How to See Follow Requests on TikTok

Hey there! Have you ever wondered who is trying to follow you on TikTok but can‘t see their requests? Well, my friend, you‘ve come to the right place. In this complete guide, I‘ll walk you step-by-step through everything you need to know about seeing follow requests on TikTok.

Stick with me, and by the end, you‘ll be a pro at managing follow requests and growing your audience intentionally on TikTok!

Why You Should Care About Follow Requests

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty details, let‘s talk about why follow requests even matter in the first place.

The goal on TikTok is to build an engaged audience that enjoys your content, right? But this can be tougher to do if your account is wide open to anyone and everyone.

Public accounts on TikTok passively accept any new follower without approval. It‘s an easy way to increase your follower number fast, but not all followers are created equal.

Having 1,000 spam bot followers isn‘t very useful. And if people can follow you without any effort, they probably aren‘t super invested in your content anyway.

This is where follow requests come in!

By switching your profile to private, you activate follow requests. Now new followers have to ask for your approval first.

Follow requests give you the power to:

Review each potential new follower individually
Approve only followers who seem genuinely interested in your content
Deny spammers, trolls, or other unwanted followers

In other words, you swap a hands-off passive approach for complete control over curating your audience.

And don‘t worry about missing requests or letting them pile up—I‘ll show you exactly where to manage your incoming requests.

Let‘s start by making sure your account is set to private so you can take advantage of all these benefits!

Switching Your TikTok Account to Private

If your account is already private, feel free to skip ahead! But if you have a public profile, here are the steps to activate follow requests:

Tap the "Me" tab on the bottom bar to go to your profile.
Tap the three dots in the top right corner to open your settings menu.
Select "Settings and privacy."
Choose "Privacy."
Tap the switch next to "Private account" to turn it on.
Confirm switching to a personal account when prompted.

And that‘s it—your account is now private!

TikTok will now require anyone new trying to follow you to send a request for your approval first.

Now let‘s get into where you can actually view those incoming requests.

Where to View Your TikTok Follow Requests

Wondering where those follow requests are hiding once your account is private? There are two main spots you can find them:

1. Your Activity Page

This is the main hub where all your notifications live, including new follower requests:

Tap the "Inbox" icon on the bottom bar to open your activity feed.
At the top, look for the "Follow requests" section.
The red bubble shows how many requests are currently waiting for you.
Tap "Follow requests" to open the full list and view profiles.

Checking your activity page often ensures you see new requests ASAP. But what if you want to view past requests too?

You can also access pending and past requests from your followers list:

Go to your profile and tap "Followers" or "Following."
Hit the three dots in the top right corner.
Select "Manage followers."
Tap the "Requests" tab.

This will display both current requests and previously accepted/denied ones.

So between these two sections, you have full access to incoming and past follow requests!

Now let‘s talk about what to actually do with all those requests…

Accepting or Denying Follow Requests

The fun part is reviewing your list of requests and deciding who to approve or deny.

When reviewing a new request, check out the user‘s profile and videos to evaluate if they seem like a genuine good fit.

Here are some signs of a quality follower to consider approving:

Their content aligns with your niche or interests
They are actively posting quality content
They have a good amount of real followers and engagement

And here are some red flags that signal it may be better to deny the request:

No videos posted at all
Spammy or abusive video content
Suspicious number of followers vs engagement

Once you‘ve done your review, taking action is easy:

To accept a request:

Tap the green checkmark next to their name

To deny a request:

Tap the X icon next to their name
You can also swipe left and select "Delete"

I suggest setting aside 10-15 minutes a day to comb through your new requests so they don‘t pile up.

You want to try to respond within a few days so these potential followers don‘t lose interest and move on. Activating notifications for new requests can also help prompt you.

How to Send a Follow Request on TikTok

Now that you know how to manage the requests you receive, let‘s discuss how to send a request when you find an account you want to follow.

If someone has a private account, you‘ll need to send them a follow request just like others do for you. Here‘s the process:

Find the private account you want to follow, either by username search or in recommendations.
Tap the "Follow" button, but notice it is grayed out instead of blue.
A popup will appear asking if you want to send them a follow request. Tap "Request."
The follow button will change to "Requested" signifying your request is pending.
Wait for the user to accept or deny your request – you‘ll be notified.
If they deny you, the follow button will revert to normal so you can request again.

I suggest personalizing your request with a quick message like "Hi, I love your dance videos! Can I get an add back?" to boost your chances of approval.

But avoid bombarding accounts with multiple requests if denied, or you could risk being blocked. Persistence doesn’t always pay off.

Pro Tips for Managing Your Followers

Managing your followers list is an ongoing process. Here are some pro tips:

Review regularly: Set time every day or every few days to comb through new requests so they don‘t pile up.
Send a welcome: When you accept a request, also send them a quick welcoming message. This starts relationships off on the right foot!
Prune as needed: Periodically scan your followers list for inactive accounts with no recent likes or comments and remove them.
Watch for red flags: Deny any follow requests where the user has an abusive or questionable profile. Safety first!
Don‘t overdo it: Be selective about who you follow back yourself. Following irrelevant accounts may cause your followers to disengage.

TikTok Follow Requests Data and Statistics

Curious to learn more about how people are using follow requests on TikTok? Check out these interesting stats:

As of January 2023, over 1 billion active users log onto TikTok each month. This is a massive pool of potential followers! [Source: Oberlo]
The average TikTok user spends 52 minutes per day on the app viewing, liking, and commenting on videos. People are highly engaged. [Source: Oberlo]
Only around 13% of accounts are private currently, according to an analysis of 1 million random TikTok profiles. So the majority still have public open access. [Source: Hypeauditor]
Private accounts have an average of just under 700 followers. Meanwhile, public accounts average around 1,300 followers. Lower, but more curated! [Source: Hypeauditor]
TikTok is the 7th most popular social media platform globally based on active monthly users. The potential growth runway is still huge. [Source: DataReportal]

As you can see, tons of people are actively using TikTok daily. While most still have public accounts, there‘s been a steady rise in private profiles controlling their followers.

You have the chance to be ahead of the curve by making your account private right from the start!

Am I Missing Anything? Final Takeaways

Let‘s recap the core points so you become a follow request master:

Private accounts are the only way to activate follow requests and see who wants to follow you.
Switching to private gives you control over curating your audience vs passive growth.
View your requests both in your activity inbox and follower management menu.
Evaluate each request individually and approve or deny based on the user‘s profile.
Send thoughtful follow requests to gain access to private accounts you want to follow.
Maintain your followers list by pruning inactive accounts and monitoring for red flags.

And that‘s a wrap! You now have all the tools you need to start growing your TikTok audience intentionally using follow requests.

No more wondering who wants to follow you or having your profile overrun by fake accounts! Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

I‘m always happy to help break down the latest TikTok tips and tricks. Now get out there and start converting those followers my friend!