Is There Any Way To Send Pictures To Another TikTok User?

We’ve all become accustomed to sending pictures to other people via text or email. That’s not quite as easy to do on many social media platforms.

One of those platforms is TikTok; the app doesn’t let you send photos directly to other TikTok users. Videos, yes, but not pictures. The reason is simple: the platform wants to prevent people from receiving unsolicited photos from people who may be sending spam or porn.

Several hacks let you get around the restriction, though. Read on.

How To Send Pictures on TikTok

This may not be the solution you’re looking for, but many apps allow you to render pictures in GIF format and you can send GIFs in a TikTok DM. However, that format isn’t ideal for high-resolution photos; GIFs don’t show sharp detail or more than 256 colors.

There are better alternatives for sending high-quality pictures on TikTok.

Since you can share videos in DMs, a TikTok video that also contains one or more pictures can be shared with a friend. That’s a pretty convoluted way to do it, though, if you really only wanted to send them the photos.

The better approach is to upload the picture in a TikTok post that’s only visible to the person you want to see it.

Here’s the step-by-step rundown.

1. Click the “+” sign to reach your “Create” screen.
2. Make sure the scroll bar above the large white “Record” button is set to “Photo” and take the photo you want to send. Alternatively, you can upload a photo from your camera reel by tapping the “Upload” icon to the right of the “Record” button and choosing the picture you want to send.
3. Make any necessary edits and click the “Next” button.
4. Add a description or other details to your post and then tap the “Everyone can view this post” link. Choose the “Only you” option on the popup window, close the window, and hit “Post.”

You’ve now created a private TikTok post that contains the photo you want to share. You can now send it to the desired recipient in two ways:

• Open the post (you’ll see it at the top of the content grid on your TikTok profile page), click on the “Share” icon (the sweeping right arrow), and tap the name of the person you want to receive it.
• Visit your Inbox and write a DM to the recipient, attaching the post containing your photo by using the “Share post” button.

There are pros and cons to TikTok’s decision not to allow simple photo sharing. Since the platform is a video-first app, though, most users aren’t inconvenienced by the lack of a simple picture-sharing feature — and the rest can use this 60-second hack to get the job done.