If you’re one of the more than 170 million American TikTok users, it’s possible that you could soon be out of luck. If the federal ban Congress passed against the app’s Chinese parent company ByteDance goes into effect this Sunday (it’s expected to if the Supreme Court doesn’t block it or push back the effective date), the TikTok app will likely stop working in the United States and disappear from the Apple and Google Play apps stores. If that happens, you’ll need to take steps to save the videos you’ve posted or those you’re interested in, such as a collection of recipe how-tos or a trove of recs from #booktok.
Fortunately, it’s Snaptik website pretty easy to back up your TikTok content on both a computer and mobile device. In the desktop version of the TikTok app, you can simply click the arrow-shaped Share button at the bottom right corner of any video and then select the Save Video option. The video will be saved to your computer’s download folder. In the mobile app, you can also use a third-party tool called Faves. This cloud-based service essentially acts as a digital storage locker that can be accessed via any internet browser, and the prices for its plans vary based on how much storage space you need.
TikTok Video Downloader: The Easy Way to Save Your Favorite Videos
TikTok has also recently added a feature that makes it easier for users to save their own videos without the platform’s watermark. To do so, hit the menu on your phone and scroll down to find the “Save posts without watermark” toggle near the bottom. Then, whenever you create a new post or edit an existing one, the no-watermark version will be automatically saved to your device.
In a related update, TikTok added a feature that lets you save any video or audio clip to your TikTok library for offline viewing. When you’re off the grid, you can tap the menu on your phone and then select the “Save for Offline” option to save any TikTok to your device. If you’re trying to conserve data or you have a poor Wi-Fi connection, this is an especially helpful feature.
It’s not the tidiest option, but you can also use your screen recorder on your phone to capture a copy of any TikTok video that’s playing. Screen record basically works like a video screenshot; once it’s turned on, it will capture whatever is on your screen until you turn it off. If you have a good connection, it should only take a few seconds for the video to download to your device.
The biggest downside of the TikTok offline feature is that it’s not a comprehensive solution. You’ll still need to connect to the internet in order to view your downloaded videos, and you won’t be able to comment on or like them when you’re offline. If you want to avoid this problem, you can try a tool called Triller, which launched this week and promises to backup and reupload all of your TikToks with the click of a button.