TikTok is testing ‘Watch History’ feature- reports

It appears that Tiktok is testing a new “Watch History” feature that helps users easily locate videos that they failed to save. While there are existing workarounds to access these lost videos, an easier and more straightforward way would be very much appreciated.      

With the continuous stream of video contents on your “For You” page, accidentally refreshing the page could lose that video you intended to watch or save for later. This is a common problem among TikTok users. 

Tracking it again in the sea of contents could be made easier by such a feature which was first seen by Hammond Oh, a Twitter user who often unearths new features being tested on social media platforms. This was further highlighted by social media consultant and Geekout founder Matt Navarra, who subsequently retweeted the post.

According to the screenshots shared by Oh and other users, “Watch History” is found in the “content and activity” headings of the settings- if it is rolled out on your phone. However, it is still unclear which market is being tested in the current rollout. There is no information either on how far back it will reach. Users would have to wait for further details on the feature. In an email response to TechCrunch, TikTok wrote that it does not have much information to provide on the test for now.  

In the meantime, to save yourself from the stress of hunting previously seen videos by scrolling down through hundreds of contents, it would be best to maximize TikTok’s bookmarking feature to save videos you intend to watch later. It is also good to note that TikTok allows users to organize the bookmarked videos into collections.

However, if you missed saving the clip (although you were pretty much sure you did) or accidentally refreshed the page before saving it for later, there are still some workarounds to help you locate these lost videos. 

One way method was shared by a Tiktok user “rachforaday” and has been watched more than 32 million times and has earned more than 5.5 million likes since it was posted earlier this year. The video instructs users to go to Discover, click search, type asterisk, proceed to the search filters tab, and toggle the button for “watched videos.” When the user clicks “apply,” the list of videos that have been seen for the past seven days will be viewed. Another workaround involves downloading the entire data from TikTok to get a zip file containing the video browsing history of the user.  

These workarounds may be a bit complex, but they should work until a more straightforward “Watch History” feature becomes official and universally available to users.