How To Unfollow Someone on TikTok (Without Them Knowing)

• Updated on: 2023-04-18
• Read original article here

If you’ve never heard of TikTok, you’ve probably been stuck in a black hole! Kidding aside, TikTok is the hottest social media platform on the face of the Internet right now. 

True, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are still the market leaders in terms of the number of users. But TikTok has recently surpassed Facebook and Google as the most visited site on the Internet. 

It is where the party starts. It now is the trendsetter, the viral video starter, the star maker, and all the buzz and fun originates. 

TikTok’s content spreads far and wide — reuploaded on Instagram and Reddit, Twitter and Snapchat. It’s the choice of the new generation. It’s also where the old generation thrives. 

Ordinary people are not the only ones flocking to the platform. Powerful brands, news sites, businesses, startups, and small-scale companies are joining too. 

It’s not really rocket science why brands tend to gravitate toward the Chinese-owned social media app. Being the platform of choice for Gen Zs and Millennials — the most active age group on the Internet, TikTok provides the major market for money.  

Boomers are rarely online, therefore their platform of choice, Facebook, is not becoming a wealthy ad source. TikTok, on the other hand, gives that energetic numbers high. 

The pandemic has even made TikTok popular. Now that people are wary of contracting the virus outside, online forms of entertainment — niche expertise of TikTok — became the norm. 

So what else do you ask? Billions of active users a month, More popular than search engines, and an age group that buys more than any other, TikTok is a well of markets, audiences, and clients. Therefore, it’s safe to say that joining TikTok can be considered a vital business decision. 

TikTok already has a billion monthly active users. If that alone is not enough reason for you to dive into this platform, then I don’t know what will. 

Another reason is that although Facebook is still the leading social media in terms of the number of registered users, TikTok has been perceived more positively than Facebook and other social media channels.

Users feel more comfortable expressing their true selves on TikTok; hence they find the app more authentic and trustworthy. 

There, they feel like they belong to a community that respects and understands their identity better than other channels. 

Lastly, they find TikTok content to be more unique and original. Therefore it’s a better place for creativity and inspiration. 

Authenticity, trustworthiness, creativity, and inspiration — these are the words a business owner wants to hear should they decide to join a social media platform. Thankfully, TikTok has it all. 

Not to mention, TikTok is the choice of the younger generation. The Gen Z market share is well known to be enthusiastic, creative, and fun to be around. 

Further Reading: Is TikTok the Next Big Thing in Social Media Marketing?

It depends on what kind of brand you want to create. If it is a personal brand, you don’t have to overthink your audience. Just be your authentic self, and the brand identity will show off. 

However, business brands will have to take the planning up a notch. Since you’re selling products or services, a positive identity matters. 

Focus on visual assets first. People will judge you based on what they can see. For starters, try logo makers for TikTok brands. A beautiful viral-worthy TikTok logo need not be expensive and complicated to create. 

Then give your font choices some love. TikTok offers a lot of letter styles for captions and thumbnails. 

Once your business brand is set, feel free to post content and generate interest around your niche. 

Don’t forget to have fun! Remember, TikTok is all about authenticity. Too much staged videos are not the hype there. 

If you’re lacking inspiration, check out one of the top 10 TikTok accounts above for ideas!

Further Reading: TikTok Marketing: 5 Reasons Why, 5 Strategy Tips How, and 5 Examples to Help You Master the Channel

While it’s mostly fun on TikTok, there comes a time when you need to refresh your Following page. Sometimes, the content you see doesn’t add up to the experience you’re going for. In this case, you have “unfollow” as an easy resort. 

How do you unfollow someone on TikTok? And will they be notified of your actions? 

It’s easy to unfollow a TikTok account. There are two ways. 

Either step leads you to the account profile you wish to unfollow. You’ll see a person with a check icon just below their picture – there is a pink square around the appropriate section in the picture below.

Click on it, and it will turn to “Follow.” That means you’ve successfully unfollowed the account. You can see what it should look like once again in a pink rectangle below:

Like all social media platforms, TikTok does not notify an unfollow action. Only a follow will notify the user. This helps protect people’s privacy if they choose to distance themselves from someone’s account. Also, it prevents negativity from spreading, as unfollowing someone can sour relationships between friends. 

But it’s not as if they wouldn’t know. TikTok still lets you see who unfollows you by going through your follower list. If an account is missing from the list, then it’s either they unfollowed you or blocked you. 

Another way is through their Following page. They could eventually find out that your videos don’t show up on this page. It only means that the account chooses to unfollow you. 

Blocking someone is an entirely different thing. Once someone blocked you, you won’t see them wherever you look, not on the Foilogin page, following list, and even if you search for their account using the search icon at the upper right of the feed. 

TikTok also understands that sometimes you need to unfollow not one but multiple accounts. There could be many reasons why someone chooses to unfollow by bulk. 

It could be that the following surpasses the follower numbers. It could also be that the account owner wants an overhaul of their “Following” feeds. Or they just want to replace some accounts with other creators that match their preferences. And many more reasons that are personal to the account owner. 

Fortunately, TikTok lets its users unfollow several accounts in one go. And it’s easy as unfollowing one by one.

