TikTok Refreshed And You Lost A Video? Find It Fast

It can be incredibly annoying.

As you scroll through your TikTok feed, the app periodically refreshes. Videos you may have seen — or even ones you’ve started watching — vanish as a result.

The refresh can be explained; TikTok’s algorithms regularly reassess your interests and preferences based on the TikTok content you’ve recently viewed. When that process is complete, your feed is readjusted to theoretically show you posts you might be more interested in.

Knowing why it happens doesn’t make it less annoying, though. What can you do if you were in the middle of watching, or you were just about to stop and check out a TikTok post that looked terrific?

Don’t panic. We’ve got you covered.

How to Find a TikTok Video You Lost After Refreshing

You have two options for recovering a lost post, depending on whether the video had already started playing or you only saw an intriguing cover photo on your feed.

Locating a Video That You Saw in Your Feed

The social media platform has recognized that many TikTok users face this problem, and has created a hack that lets you easily find that intriguing video that vanished.

1. Open TikTok search by tapping the magnifying glass at the top right of your home screen.
2. Type an asterisk (*) into the search bar — nothing else — and click “Search.”
3. The search results will show you all of the posts you’ve recently scrolled past, so you can find the one that was lost during a feed refresh.

Locating a Video That You Were Watching (Or Just Finished)

This solution only works for the week after you’ve watched a video, but it’s a handy way to go back and find content you were enjoying or didn’t bookmark when you had the chance.

1. Tap the “Profile” icon at the bottom right of your home screen to reach your TikTok profile.
2. Click the Menu icon (three horizontal lines) at the top right of the Profile page.
3. Choose “Settings and privacy” from the popup that opens.
4. Select “Activity center” on the next menu.
5. Tap on “Watch history.” You’ll see thumbnails of all the videos you’ve viewed for the last seven days, allowing you to go back and find the lost video.

Any long-time TikTok user can list a number of the app’s features that they wish could be changed. In this case, however, the powers that be heard people’s complaints — and made it easy to overcome the sometimes-frustrating effects of an algorithm refresh.