Have you been looking for an easy way to find a video you watched before on TikTok? When you search online for how to see your watch history on TikTok you could be forgiven for being confused. It looks like the TikTok guides aren’t being updated. Don’t worry I’ll show you how easy all of this is today.
TikToks by design, come at you hard and fast. They are supposed to be quick videos to grab your attention, before moving you on to the next one. But we have all been there, seen a funny clip and didn’t save it or like it and when you go to look for it – can you find it?
Many articles online state that TikTok doesn’t have a watch history feature but they obviously haven’t been keeping up to date. In March 2022 TikTok rolled out this feature to make it easy to see recent videos you have viewed on the platform.
I’ll cover how this works, show you how to see all TikToks you have ever watched, and give a few other search tips along the way. It’s easy so let’s get to it.
This article is part of a series covering TikTok how-to guides. Have a look at some others:
- My TikTok Hacking Guide
- Can You See Who Views Your TikToks
- How to Remove Your Phone Number From TikTok
- Ways to See Deleted TikTok Videos
Have a good look around the site for lots of useful guides – I keep adding new ones regularly! Now on with this one.
How Do I Check My TikTok Watch History?
The TikTok watch history feature makes it really easy to see a list of all the videos you have watched in the last 7 days. That’s usually enough time to go back and find that clip you remember but can’t seem to find. I’ll also cover some ways to get a more detailed view over a longer period of time. Plus show you how to search for a specific video by keyword.
First, let’s look at the recently watched TikTok history feature. Here is how to use it:
- Login to TikTok and go to your Profile
- Tap the three bars in the top right of the screen
- Select Settings and Privacy
- Scroll down and tap Watch History
This brings up a screen with all the videos you have watched in the last 7 days. Now you can simply tap to watch again, then save, like, or share as you please. This is a great way to find a video you watched but didn’t like or save. Couldn’t be easier.
How to See TikTok Watch History Past Seven Days
Need to search for TikTok videos you watched more than 7 days ago? The first method I showed you only covers recently watched TikTok videos from the last 7 days. If you need to go further back in time there is a solution.
In your account, you can request to download all your TikTok data. This data download will include every video you have ever watched on TikTok. The data download will include lots of other information about your account and activity. Here is how to request your data from TikTok:
- Log in and go to your Profile
- Tap the three bars icon
- Select Settings and Privacy
- Tap Privacy
- Select Download Your Data
- Tap the Request Data button
- After 24 hours download your data file
It usually takes around 24 hours for your download to be ready. When it is ready you will find it on the same page as “Request Data” – just select the “Download Data” tab at the top. The download file is only available for 4 days, after that you need to make another request.
You can choose to have the download as a text file or in JSON format. A Text file is best for most people. As I mentioned the data download will include other information such as your profile information and your app settings.
In the activity section, it will include your TikTok video history, your comment, and chat history as well as favorites and any shopping data.
The download file will come as a zip file. Simply go to the video history file and you can see the URL of every video you have watched. Look through them to find the video you want.
If you copy and paste the URL into your browser, the video will play. It can be easier to handle the zip file on your PC or Laptop.
How to Find a Specific TikTok Video You Watched But Didn’t Like
What if you want to search for a specific TikTok video, one that you watched before but didn’t save or “like“? You can use the TikTok search function and use filters to help with your search.
A general keyword search on TikTok will probably return too many results to be much use in finding the video you want. A good tip is to use filters.
Do a search by tapping the magnifying glass icon for a word related to the TikTok video you previously watched. When the results load you can select the filters icon on the top right of the screen.
Here you can narrow down the search. There is a filter for Watched Videos in the last 7 days. You can also filter by other things such as dates posted, Liked Videos, and then sort by relevance or most liked.
Using filters when searching TikTok can help you find things much more efficiently. You should have a play around with this feature, it can be great fun.
How to Clear TikTok Watch History
If you have finished watching all the videos you wanted to watch from your TikTok history and no longer need the feature, there is an easy way to clear your TikTok watch history.
Log in and go to Watch History in Settings and Privacy as before. On the screen showing previously watched TikToks, tap the Gear icon on the top right. This opens your Watch History settings and you’ll see an option to delete your history by tapping the trash can icon. It’s as easy as that.
How to See Deleted Watch History on TikTok
TikTok does not provide a way to see TikToks you have deleted from your viewing history. But one thing to note here is that although your watch history is deleted for you, TikTok keeps a record of your viewing history and uses it to personalize your feed. You might be interested to know that there is a way to recover deleted TikToks – see my guide for more information.
How to See Someone Else’s Watch History on TikTok
Did you know there is a way to see someone else’s watch history on TikTok? By using a phone spy app it is possible to see everything they do on the TikTok app. An app like mSpy can track TikTok activity and allow you to see every video they have watched and interacted with.
It will report any likes and comments and it can even report videos deleted from their watch history.
I write a lot about using spy apps on this website and it is important to be aware of legal restrictions. You can’t use spy software on just anyone’s cell phone. These apps are legal to use if you are monitoring your children, or employees using company cell phones. They can be very useful for parents trying to keep their kids safe online.
Don’t confuse a good quality monitoring app with some third-party “Free” online tools that claim they can enable you to see someone else’s TikTok viewing history. These are part of a common style of scam that target most popular social media platforms including Snapchat and Instagram.
They claim they can download someone else’s activity on TikTok for free. All you need to do is enter their username. If it sounds too good to be true it’s because it is!
They basically string you along to get your email and have you fill out surveys or click on ads. Of course in the end you don’t get any TikTok data. They make money from ads, surveys, and selling your email to marketing companies. Best to avoid these!
Summary
Now that you know how to see your watch history on TikTok and find videos you watched before, you can keep track of all the videos you’ve seen on the app. This is a great way to revisit old favorites or catch up on videos you missed.
You can use the TikTok Watch history feature to see videos you’ve watched in the last 7 days. To go back further you can download your data. Be sure to use the search filters to narrow down your results so that you can find what you’re looking for more quickly.
Have fun watching all of your past TikTok videos! Don’t forget I have some other great guides covering useful tips and tricks on TikTok. So have a good look around.
