How to Delete TikTok Story (The Simplest Way)

Ivana Kotorchevikj Ivana Kotorchevikj

Written by Ivana Kotorchevikj Social Media / TikTok

Linkedin - 8 min read
Key Takeaways

To delete a TikTok Story:

  1. Open TikTok.
  2. Tap on the ‘profile’ icon in the bottom right corner.
  3. Tap on the ‘three vertical dots’ from the left-hand side.
  4. Select ‘Delete.’

TikTok Stories is one of the latest features released by TikTok. The new Stories feature is similar to regular TikTok videos, with the tag ‘Story’ denoting that you are viewing a TikTok Story. If you’ve already posted a Story, but don’t like the final result, you might be looking to delete the TikTok Story.

Keep reading the post below, where we’ll discuss how to delete a TikTok Story.

How to delete a TikTok story

Deleting a TikTok Story is really simple.

  1. Open TikTok.
  2. Tap on the ‘profile’ icon in the bottom right corner.

Tap on the ‘profile’ icon

  1. Tap on the Story you want to delete.

Tap on the Story you want to delete

  1. Tap on the ‘three vertical dots’ on the left-side panel.

Tap on the ‘three vertical dots’

  1. Select ‘Delete.’

Select ‘Delete’

And you're done! The Story will be removed from your profile and won’t appear on other people’s ‘For You’ and ‘Following’ pages.

Learn how to delete drafts on TikTok as well.

What happens when you delete a TikTok Story

Here’s what’s going to happen after deleting a TikTok Story:

  • There are no notifications informing other users that you’ve deleted your TikTok Story.
  • The deleted Story isn’t stored in the Stories archive for private viewing.
  • Once you delete a Story, you can no longer save it to your device. So make sure you save your Story before deleting it.

How to save a TikTok Story

Unlike a regular TikTok video that saves to your camera roll, you can only send a link of the Story to yourself or another person; there’s no option to save the Story video to your device.

Open the Story, tap on the three dots, and select ‘Save video.’ Next, choose a channel or person to send the Story link to.

Can you recover a deleted Story on TikTok?

No, there’s no way to restore a deleted Story unless you’ve previously saved it by sending it to yourself or somebody else.

Once you delete a Story, it’s permanently deleted from TikTok. Also, when you delete a TikTok Story, it doesn’t get stored in the ‘Stories archive’ on your profile like when it expires after 24 hours.

How to create a TikTok Story

Here’s how to create a TikTok story:

  1. Open TikTok.
  2. Tap on the ‘+’ icon at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Tap on ‘Story’ and select whether you want to upload a ‘Photo’ or ‘Video.’
  4. Take a photo, record a video or upload them from your camera roll.
  5. Add effects, filters, stickers, and sounds.
  6. Tap on ‘Your Story.’

The Story will appear as a regular video on your profile with the tag ‘Story’ at the top-left corner of the screen and a blue ‘Story’ tag at the bottom-left corner of the Story screen when someone opens your Story.

a TikTok Story with the tag ‘Story’ at the top-left corner of the screen

a blue ‘Story’ tag at the bottom-left corner of the Story screen

Who can see your TikTok Story

By default, if you have a private TikTok account, only your followers will be able to see your Stories. Whereas, if your TikTok account is public, your Stories will appear on the ‘For You’ page.

Nevertheless, TikTok allows you to change the audience settings before or after posting the Story.

To change who can see your story before posting it:

  1. Open TikTok.
  2. Tap on the ‘+’ icon at the bottom of the screen.

Tap on the '+' icon

  1. Tap on ‘Story’ and select whether you want to upload a ‘Photo’ or ‘Video.’

Tap on 'Story'

  1. Tap on ‘Next.'

Tap on 'Next'

  1. Here, tap on ’Who can see this post.’

tap on ’Who can see this post’

  1. Select ‘Everyone,’ ‘Friends,’ or ‘Only me.’

Select ‘Everyone,’ ‘Friends,’ or ‘Only me’

  1. Important: Don’t tap on ‘Post’ - this will share your video as a regular TikTok video.
  2. Instead, tap on the back arrow in the top-left corner and select ‘Your Story’ from the bottom-left corner.

Tap on the back arrow

To change who can see your story after posting it:

  1. Open TikTok and go to your profile.
  2. Tap on your Story.
  3. Tap on ‘Privacy Settings’ at the bottom-right corner.

Tap on ‘Privacy Settings’

  1. Select ‘Who can watch this video.’
  2. Choose ‘Everyone,’ ‘Friends,’ or ‘Only me.’

Select ‘Who can watch this video' and choose ‘Everyone,’ ‘Friends,’ or ‘Only me’

How to reply to a comment on TikTok Story

You can reply to Story comments the same way you can reply to comments on regular videos.

Tap on the ‘Inbox’ icon, and under the Activities section, find the comment to your Story. Tap on the comment and reply to it.

Bonus: How to delete a comment on TikTok.

How many TikTok Stories can you post per day?

Currently, TikTok hasn’t stated that there’s a limit to the number of stories you can post. However, keep in mind not to post too many stories, so you don’t come off spammy. Also, if you post too many stories, TikTok may shadowban your account, just like if you post too many regular videos.

Conclusion

You can easily delete a TikTok Story before it expires after 24 hours. To delete a Story, tap on it, tap on the three dots in the left-side menu, and select ‘Delete.’

However, once you delete a Story, you can’t recover it. Also, a deleted Story won’t be saved in the ‘Stories archive’ on your TikTok profile.

You can save the Story before deleting it by sending it as a link to yourself or somebody else. You can’t save the Story to your device like a regular TikTok video.

Besides this, you can also learn how to temporarily disable TikTok, or find out how to delete TikTok messages.

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