With the recent restriction on TikTok imposed by the US government, things are looking bleaker than ever for a large number of content creators. These restrictions went into effect sometime today, January 19, 2025 – prohibiting the use of the app’s vital functions.
Chances of a reversal appear to be slim, and creators may want to archive their content from the app in the chance that TikTok never recovers from the ban.
There does, thankfully appear to be a way to save content – which can be found detailed below.
How to save posts from TikTok to your phone
- Fire up the TikTok app.
- Head on over to a video you wish to save – either your own or something posted by a creator.
- For your own videos, tap on the three dots present at the bottom right corner of the UI.
- For videos posted by other creators, click on the Share button (arrow shaped icon) on the screen.
- From the tray pop up, select the ‘Save Video’ icon.
The video should now be downloaded to your phone’s local storage, indicated by a percentage counter that ticks down the progress of the download.
You can also choose to upload the video to a cloud-based drive service (such as iCloud or Google Drive) using the appropriate Share options.
It is also possible to send the files over as an email attachment. Use a file browser app to view downloaded files.
Keep in mind that certain videos cannot be downloaded – if flagged by the creator. Videos from other creators downloaded in this way will have a watermark added to them.
It is also possible to download videos using the desktop site, using a much more simpler process:
- Head on over to the official TikTok website.
- Right-click on the post you wish to save.
- Click on the ‘Download Video’ option, and the video should be saved to your computer – assuming it has been flagged for downloading by the creator.
The videos should be located in the Downloads section of your computer.
Workaround to download TikTok videos
There exist a few methods to download non-downloadable videos from TikTok:
Use the Screen Record function of your Android or iOS phone to record your entire screen. You will have to play out the entire video in order to be able to capture it in real time, and as such this can be quite a cumbersome process.
