How to recover a TikTok account

Find your case first

Recovering a TikTok account with a forgotten password

1. On the TikTok login screen, tap Use phone/email/username.
2. Choose Email/Username.
3. Tap Forgot password?
4. Choose to reset it with your phone number or your email, and follow the code you receive.

If you are still logged in on one device and want to change a password you have forgotten, go to Profile, Menu, Settings and privacy, Report a problem, Account and profile, Login, then Forgot password.

When you no longer have the email or phone number

This is the hard case, because every reset code goes to the email or phone on the account. TikTok's route is an identity check:

1. In the TikTok app, tap Need more help?
2. Fill out the form, which helps TikTok verify that you are the owner.
3. Once your identity is verified, reset your authentication method.

TikTok says this can take up to 30 days, so fill the form in completely the first time.

Recovering a hacked TikTok account

TikTok lists the signs: your password or phone number was changed, your username or nickname was changed, videos were deleted or posted without you, or messages you did not write were sent from the account. A changed username is the most visible of these, since it is the handle people use to find you; what a social media handle is explains why it matters.

If you can still log in, act in this order:

1. Reset the password: Profile, Menu, Settings and privacy, Account, Password.
2. Link your phone number: Account, Account Information, Phone number, so a reset code can reach you.
3. Remove devices you do not know: Settings and privacy, Security & permissions, Manage devices.

If the attacker changed the password and the email, you are locked out: use Forgot password? first, and if the codes go somewhere you cannot reach, the Need more help? identity check above.

Recovering a deactivated or deleted account

Deactivated. Deactivation is a temporary hold. Your profile and videos are hidden, TikTok keeps your data, and you can come back at any time: log in with the same details and tap Reactivate.

Deleted. A deleted account is deactivated for 30 days, then erased permanently. Inside those 30 days, logging in and reactivating brings it back. After that, it is gone, and the email or phone number it used can be connected to a new account.

Recovering a banned TikTok account

If TikTok banned the account, you will see a banner when you try to log in. You can still log in to do two things: submit an appeal, and download your data. Do both soon, because TikTok deletes personal data after a period set by law and its retention policy, after which the account is no longer available.

If the appeal succeeds, your content and account status are restored. A few things to know before you appeal:

• Check your account status first. It shows your violations over the last 90 days as Healthy, Fair, Severe or Banned; notices are in Inbox, System notifications, Account updates.
• Deleting the post does not undo the violation. It stays on the record until it expires after 90 days.
• Do not open a new account to get around a ban for a severe violation. TikTok treats that as evasion and can ban the new account too.

Making recovery easy next time

• Have both an email and a phone number on the account, which TikTok recommends, so losing one does not lock you out.
• Turn on 2-step verification once a phone number is linked.
• Check Manage devices now and then, and remove anything you do not recognize.

For a business account

A brand's TikTok often lives on one employee's phone and email, which is how businesses lose accounts when that person leaves. Put the account on a shared company email and a company phone number, keep the login in a password manager the business controls, and review the devices list when anyone with access moves on.

For an account that is important to sales, losing it for 30 days is a real cost. If you want someone to run the account for you, see the TikTok marketing service. How TikTok decides who sees your posts once you are back is in SEO for TikTok, and the posting steps are in how to post on TikTok.

How we will test this

Not run yetEverything above comes from the published sources listed below, and nothing here is presented as something we measured. Our own test on live accounts has not been run yet.

This is the test we will run: we deactivate a test account and reactivate it, delete a second test account and reactivate it inside the 30 days, and run the Need more help? form for a test account whose email we removed, recording each screen and how long each step takes.

Platforms change behavior without announcing it, so once the first test is run we repeat it every quarter, and this section will say when it was run and on which devices and app versions.

Sources

Read on October 1, 2026.

• TikTok Help Center, Forgot my password
• TikTok Help Center, My account has been hacked
• TikTok Help Center, Email and phone number
• TikTok Help Center, Deactivate your account
• TikTok Help Center, Content violations and bans

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