New features allow users to have even more control over their TikTok experience. Photo / Getty
New features allow users to have even more control over their TikTok experience. Photo / Getty
TikTok has introduced new features allowing users to customise content visibility and filter specific keywords.
The “Manage Topics” and “Smart Keyword Filters” help personalise feeds and control unwanted content.
TikTok’s Sleep Hours feature encourages bedtime meditation, with default settings for users under 18.
It just got easier for Kiwis in the depths of winter to avoid “European Summer” content.
Social media platform TikTok has today introduced new features designed to give users more control over the content they see.
The platform tools allow people to dial up content they want to see moreof and dial down or prevent content they don’t want.
“Manage Topics” allows users to customise their feed to see more or less of broad content categories. A user may, for instance, set their preferences to be served more food and drink content but fewer videos related to creative arts.
Manage Topics, allows users to dial up, or down, how much content they see of a
particular topic. Photo / TikTok
TikTok is also improving its Smart Keyword Filters, which allow users to input specific words they don’t want to see.
People can now include up to 200 keywords as a filter and TikTok’s AI will now also restrict videos featuring similar words, synonyms, or slang variations.
The platform suggests a user who has just returned from a holiday in Japan and no longer needs tourism content specific to that region might exclude the terms “Japan” and “Travel”.
“With our new features, you can manage topics you want to see in your For You feed and limit keywords and hashtags you’d rather skip, so that it’s easier than ever to find creators, hobbies, and content you love,” said Adam Presser, head of operations and trust and safety at TikTok.
TikTok said the topic management option and keyword filters are two of the ways users can “control your scroll” on the app.
The more videos users watch and engage with on the platform, the more the platform’s algorithm can predict and personalise content.
If users feel their feed is no longer relevant, they can reset it completely, or long-press the screen when watching any video and select ‘not interested’ to teach the algorithm not to recommend similar videos, topics or trends.
New TikTok tools allow users to have even more control over their social media experience.
These new content preferences join Sleep Hours, a recently announced in-app guided meditation feature that encourages people to switch off near bedtime.
During Sleep Hours, scrolling will be interrupted by a meditation exercise designed to help users unwind at night.
For users under 18, this feature is turned on by default after 10pm. If teens ignore the first reminder, they are shown a second, harder-to-dismiss, full-screen prompt. Adults can choose to turn on this feature in their settings.
TikTok said the meditation prompts are designed to “reflect best practices in behavioural change theory by providing positive nudges that can help people develop balanced long-term habits”.
In their testing, TikTok said 98% of teens kept the meditation experience switched on.
Guardians who want to completely block their teens’ use of TikTok at night can do so through the Family Pairing feature, which links a teen’s account to their guardians to ensure appropriate safety settings are in place.
During Sleep Hours, people will have their TikTok scrolling interrupted by a meditation exercise. Photo / TikTok
The minimum age to use TikTok is 13 and users aged 13-15 are private by default. Only users aged 18 and above can host ‘live’ content and under-18s have a daily screen time limit of 60 minutes and must enter a passcode to extend their usage.
TikTok also announced today that the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand has been selected as part of the platform’s 2025 Mental Health Media Education Fund.
The charity, and five Australian mental health organisations, will get training by the platform and US$75,000 ($124,688) in advertising credits, which TikTok say will help them “foster an environment where people can discuss emotionally complex topics in a supportive way.”
