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About direct messaging on TikTok • Who can send direct messages on TikTok • How to find your direct messages • How to send a direct message • How to send a message request • How to use stickers in a direct message • Group chats on TikTok • Why can't I send or receive direct messages?
About direct messaging on TikTok
Direct messaging (DM) helps you connect with your friends and community on TikTok. Messaging means you can send and receive messages and TikTok videos directly on TikTok.
With direct messaging on TikTok, you can:
• Share TikTok videos with others.
• Send and receive messages with mutual followed friends, suggested friends and contacts, and people you may know.
• Adjust privacy settings to determine who can send you direct messages.
• Adjust notification settings.
• Report accounts and content that violates our Community Guidelines.
• Check who has read your direct messages.
• Find out who is active or was recently active.
Who can send direct messages on TikTok
Direct messaging on TikTok is available to:
• Registered account holders aged 16 and older. Parents and guardians can set restrictions on this feature through Family Pairing.
• Anyone who has permission to send a direct message to others. You can control who can send you direct messages in your privacy settings. Keep in mind, if you update your direct message setting to No one, you can't receive direct messages. You can still access your message history in your inbox, but you can't receive new direct messages in those chats.
How to find your direct messages
To view your direct messages on TikTok:
1. In the TikTok app, tap Inbox at the bottom.
2. Tap a name from the list to go to the chat.
How to send a direct message
You can share content such as TikTok videos, effects, hashtags, or sounds through a direct message.
To send content through a direct message:
1. In the TikTok app, go to the video or other shareable content, like an effect, hashtag, or sound that you'd like to share.
༚ To search, tap the Search button at the top and enter what you're looking for in the search bar.
༚ You can also tap an effect, hashtag, or sound directly from a video to share.
2. Tap the Share button. For videos, you can also press and hold on the video you'd like to share.
3. Tap the profile photo of the person you'd like to share with. You can select multiple people to share with.
4. Enter an optional message, then tap Send.
Keep in mind that private videos can't be shared. If the creator of the video changed the video status from public to private after you shared it in a message, the video will be unavailable and you won't be able to watch it.
To send a direct message from your inbox:
1. In the TikTok app, tap Inbox at the bottom.
2. From here:
༚ If you have recent messages, tap a name from the Messages list to go to the chat.
༚ If you follow someone and they follow you back, tap the Chat button at the top, then search or tap their name to go to the chat.
3. Type a message. You can also tap the Emoji button to send GIFs, emojis, and stickers.
4. Tap the Send button.
5. To reply to a message, you can also use the suggested replies displayed above the message bar or below a shared video after you've watched it. Suggested replies for shared videos are based on the content of the video. This feature is currently not available to everyone.
Alternatively, if you follow someone and they follow you back, you can go to their profile, then tap Message to send a direct message.
Keep in mind that you can't send a direct message to someone that follows you if they have their direct message privacy setting set to No one.
How to send a message request
Before you can send a direct message to someone who doesn't follow you, they'll need to accept a message request from you.
To send a message request:
1. In the TikTok app, tap Inbox at the bottom.
2. Tap the Chat button at the top, then search or tap a name to go to the chat. Their name only displays if you follow them, regardless if they follow you back. You can also go directly to someone's profile, then tap Message.
3. Type a message. You can also tap the Emoji button to send an emoji.
4. Tap the Send button.
Once your request is accepted, you can send more messages.
A few things to know about message requests:
• You must be aged 18 years or older to receive message requests.
• You can only send one message request or, if the recipient's direct message privacy setting is set to Everyone, you can send up to three requests.
• You can only send direct messages to someone who accepts your message request. If the recipient deletes your request or doesn't respond, you won't be able to message them.
• You can't send message requests to someone if you've been banned from sending direct messages, if the recipient has blocked you, or if their direct message privacy setting is set to No one.
How to use stickers in a direct message
To send stickers in a direct message:
1. In the TikTok app, go to the chat in your inbox.
2. Tap the Emoji button in the message bar.
3. Tap the Sticker store button.
4. Choose a sticker you'd like to use from the Video stickers or Sticker sets tabs.
For video stickers
༚ Tap a video sticker to send it in a direct message.
༚ Tap the filters at the top to sort by most popular, newest, or trending stickers.
༚ To add a sticker to your messaging favorites ☆ tab, tap the messaging favorites ☆ button on the sticker. Tap it again to remove it from your favorites.
༚ To view the sticker details, press and hold on the sticker. From here, you can choose to view all stickers by the creator on their profile, view the original video, or report the sticker.
