> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dmly.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Connect TikTok

> Connect a TikTok Business account so DMs and video comments reach your Inbox, and what TikTok cannot do.

TikTok connects with a login, and once it's on, DMs and comments on your videos land in your
[Inbox](/inbox/overview) and your [flows](/automation/overview) can answer both. Before you
plan anything around it, three limits do more to shape what TikTok is good for than anything
it can do: **TikTok cannot send [broadcasts](/broadcasts/overview)**, **it has no
[growth links or QR codes](/growth/overview)**, and **you can only message someone for 48
hours after their last message to you** — with no template, no reopening, and no extension
for a reply you type by hand. TikTok is a channel for answering people who come to you, not
for reaching out.

One more thing to settle first: TikTok's messaging only works on a **TikTok Business
account**. A personal account can finish the connection and create a Channel that then does
nothing useful.

<Note>
  TikTok's Business Messaging is a beta at TikTok's end and DMLY is deliberately cautious
  with it. Treat TikTok as a supporting channel and keep [WhatsApp](/channels/whatsapp) as
  the one you build on.
</Note>

## Before you start

You need a TikTok **Business account**. If you're on a personal account, switch it in the
TikTok app before you connect:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open your account settings">
    In the TikTok app, go to **Profile → ☰ menu → Settings and privacy**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Switch the account type">
    Tap **Account**, then **Switch to Business Account**. Choose a category and finish the
    prompts — it's free and reversible.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect it in DMLY">
    Come back and connect the account here. If it was already connected as a personal
    account, reconnect it so DMLY can pick up the Business permissions.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  If you connect a personal account, DMLY detects it and shows **This looks like a personal
  TikTok account.** on every Salesbot page, plus a notice in the Inbox. DMs, comments and
  automations will not work until you switch the account type and **reconnect**. Nothing is
  lost — but nothing arrives either.
</Warning>

## Connect the account

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Integrations">
    Go to **Integrations → Channels** and start adding an account. Find **TikTok** —
    *Connect a new TikTok profile*.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Authorise DMLY on TikTok">
    TikTok asks you to sign in and approve the permissions. Approve all of them. The
    messaging and comment permissions are what make the Inbox and automations work — drop
    them and the Channel connects but stays silent.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check the Channel">
    Back in DMLY, the TikTok Channel appears in your list. If you see the personal-account
    warning, fix the account type and reconnect before going further.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Accordion title="If you don't see the TikTok option (admins)">
  The TikTok tile only appears once TikTok is configured and active on your install. That's a
  one-time job for whoever administers it: create an app at
  [developers.tiktok.com/apps](https://developers.tiktok.com/apps/) and fill in **Client
  Key**, **Client secret**, **Share Type** (**Inbox** or **Direct Post**) and **Enable photo
  uploads**.

  TikTok also has to approve your app for the messaging and comment permissions. Until it
  does, connecting will not give DMLY the access it needs, and the Channel will look
  connected while nothing arrives.
</Accordion>

## The 48-hour window

<Warning>
  **You get 48 hours from the contact's last message, then the conversation closes.** Inside
  the window, flows and agents can send freely. Outside it, every send is blocked — including
  a reply you type yourself in the Inbox.

  There is no way to reopen it from your side. TikTok has no message templates
  (*Message templates are only available on WhatsApp channels.*) and no notification opt-in,
  so the contact has to message you again first.
</Warning>

This is stricter than it looks next to Meta's channels. [Messenger](/channels/facebook-messenger)
and [Instagram](/channels/instagram) give a person typing by hand seven days even though
automated sends get 24 hours. TikTok gives everyone the same 48 hours — bots and people
alike. The Inbox says so on the conversation: *TikTok 48-hour messaging window — agents can
reply for 48 hours after the contact's last message*.

You also can't start a conversation on TikTok. DMLY replies into a thread the contact opened;
there's no way to message a TikTok contact who has never messaged you.