Just go over to your profile account. There, you’ll see the “Following” and “Follower” tabs. Click “Following.” And you’ll have access to a list of accounts that you follow in chronological order. 

If you happen to know the date you followed an account, you will get a glimpse of where it lies in the sequence. It’s important to understand this as TikTok does not provide a search button on the list. So you’d have to scroll down to see the accounts you wish to unfollow.

You’ll see that beside the account is a white box that says either “Following”, if you are following a user and they are not following you back, or “Friends” if you are mutually following each other like in the picture below.

Tap the “Following” or “Friends” button, and you’ll see that you’ve successfully unfollowed an account as pictured below. 

Do this step on all accounts you wish to unfollow. A single tap is all it takes. Within seconds, you will have successfully unfollowed more than 20 accounts. 

TikTok does not allow you to unfollow everyone in a single click. Like unfollowing several people, it may take a few steps before you get to see your following list clean. 

There are two ways to unfollow everyone on TikTok. The first way is you manually go over your list and click on every account with a “Following” button on the side. 

This might be a good idea only if you follow a few dozen accounts. But if the number goes above a hundred, you might need a little help from an app. 

Some apps like Auto Click can help you automate several clicks at once. After downloading, set the pre-clicks, and you’re good to go. One click every time you scroll, and you can instantly unfollow up to seven accounts. 

However, even with this technique, you cannot unfollow all from the list instantly. The difficulty triples when you follow a thousand accounts. Spend at least a few minutes a day to wipe out your following. 

If you really need to get rid of your following and you have no problem with starting over again, it might be a good idea to delete your account. Take note that deleting an account will erase all of your content and data as if you’re back to zero. 

There are certain things that can happen once you choose to unfollow someone on TikTok. First, you won’t notice their content on your Following page. The only way to see their videos is by a chance encounter on the For You Page. Or by searching their account using the search icon at the upper right of the feed. 

Another factor that might not be available to you should you unfollow an account is the message option. You can only message someone if you follow each other. If not, messaging is prohibited. The message button that used to be in their profile will be gone the moment you unfollow that certain user. 

However, unfollowing someone won’t delete their comments on your videos, your comments on their videos, their comments on videos you downloaded, and even their likes on your content. These data will still be there irrespective of follow and unfollow status. 

If you don’t want an account to see your content, you need to remove that person as a follower. 

This time, instead of going to their profile account, head on to your own account. Click on Followers, and you’ll be presented with a list of accounts that follow you. Scroll down till you see the account you wish to remove. Go to their profile, tap on the three-dot button in the upper righthand corner, and lastly, select the Remove this follower option. 

You’re all good. That account will not be able to view your account or your content. The only way they will encounter you is through the For You Page as it is a random selection of followed and unfollowed accounts. 

Just like the unfollowing options, TikTok won’t let them know that you’ve removed them as your followers. 

Like all social media accounts, TikTok lets you block anyone. This way, you cannot message, like, follow, or comment on each other’s videos. It’s as if your account does not exist at all. 

To block someone, follow the exact same instructions provided in the how to remove someone as a follower section. Right next to the Remove this follower option you will see a Block option.

The only way to do mass blocking is to mass block people who comment on one of your posts, To do this, long press on a comment, and it will direct you to a window with a few options. Click on Manage multiple accounts and then select up to 100 accounts. Tap more and block accounts.

This comes in handy when you think the account has commented inappropriate things, keeps on harassing you through direct messages, their content is not your preferred videos and many other valid reasons. 

And good thing if you change your mind, it’s very easy to reverse the decision. Just turn to their profile, tap the three-dot icon and choose Unblock. 

There’s a lot of reasons why some people choose to unfollow someone on TikTok. But one of these is that sometimes, the following count exceeds the follower count. Meaning a user has a higher following than the number of followers. 

Although this is not a thing of concern for most people, brands that want to partner with influencers do consider this information. A good ratio of following to followers is 1:2, 2:10, etc. If it’s the reverse, then chances are you might not sell a product or a service well. In other words, you’re not yet an influencer yet. 

And so, for other users, an influencer status is the goal. Hence, they limit their following while allowing their followers to grow. If their following numbers surpass the number of those that follow them, they tend to unfollow accounts. 

If you notice that a follower chooses to unfollow you, this might be the reason. Fret not, as I’ve mentioned, this ration information only matters for personal brands and business accounts on TikTok. 

If you’re on the platform to have fun, then by all means, do follow and unfollow whoever you wish. It’s just important to know this in case you want to level up your personal brand and want to earn from your following you’ll want to be cognizant of this ratio.

Further Reading: TikTok Influencer Marketing: The Complete Guide to Get You Started

Like all social media platforms now, TikTok allows users to curate their experiences. They can choose who to follow, who to unfollow, who to block, and who to become friends with.

They give their users the ability to use the platform however they wish. By providing the perfect content, TikTok enables users to control their emotions while on the platform. 

In short, TikTok cracks the code of new generations’ social media preferences.

Marvin Espino is a writer from the Philippines. A marketing specialist from DesignCrowd and BrandCrowd, he has written several pieces on branding, marketing, and design. When not working, Marvin hoards well-written short pieces of writing. He’s also an avid fan of baking and singing.