How do I turn off profile views on TikTok?

Tips
3

Yeah, TikTok made this way more confusing than it needs to be.

What @viaggiatoresolare said about the footsteps icon is correct, but there are a couple extra gotchas and alternatives that might explain why you’re not finding it:

  1. If you can’t see the footsteps icon at all

    • It’s not always your fault. Sometimes TikTok just disables the whole profile view feature on certain accounts, regions, or randomly in tests. In that case, there is literally nothing to turn off because TikTok claims it’s “not enabled” for you, even if you briefly had it before.
    • Try logging out and back in, or reinstalling the app. Sounds dumb, but a few people saw the icon reappear that way.

  2. Age & account status weirdness

    • Official line: profile view history is only for users 16+ and under 5,000 followers.
    • Reality: TikTok does not always follow its own rules cleanly. Some bigger accounts still have it, some smaller ones never get it. If you’re over 5k followers and suddenly lost the feature, that might be why you can’t see the setting now.
    • If you recently changed birthday or had an age verification issue, TikTok may silently remove profile views on your account.

  3. Business vs personal account

    • I slightly disagree with relying only on switching to personal. Some business accounts do have profile views. So toggling between them is more of a “poke the system and see if something changes” trick than a guaranteed fix.
    • If you want to try anyway: Settings and privacy → Account → Switch to personal account, then restart the app and check your profile screen again.

  4. Hidden setting without icon

    • Occasionally, the footsteps icon disappears but the setting is still buried. Check:
      • Profile → three lines → Settings and privacy
      • Look under “Privacy” or “Activity” style sections for “Profile views” or “Profile view history”
    • If you find it, turn it off there. It won’t erase old logs, but it will stop new tracking, which is what you want.

  5. If you absolutely cannot find the feature anywhere
    This usually means one of three things:

    • TikTok removed the feature from your account type / region.
    • Your app is outdated and just not showing it at all.
    • TikTok is in one of their “test phases” and you’re the lucky lab rat who loses features for a while.

    At that point, your only real “privacy” moves are:

    • Make your account private so randoms can’t easily see your profile.
    • Avoid deep-stalking people’s profiles from your main account. If you’re super paranoid, use a secondary account with no personal info. Not ideal, but TikTok doesn’t give granular control beyond that toggle.

  6. Important detail: it’s reciprocal
    Once you do manage to turn off profile view history:

    • You stop appearing on other people’s viewer lists.
    • You also stop seeing their profile viewers.
      There is no way to only hide yourself while still spying on others. If anyone says they can do that, they’re lying or using very outdated info.

So:

  • If you have the footstep icon or “Profile view history,” turn that toggle off and you’re done.
  • If you don’t see it at all, it’s almost certainly TikTok’s A/B testing or account rules, not something you’re missing. In that case you’re probably already not being shown as a profile viewer, because the whole feature isn’t active on your account.