In TikTok LIVE Studio, add the Horizon Labs overlay address as a Link source on your scene, then set the overlay’s canvas to portrait if the scene is 9:16. The Link source is TikTok’s counterpart to OBS’s browser source: it shows a web page inside the scene.
Add the overlay
- Start Horizon Labs and get your game’s telemetry running (see your game’s setup page).
- In Horizon Labs settings, under Display mode, choose OBS (browser source) or Both. The page then shows the URL, by default
http://127.0.0.1:8088/overlay/index.html. - In TikTok LIVE Studio, select your scene, click Add source and choose Link. TikTok’s help describes it as a way to show a web page on your LIVE; it does not list the URL field’s options, so check the labels in your version.
- Paste the Horizon Labs URL, then move and resize the source over your game capture.
The same URL works in OBS, Streamlabs and Meld Studio: see HUD in OBS and streaming apps.
Set a portrait canvas
TikTok scenes can be Portrait, Landscape or Dual layout, where viewers can switch. Pick the layout that matches how you stream, then match the overlay to it. In Horizon Labs, the OBS canvas resolution setting in the same Display section includes 1080 x 1920 (Portrait) as well as 1920×1080. Choosing a preset makes the overlay use that canvas size instead of your monitor’s.
Horizon Labs also has a layout editor for moving each HUD element, and the Designer’s HUDs are available inside it. Arrange the HUD with the portrait canvas selected, not the landscape one.
Layout tips for 9:16
A phone screen is narrow and tall, and TikTok’s own LIVE interface sits over parts of it. These choices keep a racing HUD readable.
- Gameplay first. TikTok suggests scaling gameplay to the full width of a portrait screen, with at least a quarter of the screen height. A wide game capture leaves room above or below it for the HUD.
- Few fields, large type. Keep gear, speed and a shift indicator. Drop secondary gauges such as tyre temperatures unless they matter to your content.
- Stack, don’t spread. A horizontal HUD from a 16:9 layout will shrink until it is unreadable. Use a vertical stack or a single strip across the width.
- Keep it away from the edges. Chat, gifts and the follow button overlay parts of the viewer’s screen. Test on your phone as a viewer, not only in the Studio preview.
- High contrast. Bright game footage can wash out thin text. Use bold numerals and solid or semi-opaque backing shapes. The Designer lets you change any shape, text or font.
If you build the HUD yourself, start from one of the 104 ready-made HUDs in the Designer and cut it down: that is faster than drawing a vertical layout from scratch.
Before you go live, run a test: start the game, watch the Link source in the Studio preview, and drive a few seconds so you can see gear, speed and the shift indicator move. Then check the same scene on your phone as a viewer.
Dual layout
TikTok’s help for dual layout says you edit the portrait layout first and sources you add there appear in the landscape layout automatically. Chatbox and ranking widgets are removed when a scene moves to dual layout. Check how the HUD looks in both, since one overlay canvas cannot be both 16:9 and 9:16 at once.
If the source stays empty
- Make sure Horizon Labs is running and the game is sending telemetry. The overlay page is served by Horizon Labs itself.
- Open the URL in a normal browser on the same PC. If it loads there, the problem is on the TikTok side.
- A third-party overlay vendor reports that Link sources in LIVE Studio can load at a size of 0×0 pixels and have no refresh button, and suggests adding a dummy query parameter to the URL to force a reload. Treat that as unconfirmed by TikTok, and try it only if the source stays blank, for example
…/overlay/index.html?v=2. - Changing the port in Horizon Labs restarts its embedded server, so update the URL in the source.
Good to know
- Streaming from a second PC? Turn on LAN mode and see HUD on a second PC.
- Gran Turismo on PlayStation: run Horizon Labs on the streaming PC and add the overlay over your capture card.
- Whether a telemetry overlay is allowed in a given game depends on that game’s own terms.
Sources: TikTok LIVE Studio help: What’s a source?, TikTok LIVE Studio help: What’s a scene?, TikTok LIVE Studio help: dual layout, TikTok LIVE Studio help: scene layouts, Tiktory help: Link source not visible. Checked 2 November 2026.