust the privacy settings again in the future if you want to make your TikTok video public.
Parting Words
TikTok provides convenient options to safeguard your privacy by restricting access to your videos. Depending on your situation, you can choose to delete the video entirely or limit its visibility to a select audience. While a dedicated archiving function would be helpful, TikTok’s focus on managing server space for public videos makes it unlikely for such a feature to be introduced anytime soon.