Liking someone’s TikTok by accident can be a scary and nerve-wracking experience – especially if you don’t want them to find out.
In a panic, you quickly unlike the TikTok video – but is it too late? Did TikTok send a notification, and will they know that you were on their page watching their videos?
Fortunately, you don’t have a lot to worry about, as long as you follow a few key steps.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about TikTok’s notification system in regards to liking and unliking videos.
Will TikTok Send A Notification If You Like And Unlike A Video?
TikTok does immediately send notifications out when videos are liked. However, the notifications are removed from the TikTok app as soon as the video is unliked.
This means that if you are quick about it, the chances of the person actually seeing the notification are very slim.
However, if TikTok chooses to send a push notification directly to the person’s device (meaning that it’s visible even when TikTok is not open), then unfortunately the notification will remain even if the video is unliked. This acts the same as TikTok comments, in this regard.
Fortunately, this is rare.
Posts on TikTok receive so many likes relative to other platforms like Twitter or even Instagram, that TikTok doesn’t often send push notifications to people’s phones for likes alone. There would simply be too many to send!
In fact, even within TikTok’s own notification system, they tend to lump groups of likes together into a single notification.
Could you imagine TikTok creators that get thousands of likes per video, if they got a notification for each one? That would be insane!
Does The Notification Go Away If You Unlike The Video?
Yes! If you unlike the TikTok, the notification will be immediately removed from the person’s TikTok account.
This means that if they visit their notifications within the TikTok app, the notification will no longer be there. However, if TikTok sent a push notification to the person’s phone, this may remain even if the video is unliked. Before you panic, you should know that this is rare.
It should be noted that in many cases, TikTok never sends a notification in the first place. This is especially true for videos that are actively getting likes from other people.
However, if you liked an old video that was posted more than a few days ago, there is a good chance that TikTok may have sent a notification out within the app.
So, this should be taken into account when determining how to feel about the situation.
Grouped Likes – And How They Benefit You
Even if the notification were to remain, it’s unlikely to ever be seen.
This is especially true if you liked a video that was new, and appeared on your For You page.
Videos that make it to your For You page are likely getting a lot of views all at once, and will continue to get pushed out to more and more people.
Likes for these videos tend to pour in quickly, so TikTok doesn’t send a notification for each one of them.
Instead, the notification will show only a couple of users, and then state X other people liked the video.
While the video creator can open this notification to view all of the individual people that clicked on the like button, this is rarely done. Because For You page videos are usually watched by complete strangers, there is little interest from most people to actually see who has liked the video.
This is much different than platforms like Snapchat or even Instagram, where people are mostly connected with their friends and acquaintances.
So, even if you didn’t unlike the video, there’s a good chance that the TikTok creator would never even notice.
If You Block Someone On TikTok, Will They Still See The Notification?
Let’s say after unliking the TikTok, you immediately blocked the person. Will this help, or will they still be able to see it?
While blocking them will help, it will not solve all of your problems.
This is because the notification won’t change or go away, even if you block the person.
Instead, what will happen is your profile picture will no longer be visible to them within the notification. Additionally, if they try to click on the notification to view your profile, it will no longer be visible to them.
Unfortunately, neither of these really do anything to hide who you are – at least if they recognize your TikTok notification.
If they do, they don’t need to view your profile to identify you. So, blocking them really won’t help all that much.
Still, combined with the next step I’m about to share with you, it’s a good idea to do regardless.
To block someone on TikTok, follow these steps:
- Visit their TikTok profile.
- Click on the three dots in the upper-right corner.
- Click on the ‘Block’ button near the bottom of the window that pops up.
Changing Your Name – Worth The Hassle?
So, we know that blocking them won’t prevent them from seeing your name on the notification. What if you change your name?
Actually, combined with blocking, this is a good idea.
If you block them, they won’t be able to see your profile picture, nor will they be able to visit your profile to view your TikToks.
