Like other social media platforms, TikTok allows its users to direct message one another.
If you’re a business, direct messaging allows your customers to reach out to you easily.
When you send a direct message to someone, your conversation is private.
In other words, your followers won’t be able to see your messages.
Additionally, direct messaging is a powerful way to get opportunities as it has a high open-rate.
However, finding the direct message feature can be challenging for some people as it’s hidden from plain sight.
Moreover, the feature might not be available to some people.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to DM (direct message) people on TikTok.
How to DM people on TikTok
To DM people on TikTok, you must first navigate to the user’s profile.
Then, tap on the three dots and tap on “Send Message” to send a direct message to them.
After you’ve tapped on “Send Message”, type the message that you want to send to them and tap on the direct message arrow to send it.
However, it’s important to note that you will not be able to send messages to everyone.
This is because some users might have set their “Who can send you direct messages” setting to friends only or to nobody.
The “Who can send you direct messages” setting is set to friends only by default.
This means that only your followers that you follow back can send a direct message to you.
In other words, other TikTok users will not be able to send a direct message to you.
If someone sets their “Who can send you direct messages” setting to nobody, nobody will be able to send them direct messages.
If you want to allow other users to send direct messages to you, you need to set the “Who can send you direct messages” setting to “Everyone” instead of “Friends” or “No one”.
Otherwise, you won’t be able to receive direct messages from TikTok users that you’re not following.
Anyhow, below is a step-by-step guide on how you can DM people on TikTok (with pictures).
Step 1: Go to the user’s profile & tap on the three dots
Open the TikTok app > navigate to the user’s profile > tap on the three dots on the top right corner of their profile.
The first step is to navigate to the user’s profile and tap on the three dots.
Firstly, open TikTok on your mobile device.
Do not use TikTok on a desktop as you won’t be able to send direct messages on it.
This is because TikTok web does not support direct messaging yet.
Once you’re on TikTok, find the user that you want to send a direct message to.
You can find the user by searching for their username on the search bar.
Once you’re on the user’s profile, you’ll see three dots on the top right corner of it.
Tap on the three dots to open a navigation drawer.
Alternatively, you can tap on the “Inbox” icon on the bottom navigation bar.
Then, tap on the direct message icon on the top right corner of your inbox, and tap on the “+” icon to send a message to someone that you’re following.
Proceed to the next step to learn where the “Send Message” feature is located.
Step 2: Tap on “Send message”
Tap on the “Send message” icon.
After you’ve tapped on the three dots icon, a navigation drawer will open.
On the navigation drawer, you’ll see multiple icons.
You can either send the profile to someone on TikTok or share it outside of TikTok.
At the bottom of the navigation drawer, you’ll see three icons including “Report”, “Block”, and “Send message”.
The “Report” icon allows you to report the person’s profile on TikTok.
Next, blocking the person will hide your TikTok profile from them.
Lastly, “Send message” allows you to send a direct message to the person.
Tap on “Send messsage” to send a message to the person.
Move on to the final step to learn how to send a direct message.
Step 3: Send the message
Enter your message and tap on the direct message icon to send the message to the person.
After you’ve tapped on the “Send message” icon, it’ll open up a chat with them.
Simply type the message that you want to send to them.
After you’ve finished typing the message, hit the direct message icon to send it to them.
Alternatively, you can tap on the “Send” button on your keyboard to send the message to them.
There are two things that can happen after sending the message to them.
You’ll either get the “Only friends can send messages to each other” error, or the message will be successfully sent.
If you get an error, that means that you can only send a message to them if you followed them and they followed you.
This is because the person did not change their “Who can send you direct messages” setting to “Everyone”.
If that’s the case, you won’t be able to send a direct message to the person unless they change their safety setting.
Your only other option is to check whether they’ve linked their Instagram to TikTok.
If they did, you can send them a direct message on Instagram instead.
You’ve successfully learned how to send a DM (direct message) on TikTok!
Is there DM on TikTok?
Yes, TikTok has a direct messaging feature where users can send messages to each other on the app.
However, you may not be able to send direct messages to everyone due to safety settings and age restrictions.
For example, if someone set their “Who can send you direct messages” setting to “Friends”, you can only send them a direct message if you followed them and they followed you.
On the other hand, if someone sets their “Who can send you direct messages” setting to “Nobody”, nobody can send them a direct message.
Did TikTok remove DMs?
No, TikTok did not remove DMs (direct messages).
However, TikTok introduced an age restriction on direct messages in April 2020.
Users under the age of 16 will not be able to use the direct message feature on TikTok.
Hence, you will not be able to send a direct message to someone if you are under 16.
Conclusion
Direct messaging is one of the most social features of social media.
However, with the introduction of the age restriction on TikTok, only users aged 16 and above can use the direct messaging feature.
If you’re under the age of 16, you can use another platform to send messages to people instead.
Direct messaging is more complicated on TikTok than any other social media platform because of its default safety setting.
The “Who can send you direct messages” setting is set to friends only by default, so sending a message to people on TikTok is pretty much redundant.
Even so, you can try your luck and hope that the user has changed their safety setting.
Further Reading
How to Make High Quality TikTok Videos
How to Save a TikTok Draft Video in Gallery
101 TikTok Fairy Comments to Copy and Paste
Lim How Wei is the founder of Followchain. Feel free to follow him on Instagram.