## What TikTok cannot do

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="No broadcasts" icon="ban" href="/broadcasts/overview">
    **Broadcasts** stays in the sidebar, but selecting it on a TikTok profile just tells you:
    *Broadcasts aren’t available on Live Chat or TikTok. Switch to WhatsApp, Facebook,
    Instagram, SMS or Telegram.* Use **Switch profile** to jump to a channel that can.
  </Card>

  <Card title="No growth links or QR codes" icon="ban" href="/growth/overview">
    *Growth tools need a channel reachable by a chat link — not available on SMS, TikTok or
    Live Chat.* Growth tools work by handing someone a link or QR that opens a chat, and
    TikTok has no such link.
  </Card>
</Columns>

There's no **Bot setup** for TikTok either — no welcome message, ice breakers or persistent
menu. Everything TikTok answers automatically comes from a [flow](/automation/flow-builder).

## What you get

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="DMs and comments in the Inbox" icon="inbox" href="/inbox/overview">
    Both arrive in the same Inbox as your other channels, with assignment and statuses.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Flows on both" icon="diagram-project" href="/automation/flow-builder">
    Keyword-matched flows run on a TikTok DM and on a comment left on your videos.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Comment actions" icon="comment" href="/automation/flow-builder">
    A flow can reply publicly to a comment, like it, or delete it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Contacts and tags" icon="user" href="/contacts/overview">
    TikTok people become Contacts like anyone else, and you can tag and segment them.
  </Card>
</Columns>

Comments and DMs are separate threads, and a commenter and a DMer are separate Contacts even
when they're the same person. TikTok gives no way to link a comment to a DM, so DMLY doesn't
pretend otherwise. Replying in a comment thread posts a **public comment** on your video — it
does not send a DM.

<Tip>
  A comment thread's card links out to the real TikTok post, so you can always see the video
  someone is talking about.
</Tip>

## Automations on TikTok

Two triggers fire on a TikTok Channel:

* **TikTok message** — *User sends a message*
* **Video comments** — *User comments on your video*

Both accept keywords, matched on any message, an exact phrase, a prefix, or text contained
anywhere.

<Warning>
  **TikTok has no buttons, quick replies or carousels.** Send nodes only deliver plain text
  and images. A message node carrying buttons or quick replies is rejected outright — the
  contact receives nothing at all, not even the message body. The message shows as **Failed**
  in the Inbox, a **send\_failed** entry lands in **Configurations → Logs**, and the flow run
  stops there, so no later step runs. A flow you built for WhatsApp with tappable buttons
  will not work as-is on TikTok; rebuild the choice as plain text.
</Warning>

**Book meeting** already does this for you: on TikTok it sends the available times as a
numbered text list and closes with *Reply with a number to book.* — the contact answers with
a digit and the flow carries on.

<Note>
  The **Outgoing TikTok message** trigger (*You or an agent sends a message*) appears in the
  trigger picker but never fires — nothing dispatches it. Don't build on it.
</Note>

**Hide** is not available as a comment action here: a flow that tries it notes
*🙈 Hiding comments isn’t supported on TikTok — skipped.* and carries on. Reply, like and
delete all work.

Opt-outs behave as they do elsewhere — a contact who sends a stop keyword stops receiving
automated messages until they start again.

## Images and other message types

Inbound DMs that aren't plain text are shown as a short label rather than the thing itself —
a photo reads **📷 Photo**, a video reads **🎥 Video**, and there's **Shared a post**, **Sent
a sticker**, **Sent an emoji** and **Reacted to a message**. Anything DMLY doesn't recognise
reads **Unsupported message**. The images are not displayed in the Inbox, so if the content
matters, ask the contact to describe it.

Sending out, TikTok takes text and images only. Images have to be JPG or PNG and under 3 MB.

## When messages don't arrive

DMLY checks TikTok for new DMs and comments **every minute**, so allow up to a minute before
worrying. If nothing comes through at all, work down this list:

* **The personal-account warning is showing** — that's the cause. Switch the account type in
  the TikTok app and reconnect.
* **The window has closed** — you can receive, but your replies are blocked until the contact
  messages again. The Inbox says so on the conversation.
* **TikTok reports messaging as restricted** — TikTok's Business Messaging isn't available
  everywhere, and where it isn't, DMs never arrive. Nothing on your side fixes this.
* **Nothing else fits** — check **Configurations → Logs** and see
  [No inbound messages](/channels/no-inbound-messages).

<Warning>
  Comments are only picked up from your **10 most recent videos**, and only the **30 most
  recent comments** on each. A video that gets busier than that, or an older video that
  scrolls out of the last ten, can have comments that DMLY never sees — and there's no way to
  go back and collect them. Don't build a campaign that depends on catching every comment.
</Warning>