TikTok has no in-app way to share a profile. The safe method is TikTok Business Center: the account owner scans a QR code that links their TikTok account to the agency's Business Center at a set permission level. Ask for Deliver ads, not Manage account. For ad accounts, ask for Operator, not Admin. Never send a password.
That is the answer. The rest of this page is the exact click path on both sides, the permission level you should actually request, and the one grant on TikTok that you cannot quietly reduce later.
First, work out which of the two things you mean
People searching this phrase are usually asking one of two different questions, and TikTok answers them in two different places.
"Let someone post and run ads using my TikTok handle." That is TikTok account access, granted by QR code from the TikTok app. It is what you need for Spark Ads or for a social media manager who handles the organic profile.
"Add a user to my TikTok business account so they can run ads." That is a Business Center member plus an ad account permission. It is two separate steps, and skipping the second one is the single most common reason a new media buyer says they have access and can see nothing.
If both you and your client already run a Business Center, neither of the above is the best route. Use the Business Center to Business Center partner relationship instead, covered in our TikTok Business Center guide.
Granting access to a TikTok account (the QR code flow)
This is the flow that replaces "can you send me the login." It needs one person in the agency with Admin access to a Business Center, and the client physically holding the phone that is signed in to the TikTok account.
Be clear about what this flow does and does not do. It links an organic TikTok account so your Business Center can use its identity and posts. It grants nothing at all on the client's ad account. That is a separate request, covered below.
What the agency clicks
- In Business Center, open Accounts in the left-hand menu, then TikTok accounts.
- Choose Add a TikTok Account, then Link an existing TikTok account, then Send a QR code.
- Select the permission level: Deliver ads or Manage account. Pick Deliver ads unless you are contracted to run the organic profile too.
- Tick the specific advertising permissions you need. The options include Existing posts, Publish and manage new videos (which then splits into Only show as ads and Show on TikTok profile and as ads), plus LIVE, Showcase, Message ads and Series permissions depending on the account.
- Generate the QR code, copy it, and send it to the client.
What the client clicks
- Open the TikTok app on the phone signed in to the account being shared.
- Open the QR scanner from your profile. TikTok moves this control around between app versions, so look for the scan option alongside your own profile QR code rather than following a fixed menu path.
- Scan the code the agency sent, read the permissions on the approval screen, and confirm.
Read that approval screen properly. It is the only moment where the whole grant is shown in plain language, and it is the last easy moment to say no.
Adding users to a TikTok business account (the two-layer trap)
Inviting someone to your Business Center gives them zero access to any ad account. Membership and asset access are separate systems, and both have to be completed.
Layer one, membership. Go to Users, choose Add Members, enter the email address, then set the role. Admin has full access to system functions including member and partner management, asset transfers and requesting TikTok account access. Standard members work only on the assets specifically granted to them, and that is the correct default for media buyers, analysts and freelancers. Finance capability is a separate add-on layered on top of Admin, in a manage flavour and a view-and-download flavour. TikTok's own help pages are inconsistent about the exact wording of the finance roles, so read the live dropdown rather than trusting any written guide, this one included.
Layer two, the grant. Still under Users, find the member and click Grant access in the Action column, select the accounts and assets, set the level, and save. An invite without a grant is an unfinished onboarding, and it is exactly the kind of half-finished step that a checklist inside your client onboarding software should be catching rather than a media buyer discovering it on day three.
If you have onboarded a client through Meta Business Manager agency access, the shape will be familiar. Meta separates being in the business from being assigned an asset in much the same way, and the failure mode is identical on both platforms: an accepted invite that looks like success and shows an empty dashboard.
Only Business Center Admins can assign account or asset level permissions, which is why an agency needs at least two Admins. One person on holiday should not be able to stall an onboarding.
Which permission level to ask for
The maximum is the wrong default in both directions. For the agency it is an insurance and liability problem you have volunteered for. For the client it hands over powers they will not be able to claw back cleanly.
| Asset | Ask for | Avoid by default | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok account (organic) | Deliver ads | Manage account | Deliver ads covers Spark Ads and paid use of the identity. Manage account adds comments, DMs and profile control. |
| Ad account | Operator | Admin | Operator gives full campaign control without the power to reassign permissions. |
| Reporting-only staff | Analyst | Operator | View ads and performance data, nothing else. |
| Business Center membership | Standard | Admin | Standard is scoped to granted assets. Keep Admin to your two principals. |
| Finance | None on client accounts | Manage-level finance | Most agencies have no business holding manage-level finance on an account the client pays for. |
The rule underneath the table: request the narrowest permission that lets the work happen, then add a level when a specific task is blocked. That is a two-minute conversation. Explaining why your freelancer replied to a customer DM from the client's brand account is not.
