Did you accidentally refresh your “For You” page while you’re watching a video?
Mishaps like this happen to the best of us and you might want to watch it back.
If you didn’t like the video, you can’t find it in your liked videos.
The only way to find it is to view your watch history.
On social media platforms like YouTube, you’ll be able to see your history via the “History” tab.
Similarly, TikTok introduced a “Watch History” section that allows users to view the videos they’ve watched.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to see your watch history on TikTok (videos that you’ve previously watched) even after 180 days.
- How to see your watch history on TikTok
- How long does TikTok keep watch history?
- How to see your watch history on TikTok over 180 days
How to see your watch history on TikTok
To see your watch history on TikTok, go to your profile, tap on the menu icon, and tap on “Settings and privacy”.
Next, tap on “Comment and watch history” followed by “Watch history” to see your watch history in the last 180 days.
TikTok released the “Watch history” feature back in March 2022 to allow users to find the videos that they watched on their “For You” page.
Before that, you needed to download your data file to see your watch history—which is a long and complicated process.
Most users have the feature, but if you don’t have it, you can use the second method instead.
1. Go to your settings
- Open TikTok and go to your profile.
- Tap on the menu icon at the top of your profile.
2. Tap on “Comment and watch history” and “Watch history”
- Select “Comment and watch history” under “Content & Display”.
- Select “Watch history”.
3. View your TikTok watch history
- Here, you’ll be able to view your watch history in the last 180 days.
- This includes videos you’ve watched on your “For You” page, discover pages, profiles, and more.
How long does TikTok keep watch history?
TikTok keeps your watch history for 180 days (it was originally 7 days, but TikTok extended the duration of it).
This means that you can see a list of your previously watched videos in the last 180 days.
TikTok will permanently remove videos that you’ve watched that are older than 180 days.
If you want to watch them, you need to use the method below.
How to see your watch history on TikTok over 180 days
To see your watch history on TikTok over 180 days, you need to download a copy of your data on the app.
A copy of your data can be downloaded from your account settings.
Here’s how to see your watch history on TikTok over 180 days:
- Go to your TikTok profile and tap on the menu icon.
- Settings and privacy > Account > Download your data.
- Tap on “Request data” and wait for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours, tap on the “Download data” tab.
- Download > Log in to your existing TikTok account > Download.
- Open the file and navigate to “Video browsing history”.
- Copy and paste each video’s URL into the URL field of a browser to watch them.
Using the method above, you’ll be able to see your TikTok watch history throughout the years.
This includes the first video that you’ve ever watched on the app.
After logging in, you might need to verify your account.
For example, if you’ve logged in using Facebook, you need to verify your Facebook account.
To verify your account, tap on the “Verify and Download” button.
Do note that your data will be available to download for up to 4 days.
After 4 days, the file will expire and you have to request a copy of your data again.
After you’ve opened the zip file, you’ll see multiple “.txt” files that you can open.
The “Video browsing history” file can be opened using the “Files” app on iOS devices (it can take a while to load).
Alternatively, you can send the file to yourself via email, Telegram, or Google Drive and open it on a PC.
To watch a video, copy its link and paste it into the URL field of a browser (e.g., Chrome, Edge, Firefox).
Conclusion
Sometimes, you’ll watch a video on your “For You” page that stands out from the rest.
If you forgot to like it, or you’ve refreshed your “For You” page by accident, you might want to find it back.
Fortunately, TikTok allows its users to view their watch history and request a copy of their data.
In the data file, you’ll be able to see your video browsing history to find that one video that you’ve watched.
As of early 2022, TikTok launched the “Watch history” feature that allows you to see videos that you’ve watched.
Further Reading
How to Add Multiple Accounts on TikTok (4 Steps)
