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Private account • Suggest your account to others • Video downloads • Who can send you direct messages • Who can Duet with your videos • Who can Stitch with your videos • Who can comment on your videos and Stories • Who can create stickers with your videos
At TikTok, we want to create a safe and welcoming community for everyone. As teens start to build a presence online, it's important for them to learn about and review their privacy settings and controls. These are some of our default privacy settings for people under the age of 18. Please note that the minimum age requirement to use TikTok varies across regions.
Private account
You can change your account to public or private with the Private account setting.
Ages 13 to 15
• Your account is set to private by default.
• This means only people you approve can follow you, view your videos, LIVE videos, bio, likes as well as your following and followers lists.
• Others can't Duet, Stitch, download your videos, or add your posts to their Stories.
Ages 16 to 17
You have the option to choose a private or public account when you sign up for TikTok. If you don't choose a public account, or select the option to Remind me later, your account is set to private.
If you choose a private account:
• Only people you approve can follow you, view your videos, LIVE videos, bio, likes as well as your following and followers lists.
• Others won't be able to Duet, Stitch, or download your videos, or add your posts to their Stories.
If you choose a public account:
• Anyone can choose to follow you.
• If you don't adjust your privacy settings, your profile and videos will be visible to, and can be shared by, anyone on or off TikTok, whether or not they have a TikTok account.
• Your content may appear in search engines, blogs, social media posts and news sites.
• People may be able to Duet, Stitch, and download your videos depending on your privacy settings.
Remember, whether your account is private or public, your name, username and profile photo will always be visible to anyone on or off TikTok. You can always restrict the visibility of your posts individually by changing your video settings, and your posts will be limited to the audience you select.
Suggest your account to others
The Suggest your account to others setting allows you to manage some of the ways we suggest your account to others on TikTok.
Ages 13 to 17
• Whether your account is private or public, this control is set to Off. You can turn on this control in your privacy settings.
Ages 18 and above
• This control is set to On.
• This means your account may be suggested to other people on TikTok. You can review your Suggest your account to others setting if you'd like to change how we suggest your account to others.
Video downloads
You can manage if other people are allowed to download your videos and share downloads to other apps and websites with the Video downloads setting.
Ages 13 to 15
• This control is set to Off and can't be changed, even if you have a public account.
Ages 16 to 17
• This control is set to Off.
• If you have a public account, you can turn this On if you'd like to allow your videos to be downloaded by other people on TikTok.
Note: If this setting is off, people can still share a link to your video.
Who can send you direct messages
You can manage who can send you direct messages with the Who can send you direct messages setting.
Ages 13 to 15
• Whether your account is private or public, direct messaging isn't available.
Ages 16 to 17
Whether your account is private or public:
• This control is set to No one by default.
• You can change this control to Suggested friends (followers you follow back and people you may know) or Friends (followers you follow back) in your privacy settings.
Who can Duet with your videos
The Who can Duet with your videos setting allows you to choose who can use your video in a Duet. A Duet video combines two videos (your video and a video from another person) into one split-screen video.
Ages 13 to 15
• No one can Duet with your videos and this can't be changed. This control is set to Only me in your privacy settings.
• You can Duet with other people's videos.
Ages 16 to 17
If you choose a private account:
• No one can Duet with your videos and this can't be changed. This control is set to Only me in your privacy settings.
If you choose a public account:
• This control is set to Friends (followers you follow back). This means that people you follow on TikTok and who follow you back can Duet with your videos.
• You can change this control to Everyone or Only me in your privacy settings.
• When you post a video, you can turn off Allow Duet, then others can't Duet with your videos.
Note: You must have a public account to allow others to Duet with your videos.
Who can Stitch with your videos
The Who can Stitch with your videos setting allows you to choose who can use your video in a Stitch. A Stitch video allows another person to use a part of your video as a part of their own video.
Ages 13 to 15
• No one can Stitch your videos and this can't be changed. This control is set to Only me in your privacy settings.
• You can Stitch other people's videos.
Ages 16 to 17
If you choose a private account:
• No one can Stitch with your videos and this can't be changed. This control is set to Only me in your privacy settings.
If you choose a public account:
• This control is set to Friends (followers you follow back). This means that people you follow on TikTok and who follow you back can Stitch with your videos.
• You can change this control to Everyone or Only me in your privacy settings.
• When you post a video, you can turn off Allow Stitch, then others can't Stitch with your videos.
Note: You must have a public account to allow others to Stitch with your videos.
Who can comment on your videos and Stories
You can change the people who are allowed to comment on your videos with the Who can comment on your videos and Stories setting.
Ages 13 to 15
Whether your account is private or public:
• This control is set to Friends (followers you follow back). This means that people you follow on TikTok and who follow you back can comment on your videos.
• You can change this control to No one in your settings. You can't change this to Followers (if you have a private account) or Everyone (if you have a public account).
• When you post a video or Story, you can turn off Allow comments to stop other people from commenting on your videos.
Ages 16 to 17
If you choose a private account:
• This control is set to Followers. This means that people you follow on TikTok can comment on your videos and Stories.
• You can change this control to Friends (followers you follow back) or No one in your settings.
• When you post a video or Story, you can turn off Allow comments to stop others from commenting on your videos.
If you choose a public account:
• This control is set to Everyone. This means that anyone with a TikTok account can comment on your videos and Stories.
• You can change this control to Friends (followers you follow back) or No one in your settings.
• When you post a video or Story, you can turn off Allow comments to stop other people from commenting on your videos.
Who can create stickers with your videos
You can change the people who are allowed to create stickers from your videos with the Who can create stickers with your videos setting.
Ages 13 to 15
• Whether your account is private or public, others can't create stickers from any of your posted videos and future videos. This control is set to Only me in your privacy settings.
Ages 16 to 17
If you choose a private account:
• Others can't create stickers from any of your posted videos and future videos. This control is set to Only me in your privacy settings.
If you choose a public account:
• This control is set to Friends (followers you follow back) by default. Keep in mind, the control to Allow stickers in the privacy settings for each of your videos is turned off by default.
• This means that people you follow on TikTok and who follow you back can create stickers from your videos as long as you turn on the Allow stickers setting for each of your videos.
• You can change this setting to Everyone or Only me in your privacy settings.
Learn more about how to manage sticker privacy settings for your TikTok videos.