You can schedule a TikTok video for one account from TikTok's own desktop upload page, or for many through a tool that uses TikTok's Content Posting API. Here's what that API allows, what it asks of you, and its limits.
TikTok is the network where scheduling tools ask the most questions, and that's by TikTok's design rather than the tools'. Knowing why makes a TikTok campaign much less fiddly.
Two ways to schedule
TikTok's own upload page. On a computer, TikTok's upload page lets you schedule a video for the account you're signed in to. It's free and suits one account.
A scheduling tool. Tools publish through TikTok's Content Posting API. That API publishes when it's called and has no "publish later" setting, so the tool holds your post and sends it at the time you chose. This is how one campaign reaches many accounts.
What the API supports
| Through TikTok's Content Posting API | |
|---|---|
| Videos | Yes, with a caption of up to 2,200 characters |
| Photo posts | Yes, up to 35 images, a 90-character title and a 4,000-character description |
| Publishing later | Done by the tool, which sends the post at the chosen time |
| Editing a published post | No |
| Deleting a published post | No |
The last two rows matter more than they look. A mistake in a TikTok caption can only be fixed in the TikTok app, account by account, so check the TikTok versions of a campaign twice.
The settings you choose for each post
TikTok's rules for posting tools say the tool must show the account's current options and the person posting must choose:
- Who can see the post, from the options TikTok offers that account. Nothing may be pre-selected.
- Whether comments, Duets and Stitches are allowed, where the account allows them. Photo posts have comments only.
- Whether it promotes something. Your own brand, or a paid partnership, which TikTok labels on the post.
That's why a TikTok post in a scheduling tool asks more of you than an Instagram one. It's also why each account's settings are read fresh from TikTok each time rather than remembered.
Limits that come from TikTok
- Posts per account per day. TikTok caps how many posts each account can publish through its API in a day. Once the cap is reached, TikTok refuses further posts for that account until the window passes.
- New tools post privately at first. Until TikTok has audited a posting tool, everything it posts is visible only to the account owner, and only five people a day can post through it. If posts from a new tool are stuck on private, that's why.
- Video length. Each account has a maximum video length, which TikTok reports to the tool before you post.
A checklist for a TikTok campaign
- Each account is connected by someone with access to it, through TikTok's own sign-in.
- Each video is within that account's maximum length.
- Visibility, comments, Duets and Stitches are chosen for each account.
- Promotional content is declared.
- No account gets more posts in a day than it needs.
- You check each account's delivery afterwards.
FlashPosts reads each account's options from TikTok before you post and asks for each setting, then publishes at your scheduled time. See TikTok scheduling in FlashPosts, and what TikTok reports back once a post is live.
Frequently asked questions
Can you schedule TikTok posts in advance?
Yes. TikTok's desktop upload page schedules a video for the account you're signed in to, and scheduling tools that use TikTok's Content Posting API can schedule for many accounts.
Can you schedule TikTok photo posts?
Yes, through tools that support TikTok's photo post API: up to 35 images, with a title of up to 90 characters and a description of up to 4,000.
Why is my scheduled TikTok post private?
If the tool hasn't yet passed TikTok's audit, TikTok makes everything it posts visible only to the account owner. Otherwise, check the visibility chosen for the post.
Can I edit a TikTok post after a tool publishes it?
No. TikTok's API can't edit or delete a published post, so changes are made in the TikTok app.