TikTok Glitches Can Be Restored (Sometimes)

The popular social media app TikTok has implemented a new feature recently that has clearly taken inspiration from Snapchat. Users who consistently send messages back and forth to each other on the app can start a streak together, and though you can't actually get paid for holding a streak on TikTok, it's still become just another reason to log onto the app regularly.

If your streak has been broken, whether by your own fault or by the fault of a glitch in TikTok's system, there are ways to restore it. Here's what you need to know to restore your TikTok streak.

Where Snapchat had ways to request for a streak to be restored, TikTok does not have a similar form -- but there are plenty of workarounds users have found as the feature is still in its early stages.

The first thing a user can do when they realize they've broken a streak with their friend is to change the time on their phone. Though most social media apps don't rely on a phone's internal clock to determine when messages and posts are made, TikTok apparently does.

By changing the clock on a user's phone to a time frame within the 24 hours needed to keep a streak on TikTok, users can then send another message to have their streak restored, according to various accounts from users on the app.

The easiest way to do this is to change what time zone your phone is in, but that means it needs to be done within the first 24 hours after the streak has been broken. Any later than that and the streak won't be able to be saved.

Other times, users have reported that the app has asked them if they wanted their streak restored, suggesting that the app is not being particularly strict about the 24-hour limit.

Like most new features on a social media app, some users have reported their streaks just mysteriously disappearing, leaving them to start all over again from the beginning. Others have reported the number being suddenly lowered, or they're finding that the streak won't increase, despite consistently messaging the other person for days on end.

Unfortunately, this does seem to be just a glitch in TikTok's system, and at this moment, there isn't a solution for it. Users have been frequently sharing their concerns online as their streaks refuse to budge, staying stuck on the same number for days.

Despite the complaints, it doesn't seem as though TikTok has issued a solution, nor has it acknowledged this bug online. For now, the best method is to hold on to the streaks already in progress as TikTok hopefully works out a solution the issue, though it may be some time before an official patch is released. Abandoning the streak altogether is also an option that'll likely reduce your anxiety about it, though it will do nothing to fix the problem in the TikTok app.