Sometimes when you’re using TikTok, you may notice that you’re not allowed to follow anyone on your For You Page or your TikTok account. This is a common problem many TikTik users have.
Following is a huge part of the TikTok platform. It shows your appreciation for other creators on the platform. When you are not able to follow anyone on TikTok this can suck as you can’t save that post for later.
One of the main reasons you can’t follow anyone on TikTok will be because you’re following too fast. When you’re following too fast you will usually see an error saying you’re following too fast take a break. This means you won’t be able to follow anyone on TikTok for a while.
Many users have been facing this issue so it’s you’re not alone. You will be able to fix it depending on the methods you choose to do down below.
We will start with some of the reasons why you can’t follow anyone on TikTok and what you can do to fix it.
Remember that the main solution is to wait it out if you have been hit with the “you’re following too fast take a break” but we will be getting into this down below.
TikTok followers will always remain an important aspect of the app so TikTok needs to regulate this carefully. I will be starting with the reason why you can’t follow first of all.
Why Can’t I Follow People on TikTok?
Right now it’s pretty hard to say why TikTok isn’t letting you follow anyone as there are several reasons why this issue could be occurring.
There are a few reasons why TikTok says you can’t follow anyone. One of these reasons is that the app does not want you to. If TikTok stops you from following people this means that they think you’re up to the suspicious activity.
When you’re following too many people in a short period the app will think you’re a robot. By this, I mean that the app will think that you’re using software to follow as many accounts as you can.
Only software could behave in that way. If TikTok thinks that you’re following activity is faster than usual then the app will think you’re not human.
When TikTok thinks you’re not using human behavior you may be banned from following people for a few hours or up to a day.
Another popular reason you can follow accounts on TikTok may be down to internet issues or account issues. You would need to check your internet connection before you proceed.
If your internet connection is bad the app will not be able to process the Follow as you’re only able to follow people with an internet connection. This is also the reason why you can’t post on TikTok.
You’re Following Too Fast Take a Break
The “you’re following too fast, take a break” error happens when you have exceeded TikTok’s following limit. The reason there is a limit to following on TikTok will be because they do not want bots on their app.
If your account is newer then you are more likely to receive this error as your account hasn’t gained trust with TikTok.
If you create a new account and you’re following multiple accounts without actually viewing their profile properly you will get blocked from carrying out this action.
Newer accounts are usually penalized for a lot of things like posting and commenting too much. So take into consideration that if you’re using a new account you should be careful to avoid the You’re Following Too Fast.
The reason TikTok introduced the Following Too Fast error is that there are many new fake accounts on the app every day to grow new accounts with following people. The only way they can detect this is by detecting spam and bots.
So bare in mind that if you’re not watching all of the person’s videos to full length then you may be hit with You’re Following Too Fast error.
How Long Does This Error Last
The error can last depending on how long your account has been made so it’s not for a specific set of time for an account. If you have been hit with the You’re Following Too Fast error before then the ban will last longer.
As a rule of thumb, the ban should only last for about 24 hours. If it is longer than 24 hours then it’s probably because you’re using a new account. If you were using an old account then it would be a much shorter period.
The most common way to be able to follow people again is to wait for the ban to go again. It’s not that big of a deal if you’re not able to follow anyone as it will only last for a few hours.
If you’re lucky the ban may only last for a few minutes so just stop trying to follow people for a certain amount of time. I would also advise you to stop following people during the time you’re banned as this may affect the length of time.
Remember that this ban is only temporary so do not worry. There are other reasons why you may not be able to follow so we’ll get into that down below.
Clear Cache
I’ve already mentioned that clearing your cache can be a good way to fix this issue but I never went into depth about what this meant.
When you clear the cache on the app it takes away some of the old data stored on TikTok which makes it run a lot smoother. This can be beneficial in your case as it will be removing any software that stops you from following.
