Protecting Privacy: Clearing Your TikTok Search History

It makes sense to be concerned about your TikTok account’s privacy and security. Any social media platform with more than two billion users is certain to have scammers, spammers, and other bad people trying to take advantage of people using the app.

Some TikTok users have other types of privacy concerns, though. They may share a phone or device with other family members, or they may have nosy parents, significant others, or roommates who they don’t want to see the types of TikTok videos they’ve been watching. Clearing their search history allows them to keep their searches on the app private.

That’s not the only reason to delete your TikTok search history, though.

The social platform tracks your viewing and search patterns. That information is instrumental to the work done by the TikTok algorithms, which determine the videos that will be displayed on your curated For You page (FYP).

You may have searched for certain types of TikTok posts just to help with a school project or to answer a one-time question, but the algorithms don’t know that. As long as those topics are still in your search history, you’ll continue to be shown videos that you’re probably no longer interested in.

Deleting your search history is one way to “clear the slate” and give you more control over the TikTok content you see. (Refreshing your For You feed in the “Content preferences” settings is another important one.)

Here’s how to eliminate all evidence of your previous searches.

How to Clear the TikTok Search History

You can’t just click one button in your TikTok settings to delete your search history, unfortunately. You’ll have to open the search function and do a little scrolling.

1. Open TikTok search by tapping the magnifying glass at the top right of the screen.
2. You’ll see the last few topics you’ve searched for listed underneath the search bar. Below that, related topics are shown under the “You may like” heading.
3. Ignore the “You may like” items. Instead, click “See more” under your searched topics list.
4. A long list of all your previous searches will open. To delete individual topics, tap the “x” to the right of each subject. To clear your entire search history, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the list and click “Clear all” at the very bottom.

*Poof* — your complete search history has been deleted. No one will be able to see what you’ve been up to on TikTok and you’ll start to see different videos on your FYP. Do this regularly, and you’ll regain more control over both your privacy and your experience on the app.