> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.blotato.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.blotato.com/platforms/tiktok/faqs.md).
# FAQs
## Is Your Tiktok Account Healthy or Shadowbanned?
* If your views are consistently < 50:
Something's wrong with your account. If you have 10 videos in a row, all <50 views, it's likely your account is shadowbanned. I honestly recommend starting fresh with a new account.
* If your views are consistently \~200:
Nothing's wrong with your account. But Tiktok doesn't know the TOPIC of your videos. Click on a video, check top search bar, it should NOT say "Find Related Content".
Be more explicit using niche keywords (such as "AI") in your video title, description, and audio. Once you fix this, your views should be consistently >1000.
* If a SINGLE video is stuck at low views but rest of your account is fine:
Change that video's privacy setting to PRIVATE, close TikTok app, reopen tiktok app, switch privacy setting back to EVERYONE.
This happens to me often with a new Tiktok account. With an older legit account, it can still happen especially if your video uses controversial terms (e.g. politics, money).
***
## Why Does the Pricing Page Say 900 TikTok Posts/Month, but I Hit a Limit on Starter?
Both numbers are correct. The "900 TikTok posts/month" figure on the pricing page is the math result of the Starter-plan TikTok posting limit:
* 3 unique TikTok accounts per 24 hours
* 10 posts per account per 24 hours
* 3 × 10 = 30 posts per day
* 30 × 30 = **900 posts per month**
There is no monthly counter. The limit is enforced **per day**, not per month. If you try to post to a 4th unique TikTok account in the same 24-hour window, the post fails.
**This limit applies to the Starter plan only.** Creator and Agency plans are unrestricted on the 3-unique-accounts-per-24h cap.
If you need to post daily to 10–20 TikTok accounts, you need the Creator or Agency plan.
The "20 social accounts" figure on the pricing page is the **connection** limit (how many accounts you link to Blotato), which is separate from the 24-hour **posting** limit.
Full breakdown: [Platform Posting Limits](/settings/social-accounts.md#platform-posting-limits)
***
## How Do I Access TikTok Drafts Published via Blotato?
When you publish a TikTok post as a draft (using the `isDraft` option), follow these steps to access it:
1. Open the TikTok mobile app on your phone
2. Go to your system notifications (the inbox icon)
3. Look for a notification from TikTok about your draft
4. Tap the notification to open and finalize your draft
5. Make any edits and publish directly from the TikTok app
Note: TikTok drafts sent via third-party apps like Blotato appear in your notifications, not in the standard Drafts folder in your profile.
Captions are not carried over when publishing as a draft. This is a TikTok API limitation. After the draft is created, open the TikTok app and re-enter your caption before publishing the draft.
### TikTok Draft Posts Stuck in "Processing"
When publishing TikTok drafts via the API (`isDraft: true`), drafts sometimes stay in "processing" status and never complete.
Common causes:
1. TikTok flagged your account for spam risk -- posting too frequently or posting similar content triggers TikTok's automated review
2. The video file format does not meet TikTok's requirements -- TikTok silently rejects some formats during draft processing
3. TikTok's servers are experiencing delays
Steps to resolve:
1. Reduce posting frequency to 1-2 posts per day for a week
2. Post 1-2 videos manually from the TikTok app (not via API) to re-establish account trust
3. Avoid posting duplicate or near-duplicate content
4. After 1 week of manual activity, retry API publishing with `isDraft: false` first to test, then switch back to `isDraft: true` once direct publishing works
If regular (non-draft) API posts publish fine but drafts fail, this is a known TikTok API limitation with draft processing. Use direct publishing (`isDraft: false`) as a workaround.
***
## How Do I Set a Custom Thumbnail for TikTok?
You can set a custom thumbnail/cover for TikTok slideshows and TikTok reels.
**For TikTok slideshows:**
Set the index of the slide to use as the cover.
**For TikTok reels:**
Set the millisecond timestamp to use as the cover in the "Video cover timestamp (milliseconds)" field.
