TikTok's photo mode (introduced as a competitor to Instagram's carousel dominance) has rapidly become one of the platform's highest-engagement formats. The format allows creators to post a series of images that viewers swipe through — but the algorithm shows the first image as the thumbnail in the feed, making it the make-or-break element for earning that initial tap. A single-image thumbnail showing one photo gets scrolled past. A grid thumbnail showing 2–6 photos in one frame creates curiosity: viewers see multiple elements and instinctively swipe to see more. The TikTok photo carousel grid strategy: use a 2×2 or 2×3 grid as your first image — it functions as a visual table of contents for your carousel. A fitness creator might show four exercise poses in a 2×2 grid: viewers swipe to see full tutorials for each. A recipe creator uses a 2×2 grid of ingredients, prep, cooking, and final dish. A travel creator shows 2×3 grid of six destination highlights. After the grid thumbnail, each subsequent carousel slide zooms in on one cell with detailed content. TikTok's optimal image dimensions are 1080×1920px (9:16 vertical), matching the platform's full-screen design. Set your MergeFrame export to these exact dimensions. For carousel grids designed for TikTok, use: 4–8px cell spacing for clean separation between photos, white or light grey borders (2px) for a polished look that performs well against TikTok's dark mode interface, high-contrast images that remain legible at TikTok's feed thumbnail size (~300px wide), and minimal or no text overlays — TikTok's algorithm can deprioritize text-heavy images. The privacy advantage is significant: TikTok's data collection practices are well-documented, so processing your photos locally in MergeFrame before uploading only the finished grid (not your full photo library) to TikTok is a meaningful privacy protection.