How to Find That TikTok You Accidentally Refreshed and Thought You Lost
TikTok is a bottomless hole of addiction, with each video algorithmically crafted to your preferences and interests. It’s astonishing that losing only one of the countless relevant videos scrolling past your face is such a tragedy. But it is; there is no greater annoyance than watching a video and then unintentionally refreshing your feed and seeing it vanish forever. Unless you know where to look for it.
TikTok is a passive activity for the majority of us. You don’t have to look for videos; they find you. If you’ve ever tried to use the search function to find something other than a specific creator, you’ve probably had a difficult time. There are simply too many videos on the site for you to have a chance of finding one in particular, especially if the video is related to a popular topic. TikTok’s search field, it turns out, can find videos you’ve seen before; the feature is just a little hidden.
How to find TikTok videos you’ve seen before
To do so, go to the Discovery tab and then hit the search bar. Look for a video you’re looking for. Include as many keywords as you like or are able to recall. Now, instead of scrolling through the possibilities that display, tap the two lines adjacent to the search area.
You can use filters to narrow down your search with this option. “Watched videos, during the last 7 days” is the only filter we’re interested in under Activity. This filter only displays search results for videos you’ve actually watched, which is a mind-boggling option if you’re like me. I had no idea TikTok kept track of those videos (we don’t have access to that information). Could we, at least, have a “Watched Videos” tab, as they do?
But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll give you an example from my own life. I unintentionally renewed a fascinating video with the idea of “one of the most intriguing lake-related riddles.” Okay, I’m fascinated, but the video is no longer available, and I’ve missed out on the opportunity to watch it. I mean, what can you do?
I simply searched for “mystery” using this method; of course, none of the results was the video I was looking for. My video, however, was the first to appear after I applied the filter. After years of using an app that simply erases these casualties of the refresh button from existence, it feels a little strange, but it actually works.
Now it’s time to give credit where credit is due! This feature was discovered thanks to TikToker @lateilla, who shared the answer on her page. Lateilla concedes that the filter isn’t flawless, so you won’t always find your video, but you should notice positive results here more frequently than not.