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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 • How to use voice message • 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 that if you update your direct message setting to Don't receive, you can still access your message history in your inbox, send and receive messages in existing chats, unless you block them.
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.
Keep in mind that if you're 18 years or older, messages from your mutual friends and accounts you follow go directly into your inbox. Messages from people you may know, potential connections (your followers), and others on TikTok will appear as a message request. They can send you only one message request until you accept it. Learn more about how to manage message requests.
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 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, to start a chat:
༚ Tap the name of an existing chat in your inbox.
༚ If you follow someone and they follow you back, tap the Chat button (in select regions) at the top, then search for or tap their name to go to the chat.
༚ Tap Message from someone's profile if you both follow each other.
2. Choose how you want to send your message:
༚ Type a message in the message bar.
༚ Tap the Emoji button to send GIFs, emojis, and stickers.
༚ Press and hold an existing message and choose to send an emoij reaction, avatar (in select regions), reply, or forward the message.
༚ Tap a suggested reply 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.
3. If needed, tap the Send button to send your message.
How to send a message request
To message someone who doesn't follow you, you'll need to send a request for them to accept.
1. In the TikTok app, to send a message request:
༚ Tap Inbox at the bottom. If you follow someone, you can tap the Search button at the top, then search or tap their name to go to the chat.
༚ Go directly to someone's profile, then tap Message to go to the chat.
2. Type a message. You can also tap the Emoji button to send GIFs, emojis, and stickers.
3. 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 at least 16 years old to receive message requests. If you're under 18 years old, your message request is set to Don't receive by default. You can manage who can send you a message request in your privacy settings.
• If you're 18 years old or older, message requests from your followers and others on TikTok will appear in your inbox as a message request unless you choose not to receive them.
• You can send only one message request until the recipient accepts it.
• You can only message someone who accepts your message request. If the recipient deletes your request or doesn't respond, you can't message them again.
• 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 Don't receive message requests.
How to use stickers in a direct message
To send stickers using the sticker panel:
1. In the TikTok app, go to the chat in your inbox.
2. Tap the Emoji button in the message bar.
3. Choose a sticker you'd like to send from different tabs (messaging favorites ☆ sticker sets). You can also tap the Search button to find a sticker. Tap the sticker to send it.
To make it easier to find a sticker, you can add it to your messaging favorites. Press and hold the sticker, then tap Add. To remove it, press and hold the sticker again.
To send stickers from typing recommendation:
1. In the TikTok app, go to the chat in your inbox.
2. Type something in the message bar.
3. Tap the sticker above the message bar to send. You may need to swipe to explore all sticker recommendations.
Keep in mind that sticker recommendations are based on your interests and engagement. For example, these recommendations include stickers similar to those you've previously used, or those you've added to your messaging favorites. The more you use stickers, the more these recommendations will reflect your personal preferences and show you stickers you're likely to enjoy.
Note: This feature isn't currently available everywhere.
For the sticker store
Tap the Emoji button in the message bar, then tap the Sticker store button (you may need to swipe to find it):
༚ To save a sticker set, tap Add next to the set you'd like to 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. To make edits, tap Edit. 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.
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.
Important things to know about group chat:
• Only friends (followers you follow back) can invite you to join group chats. If you're under 18 years old, you can't join group chats if you choose not to receive messages from your friends.
• 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, and your direct message privacy setting for friends is set to Inbox. 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.
How to use voice message
You can send and receive voice messages in your direct messages, including group chats.
Note: Voice message isn't currently available everywhere.
To record and send a voice message:
1. In the TikTok app, tap Inbox at the bottom.
2. Tap a name from the Messages list to go to the chat. Or tap the Chat button at the top, then search or tap the name(s) you want to direct message.
3. Press and hold the Record button while you record your message. If it's your first time using the microphone on TikTok, you'll be prompted to give access to it. You can record a voice message up to 60 seconds long.
4. While recording a voice message, you can choose to:
༚ Release the Record button to send.
༚ Swipe across to delete the recording.
༚ Swipe up to lock the recording and continue to record without pressing and holding, then tap the Send button to send or the Delete button to discard.
Keep in mind that you can record voice messages with your device only and that you can delete a voice message within 3 minutes of sending it.
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.