From the latest hair styles to viral recipes and dance challenges, short-form video-sharing app TikTok is where countless trends are born. If you’re new to the app, it might all feel a bit overwhelming, so we’re sharing five handy tips to help you make the most of your viewing and creating experience.

The For You page will be gradually tailored to your interests as you use the app and engage with videos.

Show the app what you're into by liking your favourite videos: if you’re a lover of all things feline (CatTok, anyone?), double-tap or hit the heart button on TikToks of cute kitties to keep seeing more. If cat content’s really not for you (no judgement here), simply tap the Share button, then Not interested to steer your feed away from similar content. When you aren’t feeling the videos on your homepage, you can just swipe down to refresh and replace them.

When you like a TikTok, you can find it again in the Liked videos tab on your profile. Control who sees these by tapping the menu icon in the top-right corner of your profile, then going to Settings and privacy > Privacy > Liked videos. Tap 'Everyone' to make your likes visible to anyone, or 'Only me' to keep them hush-hush (maybe your crush doesn’t need to know about your thing for raccoon videos).

You can also make your liked videos visible to just your followers by switching your account from public to private, then setting the liked videos audience to 'Everyone'.

If you want to repost a TikTok and share it in your friends’ feeds, press down on a video, then tap 'Repost'. You can find all of your reshared videos in the Reposts tab on your profile. Regretting a video that you reposted and want it off your profile? No problem. Simply open it, tap the 'Share' button and select 'Remove repost'.

For more ways to share posts, try out the Duet and Stitch features. You can hop on trends, record your reactions or create TikToks based on another user’s – just tap Share > Duet on a video to create fun side-by-side clips alongside original TikToks, or Share > Stitch to add an alternative beginning or ending.

Add captions to your videos to make them more accessible to those who are hard of hearing (or just trying to sneak in some late-night TikToks). Simply record or upload a video as normal, tap the Captions button on the right-hand side of the editing screen, and watch as text is auto-generated whenever speech is detected.

If there are any errors in the captions, you can easily edit them before posting.

TikTok may be a video-sharing app, but what about all of those great photos you want to share? Show off your best pics by tapping the plus icon to create a video, then Templates to the right of the camera tab. Here, you’ll find ready-made backdrops and vibrant animations to turn your photos into creative video montages.

Armed with these tips and tricks, you’re ready to start your TikTok journey – you’ll be a pro before you know it.