TikTok has always been something of a controversial app, but with rising concerns of TikTok getting banned, many users have grown increasingly cautious with how they’re using it. Because of the alleged personal information security threat that TikTok poses, you might be looking to delete your TikTok account.
Luckily, TikTok makes it pretty easy to delete your account. This means that anyone who wants to get rid of the app, whether that’s because of the data security problems mentioned above or because they’re simply looking to spend their time elsewhere, can do so quickly and easily as long as they know where to look. Here’s everything you need to know about deleting your TikTok account.
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How to delete your TikTok account
As mentioned above, deleting your TikTok account is pretty simple. That said, the option to do so is buried in the menus — as is the case with most social media apps. While they do want to give you the option to leave, they don’t want to make it too easy. Here’s how to do it on TikTok.
Step 1: Open the TikTok app on your phone and select the Profile tab in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Step 2: Once you’re on your profile, select the three lines in the top right corner to pull up the profile menu on the bottom of the screen and select Settings and privacy.
Step 3: In the Settings and privacy menu, select Account.
Step 4: In the Account menu, select Deactivate or delete account.
Step 5: Here, you’ll be given the choice to either deactivate your account — which makes it unable to be searched for or viewed but still keeps all of the content on it in case you want to reactivate it later — or to delete your account permanently, which completely wipes it from the app. Take note that you are still able to recover your account if you reactivate it within 30 days of deleting it.
Step 6: If you’re deactivating, select Deactivate account and then the red Deactivate button on the bottom of the screen.
Step 7: If you’re deleting your TikTok account, select Delete account permanently and then either fill out the exit survey or select Skip in the top right corner of the screen.
Step 8: After filling out the survey, you have the option to download a copy of your account data. If you want it, select Request download, but if not, check the box at the bottom of the screen acknowledging that you’re deleting your account and select Continue.
Step 9: Select Continue again, and then you’ll be asked to verify your account by logging into it once more. Do so and then select Delete account, then Delete.
With those steps out of the way, you’ve successfully deleted your TikTok account. Remember that you have 30 days to reverse your decision if you delete your account but decide you want to keep it, so you have some time to think things over after the fact.
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