***
## Why Is My TikTok Video Cover Timestamp Ignored (First Frame Shown)?
The Video cover timestamp field sets which frame of your video TikTok uses as the cover image. Enter the time in milliseconds from the start of the video: 1 second = 1000 milliseconds, so the frame at 21 seconds = 21000.
If TikTok shows the first frame instead of your chosen frame, check these causes:
1. The value is in seconds instead of milliseconds. Sending 3 instead of 3000 for the 3-second mark puts the value out of range, so TikTok defaults to the first frame.
2. The timestamp exceeds the video length. A timestamp past the end of the clip is ignored, and TikTok uses the first frame.
3. API only: the field is misnamed or in the wrong place. It must be exactly `videoCoverTimestamp`, a number in milliseconds, inside `target` (not inside `content`). See [Publish Post](/api/publish-post.md).
If you set a valid millisecond timestamp within the video length and the published post still shows the first frame, contact support in the in-app chat so the team investigates.
***
## Why Did Tiktok Ban My Account?
It's very important for Tiktok accounts to make sure they're warmed up:
After your account is warmed up, then you can connect a 3rd party app like Blotato to post on tiktok. But generally, it's not recommended to post more than 3x/day via any 3rd party app. Also, make sure you are still using your Tiktok account like a person, logging in, replying to comments, etc. Tiktok bans accounts it thinks are bots - just posting, not engaging.
***
## TikTok Token Refresh Failure ("Service Unavailable")
If you see "Could not refresh TikTok access\_token: Service Unavailable," TikTok's servers temporarily rejected the connection refresh.
1. Wait 15-30 minutes
2. Retry the post from [Failed Posts](https://my.blotato.com/failed)
3. If the error continues, reconnect your TikTok account in [Settings](https://my.blotato.com/settings)
***
## TikTok Connection Stuck on "Maximum Amount of Attempts Reached, Please Try Again Later"
This message means TikTok blocked the OAuth connection flow for that account on their side. Waiting does not always clear it, even after 48 hours. The usual cause is TikTok's OAuth account picker getting confused when several TikTok accounts are logged in at once. Removing and re-adding the account uses more attempts and keeps the loop going, so try this order instead:
1. Log out of ALL TikTok sessions in your browser. Go to tiktok.com, click your avatar, and select Log out. Repeat until every account is logged out.
2. Open an incognito or private window. Sign into ONLY the account you want to connect on tiktok.com. Then, in the same window, go to [Settings > Social Accounts](https://my.blotato.com/settings) and click Login with TikTok. This isolates the OAuth to that one account.
3. Clear cookies for tiktok.com (padlock icon > Site settings > Clear data), then repeat step 2.
4. Try a different browser you do not normally use for TikTok, such as Edge, Firefox, or Safari.
5. Check the TikTok mobile app for a pending security prompt on that account. Finish any email, phone, or unusual-activity verification. A pending prompt blocks OAuth.
If the connection still fails after these steps, message support in the in-app chat with the account name so the team can investigate.
***
## "Failed to Publish TikTok Post After 3 Retries: Unknown Error Reason"
This is a temporary TikTok-side outage, not a Blotato issue, and it is not caused by running out of credits. The failure happens on TikTok's servers, and other publishing tools hit the same errors during these outages. When several recent TikTok posts fail this way at once, it is a TikTok outage and retrying right away or reconnecting your account usually will not help. A public status page will not always show it (some outages affect only certain regions or posts published from external URLs).
1. Wait a few hours for TikTok to resolve the issue, then retry your post from [Failed Posts](https://my.blotato.com/failed)
2. Message support in the in-app chat -- the team can confirm whether there is a known TikTok outage and add +3000 credits for the inconvenience
***
## My TikTok Post Disappears and Never Shows Up (Stuck "Buffering," Not in Failed Posts)
Your TikTok post leaves Upcoming Posts at its scheduled time, then never appears on TikTok, in Published Posts, or in Failed Posts, and there is no matching request in your [API Dashboard](https://my.blotato.com/api-dashboard). The post stays "buffering" or stuck in a "publishing" state. Your other platforms publish the same content fine, and manual posts from the TikTok app work.
