How to Recover Lost Drafts on TikTok

Can't find your TikTok draft? Here are some tips to locate it when recovery is possible.

TikTok's draft folder is a tool you can utilize when you are not quite ready to upload a video you have been working on. TikTok allows you to return to your drafts to continue recording, editing, or tweaking your video.

However, it can be easier than you might think to lose your drafts. If you are having difficulty locating a draft you created, here are a few places you can look to retrieve them.

1. Search for Your TikTok Draft on All Devices

The TikTok draft folder is a useful tool to stockpile content to schedule later. But, it's not uncommon to lose drafts.

TikTok drafts are saved locally. This means that the drafts are saved on the device that you created the draft on. So if you are to make a TikTok and save it to your drafts on your iPad, that draft will not appear in the draft folder of your iPhone's TikTok app.

Even if you are logged into the same account on both devices, your draft will only be saved to the original device on which it was created. This draft folder can be found on your TikTok profile page. Drafts appear in the first video slot, displaying how many drafts are in your folder at any given time.

If you use TikTok on multiple devices, the first step to finding a lost TikTok draft is checking your other devices.

2. Search Through Your Camera Roll

While TikTok won't allow you to save your drafts to your camera roll, you can upload videos from your camera roll to use in your TikTok videos. If you have lost a TikTok draft, but are able to find the original videos in your camera roll, that may help you recreate what was once lost.

Don't forget to check your recently deleted folder in your iPhone Photos app or Android gallery if you are having difficulty finding the videos you uploaded to TikTok.

What You Shouldn't Do When Attempting to Retrieve Drafts

One common way of solving a problem with technology is turning something off and on, or uninstalling and reinstalling it. But it's important to note that this fix will not work with TikTok.

If you are unable to find your file, make sure to read our guide on how to prevent losing TikTok drafts.

Can You Recover TikTok Drafts With a Data Request?

Something else you can skip when searching for lost drafts is requesting an account data download from TikTok. Within TikTok's settings there is an option to request all the data TikTok has stored about your account. Some believe this data request will give you your lost drafts. However, when testing this, no drafts, previously deleted or not, appeared in the file request.

The data request has a video folder, but after looking through each of the links, it is apparent that the file request only gives you data on TikTok videos that have been posted.

After all, with draft videos being stored locally on a device, TikTok would not have these files on its servers.

Can Lost TikTok Drafts Be Recovered?

If you have simply 'misplaced' your draft or have manually saved a copy, you can get your draft back. But if you have lost your draft due to uninstalling the app, and therefore deleting the local files, you can't recover the video.

Unfortunately, drafts that are no longer in your draft folder on any device can not be retrieved and are permanently lost. This is because TikTok saves drafts to local storage rather than to a cloud storage format, like we've gotten so used to over the recent years.

It can be frustrating to lose something you have worked so hard on, so it is important to take the necessary steps to avoid permanently losing TikTok drafts in the future.