For sticker sets
༚ To save a sticker set, tap Add. The sticker set will be added to the sticker panel to use in a direct message.
༚ Once you add a sticker set, tap Use. You'll be directed to the sticker panel where you can send a sticker in a direct message.
༚ To view all your saved sticker sets, tap Added at the top. From here, you can drag and drop the sticker set to change the order, or tap the Delete button next to the sticker set to remove it.
To create a video sticker in a direct message:
1. In the TikTok app, go to a direct message in your inbox.
2. Tap the Emoji button.
3. In your messaging favorites ☆ tab, tap the Create sticker button.
4. Choose a video from the Liked, Posted, or Favorites tabs.
5. Edit the sticker as needed. You can choose to add text or crop the video. When you're done, tap Next.
6. From here:
༚ To choose who can discover and use your video sticker in TikTok, turn the Make public setting on or off. This setting is turned on by default.
༚ If you choose to keep the sticker public, you can add up to 10 keywords to make it easier for others to find your sticker. Only text and emojis are allowed.
7. Tap Create sticker. Your sticker is added to the messaging favorites ☆ tab in your direct messages and is ready to be used. To remove the sticker from your messaging favorites ☆, press and hold on the sticker, then tap Remove.
Any stickers that you create are also available from your profile where you can send them in a direct message, view the original video, add them to the sticker store, or delete them. Learn more about stickers on TikTok.
Group chats on TikTok
You can direct message more than one person at a time in a group chat. Create your own group or join an existing one.
Note: Group chat isn't currently available everywhere.
How to create a group chat
From your inbox:
1. In the TikTok app, tap Inbox at the bottom.
2. Tap the Chat button at the top. You can also tap a name from the Messages list to go to the chat and tap the More options … button at the top.
3. Select friends you want to include in the group. Keep in mind that you can only invite mutual followed friends to the group chat.
4. Tap Start group chat.
From a post:
1. In the TikTok app, go to the video that you'd like to share.
2. Tap the Share button or press and hold on the video to display sharing options.
3. Select Create group chat with friends and choose the friends you'd like to share with. You can choose up to 31 people.
4. Enter an optional message, then tap Send.
How to join a group chat
To join an existing group chat through an invite:
1. In the TikTok app, tap Inbox at the bottom.
2. Tap on the invite.
3. Tap Join group.
Keep in mind that only friends can invite you to join group chats unless your direct message privacy setting is set to No one.
Important things to know about group chat:
• Only friends (followers you follow back) can invite you to join group chats unless your direct message privacy setting is set to No one.
• If you're under 18 years old and receive a link to join a group chat, you won't be able to join the chat unless it includes at least one mutual friend. If you're eligible to join, you'll be required to choose whether or not to accept the invitation.
• If you're under 18 years old and create a group chat, you'll need to review and approve all group members before they join.
• You should only send messages that follow our Community Guidelines. If you see an account or content that you believe violates our guidelines, please report it to us.
• If your message is flagged or reported in a group chat and you believe it's a mistake, let us know by submitting an appeal. Learn more about content violations.
Why can't I send or receive direct messages?
If you can't send or receive a direct message on TikTok, it could be because your content or message has been flagged or reported, or your account is temporarily suspended.
Our Community Guidelines provide guidance on what is and what isn't allowed on TikTok to help foster a welcoming, safe, and entertaining experience. If a direct message contains content that violates our Community Guidelines, it may be automatically blocked or, if reported, flagged for additional review by our Safety team.
If a direct message violates our Community Guidelines, we may:
• Send a warning in the app the first time your content violates our Community Guidelines.
• Permanently ban your account if the direct message violates a zero-tolerance policy.
• Suspend your account's ability to send direct messages for a period of time (typically between 24 and 48 hours), depending on the severity of the violation and previous violations.
• Restrict your account to a view-only experience (typically between 72 hours and one week). This means your account can't send direct messages.
• Notify you that your account may be permanently banned after several violations. This means that if the behavior persists, your account will be permanently banned. Learn more about content violations and bans on TikTok.
Note: Your direct messages on TikTok are kept safe through encryption as they're being sent and stored. However, at the moment, end-to-end encryption isn't currently available. We're committed to making TikTok a safe place, especially for our younger users. Like many companies, we have the ability to decrypt user data in response to valid legal processes and to enforce our Community Guidelines, and we regularly publish Transparency Reports to provide visibility into this work. We also maintain internal controls to ensure that only employees with proper authorization and a demonstrated need to perform their job have access to certain decrypted data, such as contact information or direct messages.