When you first sign up for TikTok, you are asked to enter a phone number.
This helps to verify your identity and is a crucial step in recovering an account that you have been locked out of. But you may decide, later down the line, that you want to unlink your phone number or change the number – either as a result of a changed number or to increase your own privacy on the app.
Either way, the following steps outline the process for unlinking or changing your phone number on TikTok.
3 Steps to Remove Your Number
- Head to your profile page on TikTok and click on the menu button in the top right hand corner of the screen, indicated by the three horizontal lines
- Select ‘Settings and Privacy’ then ‘Manage Account’
- Tap ‘Phone Number’ then ‘Unlink Phone’ to remove your number from TikTok
You will be sent a verification code to the connected phone number via text, which you will need to enter to prove your identity and then unlink the number.
If you decide to unlink your number, you will still be able to access an account that you get locked out of via your email address – giving you more control over how TikTok contacts you and where.
How to Change Your Number
If you want to change your phone number, follow steps 1 & 2 as outlined above and then select ‘Change Phone’ as opposed to ‘Unlink Phone’.
Reasons to Unlink Your Number
It’s not all about privacy – there are also some logistic reasons why you might need to unlink your number.
If, for example, you want to create a new account then you will need to unlink your number from an existing account. This is because you need to have a number in order to create an account but can only have one account associated and linked with each phone number. So, unless you have multiple mobile numbers kicking around, you will need to unlink the number connected with any existing accounts in order to start a new account.
Suffice to say, once an account has been created, it does not need to stay linked to a phone number. Having a back up email address linked with your account is sufficient for unlocking and verifying your account.
We hope this helps! If you have any issues accessing the phone number on your TikTok account, or need to unlock your account without a phone number linked to it, you will need to ‘Report a Problem’ to TikTok support.