The same rule applies on every platform an agency touches, and each one hides it behind different labels. Our full guide to client account access across 13 platforms has the equivalent request-this-not-that table for Meta, Google Ads, LinkedIn, GA4 and the rest.
What goes wrong
The grant only travels one way. TikTok's help documentation states that for TikTok accounts linked for ad delivery, you can enable new permissions but cannot disable existing ones. Treat the first grant as sticky. Starting narrow and adding later is cheap. Starting wide and trying to trim is not a self-service action.
Access-level Admin is not ownership. Only the ad account owner can remove a Business Center's access to it, and that is done from Ads Manager rather than Business Center. If your agency's Business Center owns the ad account, the client cannot cut you off unilaterally. Establish who owns what at contract signing, in writing, not at the point of exit.
Ownership is decided by who creates the account. An ad account created inside your Business Center is owned by your Business Center. That is how agencies end up owning a client's ad account without noticing: nobody transferred anything, somebody simply clicked create in the wrong container during week one. If the client should own it, the client creates it in their own Business Center and grants you access.
Never transfer a client's ad account into your Business Center. TikTok states an ad account transfer cannot be reversed once complete, and recommends transferring only accounts owned and used by your own business. Use Request Access on the client's ad account, or a Business Center to Business Center partner relationship. If you have already done it, plan the hand-back well before offboarding and expect to need a TikTok representative.
Removing a partner pauses their live campaigns immediately. This is automatic behaviour, not a risk to manage. Sequence it: the client adds their own Admin to every ad account, you export reports and creative, you pause or reassign any Spark Ads using the client identity, and only then is the partner removed.
Two-step verification cascades. Once an Admin enforces it for the Business Center, the affected members have to enable it before they can get back in. Announce it and enrol every freelancer before you flip it.
Business Center type is effectively permanent. You choose agency or advertiser at creation, and it drives the Partners interface you get afterwards. Create it deliberately, with the correct legal entity name, timezone and currency.
Where a CRM fits
Platform access stays on the platform. TikTok decides who can touch a TikTok account, and no third-party tool changes that.
What a CRM does change is everything downstream. Inflowave is an agency CRM with an isolated workspace per client, so a freelancer working on one account cannot see another client's conversations, pipeline or reporting. It brings Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, SMS, email and voice into one inbox with role-based permissions, pipelines and white-label dashboards. Plans start at $27 a month, with the agency plan at $149 a month.
The practical value at onboarding is that the same discipline applies in both places. Grant the narrowest access that lets someone do the job, in the platform and in your own systems.
FAQ
Can two people run one TikTok account without sharing the password?
Yes, through Business Center. The account owner scans a QR code to link the account, and the other party works within the permission level granted. Nobody exchanges credentials.
Can I add a user to my TikTok account from the app itself?
No. There is no in-app user management for a TikTok profile. Sharing a password is the only in-app equivalent, and it means the other person can change the email, the phone number and the password.
What is the difference between Business Center member access and asset access?
Member access says you are part of the organisation. Asset access says which specific ad accounts and TikTok accounts you can touch, and at what level. You need both. The first without the second produces an empty dashboard.
I scanned the QR code, so why can I not see the ad account?
Because the QR code flow links the organic TikTok account only. Ad account access is a separate grant: Request Access on the client's ad account, a partner relationship between the two Business Centers, or the client adding you and granting the asset under Users.
How do I remove someone's access?
For a member, open Users, select them, and remove or edit their permissions. For an agency linked as a partner, open Partners, open the partner, and remove them there. Remember that removing a partner pauses their live campaigns straight away, so pause or reassign first.
Does my client need their own Business Center to grant me access?
Not for the QR code flow. They only need the TikTok app and the account signed in. A client-owned Business Center is still the better long-term structure, because it keeps ownership of the ad accounts on their side.
The interface does not match these steps.
TikTok redesigns Business Center regularly and rolls changes out unevenly. The permission levels and the two-layer model have been stable; the menu labels have not. If a label differs, look for the equivalent outcome rather than assuming the feature has gone.
