How to create a TikTok account — that is the subject of this lesson of our TikTok Academy.
This is the second lesson of the TikTok Academy. In the first we worked out what TikTok is and why you should use it; in this one we will cover how to create a TikTok account, for personal use or for marketing.
Let’s not waste any more time and get started.
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TikTok is a Chinese social media app that lets people easily create, edit and share short videos of 15 to 60 seconds, known as TikTok lives (or “live moments”). TikTok is now the leading short video streaming platform, with more than 500 million users.
The app is easy to spot by its musical-note icon, which came out of the merger with another well-known lip sync app, Musical.ly. Particularly popular with 13 to 25 year olds, the app has grown very quickly and plenty of brands are now looking at it as a possible new marketing channel.
Whatever your reason, let’s go through the steps for creating a TikTok account on Android, iPhone (iOS), tablet and iPad, and setting the profile up properly in a few simple moves.
To round the article off, we will also tell you how to delete a TikTok account permanently.
Want your TikTok profile to take off?
Want to land collaborations on TikTok?
Want to grow your TikTok followers?
Want to make money on TikTok?
Want to turn your TikTok around?
We can help.
How to create an account on TikTok
Here is how to sign up for TikTok step by step on every device.
How to create a TikTok account on Android
Step 1 – downloading and installing TikTok
First download the latest version of the app from the Play Store. Once installed, open the app by tapping its icon.
Step 2 – registering or signing up on TikTok
The app opens a feed of recent or popular videos; tap any video to bring up the sign-up form. Now register using one of these options: phone number, email address or social network (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Google).
Signing up by phone or email
- Enter your date of birth and tap “continue” (under the app’s terms of use and privacy law, people under 13 cannot register, so make sure you enter this correctly)
- Choose how you want to receive the confirmation code — phone or email — then enter your mobile number or email address and tap “next”
- Enter the confirmation code you received by SMS or email and tap enter to confirm the account
- Choose the password you want to log in with, then tap “confirm” to save your credentials
- To check that whoever is creating the account is a human and not a malicious bot, you may be asked to complete a captcha
Free to use image from Google Images
How to create a TikTok account on iPhone or iPad
Step 1 – downloading and installing the TikTok app
Go to the Apple Store and download the TikTok app to your device. The app should appear on the home screen; if it doesn’t, swipe right and search using the search bar and the button at the bottom right.
Once you have found the TikTok app, tap it and enter your password, or use Touch ID or Face ID to confirm. The app installs on the device, though depending on your settings you may have to confirm in the App Store and only then tap “install” to continue.
Step 2 – registering or signing up on TikTok
As in the example above, open the app by tapping its icon. The app should appear on the device’s home screen; if it doesn’t, swipe right and search using the search bar and the search button.
- Once you have found the TikTok app, tap it and a pop-up appears straight away
- Tap “allow” if you want notifications from the app
- Swipe left on the screen. The app’s “welcome” window appears
- Read the app’s terms of use and tap “I accept”
- Now tap the user profile icon at the bottom right of the device’s screen
Signing up to TikTok by phone or email
As on Android, iOS devices also let you register by phone or tablet, by email address or with a social media account (in that case skip the following steps). The phone/email procedure is fairly similar to Android’s, but let’s go through it in detail:
- First tap “sign up with phone or email”
- Enter your date of birth and tap the arrow on the right
- Choose how you want to receive the confirmation code — phone or email — then enter your mobile number or email address
- Tap the arrow on the right
- Enter the confirmation code you received by email and tap enter to confirm the account (in the phone flow, enter the four digits the app shows on your screen if prompted)
- Choose your password, then tap the check mark to save your login details
- If prompted, also tap “I am not a robot” to confirm to the app that whoever is creating the account is a human and not a malicious bot
- Your account is now set up and ready to use
Signing up to TikTok with a social network account
- Facebook
- Tap the Facebook icon
- Once the app opens, tap “continue”
- If prompted, log into Facebook with your credentials
- Tap log in
- Then tap “continue as <your name>”
- Enter your date of birth and tap the arrow on the right
- Your account is ready to use
- Instagram
- Tap the Instagram icon
- Once the app opens, enter your login details and tap log in
- Then tap “authorise”
- Enter your date of birth and tap the arrow on the right
- Your account is ready to use
- Twitter
- Tap the Twitter icon
- Enter your login details
- Tap “authorise”
- Enter your date of birth and tap the arrow on the right
- Your account is now ready to use
- Google
- Tap the Google icon
- Then tap “continue”
- If prompted, enter your Google credentials
- Enter your date of birth and tap the arrow on the right
- Your account is ready to use
Step 3 – setting up the TikTok account
Now let’s look at how to set your TikTok account up.
Profile setup:
- Tap your profile icon (the person-shaped icon at the bottom right of the screen)
- Tap “edit profile”
- If you want, change your display name or your username (the latter, preceded by @, is what people use to find or mention you). To change it, go to the relevant field and tap “confirm” to save the change (remember that once changed, you have to wait at least 30 days before changing the username again)
- Enter or replace the username you want to use
- Add a profile photo: tap the grey circle above “profile photo”, then choose one of the following:
- Tap “take photo” to shoot a new one, then tap “ok” to let the app use the device camera. Once taken, select the part of the photo you want to use and tap “use photo” to upload it
- Select “choose from gallery” to pick a photo from your device. Tap ok to let the app access your image gallery. Once chosen, tap “select” to load the photo
- Add a short bio if you want
- Tap “save” to store the profile settings
Free image from Pixabay
How to delete a TikTok account
If you have had problems with TikTok, or for any other reason want to delete a TikTok account permanently, this is the procedure:
Step 1 – add a phone number: adding and then verifying a phone number is a requirement before the account can be deleted. If you added a phone number earlier, skip this step.
Step 2 – open the app: tap its icon to launch it.
Step 3 – tap the person-shaped icon at the bottom right to open your profile. Log in if you need to.
Step 4 – tap the three dots at the top right of the screen and choose “settings and privacy”, then “manage my account”.
Step 5 – tap “thinking about deleting your account?”.
Step 6 – tap “send code” to receive the verification code that lets the deletion continue.
Step 7 – enter the four digits of the verification code in the field and tap “continue”.
Step 8 – finally, tap “delete account”.
Conclusion
In this second lesson of your favourite TikTok Academy we covered how to create a TikTok account. You now have everything you need to go through the process correctly and set the account up properly. We also explained how to delete a TikTok account.
Stay tuned and keep following us: in the next TikTok Academy lessons we will go deeper and cover other very interesting things…
Want TikTok consultancy? Get in touch — we will work out the best strategy for reaching your goal.
Want to sharpen your TikTok knowledge? Get in touch — we will find the course that fits you.
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