Chinese video portal TikTok is all the rage. The app offers users the op­por­tu­ni­ty to record their own video clips, edit them and upload them to the TikTok platform. It is also sup­ple­ment­ed by well-known social media functions. Today, with around 1.56 billion users worldwide, TikTok has long since become a serious com­peti­tor to es­tab­lished social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

However, the app packed with the latest trends is not to everyone’s taste. We will show you how you can delete or tem­porar­i­ly de­ac­ti­vate your TikTok account and what you need to bear in mind when doing so.

How to delete your TikTok account quick guide

As is the case when deleting your Facebook account or deleting your Instagram account, deleting your TikTok account means all your data and content will be wiped. The entire account is deleted per­ma­nent­ly along with all content and cannot be restored. If you would like to per­ma­nent­ly dereg­is­ter from TikTok (at least with your current personal profile), you should proceed as follows:

  1. Log into your TikTok account
  2. Tap the three-dotted icon at the top of your profile page
  3. Select “Settings and privacy”
  4. Tap on “Account”
  5. Select “De­ac­ti­vate or delete account”
  6. Receive and enter the con­fir­ma­tion code
  7. Tap “Delete account” again
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How to delete your TikTok account step by step

In the following sections we lay out the complete, step-by-step process for deleting your TikTok account.

Step 1: Open the TikTok app and log into your account. On your profile page, tap on the three-dot icon to the top right and then on “Settings and privacy”.

Image: Main TikTok menu under the three-dot icons
Settings and privacy option in the TikTok menu.
Image: TikTok menu: “Account” option in the “Settings and privacy” menu
You can find the account settings in the “Settings and privacy” tab.
Image: Account management on TikTok
At the bottom of the account section, there is a menu option labeled “De­ac­ti­vate or delete account.

Step 3: You will now be prompted to choose whether to de­ac­ti­vate your account or per­ma­nent­ly delete it. If you opt for deletion, the account will no longer be re­cov­er­able after 30 days. Select your preferred option and provide a reason for deleting the account, if you want to.

Image: TikTok Window: Delete or deactivate account?
TikTok will now ask if you want to per­ma­nent­ly delete or tem­porar­i­ly de­ac­ti­vate your account.

Step 4: Next, enter your mobile number if you haven’t already added it to your account. A six-digit code will now be au­to­mat­i­cal­ly sent to your phone. This is the con­fir­ma­tion code for deleting your TikTok account. Enter the received code into the des­ig­nat­ed field and confirm by selecting to delete or de­ac­ti­vate the account.

Image: Delete TikTok: Enter the code
The code required for deletion is sent via SMS and must be entered in the con­fir­ma­tion field. This way, TikTok prevents unau­tho­rized in­di­vid­u­als from deleting other people’s accounts.
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Step 5: A brief summary will appear, informing you which data you will no longer be able to access after deletion. If you are sure, tap the “Delete account” button again.

Image: Information about deleting a TikTok account
Before deleting your TikTok account, you will be shown some important in­for­ma­tion.

Step 6: A final con­fir­ma­tion dialog box will appear. Click on “Delete,” and your account will be de­ac­ti­vat­ed for 30 days before being per­ma­nent­ly deleted. Afterward, you will be au­to­mat­i­cal­ly logged out and see the message “Login session expired, the account has been deleted.”

Image: TikTok: Final confirmation of account deletion
With a final tap on “Delete,” your account will be removed.
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How to restore TikTok after de­ac­ti­vat­ing your account quick guide

Before a TikTok account is per­ma­nent­ly deleted from the operator’s database, it goes into an ongoing 30-day de­ac­ti­va­tion mode. This means that a deleted account can be re­ac­ti­vat­ed by the user within 30 days after they confirm deletion. To do this, log into the app as you normally would. A dialog box then opens, where you can tap the “Re­ac­ti­vate” button to restore an account that has pre­vi­ous­ly been deleted.

Image: Reactivate TikTok account
Before a TikTok account is per­ma­nent­ly deleted, it remains de­ac­ti­vat­ed for 30 days. During this period, the de­ac­ti­va­tion can be undone.
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