Answers · Duets, stitches & community
What is a stitch on TikTok and how do you use it?
Short answer: A stitch lets you clip up to five seconds of someone else's video and use it as the intro to your own, then continue with your own footage. Tap Share on an eligible video, choose Stitch, trim the clip you want, film your response, and post — credit is added automatically.
How to stitch a video
- Find a video you want to build on, tap Share, and choose Stitch. If it's greyed out or missing, the creator disabled stitches for that post.
- Scrub to the moment you want and trim it — you can use up to a few seconds from the original.
- Film your part. Your footage plays right after the clip, so treat the borrowed piece as your setup or the thing you're responding to.
- Add captions, text, or a sound, then post. TikTok credits the original creator on your video automatically.
A stitch is different from a duet. A duet plays both videos at the same time, side by side; a stitch plays a clip of the original first and then cuts to you. Use a stitch when you want to react to, answer, debunk, or continue something someone said. Use a duet when you want to appear alongside the original the whole time.
How to make stitches that work
- Keep the borrowed clip short — grab only the line or moment you're responding to, so your own content is the bulk of the video.
- Hook fast after the cut. Viewers came for your take, so deliver it in the first couple of seconds.
- Stitch questions and 'unpopular opinion' style videos in your niche — they're built for a response.
- Add real value: your answer, your experience, your counterpoint. A stitch that just repeats the clip's point falls flat.
You control who can stitch your own posts in privacy settings — per video or account-wide. If you want other creators building on your content (great for reach), leave stitches on. Toggle locations shift between app updates, so check the in-app settings if you can't find them.
Know your score before you post
ReelTok's AI analyzes your video on your iPhone — a 0–100 virality score, predicted reach, hooks, and fixes before you share.
Related questions
- How do duets work on TikTok? — A duet plays your video side by side with someone else's clip, both running at the same time, so you can react to it, add to it, or perform alongside it.
- How do you use reply-with-video on TikTok? — Tap any comment on your video — or someone else's, if they've enabled it — hit the video-camera icon in the reply box, and film a response.
- How do you collaborate with other TikTok creators? — You collaborate on TikTok through native features like duets, stitches, and reply-with-video, plus off-platform coordination — cross-promotions, shoutout swaps, joint videos, or filming together.
- How do you jump on a TikTok trend early? — Catch trends early by watching creators slightly bigger than you and outside your niche, saving sounds the moment they show an upward arrow, and posting your version within a day or two of first spotting it.
- How do you come up with TikTok video ideas? — You come up with TikTok video ideas by mining sources you already have: your comments, questions people ask you, your top videos, and what's working in your niche.
More: browse all creator answers, read the growth guides, look up a term in the glossary, or try the free hook generator.