When you create TikTok drafts on your phone or tablet, you’re expected a certain degree of privacy.
However, these drafts are still tied to your TikTok account in one way or another. Therefore, you may be wondering – is there any way other people can view your drafts? What about TikTok themselves – would it even be possible for a TikTok employee to see them?
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about your TikTok drafts and their privacy.
Can Other People See Your TikTok Drafts?
Fortunately, there is absolutely no way for other TikTok users to see your drafts.
This is because your drafts aren’t actually uploaded to TikTok’s servers. They stay stored on your phone, which is why it may appear that TikTok is taking up so much space on your device.
Until the drafts are actually uploaded, they just remain on a photo on your phone that only you can access.
And while the drafts may appear to be tied to your account, it turns out that they are still inaccessible even if someone were to hack you.
Again, the drafts are on your phone – not uploaded to the internet. That’s why your drafts won’t show up if you log into your TikTok account on a new device, or why deleting the TikTok app also deletes all of your drafts, but not your uploaded videos.
The only way somebody else can view your drafts is if you hand them your phone while you’re still signed into your TikTok.
There is no other way for any TikTok users to view the drafts until you decide to upload them.
Can TikTok Employees See Your Drafts?
Now that we know that other TikTok users are unable to view your drafts, you may be wondering – what about TikTok themselves? If a TikTok staff member wanted to view your drafts, would they be able to?
Because TikTok drafts never leave your phone and aren’t actually being stored by TikTok themselves, TikTok employees shouldn’t be able to access your drafts in any way.
This also means that they will be unable to recover them for you in the event they are deleted by accident.
Technically however, it is theoretically possible that TikTok could upload and store the drafts without our knowledge. By giving the app permission to use our camera and access our photos, it would theoretically be possible for them to store the drafts regardless.
However, I believe it’s very unlikely that TikTok would be doing this.
Storing drafts would not only be a violation of privacy, but it would lead to significantly higher storage costs for no real benefit in return.
TikTok doesn’t care about what silly, cringe or embarrassing things you have saved in your drafts, let alone videos that are simply incomplete.
Therefore, I consider it to be very unlikely that even TikTok employees can see your drafts.
Note: Out of curiosity, I requested all of my data from TikTok. While my public TikTok videos were there, my drafts were not. This is further evidence that TikTok does not store drafts.
What About Private Videos?
We know that it’s extremely unlikely that TikTok is able to access anyone’s drafts. What about our private videos?
This unfortunately is a different story.
Even private videos are uploaded to TikTok’s severs, and are being stored on their hardware. This means that they not only have complete access to them, but have an obligation to make sure they aren’t storing anything that may be harmful or illegal.
Therefore, you should expect not only that your private videos can be seen by TikTok staff, but that their automated systems will also be scanning them for content that violates TikTok’s community guidelines.
Private videos may be private from other TikTok users, but they are not private from TikTok staff.
Tip: Have a video pulled for a content violation, and believe it was an error? Click here to learn how to file an appeal!
Conclusion
The important thing to remember is that drafts are stored on the phone or tablet they were created on.
They are not uploaded to TikTok’s servers until you decide to publish them, so it’s impossible for other people to see them.
Private videos on the other hand are uploaded, and can be viewed by TikTok staff for any reason.
By keeping these facts in mind, you can make the right decisions to protect your privacy.
Have any questions or stories to share? Feel free to ask in the comments form below.
Thanks for reading,
– James McAllister