If you change your name, this will immediately update within the notification.
Combine the two together, and they will have no idea who it actually was that liked their TikTok – even if they see the notification, and try to click through to your profile.
Therefore, if you can block and change your name quickly, this can be a great way to fully cover your tracks.
There is just one problem, however.
If a person was really determined, they could always log in to a second TikTok account and manually type in your new name, in order to find your profile.
The chances of this happening is extremely low, of course.
Not only would the notification have to remain (which it won’t, if you unlike the TikTok), but the person must also be bored enough to look up a random person that happened to like their videos.
Remember, they have no idea of knowing who it is. They’ll probably assume it’s just some random person they don’t know.
By blocking the person and changing your name – even only temporarily, you can practically guarantee that they will never know it was you.
To change your name on TikTok, follow these steps:
- Open your TikTok app, and visit your profile.
- Click on the ‘Edit Profile’ button.
- Click on ‘Username’.
- Type in your new username.
Deleting Your Account – A Last Resort
Finally, as a last resort option you can always delete your account.
This really isn’t necessary, especially if you visit the steps mentioned above.
However, it is one way to guarantee that your notification won’t be sent and viewable, as long as you do it fast enough.
To delete your TikTok account, follow these steps:
- Visit your TikTok profile.
- Open your settings, by clicking the icon with three horizontal lines. It’s located in the top-right corner.
- Tap on ‘Manage Account’.
- Click on ‘Delete account’.
- Follow the on-screen instructions.
Deleting your TikTok account should only be done in extreme circumstances.
Unfortunately, there will not be time to download all of your data if your goal is to prevent a notification from being seen. Therefore, you should also make sure that there’s nothing you want to save before making the decision to permanently close your account.
How To Prevent Accidental Liking On TikTok
Unfortunately, the biggest factor when it comes to hiding the notification is speed.
If the person is actively using their phone when the notification comes in, there’s a chance that it will be impossible to take care of in time.
Therefore, the best thing you can do is prevent accidental likes in the first place.
Let’s look over some tips on how you can avoid liking people’s TikToks by accident.
1. Hold The Phone In Your Left Hand
The quickest and easiest thing you can do to prevent you from liking TikToks on accident is to hold your phone in your left hand while you’re browsing.
This is because TikTok keeps the like button on the right-hand side of the screen, making it easier to tap by accident if you’re holding the phone in the right hand – especially if you have large hands.
By holding the phone in your left hand, you either have to stretch much further to hit the like button, or use your right hand to tap on it.
Either way, it is a much greater motion, and it’s much more challenging to do on accident.
2. Browse With An Alternate Account
Next, you could try browsing TikTok with an alternate account.
Using a second account that isn’t tied to your name or identity in any way is a great way to browse TikTok anonymously. You can like, comment and save anything that you please without having to worry about people knowing that it was you.
TikTok allows multiple accounts, and this is a good reason to have one.
Note that your TikTok accounts won’t be tied together in any way. There is no way for TikTok users to know who the second account belongs to.
So, when doing anything you wouldn’t want others to know about it, a second TikTok account is a great way to do it.
3. Browse On PC
Finally, you could always browse TikTok on your computer if you want to be extra careful.
Liking a TikTok by accident is nearly impossible on the computer, because you have to physically move your mouse pointer over to the like button and click it in order to like it.
Simply clicking on the video will pause it.
In fact, if the person has a public account, you don’t even have to be signed in, in order to browse and view their videos.
This makes liking the video impossible, because you must be logged into a TikTok account in order to like videos.
Simply visit TikTok’s website in your browser, and start watching videos worry-free!
Conclusion
As long as you unlike the TikTok quickly, TikTok should remove their notification from the app.
However, if you’re paranoid, you can always block the person and change your TikTok name. This will effectively make it impossible for them to find out that it was you.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any questions about TikTok, feel free to ask them using the comment form below.
Wishing you the best!
– James McAllister