You Must Change These TikTok Privacy Settings
TikTok is fun. TikTok is addictive. TikTok… risky? There is a lot of controversy about the app’s privacy and security, especially with its parent company ByteDance, which operates outside of Beijing. The previous White House administration nearly banned this app from US markets. I’m not sure how much of my TikTok data is being siphoned off to unknown governments, but what I do know is that there are settings you can tweak to provide a higher level of privacy on TikTok.
Let’s be honest: most free apps (and many paid ones) exist to feed on your data (all eyes on you, Meta ). So it’s no surprise that TikTok, a free app, doesn’t care too much about making your experience private. However, I find one aspect of the app particularly aggressive: contact sharing.
TikTok really wants to share your account with everyone you know. Of course, from a business point of view, this makes sense: the application needs more users. However, I’m not a fan. I don’t use TikTok for the community. I am here to watch funny videos. If I have a clip that I want to share with people, I do it outside of TikTok. There is no reason for me to contact people I know on the app.
TikTok goes beyond what you might expect from an app in terms of “sharing” your account with others. The social networking company wants to send your data not only to your contacts and not only to your Facebook friends, but also to people who know people you know, as well as people who open or send links to you. It doesn’t work with me, and probably shouldn’t fly with you either.
Let’s take a look at some of the settings you can change to stop this behavior, as well as close some other privacy and security holes in the app.
Top TikTok from suggesting your account to others
To prevent TikTok from offering your account to everyone and their moms, tap the Profile tab, then select the hamburger menu icon in the top right corner and go to Settings & Privacy > Privacy > Offer Your Account to Others . From here, turn off all four relevant options, including Contacts, Facebook Friends, People with Shared Connections, and People Who Open or Send You Links.
Note: I’m pretty sure I told the app 1000 times that I don’t want to share my account with my contacts. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m using the app on multiple devices or something else, but all four options were still enabled for me. Sneaky.
Disable syncing contacts and friends on Facebook.
If you’re thinking, “Wait, didn’t I disable those options?” buckle up. Just below “Suggest your account to others” you’ll find “Sync contacts and Facebook friends”. This settings option is a little different as it allows TikTok to periodically check your phone contacts and your Facebook friends to see if there are new people to add to their lists. Fun!
Check this settings page to see if any setting is enabled for your account and quickly disable those settings if they are. In addition, you will have the option to “Remove Contacts” or “Remove Facebook Friends” if any of these types of contacts are stored in your account. If the options are dimmed, this is your sign that there are no connected contacts.
My experience? Both of these options were disabled and my “Remove Facebook Friends” option was dimmed. But my “Delete Contacts” option was bright red, indicating that TikTok had my contacts. You’d better believe I removed them.
Turn on two-factor verification
Let’s step away from TikTok’s aggressive social connections and take a look at a setting that will just keep your account safe from hackers: Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a powerful security feature. You usually sign in to accounts with the correct username and password. With 2FA, you need a second form of authentication, usually either with a text message code or verification from a trusted device. If you haven’t set up this feature yet, do so now.
To get started, go to Settings & Privacy > Security & Sign In > Two-Step Verification . From here, you can choose at least two verification methods: SMS, email, and password. Once you have verified your connection with the methods you have chosen, 2FA will be set up.
Disable camera and microphone permissions
If you’re like me, you use TikTok solely to view other people’s content. So there is no reason why an app needs permission to access your phone’s camera and microphone. However, most of us probably give the app those permissions anyway.
There is no evidence that TikTok is spying on us through our cameras and microphones. But why give an app with a far from outstanding track record of privacy the benefit of the doubt?
On iOS, you can disable these permissions in your iPhone’s Settings app. Click on TikTok, then turn off the toggles next to “Microphone” and “Camera”. On Android, go to Settings > Apps > TikTok > Permissions , then tap Camera and Microphone and make sure you have “Don’t Allow” selected for each.
Make sure you also disable permission for contacts in settings.
Always with fucking contacts, TikTok. Even after you go through the settings in the app, you may still find that TikTok has permission from your phone’s OS to access your contacts. It’s tricky, but we’re on TikTok.
On the same permission pages as in the previous step, you can make sure TikTok doesn’t have access to your friends and family by turning off “Contacts”.
Disable “Allow Tracking” (iOS)
With iOS 14.5, Apple gave users the ability to prevent apps from tracking their every move. When you updated your iPhone, all of these apps had to ask for your permission before tracking you. If you’re not particularly passionate about offering your data to add another zero to Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth, you’ll probably want to deny tracking permissions to these apps.
However, since you may have seen these pop-ups so many times, you may have clicked “yes” by accident. To check if TikTok has permission to track you, go to iOS Settings > TikTok and make sure the toggle next to Allow Tracking is turned off.
If you want this setting to apply to all apps, not just TikTok, go to Settings > Privacy > Tracking and disable “Allow apps to ask to be tracked”.