There may still be some deus ex machina that saves TikTok – or at least stops things – but for now the impending ban on the social media app has been upheld by the US Supreme Court.
So what about all the videos you posted? They might be vacation vlogs, reaction videos, or just light-hearted memes, but you've probably worked hard on them, and it would be a shame to lose them.
Apparently, under the terms of the ban, existing users will still be able to use TikTok; You will not receive software updates. So if you want to download those videos to keep them safe, it is not necessary that you download them till Sunday. Then, TikTok's lawyer told the court that it would go “dark” on Sundays if the ban is not lifted… no one knows what that means.
You should be able to download any video published on the platform. You can also download videos from other creators if they have made the video public and enabled a privacy setting that lets other users download their clips. If you follow our steps below and No Check the option to save locally, it is possible that the manufacturer has restricted sharing permissions.
If you're a creator who wants to backup your own clips, or you just want to save your all-time favorite TikToks, here's how.
January 2025: This article was updated to reflect current information and details about downloading TikTok videos.
Save TikTok videos to your phone
For most people, TikTok is a completely mobile experience: They watch, create, and post videos entirely from their phones. If you're a mobile-first TikTok creator, the videos you shoot may already be saved somewhere on your phone. But maybe you changed phones, or you deleted local copies of those old videos to free up space. If your videos are only stored in TikTok's cloud, you can still probably download them all to your phone.
It's a little easier to download the video to a computer than to get it on your phone. There are some additional steps on mobile, so if you have dozens or even hundreds of videos to backup, perhaps follow the instructions listed below on how to get the videos to your computer.
Here are instructions for iPhones and Android devices:
Go to any TikTok video. On your video, tap the three dots in the bottom right corner of the screen. For videos from other creators that are available to download, tap the arrow-shaped share button in the same area.
A series of gray icons will appear at the bottom of the screen. tap whatever it says Save video.
A percentage counter will appear on the screen, indicating that the app is processing the video. This usually happens very quickly, so you may not even notice it, but it depends on your connection speed.
Next, a series of sharing options pop up. Scroll to the right and click on the three dots. Here, you can choose the email option to send the file as an attachment, or upload it to a cloud service like Google Drive. There will be even more options depending on the apps on your smartphone. Look for any options that allow you to save the video locally.