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Nahila Bonfiglio
Streaming
Posted on Nov 26, 2019 Updated on May 19, 2021, 9:57 pm CDT
By now, most people are familiar with TikTok. The app skyrocketed to worldwide popularity in less than two years and only continues to grow. Using it is pretty simple, so even newcomers have likely figured out how to record and share videos. But what if you’d like to download TikTok videos to enjoy later?
It’s possible to do, both with and without the app. Here’s how to download TikTok videos on mobile and desktop.
Don’t let the app’s bells and whistles worry you. TikTok has a simple approach to downloading videos—your own and videos from your favorite creators.
Before we dive into the details, however, you’ll need to have the app. There are a few workarounds, which we’ll get into later, but the easiest and most reliable path to downloading a video is through the app itself.
Thankfully, TikTok doesn’t overcomplicate the process of downloading a video.
When it comes to your own videos, they automatically save to your device when you upload them to the app. The videos should appear in your gallery. If you want to download an old TikTok video from your account, just find the video and tap on the three dots in the bottom-right corner of the screen. You should see the option to save. Tap that, and the video will download to your device.
Downloading a video from another TikToker is nearly as simple. Just go into the app, sign into your account, and find the video you want to download. Then locate the share button—it looks like a curved arrow—in the bottom-right corner. That will give you a variety of sharing options, as well as the option to save the video to your device. If a user’s account or videos are private, however, you won’t have the option to save.
While it isn’t as easy to download TikTok videos without the TikTok app, there are options.
TikTok does not allow downloads from its website, which means that to download TikToks on a desktop, you’re going to need a third-party website. One of the first websites to show up in a Google search may be tiktokvideodownload.com. Unfortunately, upon attempting to use this site myself, I was unable to download any TikToks.
However, tiktokdownloader.net is simple and worked flawlessly. All you need to do is visit the website and find the video you want to download. You should see a link at the bottom of your selected TikTok video, as well as the option to copy it. If not, you can copy the URL from the address bar at the top of your screen. Then, paste the link into the provided box and click “get video.” Assuming your link works, the site will then offer you the option to download the video with or without a watermark, or just as audio. Select which one you are interested in, and the video will save to your desktop.
Another fun option that TikTok provides is to download videos, or portions of videos, as GIFs. In the same row as the “save video” option, you’ll see the “share as GIF” option. Once selected, the app will even allow you to trim the video to your liking.
Once you’ve trimmed and adjusted the clip, just tap “generate” to save the GIF to your phone.
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Nahila Bonfiglio reports on geek culture and gaming. Her work has also appeared on KUT’s Texas Standard (Austin), KPAC-FM (San Antonio), and the Daily Texan.
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