Next, a series of sharing options will pop up. You can choose the email option to send the file to yourself as an attachment, or upload it to a cloud service like Google Drive. To download the file directly, swipe to the end of the “Share to” option and tap “More.” There will be more choices. Look for the option that allows you to save the video locally.
On Android, the best option to save it to your phone will be labeled Google Docs. Tap this icon to download the video to your phone, then browse the downloaded content using Android’s built-in Files app. On iOS, look for the Save to File option and choose to save the video in your device’s internal storage or iCloud Drive.
Download TikTok videos to your computer
The easiest option for collecting your creations is to download videos from the TikTok website or desktop app. The process is very simple compared to the mobile option.
Find your favorite video on TikTok.com and right-click on it. If you’re watching your own video and you’re logged into your account, or the video’s creator has marked their post as downloadable, an option will appear in the right-click menu that says “Download Video.”
Click this option.
Congratulations, you’re done! The video will be saved in MP4 format in your Downloads folder.
If you don’t see the option to download a video when you right-click, it may mean that the video’s creator hasn’t shared the video publicly or has chosen to disable downloads.
Use screen recording
It’s not the neatest option, but you can also record a copy of your video via screen recording on your phone. Screen recording is basically a video screenshot; once turned on, it records everything that’s playing on the screen until you click “Stop.” Play a TikTok clip while screen recording and you’ll have a quick and dirty copy saved to your device.
You need to play the entire video in real time. Remember, this will capture everything that happens on the screen while you’re recording, so if a notification pops up or you swipe to another app, these will all appear in the video. This also means you’ll still see all the menu buttons and text that normally sit on the edges of the screen in TikTok videos, so it won’t be a completely clean copy of the video. But it’s better than nothing.
You can record your screen on iOS as well as Android phones running Android 11 or higher.
On iOS, go to Settings, then Control Center. Click the green plus add button next to the screen recording option. This will add a small gray dot icon button to your home screen. Click the button and screen recording will begin.
On Android, swipe down from the top of the screen to display the notifications and settings screen. From there, you may want to expand the menu at the top and slide the settings widget. Find screen recording. Click on it and you’ll be able to choose to record device audio and whether to show touches on the screen. Click to start recording.
What’s going on with the watermark?
If you downloaded the video, you may have noticed a faint TikTok watermark in the frame. This watermark will appear on all videos you publish as well as videos you download from other creators. Unfortunately, there is no official way to download the video directly from the platform after posting it without applying a watermark. If the video is still in Drafts in the TikTok app (which means you’ve shot and edited it, but haven’t published it yet), you can select the “Save Video” option and download a version without the watermark.
Generally speaking, if you want to create a video, your best option is to use a separate video editing application to edit the video before posting it online. This way, you’ll always have the original clip and don’t have to worry about whether your distribution platform and all your hard work will suddenly crash.