Browsing through the TikTok ‘For You’ is as much an immersive process as it is mindless. Some videos, you like so much that you react immediately to them by hitting like or leaving a comment. Other times, your fingers automatically drift up or down through videos, forgetting to leave your impression on them. But, sometimes, like a delayed reaction, you suddenly feel the desire to rewatch a video you chanced upon in the home feed. But, on TikTok, it is difficult to come across twice on the For You feed, unless you deliberately look up a video using specific keywords in TikTok Discovery.
This is where you desperately wish for a watch history of your TikTok browsing. We do have it on popular streaming platforms like YouTube and god knows how thankful we are for it, too! TikTok developers have always been sensitive and discerning of the demands of its population, and the latest buzz is that it is also going to feature a watch history soon to satisfy the popular interest.
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What is Watch History on TikTok?
The latest rumor in the TikTokverse is about the pending addition of Watch History to the user profile settings. “Watch History” as evident from the title itself is expected to open to users their video viewing history on the app in a list form.
The potential of such a feature being rolled out has engendered quite the buzz amongst the app’s user community. You no longer have to sigh over the video that slipped through your fingers in a moment of rush or carelessness if a watch history shortcut indeed gets added to the app’s features.
As a matter of fact, it seems like a tool that is long overdue considering the quirky personality of TikTok algorithm to not repeat videos often in the For You feed.
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Is Watch History a confirm feature on TikTok?
The news of the impending addition of “watch history” to the TikTok settings was first released by Twitter user Hammod Oh, who is famous in the circle for giving exclusive sneak peeks into yet-to-release features of popular apps to netizens.
In a two-tweet short thread, Oh has added what appears to be screenshots of the location and landing page of the feature.
#TikTok is testing adding a watch history feature in the app pic.twitter.com/zFLn6uYSUr
— Hammod Oh (@hammodoh1) March 26, 2022
Where is Watch History on TikTok?
Based on the screenshots provided by Hammod Oh, the Watch History can be found in the user profile > Settings and privacy > CONTENT & ACTIVITY. If you have used the App language settings before, you should be able to locate it right under it according to the available information.
Personally, I assumed the feature would get a direct shortcut tab in the user profile, if it were ever to be a feature on the app, for convenient access, of course. A few additional taps to go to the Settings and privacy to view the watch history isn’t so bad either considering the advantage it offers to rediscover a video that one viewed in the passing in the past.
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How does Watch History help?
The currently available information about the ‘watch history’ feature is that it will make privy to users their watch history over a period of 7 days. It also appears to be a setting that you can enable or disable according to personal preference.
Even though the veracity of this piece of information is yet to be confirmed, we can speculate that a 7-day range is broad enough for a user to retrace their watch history to dig up a lost gem.
Based on our experience with the ‘history’ feature on browsers and YouTube, you may also make a bold guess that it’d be in a comprehensible list form to easily sieve through and find what you seek. Since the time range is 7 days, it may help minimize junk and exposure to hefty data of history.
You will be able to see your watch history for the last 7 days pic.twitter.com/TtXnjSnb4b
— Hammod Oh (@hammodoh1) March 29, 2022
Why don’t I have Watch History?
I know, you must be wondering, “Why don’t I have Watch History’. Worry not, because most people do not. Everyone has placed their trust in the credibility of Hammod Oh to believe and anticipate the yet-to-release to be a part of the TikTok settings soon.
If you do not have it yet, it is not because your app version is not up-to-date, but because the feature hasn’t been officially announced or rolled out to a bigger mass. Keep your fingers crossed for “soon, maybe?”, though!
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When will Watch History become available for everyone on TikTok?
TikTok has yet to render any official statements regarding the existence, development, or launching of the watch history, although several tech-field giants have extended their inquiries to the team.
So, when it will become available for everyone is up to blind guessing. It could be next week or by the end of the year. For all we know, they might slyly introduce the ‘watch history’ into the settings in the very next update.
Workarounds to get Watch History on TikTok
Since the ‘watch history’ is still a feature that is very much up in the air, you might be curious if there are any workarounds to get access to your watch history. Frankly, there are no impressive workarounds to gain access to all, at least a good chunk of your consecutive ‘watch history’ on the app.
The solution most people turn to in desperate times is to request the account data from TikTok which is usually a large-sized compilation of your behavior, interactions, chat, likes, favorites histories, etc. on the app in text format. However, this is a rather exhausting list to sit through if you wish to look for a video in the videos history.
Alternatives to Watch History on TikTok?
Fear not, because as long you have a certain orientation regarding what you want to find from your watch history, there is still a method that could help you try and fish out the desired result. It is a hidden feature in the TikTok Discovery feature. Here is how it is done.
Launch TikTok and tap Discovery.
In the search box, enter your “keywords” and hit Search. In the past week, I saw quite a few videos related to Expo 2020. Let us use that keyword to test this method out.
You will see many results, but we are not done yet! On the results page, tap the filter button next to the search box.
In the filter settings, toggle on Watched videos and hit Apply.
The results you see on the page will have an added “Relevant” label to indicate that they are based on your interactions with it in the past on the For You feed, even as a passing swipe up or down.
Based on the results, I can say that they are indeed videos that I have solid or vague impressions of coming across in the past week. So, it works, I guess. But, you need to work with a keyword to get more accurate results. Users have also suggested searching the “*” symbol (which stands for “all”) in the search for getting a bigger watch history, however, it didn’t give me a laudable result page.
So, what is your take on this rumored new “watch history” feature on TikTok? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
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