The cache memory will have onto any old data that has been stored on your account so any new entries won’t get processed as it is not able to perform the activity you’re asking it to. In this case, it will not be able to follow anyone you ask it to.
Clearing cache varies on different devices. If you’re on ios then it is as easy as going into your Settings and going into General.
Here click on iPhone Storage > find TikTok > tap on Offload App.
If you’re on Android then just over to Settings and find the App option. Find TikTok and click on Storage then tap on Clear Cache.
Create a New Account
If you find that you can’t follow people on your TikTok account then it is worth making a new account so you can start following people again.
Even though the You’re Following too Fast following error will only last for a day you will have to decide whether or not that is too long for you.
If you have another account you can follow anyone on there as the ban will probably not affect your other account. In the case that you don’t have another account then you can make a new one.
To make a new TikTok account you will have to open the app and go onto your profile. From here you should click on the gear icon which is where all of your settings are.
From here scroll down and tap on switch account. From here you will want to click on add new account.
Once you have clicked on this you should choose a new method to sign up. That could be either through your email or number. Once you have chosen the one you will need to decide on a password to use.
Only Follow a Accounts You Like
Many people on TikTok usually just follow people for the sake of following them. This may or may not be one of the reasons why you’re unable to follow people on TikTok.
If you’re one of those people who follow people for the sake of following them then you should stop that behavior. I will admit I am also guilty of this.
Sometimes I will follow accounts just for the sake of following them or because I want to go back to them later on.
But this is what the save feature is for, so if you want to back to an account on TikTok you should probably screenshot the profile instead of following it. Remember to only follow people if you genuinely like them.
What I’m trying to say is that you should use the app like a human being. Take your time between following people, don’t just follow them in a spammy way.
If you follow like or comment too fast then you will be hit with other errors like you’re Tapping too Fast, or you’re Commenting too Fast.
View the Whole Account Before Following
We have now established that the reason you can’t just follow anyone on TikTok on both phone and PC is that you have been banned from following accounts due to TikTok thinking you’re a bot.
One way to prevent TikTok from stopping you from following people is to scroll through the whole account.
This is because it will be less suspicious to them when you view their whole account as it won’t come off as suspicious.
When you take your time to view an account before following it you will not be seen as a bot as bots usually just follow accounts without viewing them properly.
So think before you follow an account. If you have not watched the whole account then it is in your best interest not to follow it. If you can’t be bothered to view the whole account then you can save a video instead of following them.
Even if the account has many videos, to avoid the error from coming on again, you should just suck it up and view the whole account.
If you know you’re not going to watch the videos on their account then just don’t follow them
Check Your Internet Connection
This is the first solution I would recommend anyone to do. The reason why you can’t follow anyone on TikTok is that your internet is down.
When you don’t have a good internet connection then TikTok will not be able to process your follows as you’re not able to follow accounts without an internet connection.
Make sure your data or Wi-Fi network icon can be seen at the top of your screen. If you can’t see it then this may be an indication that your Wi-Fi has been cut and you would need to go into your settings on whichever device you’re on.
If you had Wi-Fi on when trying to follow an account then try using your cellular data. Make sure you have turned off Wi-Fi first. To turn on cellular/mobile data. go into settings on your iPhone > Tap on Mobile data then toggle it on.
Here’s how to turn on mobile data on other devices. Now try again and see if that works.
If you had cellular data on when you tried posting on TikTok then turn it off and turn on Wi-Fi instead. Check your router if you’re at home as well. Turn it off and wait for about 30 seconds before you turn it on again.
Reset Network Settings
Your Network Settings are all the settings on your device that are related to a network. So that could be your internet connection, Wi-Fi connection, etc.
You may need to reset your network settings if you have checked your internet connection and TikTok still won’t let you won’t follow anyone.
You can either do this by turning on Airplane Mode on whichever device you’re using. This is a quick fix to solve any issues. You can do this by either swiping down on your iPhone or going into Settings on your Android.
