Making Your TikTok Account Public Or Private: How To Do It

One of the most important decisions TikTok users have to make is whether their account should be public or private.

A private account only lets people who you approve as followers see your TikTok videos, profile and bio, likes, and the lists of people who you follow and who follow you, and only your approved followers can DM you. None of your content can be downloaded or used in other peoples’ Stitches, Duets, or Stories, either.

Making your account private is smart for those who want to restrict access to their information and content. However, you’re unlikely to build a substantial fan base or send your content viral when your TikTok account is set to private.

When you have a public account, it’s essentially wide open for other users to view and “utilize” unless you’ve specifically made content or other features private. It’s also much easier to build popularity and importance on the app.

Accounts are initially set to public when users join TikTok, unless they’re younger than 16. Users between 13 and 15 receive private accounts, which they can change to public ones after they’ve turned 16.

Any user not covered by age restrictions can toggle their account between public and private at any time. Here’s how to do it.

How To Make Your TikTok Account Public or Private

As mentioned earlier, accounts are public by default for adults, so if you’ve seen normal interaction with your TikTok posts from people you don’t know, you probably have a public account. If you’ve seen almost no engagement with your videos, or you’ve gotten requests from people who want to follow you, your account is likely set to public.

Whatever your reasons, it’s simple to change the public/private setting to make yourself more or less visible on the app.

1. Open your TikTok profile by tapping the “Profile” icon at the bottom right of the home screen.
2. Open the profile menu by clicking the three horizontal lines at the top right of the page.
3. Choose “Settings and privacy” from the popup that opens.
4. Select “Privacy” from the list of account settings.
5. Move the “Private account” toggle to the right to make your account private, or to the left to set your account to public.

We told you it was simple! And remember, if you only want to keep some aspects of your TikTok presence private, you can choose to make individual videos private before uploading with the “Who can watch this video” option on the posting page, and you can change your settings to limit who can send you DMs, comment on your videos, see your likes, or use your content.