This is a TikTok-side issue processing videos from external URLs, which leaves the post stuck in "publishing" so TikTok never returns a success or failure. Because no final response comes back, the post does not land in Failed Posts. It is not a credits issue and not a Blotato queue problem. These outages sometimes affect only certain regions (for example, European accounts) even while the rest of TikTok works.
1. Wait a few hours, then post the same video again with a longer lead time (avoid scheduling only 1-2 minutes ahead)
2. Confirm the post is not in [Failed Posts](https://my.blotato.com/failed) -- retrying a post that never failed will not help while the outage is active
3. Message support in the in-app chat with the account name and scheduled time -- the team can confirm a known TikTok outage and add credits for the inconvenience
***
## My TikTok Post Fails With a Message Saying I Need to Update TikTok
Some TikTok publish failures return a message telling you to update your TikTok app. On image and carousel posts, the exact error reads:
> Error uploading images to Tiktok: Please notice the user to update their TikTok to the latest version to enable this functionality
This error comes from TikTok, and it appears even when your phone says the app is up to date. Image and carousel (photo) posts trigger it most often. The fix runs on the phone connected to the TikTok account:
1. Open the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android) and update the TikTok app to the latest version, even if it looks current
2. Open TikTok once, log in, force close the app, then reopen it
3. In TikTok, go to Profile > Settings and privacy > Free up space, then clear the cache
4. Retry the publish from Blotato ([Failed Posts](https://my.blotato.com/failed))
5. If it still fails after updating, go to [Settings > Social Accounts](https://my.blotato.com/settings), click the blue Reconnect button next to TikTok to refresh the token and permissions, then retry
Do not disconnect the account. Reconnect refreshes the token without failing your scheduled posts.
If the error keeps returning after these steps, ask in the in-app support chat for the team to remove the TikTok account from Blotato's database. Then connect it fresh in [Settings > Social Accounts](https://my.blotato.com/settings) using Login with TikTok. A fresh connection grants the newest permissions, which a Reconnect on a stale record sometimes does not.
If one of your TikTok accounts publishes fine while another keeps failing with this message, the block sits on that specific TikTok account, not on your Blotato setup.
***
## Why Is My TikTok Video Muted When Posted via Blotato or the API (but Not When I Upload Manually)?
TikTok mutes the video on their end when their system detects copyrighted or commercially licensed music in your audio. Blotato does not apply the muting, so there is no Blotato setting or API parameter to switch it off. There is no music-confirmation toggle in the API either.
The cause is the audio itself. TikTok Business accounts are limited to TikTok's Commercial Music Library (their pre-cleared tracks). Music from outside that library is the usual reason an API-posted video gets muted, even when the same file uploads fine in the TikTok app under different account rules.
The fix: use a track cleared for your account type before uploading.
1. Replace the audio with a track from TikTok's Commercial Music Library, or use original audio you own
2. Re-export the video with the cleared audio
3. Publish again from Blotato
More on posting to TikTok: [TikTok](https://help.blotato.com/platforms/tiktok)
***
## TikTok Didn't Add Music to My Slideshow Even Though "Auto Add Music" Was On
Sometimes a TikTok photo slideshow or carousel publishes without music even though Auto Add Music (or `autoAddMusic: true` via the API) was enabled. This is a known issue with TikTok's music API: roughly 10% of the time, TikTok fails to attach its recommended music to the post even though Blotato passes the parameter correctly. Your settings are fine, and it happens again at random -- the fix is on TikTok's side and the TikTok team is aware.
What to do:
1. Confirm the post is a photo slideshow or carousel. Auto Add Music works only on photo posts, not videos.
2. Re-publish the slideshow. The failure is intermittent, so a fresh publish usually attaches the music.
3. To keep the already-published post, open it in the TikTok app and add the music there.
Note for TikTok Business accounts: TikTok restricts music choices to its Commercial Music Library, which limits what Auto Add Music attaches.
***
**Didn't find your answer?**
* [General FAQs](/support/faqs.md)
* [API FAQs](https://github.com/Blotato-Inc/help.blotato.com/tree/main/api/faqs.md)
* [Video FAQs](/features/videos/faqs.md)
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