Remember to only do this if your internet connection is not working.
If you’re using Wi-Fi and you have access to the router then you should try turning off the router for a few minutes before you turn it back on. This should be done if you’re using TikTok on a PC.
Remember that if you’re using TikTok on a PC and you can’t follow anyone then you should press harder on the follow button as a touch screen on mobile is usually more sensitive.
If none of these work then you should go into settings and turn reset your network settings properly. You can do this on your iPhone by going into Settings > Scroll down and click General > Tap on Reset and hit Reset Network Settings. This is how to reset it on an Android device.
Update The App
TikTok may be having a software issue for whatever reason. To stop this from happening, deleting the app may help with that.
If there is an update currently available on TikTok then I would advise you to update it as well. There may be software issues stopping you from following accounts which is why it would benefit you to update the app.
To update the app you should go into the App store of whatever device you are on and update it. Developers would have gotten rid of any previous issues wrong with the app.
Once you have deleted and re-downloaded the app, you should see that your problem is no more, if it is still an issue then it may be more serious than you might think.
Deleting the app also clears the cache so if this was the problem then it would solve this as well. I showed you how to do this above so scroll up if you want to do that.
To update an app you will need to go into the app store and click on your profile. Now click on purchased. Here scroll down until you found TikTok. Now click on update if it is available.
Report Problem to TikTok
Hopefully, by now you have resolved the problem and can now follow anyone you like. Here’s why you should unfollow random accounts on TikTok.
In rare instances where you still are not able to follow anyone then as a final resort, I would report these issues to TikTok.
Here you can explain to them what the problem is and hopefully, they will be able to resolve it. This can be done on the app but going into your profile settings, click on Help > then tap Report A Problem.
I would also take a screenshot of anything that comes up when you try following a TikTok account. Look for the relevant article
The only downside to this is that it may take TikTok up to a week to respond to your report. This is because they go through so many reports a day so they will need to filter through all of them before they get to yours.
I would suggest getting straight to the point in your report to help speed up the process. This isn’t necessary but just as a last precaution since it may be quite clear that there is something wrong with your account.
You’re Following Too Many People
TikTok has a following limit which will not allow you to follow more than 500 thousand people. Once you’re following more than 5000 people you will not be allowed to follow any more people.
Even if you’re not following 5000 people if you’re close to that limit it will be an indicator to TikTok that you’re following too many people anyway. If I was you I would unfollow a lot of people before trying to follow anyone new.
TikTok may or may not have increased the limit but the point is that if you’re close to that limit then you will more than likely not be allowed to follow new people as you would be hit with a ban.
If TikTok says that you’re following too fast then it may also be because you’re following too many people. If TikTok ever says this then just start unfollowing a few people and wait till you’re allowed to follow people again.
Remember that you should also not follow people too fast as this may also come as a bot to TikTok which may result in your ban extending or your account being banned.
As I said before, view the whole account before you decide to unfollow them so it comes across as more natural. If you decide you don’t like the sort of videos the person posts then it should be fine to unfollow them.
Conclusion
It’s fair to say that there may be a chance some of the tips I have given you today may not work resulting in you contacting TikTok themselves.
However, I suggest you try your best to fix this issue on your own as it is usually just a quick fix. A really simple way to solve it is to just turn on Airplane Mode then give it a few seconds before you turn it back off.
If it is an account issue then you will need to go to contact TikTok but you won’t know that for sure unless they tell you so try everything you can first before you come to other conclusions.
Please do let me know if this article has helped in any way by commenting down below so that others can use the tops that worked for you.
If you did manage to fix the problem with a method that isn’t on here, then please let me know in the comments below so I can add it to this list. This will help other people facing the problem fix it.
Keep in mind that if the wifi connection you’re trying to join keeps saying unable to join the network then the problem is usually with the wifi or data network itself and not your iPhone or iPad.
