How the TikTok Watch History Feature Works

TikTok launched its Watch History feature in March 2022. The feature was slowly rolled out to users and is now widely available to everyone. This is not an uncommon approach for TikTok, as many TikTok features, like longer-length videos and automatic closed captioning, went through beta testing before going mainstream across the app. Once you enable Watch History, you can use it to view all of the videos you’ve watched over the past seven days, including videos you favorited (“hearted”) and ones you simply watched. Furthermore, your view history includes videos you didn’t watch all the way through, meaning you can even recover videos you accidentally scrolled past! Although all users can now access their Watch History, the feature is only available through the mobile app at this time. Users who watch TikTok through their desktop browser can’t access their previously watched videos – at least not through this feature. However, there are a couple of workarounds that we cover below. You must first enable the Watch History feature before taking advantage of it and know where to find it, as it’s not as obvious as you may think.

How to Enable and View TikTok Watch History on Android

You’ll see all of the videos you have viewed or scrolled through over the past seven days. Scroll up and down to see the clips, then tap on any video you want to watch. You’re free to return to this section anytime! To disable watch history, simply follow the steps outlined above but tap to toggle your watch history “off” in Step 6.

How to Enable and View TikTok Watch History on iOS

Clearing Your Watch History on Android and iOS

Your view history will automatically clear anything more than seven days old from the clip list. However, you can also clear your TikTok history at any time by following these steps.

How to View TikTok History on PC

Unfortunately, TikTok does not have a straightforward way to view Watch History in your browser or in the desktop app like it does on its mobile apps. Luckily, there’s a workaround you can fall back on: downloading your data. While it’s quite time consuming, it may help in a pinch.

More Ways to View TikTok History

There are a couple of extra “hacks” you can use to find previously watched videos. These are handy if you do not have the Watch History feature yet or the feature vanished suddenly.

Use the Search function from the Discover part of the app as a replacement for Watch History. Follow the steps below to find your TikTok Watch History by performing a search. You’ll see your watched videos. This feature gives mixed results and also does not populate videos in the order you watched them. However, it’s a good trick that may help if you want to locate a specific video.

Like the Videos You Watch

Another trick to get quick access to watched videos is to hit the “Like” button every time you enjoy a certain clip on the social app. When you need to retrieve a video, you can bring up your Liked videos list and easily find the desired video there. Liking a video on TikTok is easy. Press the heart icon on the left side of the clip either in the app or browser. Alternatively, hit the “Favorites” icon (right underneath the “Comments” icon) and save the video as part of a collection, which will also be visible on your profile in the “Favorites” tab. Image credit: cottonbro via Pexels. All screenshots by Megan Glosson.