How to Delete TikTok Videos You’ve Posted (or Make Them Private)

To delete TikTok videos you’ve posted, open the video from your profile, tap the menu or share button, and choose Delete, then confirm. If you might want the video later, set its privacy to Only me instead: it disappears from your profile and the For You feed but stays in your account. Deleting removes your original, but it doesn’t remove duets, stitches, downloads or reposts other people made from it.

This guide is about your own videos. If the problem is a video someone else posted about you, our guide on removing a TikTok video about you covers the report routes. Here we cover finding your old posts, choosing between deleting and hiding, and dealing with the copies that outlive the original.

Delete or make private?

	Set to Only me	Delete
Who can see it	Only you, while signed in	No one
Reversible	Yes, change the setting back	Generally no
Views, likes and comments	Kept, but hidden from others	Lost
Duets and stitches of it	Stay on other people’s profiles	Stay on other people’s profiles
Best for	Personal clips, drafts of your past, anything you’re unsure about	Content you never want seen again

A useful rule: hide first when you’re unsure, delete when you’re certain. Hiding is also faster to reverse if you realize a video was harmless. The one risk with hiding is that anyone who gets into your account can still see it, so for truly harmful content, deletion is safer.

How to delete a TikTok video

1. Save a copy first if you want one. Downloading from the video’s options usually adds a watermark; your phone’s camera roll may already have the original if you filmed it there.
2. Open your profile and tap the video.
3. Open the options menu, usually the three dots or the share arrow on the video.
4. Choose Delete and confirm.
5. Check your profile in a signed-out browser a little later to confirm it’s gone.

TikTok moves buttons around between app versions, so treat this as the general route. If you don’t see the option, TikTok’s help center has the current steps. Some versions of the app have offered a short-term recently deleted area for videos; don’t rely on it being there, and check before you assume a video can be restored.

How to make a TikTok video private

1. Open the video from your profile and tap the options menu.
2. Find the privacy settings for that video.
3. Change who can watch it to Only me, or to friends if you want a small audience.
4. While you’re there, turn off duets, stitches and downloads for that video so nobody can copy it in future.

If you want your whole account out of public view, switching to a private account limits new viewers to approved followers. Our guide to TikTok privacy settings covers the account-wide controls, including who can duet, stitch, download and comment by default.

Finding old videos worth reviewing

Scroll your profile from the bottom up. TikTok lets you sort or filter your own videos in some app versions; if yours doesn’t, scrolling to the oldest posts is the reliable way. Also check:

• Reposts. Videos by other people that you reposted show on a separate tab. Undo a repost from the video’s share menu.
• Favorites and liked videos. These can be visible to others depending on your settings. You can make your liked videos private or unlike items one by one.
• Comments. Comments you left on other people’s videos aren’t removed when you delete your own videos. Find the video and delete the comment from it.
• Stories and older formats. Stories expire, but check whether any were saved or reposted.
• Your data export. Requesting your data from TikTok’s settings gives you a list of your posts, comments and other activity, which makes a long history easier to review.

Deleting many TikTok videos

TikTok’s built-in tools are mostly one video at a time, and some app versions add limited multi-select options for your own posts. For a large clean-up you have three native routes:

• Work through them in sessions. Tedious but safe. Start with the videos most likely to cause harm.
• Make the whole account private. Instant, reversible, and it covers everything while you decide.
• Delete the account. Removes all your videos at once. Our guide on how to delete a TikTok account explains the deactivation period and what to save first.

Comments on your own videos

Sometimes the video is fine and the problem is what people wrote under it: a comment naming your workplace, tagging a friend, or dragging up something old. You don’t have to delete the video to fix that.

• Delete individual comments. As the creator, you can remove comments left on your own videos from the comment’s options.
• Limit who can comment. Per video or as a default, you can restrict comments to followers or friends, or turn them off.
• Filter keywords. TikTok’s comment filters let you hide comments containing words you choose, such as your surname or employer’s name.
• Report abusive comments. If comments harass you or share your personal details, report them so TikTok reviews the account too, not just the words.

Deleting a video removes its comments along with it, so if a video attracted a pile-on, deleting it clears the whole thread at once.

Reposts, duets, stitches and downloads

This is where TikTok differs from most platforms. When other people build on your video, they create their own videos.

Duets and stitches

A duet or stitch that uses your clip is published on the other person’s account. Deleting your original doesn’t delete their video, and your footage can remain inside it. You can’t remove it yourself, but you can:

• Ask the creator, politely, to take it down.
• Report it if it breaks TikTok’s rules, for example if it harasses you or reveals private information.
• File a copyright report if they used your original footage and you own it. Our guide to filing a DMCA takedown notice explains what that involves and why false claims backfire.

Reposts

A repost points to your original. When you delete the original, reposts of it generally stop showing it, because there is nothing left to show. That’s one of the few places deletion reaches beyond your own profile.

Downloads and re-uploads

If downloads were turned on, anyone could have saved the video and re-uploaded it, on TikTok or elsewhere. Those are new copies. Search TikTok for distinctive phrases from your caption or audio, and treat each copy as a separate removal request.

What happens in search after you delete

TikTok videos can appear in Google results as video thumbnails. Once your video is deleted, those results usually drop out after Google recrawls the page. If a thumbnail or snippet lingers, Google’s Refresh Outdated Content tool is the right route; there’s no cached copy to clear. Our guide to removing outdated content from Google shows how.

A worked example

This scenario is illustrative, not a real client. Imani started posting on TikTok in college, including a few rant videos about a part-time job and some party clips. She’s now applying for nursing roles.

1. She requests her TikTok data so she has a full list and copies of her videos.
2. She sets the three rant videos and all party clips to Only me that evening, which removes them from view immediately.
3. Over the next week she rewatches them, deletes the rants, and keeps a few party clips private as memories.
4. She changes her default settings so duets, stitches and downloads are off for all new videos.
5. She finds one stitch of a rant video on a stranger’s account. It isn’t abusive, so she messages the creator, who removes it.

Common mistakes

• Deleting before saving. If a video matters to you, download it or keep the original first.
• Forgetting comments. A comment on a popular video can be seen by more people than your own posts.
• Leaving downloads on. Every public video with downloads enabled can be copied.
• Assuming private means gone. Private videos stay in your account and your data.

If your videos have been re-uploaded or picked up across several platforms, our social media reputation management team can help track copies and handle removal where it’s possible.

Frequently asked questions

Can I recover a TikTok video after I delete it?

Generally no. Some app versions have offered a short recently deleted area, but it isn’t something to count on. If you might want a video later, set it to Only me instead of deleting it.

Do duets and stitches disappear when I delete my video?

No. A duet or stitch is published on the other person’s account and stays up unless they delete it or TikTok removes it after a report. Reposts of your original generally stop showing it once it’s deleted.

Is making a TikTok video private the same as deleting it?

No. A private video is hidden from everyone else but stays in your account, with its views and comments. You can make it public again at any time. Deleting removes it.

How do I stop people copying my TikTok videos?

Turn off duets, stitches and downloads in your privacy settings, either per video or as defaults. That doesn’t undo copies already made, but it prevents new ones.