One of the most reported issues by TikTok users is the Following feed not showing properly. This takes away the ability to easily see the latest posts from all the accounts you currently follow. When this happens, it can be confusing and frustrating.
In this comprehensive troubleshooting guide, we’ll dive into why your TikTok Following page may have disappeared. You’ll learn the likely root causes – from app updates to age restrictions and more. We’ll also provide actionable solutions to restore full access on both iPhone and Android devices.
Whether the tab has simply gone missing or the Following shows a blank screen, this step-by-step walkthrough aims to get your feed working again. Let’s begin investigating why this occurs and the best methods to resolve it.
Reasons Why TikTok Is Not Showing Following Tab or Page
When key features like Following suddenly stop working in apps, it leaves users understandably confused. In TikTok’s case, there are a handful of common reasons for the Following feed failing to show posts. Let’s explore them:
TikTok Testing New Layouts
As one of the current most popular apps globally, TikTok is constantly evaluating ways to optimize their user experience. This includes running A/B tests of visual changes and layout adjustments. Sometimes these experiments can have unintended side effects.
For example, recent versions have combined the Following and For You feeds into a single tab for some test groups. For others, the Following page remains but is renamed or moved to another navigation location.
These types of tests roll out slowly and impact limited users initially. But when your account is caught up in sudden UI alterations, it can definitely cause confusion if things like Following disappear.
Age Rating Restrictions
Child safety is paramount for TikTok, especially due to their predominantly young user base. Accounts registered for children under 13 years old enable restrictions and limitations by default. These are designed to create a safer, more contained experience.
However, the downside is losing access to key community features that 13+ users enjoy. This includes removal of comment abilities, messaging functions and crucially, the Following feed too.
So if your account’s age is set inaccurately low, TikTok assumes你是 a child and restricts your app functionality. Double checking your age setting is an important step if things like Following are now blocked.
Corrupted App Data
As with any modern mobile app, TikTok stores cache, cookies and data on your device to optimize performance.
But occasionally this temporary information can become corrupted or damaged. When this happens, it can negatively impact stability and cause strange issues even if your connection is fine.
In the case of Following disappearing, clearing this stored app data makes the program ‘forget’ incorrect settings that may be hiding tabs. Resetting and reloading a fresh TikTok app instance often resolves pesky problems caused by corrupt caches.
Temporary Platform Outages
Considering the sheer scale of TikTok and its hundreds of millions of active users, their systems are remarkably resilient. However, at times, even the biggest digital platforms can run into technical troubles.
While globally impacting outages only occur every few months, smaller issues can arise randomly that affect subsets of users. Problems like crashed servers handling Following data could make that page fail to load temporarily.
In most outage cases, TikTok resolves the problem fairly rapidly on their end. But leftover inconsistencies can sometimes break things like Following until you manually reload the app. Trying again a few hours later frequently fixes these temporary glitches if they persist.
Now that we’ve explored why your Feed may have vanished, let’s troubleshoot getting Following back up and running!
How to Fix TikTok Not Showing Following Tab or Page
Update to the Latest App Version
As we covered earlier, TikTok experiments with layout changes can move around or hide key parts of the interface. When these incomplete tests rollout to your account, it can certainly appear as if your Following feed has disappeared entirely.
The good news is updating to the latest version of the TikTok app will generally revert these experimental changes. Forcing a fresh install pulls down newest UI packages and data structure adjustments made since the test started. Essentially giving your app build a clean slate again.
To ensure you have the newest version, head into your device’s app store such as the Play Store or App Store. Pull up TikTok’s page, then check manually for pending updates. Initiate the update process if available to download the freshest release.
Once installed, sign into your account like normal during launch. Hopefully, the update resolved any conflicts and restored full visibility of the Following feed once again.
Correct Age Rating Misconfigurations
As outlined earlier, if your TikTok account incorrectly lists your age as under 13 years old, severe restrictions get placed for child safety reasons. Many integral social features end up disabled – including access to your Following feed.
The solution is adjusting your account’s age rating to accurately reflect you are 13 or older. This removes limitations and restores full functionality across TikTok:
- Tap on your Profile icon
- Choose Settings in the menu
- Navigate to the Privacy section
- Find Age Rating and tap to change it
- Update your Birth Date to your real, accurate one
- Accept TikTok’s Terms of Service for 13+ users
- Return back to your Profile and confirm it now states 13+
Once saved, close and relaunch TikTok completely to apply the changes. This will initialize the app without restrictions and your Following feed should reappear once signing in.
Using a VPN Connection
Earlier we covered how location-based restrictions can occasionally prevent access to TikTok features in certain regions. This is rare, but using a VPN provides a handy workaround if you suspect country limitations are hiding your Following feed.
A VPN masks your device’s real region by funneling traffic through remote overseas servers instead. This tricks apps like TikTok into allowing access to globally available functions since it assumes you are traveling temporarily.
Here are the basics to utilize a VPN to regain access to Following if licensing deals have blocked it in your nation:
- Install a trusted free VPN app suitable for iPhone & Android
- Launch the app and connect to a US or European-based server
- Once connected, open TikTok which now thinks you’re in a different country
- Check if Following appears while VPN remains active
- Disable the VPN afterwards to avoid ongoing slow connectivity
The VPN approach essentially forces TikTok to reload as if you’re visiting from another less restricted location. Hopefully this reveals Following again proving region locks were the culprit.
Wiping Corrupted App Data
Over time, issues can develop if outdated TikTok data lingers on your device leading to performance problems. Removing this temporary cached information often resolves strange issues by fully resetting the app.
On iPhone
- Go to iOS Settings then General and select iPhone Storage
- Locate TikTok and tap for details
- Choose Offload App to safely delete temporary data
- Visit the App Store to reinstall TikTok completely fresh
- Setup your account credentials again after theblank install
- Following should now display on a clean app instance
On Android
- In your Settings, select Apps or Application Manager
- Swipe to or search to find TikTok
- Choose Storage and tap Clear Cache plus Clear Data
- Confirm clearing all TikTok data
- Relaunch the app to trigger reconfiguration of your account
- Sign in as normal and Following should load successfully
This wipe technique is an effective last resort for overcoming glitches caused by outdated caches causing Following to not load. While frustrating losing your login momentarily, the reset typically resolves underlying data issues.
Contact TikTok Support
If you still can’t get the Following feed functioning after exhausting the self-troubleshooting steps above, directly contacting TikTok Support is the next option:
The in-app support process allows you to report account and app issues for review by TikTok’s community team. They can further investigate stuck Following pages server-side plus have tools to restore access that general users lack.
- From your TikTok profile, tap the Settings icon in the top-right
- Choose Report a Problem to open support features.
- Select the issue category most closely related to no Following feed
- Add details on when Following stopped working and steps you’ve tried already
- Submit the support ticket to be examined by staff
- You’ll receive an initial autoresponse with general fixes to test
- If still not resolved in 1-2 days, reply to the ticket for further help
While TikTok Support can be slow due to high volume of requests, persistently responding with details often gets specialized team members handling stubborn Following problems. They have internal methods of recovering missing feeds or rolling back troublesome app updates too.
In the worst case that Support cannot rectify Following issues, you may need to set up a new TikTok account and migrate your followers gradually.
Thankfully this is extremely rare, and Support can resolve or escalate most Missing Following situations with enough information on the issue timing, device details, etc.
