Saving TikTok Videos: Downloading To Your Camera Roll

There are several reasons why you might want to save a TikTok video to your phone or device.

• You’ve come across a terrific TikTok post and want it available for viewing whenever you’d like.
• You’ve created a terrific video, and you like to save your best content for posterity.
• You’re working on a TikTok draft and want to make sure it doesn’t disappear from the app before you’re finished.

In almost all cases, downloading the video to your camera roll is simple. You just have to know the right steps to take. Let’s go through each scenario.

Downloading a Video from Your TikTok Feed

Important note: you might not be able to save the video you’ve chosen. Some content creators don’t allow downloading, and if you’re under 16 or have a private account, you’re not allowed to save the videos that others post.

Assuming that you’re eligible to download and the video you want isn’t protected by its creator, here’s what to do.

1. Find the post containing the video you want to save.
2. Tap the “Share” icon (the curved right arrow) on the right-hand side of the screen.
3. On the pop-up window that appears, tap the “Save video” icon.

Your chosen video has now been saved to your camera roll. If you don’t see a “Save video” option, that means the content can’t be downloaded.

Downloading a Video That You’ve Created

This one is just as easy.

1. Visit your TikTok profile by tapping the “Profile” icon at the bottom right of your home screen.
2. Find and click the video you want to download in the content grid, which is located in the middle of the page.
3. Once the video opens in full screen, tap the three-dot “Share” icon on the right side of the screen. (Don’t be fooled; clicking the three dots in a circle brings up the video’s comments, not the sharing options.)
4. Hit the “Save video” icon in the bottom row of the pop-up window, and your TikTok video is now on your camera roll.

If you already know that you want to save a video that you’re about to post, you can save and post at the same time. Just tap the “More options” link on the posting screen, scroll down the list of options, and make sure “Save to device” is set to “on.” When you hit the “Post” button, the post will go live and the video will also be downloaded to your camera roll.

Downloading a TikTok Draft

You’re in the middle of editing a video but have to take a break? Saving a draft version on your device ensures that your content won’t be lost if TikTok or your phone crashes. (Having a draft on your camera roll also lets you export it to a third-party editor if you want to do more elaborate work on it, or share the draft version on other social media platforms.)

This process is a bit more complicated. TikTok doesn’t let you save a draft to your phone while you’re still working on it, so you have to post the draft before downloading. These are the steps to take.

1. Record your draft, do any editing you’d like, and tap “Next” to move to the posting screen.
2. Find the “Who can watch this video” link and click “Only you,” making your post private. (Your vision of TikTok may instead show a link saying “Everyone can view this post,” or something similar, but that’s what you need to click to find the “Only you” option.)
3. Tap “Post.”
4. Now, visit your profile screen, and tap the private video you want to download. It will open in full-screen mode.
5. Click the three-dot “Share” icon, and click “Save video.”

You now have your draft saved on your camera roll. When you want to go back to editing it, just upload it to your TikTok “Create” screen and you can resume work. Just don’t forget to delete the original, private version when the final version of your video is live.