TikTok unveils new features to let users fine-tune their 'For You' feed

TikTok has announced a suite of new features aimed at giving users more control over their ‘For You’ feed, reinforcing its commitment to creating a more personalized and user-driven content discovery experience.

The latest updates include tools like Manage Topics, Smart Keyword Filtering, and an all-in-one educational guide—all geared toward helping users shape what shows up in their feed, explore their evolving interests, and discover new creators and communities.

“The ‘For You’ feed is what makes TikTok a place like no other to discover your favorite new interests or grow a thriving community. 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, TikTok’s Head of Operations & Trust & Safety.

With the new Manage Topics feature, users can now adjust how frequently they encounter content from more than 10 categories—including Creative Arts, Travel, Nature, and Sports. Rather than eliminating topics entirely, this feature adjusts how often certain themes appear, aligning the feed more closely with users’ changing interests.

TikTok’s Smart Keyword Filter takes content control a step further by expanding its filtering capabilities to include related terms and synonyms.

The platform will also double the number of keywords users can apply—from 100 to 200—making it easier to manage bulk keywords. Users can now select related terms to include in their filtering as well.

This tool builds on TikTok’s existing keyword filters, which have already been used more than 190 million times globally to keep unwanted content at bay.

To complement these updates, TikTok is also rolling out a comprehensive educational guide that explains how the ‘For You’ feed works. The guide will offer tips, tools, and videos—some of which have already garnered over 180 million views globally—to help users personalize their experience more effectively.

These features are available to both teen and adult accounts and come with additional safeguards already in place.

These include: Restricting inappropriate or mature content from being recommended in the For You feed; Tools that let users refresh their feed, flag content as “not interested,” or activate Restricted Mode; Interventions to prevent repetitive exposure to certain types of content that may become problematic if viewed too often.

With these changes, TikTok says it is doubling down on helping people “explore, learn and discover content and creators they love”—while maintaining a safer, more intentional experience for everyone.