Can People See Your Likes on TikTok?
TikTok has two kinds of likes with two different privacy rules. The videos you've liked can be hidden with one switch. The likes you've received can't. Most people asking this question mean the first one.
Can people see your likes on TikTok? The videos you've liked are visible to others only if your Liked videos setting allows it, and you can switch it to Only you under Settings and privacy, Privacy, Liked videos. The likes your own videos receive are public: the total on your profile and the count on each video.
So if you're worried that someone can scroll through everything you've liked, one switch fixes that. If you want to hide how many likes your own videos have, TikTok's privacy menu has no switch for it; the only way to limit who sees your videos and their counts is to make the whole account private.
The confusion comes from the word likes appearing twice on your profile. At the top, next to Following and Followers, there's a Likes figure: the total number of likes your videos have received. Further down, among the tabs above your video grid, there's a heart icon: the Liked tab, which lists videos you have liked on other people's accounts.
These have opposite privacy logic. The Likes total is a public statistic about your content, like a follower count. TikTok treats it as part of your profile and doesn't offer a setting to hide it. The Liked tab is a record of your own behavior, and TikTok gives it a separate privacy control, along with other lists that reveal what you do, such as your following list and your favorites.
Knowing which is which answers the question in one step. Your taste is private if you set it to be. Your reception is public as long as your account is. The public count on each video is also the one TikTok likes change.
How to make your likes private on TikTok
The steps below were current in the TikTok app as of September 2026. Menu labels can shift slightly between app versions.
- Open your profile by tapping Profile at the bottom right.
- Tap the menu icon, the three lines at the top right.
- Tap Settings and privacy, then Privacy.
- Tap Liked videos.
- Choose Only you. On a public account the other choice is Everyone; on a private account it's your followers.
What changes after you switch it
Your Liked tab stays visible to you, with a lock on the heart icon. Anyone else who opens your profile sees that the tab is private instead of the list. The setting applies to every video you've ever liked, not only future likes. It doesn't change anything about the like itself: the creator of a video you liked can still see your name in their activity notifications.
How to hide likes on TikTok: what can and can't be hidden
Here is the full picture of like-related information on a TikTok profile:
- Videos you've liked: private or public, your choice, through the Liked videos setting.
- Videos you've saved to Favorites: a separate setting, also under Privacy.
- Your total likes received, shown at the top of your profile: public on a public account, with no switch to hide it.
- The like count on each of your videos: public on a public account.
- Your name on someone else's video: the creator can see that you liked it, whatever your settings.
Does making the account private hide the likes on my videos?
It limits who sees them. On a private account, only people you approve as followers can watch your videos, so only they see the counts. Your profile header, including the total, can still show to people who find your account. For most creators a private account defeats the purpose of posting, which is why the total stays public for almost everyone.
Can people see what you like on TikTok if they follow you?
Only if your Liked videos setting allows it. On a public account set to Everyone, anyone can open your Liked tab, follower or not. Set to Only you, nobody else can. On a private account, the choice is between your followers and only you.
Separately, the creator of each video you like is told. That's how TikTok's like notifications work, and there's no way to like a video anonymously. If you don't want a particular creator to know, the only option is not to like it; saving it to Favorites with that list set to private is the quieter alternative.
TikTok treats your following list the same way it treats your likes, as behavior you can hide. How to hide your following list on TikTok covers that setting and its limits.
How to see your likes on TikTok
To see videos you've liked, open your profile and tap the heart tab above your video grid. The list shows your likes with the most recent first.
To see likes on your own content, look at the count on each video; the activity section of your Inbox lists the accounts that liked your videos. For totals over time, TikTok Studio, the creator tools inside the app, shows likes alongside views, comments and shares for each video and for the account. How to calculate engagement rate on TikTok explains how those likes fit into the ratio most brands look at.
Why can't I see my liked videos on TikTok?
Usually because the video was deleted or made private by its creator, which removes it from your list, or because the account that posted it was removed or blocked you. Occasionally the tab loads slowly on a weak connection. Your own privacy setting never hides the list from you.
How to get more likes on TikTok
Likes on TikTok follow watch time more than anything else. The For You feed tests a new video with a small group of viewers and widens its reach when people watch through, rewatch, like, comment and share. Likes are one signal among those, and they tend to come to videos that hook in the first second and pay off before the end. How the TikTok algorithm works goes through that testing cycle.
A few habits help: open with the payoff or the question, keep the video only as long as its idea, add text on screen for people watching muted, and reply to comments with new videos, which puts your content in front of people already interested.
The like count is also something viewers read. A video with thousands of views and a few dozen likes looks like something people scrolled past, and that first impression affects whether the next viewer bothers to stay. That's the number TikTok likes change, for creators who want a new video's visible count to match its effort. Be clear about what it does: it changes the count people see. It doesn't create watch time, and it doesn't oblige the For You feed to push the video further. The same logic applies to TikTok views and to the profile total that TikTok followers change.
Why the difference matters
Your Liked tab says something about you: your tastes, your politics, what you watch late at night. That's why TikTok lets you close it. The likes on your videos say something about your content, and they're part of what makes a public profile public. Anyone deciding whether to follow you reads them in a second.
So the practical rule is simple. Set Liked videos to Only you if you'd rather keep your viewing to yourself, and treat the likes on your own videos as part of how your work is presented. For the visible count on a new post, see TikTok likes; for every TikTok guide and service on this site, the TikTok hub.
Questions people ask about TikTok likes
Can people see the videos I like on TikTok?
Only if your Liked videos setting allows it. Go to Profile, menu, Settings and privacy, Privacy, Liked videos and choose Only you to hide the list from everyone else.
Can I hide the number of likes on my TikTok profile?
No. The total likes figure on your profile and the like count on each video are public on a public account, and TikTok's privacy menu has no switch for them. A private account limits who sees your videos.
Does the creator know I liked their TikTok?
Yes. The creator can see who liked their video, whatever your Liked videos setting. That setting only hides your own list of liked videos from people visiting your profile.
Do my old likes become private when I change the setting?
Yes. The Liked videos setting applies to the whole list, including everything you liked before switching it.
How do I see the videos I've liked on TikTok?
Open your profile and tap the heart tab above your video grid. It lists the videos you've liked, most recent first.
Is the Favorites list on TikTok private?
It has its own setting under Settings and privacy, Privacy, separate from Liked videos. Check both if you want all your activity hidden.
Keep reading
- TikTok likes — The public count on a video, the one TikTok won't let you hide, is what TikTok likes change.
- How to hide your following list on TikTok — The other list of your behavior that TikTok lets you close.
- TikTok engagement rate — How likes fit into the ratio brands look at.