This article teaches you how to get inside TikTok’s head to decipher the custom algorithm made for your child so that you can better understand what the app is delivering to them when you’re not watching.

Check the Watch History

The absolute best way to check up on what your kids are doing on TikTok is to review all of their activity. While comment history and search history are available, the watch history, especially, will expose exactly what TikTok is serving them, letting you take a peek behind the curtain and uncover the full list of videos that have shaped your kid’s feed.

You can access this part of the app through the Activity Center section of the settings. Learn more here:

Visit Their ‘For You’ Page

If your kids suspect that you’ll be reviewing their For You feed, they might wipe the activity logs before you can get your hands on their device. The next best way to see what content TikTok is suggesting to your kids is to simply scroll through their For You feed.

The majority of videos that appear on a For You page are a fairly accurate reflection of the user’s interests as they use TikTok. It shows the kinds of videos they have been watching up to this point.

Doing this will give you an idea of what your child will continue to see until they start getting exposed to new videos that could branch their feed in a new direction.

As you scroll through a few dozen videos, keep these ideas in mind to uncover what TikTok thinks of your teen:

Identify Emotional Tone and Themes

The overall disposition of the videos can reveal the themes that TikTok is currently pushing toward your child. The idea here is to capture the emotional vibe that the app thinks they are drawn to.

Thinking surface-level is useful (politics, sports, religion, food), but you’ll need to go a bit deeper for the real answers. As you watch, identify the kind of humor being conveyed, whether a common theme is being discussed, and if the messages feel dark, uplifting, sexualized, etc.

Spot Recurring Creators

If you notice the same creators showing up often, tap on their profile to get a feel for the kind of content they normally post. Most creators stick to the same style or theme, so this can serve as a window into what TikTok assumes your child enjoys.

Analyze Hashtags for Content Patterns

Hashtags, which appear in the video caption at the bottom, are also worth looking into. These short phrases often summarize the video and are an easy way to spot patterns in the kind of content the algorithm is pushing.

Review Feed Topics

TikTok includes a few settings that let users customize their feed. It’s basically a way to give the algorithm some direct guidance—it’s like saying, “show me more of this, less of that.”

If your child has modified these settings, you’ll know some of the broader topics TikTok is feeding them. You can check this in the content preference settings:

1. Tap Profile at the bottom.

2. Select the three lines at the top to open a menu, and then choose Settings and privacy.

3. Tap Content preferences.

4. Choose Manage topics.

5. Review the categories for modifications. The default position for each topic is indicated by the slider being in the middle. Anything to the left is an instruction for TikTok to show less of that topic, while anything to the right is a suggestion to view more of the topic.

   Here’s the takeaway: if you see something in the See more section, it tells you that the TikTok algorithm is primed to give your kid more of that subject matter.

TikTok Algorithm Explained

Swap phones with someone, and you’ll probably notice right away just how different their For You feed is compared to yours. While this feels random—and it is to a degree—it’s also a kind of echo chamber built from what they tend to watch and interact with.

Each like, pause, skip, share, rewatch, etc., teaches TikTok what you’d prefer to see more or less of in the future. Try liking or rewatching a video about a topic you haven’t seen before. You’ll probably “randomly” run into something similar just a few swipes later, maybe even from the same creator you just learned about.

The TikTok algorithm quickly responds to your inputs, constantly learning what you like and dislike, to ultimately serve you more of whatever will keep you watching. This is why you get a mix of videos you like and dislike; these opportunities teach TikTok your preferences as you use the app, which is then used to fine-tune the feed.

The videos that TikTok suggests your kids watch reveal what the algorithm knows about them. While it’s not perfect and is always learning, it can serve as a reflection of the kind of content they’ve been engaging with.