TikTok’s First US-Exclusive Feature Is a Local Feed That Wants Your Location Data
It hasn’t even been a month since TikTok’s US arm changed ownership, and already US users are getting an exclusive feature. In a surprise move, the app today introduced a new “local feed” specific to US users, apparently intended to help Americans view content in their immediate area. Technically, it’s similar to the “Nearby Feed” which was introduced in the UK and Europe in December, although this specific iteration may differ in minor details, such as the name. Perhaps more importantly, the company wants access to your GPS data to populate the local feed, but that’s an optional option and you can always use a version of the local feed without sharing it.
TikTok’s new local feed
TikTok announced its local feed today, and it has already appeared in my app without needing to update or me choosing to view it. It’s located to the left of the following feed, and tapping it takes you to a drop-down list of posts rather than the usual “swipe to navigate” auto-playing videos. TikTok says the feed is “designed to help you discover and connect with content, businesses, and services wherever you are,” and yes, what I saw was mostly restaurant recommendations for New York.
It’s worth noting that I was already occasionally getting these recommendations on my For You feed, and when I go on vacation, these posts usually change to match where I’m staying. The application’s algorithm therefore already took location into account, at least to a certain extent. But the local stream allows you to choose when to see these posts, instead of waiting for the For You feed to show them to you at its discretion. This could also make them even more specific to your location, which I’ll cover shortly.
(Note that although it is originally displayed as a drop-down list, navigating to a video will allow you to browse the feed as usual.)
How to see the local feed on your TikTok account
The local feed showed up automatically when I opened my app today, and TikTok confirmed with me in a phone call that you don’t have to opt-in to see it. However, there are some restrictions on what is published there. For example, accounts owned by users under 18 will not have their content appear in the local feed, nor will private accounts or accounts with post privacy set to Friends Or Only you.
TikTok’s local feed offers two ways to know your location
Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt
What’s slightly worrying about TikTok’s local feed is a warning at the bottom of the article announcing it, noting that TikTok will use your GPS location to “help power the local feed.” However, during a phone call, the company clarified to me that this was not so clear. Essentially, there are two ways for TikTok’s local feed to know where you are: “coarse location data collection” and “fine GPS data collection.”
Collection of coarse data This is how the app worked before, and it uses information like your IP address, the network you’re connecting from, and some of your posting activity (such as how you were identified) to generally determine where you are. This doesn’t use your GPS and is more like, say, Netflix knowing you’re watching from the US depending on your wifi network. This feature can’t be turned off, but TikTok confirmed to me that it tends to limit your location to a county this way, and the For You feed and local feed can then use it to find information relevant to you. Basically, this is how the app has worked for years, and TikTok confirmed to me that “nothing has changed in terms of approximate location.”
What is new is the possibility of share your precise GPS data with TikTokwhich is not required for the local feed to work, but will be used to help the local feed deliver even more specific content. For example, it might show you content for Red Hook or Astoria (specific neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens) rather than just content related to all of Brooklyn or Queens. According to a TikTok support page, you’ll find the toggle to enable this in the TikTok app under Settings & Privacy > Privacyalthough it’s still rolling out to some users, and I don’t have it yet.
According to the TikTok representative I spoke with, there was initially some confusion among users because the local feed seemed to show them content specific to their region even though the app didn’t appear to track their GPS location in their phone’s settings (for iPhone, it’s under Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services). However, I’ve been told that this comes from existing coarse location data (described above), and if you don’t have the option to enable location services in the TikTok app or if you don’t see the TikTok app located on the Location Services page in your device’s settings, you can rest assured that TikTok can’t access your GPS data.
This should come as a relief to anyone concerned about TikTok’s new privacy policy, which initially appeared to give the company permission to collect your “precise location” as long as location services were enabled on your phone, but now states that location services must be enabled for the TikTok app specifically for that to be the case.
What do you think of it so far?
How Local Stream Uses Your GPS Data
In other words, the local feed doesn’t follow your GPS data by default, but that doesn’t mean you won’t see anything if you don’t choose to share your GPS data. Instead, it will use the same course location data that the app has had access to for years to populate this feed. If you want more accurate content and are OK with the app tracking your GPS data, simply wait for TikTok location services to be rolled out to you, then enable them in the TikTok app under Settings > Security & Privacy > Location Services.
If you don’t, the company “does not have access to your precise location,” a fact noted in a later update to the initial post announcing the local stream. Meanwhile, if you don’t see the Location Services option on this page at all, then, according to the update, “you don’t have access to the feature yet” and you need to wait for it to roll out. Regardless, until you enable this setting, the local feed will use approximate data instead.
If you enable location services for TikTok, the company says it will only track your location while you’re using the app, and when it does, you’ll see an on-screen indicator while your location is accessed. Additionally, user accounts under the age of 18 will not be able to enable GPS sharing, although it remains optional for all users and is disabled by default.
Meanwhile, if you want to disable approximate location tracking, your only choice is to delete the app completely, although this was also true before the local feed was introduced.
Updated 02/11/2026 at 4:22 p.m.: Added clarification from TikTok on how the local feed feature works and when it does and does not access your data.
