How to change your email on TikTok, and fix it if stuck

Changing your email on TikTok takes a minute in the app. The part that trips people up is one line in TikTok's help center: both the old address and the new one have to be active and verified, because TikTok sends codes to them. If you have lost the old inbox, there is a different route, covered below.

How do you change your email on TikTok?

In the TikTok app, tap Profile, then the Menu button (☰), then Settings and privacy. Tap Account, then Account Information, then Email, then Change email. Enter the new address, tap Send code, and type the verification code TikTok sends to it. Keep the old inbox open, since TikTok can send codes there too.

Before you change it

• Test the new inbox. Send yourself a message first. TikTok's code troubleshooting page lists a full mailbox as a reason codes never arrive, so clear space if you are near the limit.
• Make sure you can still open the old one. TikTok says plainly that "both the old and the new email address associated with the account must be active and verified." If the old one is gone, skip to the section on that.
• Check the new address is not on another TikTok account. One email can only belong to one account. If it is attached to a second account you no longer use, change or remove it there first.
• Add a second contact method. TikTok's account safety page recommends linking two contact methods, a phone number and an email, so if one is compromised you still have a way in.
• Note your 2-step verification setup. If email is one of your 2SV methods, codes go to whatever address is on the account.

Step by step in the TikTok app

These are TikTok's steps from its email and phone number article, the same on iPhone and Android.

1. Open TikTok and tap Profile at the bottom.
2. Tap the Menu button (☰) at the top, then Settings and privacy.
3. Tap Account, then Account Information.
4. Tap Email, then Change email.
5. Enter the new email address and tap Send code.
6. Enter the verification code sent to the new address.

If you never had an email on the account, the path is the same, except step 4 is just Email: enter the address, tap Send code, and enter the code.

To check which email is on the account right now, go to the same Account screen and tap Email. TikTok's own article calls the menu item User Information in one place and Account Information in another, so look for whichever your app shows.

Can you change it on a computer?

TikTok's help center documents the email change in the mobile app only. It does document logging in on desktop web (the Login icon at the upper right of tiktok.com), but not changing the account email there. If you are searching for the PC or browser route, the dependable answer is to make the change in the app on your phone, then log in on your computer with the new address.

Stuck? Find your situation

What if you can't get into the old email?

This is the "how to change email on TikTok without code" case, and TikTok does not let you skip the check. What it offers is a reset of your authentication method. Per the email and phone number article:

1. In the TikTok app, tap Need more help?
2. Fill out the form. TikTok uses it to verify your identity.
3. Once verified, you can reset your authentication method.

TikTok says this "may take up to 30 days." If you lost an authenticator app instead, TikTok's account safety page describes a different path first: tap Can't access the app and enter the recovery code you got when you set the authenticator up. Only if that code is lost do you fall back to the form.

If you are logged out and cannot get back in, TikTok's reset password page describes an account recovery request from the login screen (Forgot password?, then Recover account), where you may be asked for your registered email, phone number or previous passwords.

What your email does on TikTok

The address is not just for logging in. On its page about how your email and phone number are used, TikTok says it may use them to:

• help you log in, and look up all your login methods from the account recovery screen
• reset your password
• send 2-step verification codes
• connect you with people you may know
• autofill your information in forms
• match your contact details with data from advertising and measurement partners, to personalize ads depending on your settings
• send trending content, newsletters, promotions and account updates
• send TikTok Shop order, delivery and refund updates, where Shop is available

TikTok also says your email is not shown on your profile and that it does not sell it. On Android there is a separate setting that can link your phone's email address to your TikTok account for friend suggestions. We covered how to turn that off in creating a TikTok account without a phone number.

Removing the email instead

You can unlink an email in the same place (Account Information, then Email, then Unlink email), with two conditions from TikTok:

• You need another way to log in. You cannot unlink it if the email is the only method on the account, or if you only use a password.
• If email or phone 2SV is on, turn 2SV off first, then try again.

Business and organization accounts

A Verified Business Account is still a TikTok account, and TikTok's help center points to its separate Business Help Center for business features. Organization Accounts, created from business platforms such as TikTok Shop Seller Center, work differently: TikTok's Organization Accounts page says members log in with their own member phone number or email, not a username. In that case the email you would change is your own member address, so check with whoever administers the account before you touch it.

If someone else changed it

TikTok's hacked account page lists changed passwords and phone numbers among the signs, along with a changed username, deleted videos and messages you did not send. Its fixes: change your password, link your phone number, and remove unknown devices under Security & permissions, then Manage devices. TikTok notes that changing your password logs you out on every other device.

If TikTok is one of many accounts you are moving to a new address, our checklist for changing your email address everywhere covers the order to do them in, and this one covers telling people your email changed.

If you are picking a new address anyway

Secria Mail asks for a name, the address you want and a password at sign-up. No phone number and no card. The free plan comes with 1 GB of storage and 2 email aliases, so you can give TikTok an address of its own. If that alias starts drawing spam, you know where it came from, and deleting the alias switches it off. Your old mail can come with you through import from Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail and Thunderbird.

Frequently asked questions

Why does TikTok need my old email to change it? TikTok sends verification codes to the addresses on the account, and says both the old and the new one must be active and verified. It is there so someone who steals your password cannot quietly swap the email.

Can I use the same email on two TikTok accounts? No. TikTok says an email can only be associated with one account. To reuse it, change or remove it on the first account.

How long after deleting an account can I reuse its email? 30 days. TikTok deactivates a deleted account for 30 days, erases it after that, and then the email can be connected to a new account.

Will changing my email log me out? TikTok's help center does not say that changing your email logs you out. Changing your password does log you out on all other devices.

Can other people see my email on my TikTok profile? No. TikTok says email addresses and phone numbers are not visible on TikTok profiles.

Change it in the app, confirm the code, and leave the old inbox open for a few weeks in case TikTok or anyone else still writes to it. If you want the new one to be an address you got without giving a phone number, you can sign up for Secria for free.