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Anticipate the Ban: How To Download Your TikTok Content

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Published on January 24, 2025

2025 has kicked off to an eventful start. Within the space of a week, TikTok was banned and TikTok returned. But before its users could breathe a sigh of relief, we found out that the ban may still be upheld in April. While TikTok’s ban has been delayed, its fate still hangs in the balance, and whether you sell on TikTok Shop or use the platform to nurture customer relationships, this uncertainty has been particularly nerve wracking for businesses.

But every cloud has a silver lining, and this particular cloud gives your business extra time to strengthen its walls and minimize the impact. In this article, I’ll show you how to download and save your TikTok videos so that none of your content will be lost.

Download Individual TikTok Videos

If you haven’t posted many videos on your TikTok or only want to save a select few, you can do this from within the app. Just head to your profile page, open a video, click the three dots in the bottom right corner. Then select “Save video.”

save a video on TikTok app — The “Save video” button sent the video directly to my phone’s camera roll. Source: Website Builder Expert

I tested this and each download took between five to 15 seconds, depending on its length. While relatively speedy, the downside of this method is that you’ll have to download each video individually, a process that becomes increasingly tedious the more TikTok videos you have to download.

Bulk Download Your TikTok Videos

If you’ve built up a solid collection of posts, you’ll be able to save time by learning how to bulk download your TikTok videos. I’ve had a play around with a few methods and the “MyfaveTT” Chrome extension is by far the easiest. Plus, it’s free to use! However, since you can’t download Chrome extensions on your mobile, it’ll have to be done on a desktop.

Here’s how to do it:

Before you can use this method, you’ll need to do the following:

Download Google Chrome on your desktop if you don’t already use it.
Create or log in to a separate TikTok account on Chrome. You can use an existing secondary account or create a new one for this step – just make sure the secondary account follows the account you’re downloading videos from.

Find the myfaveTT extension in the Chrome Store and hit “Add to Chrome.” When you see the popup appear, select “Install” to add the extension to your browser.

screenshot of myfavett chrome extension — The extension installed to my browser and was ready to use within seconds. Source: Website Builder Expert

Using Chrome, head to TikTok and log in with your secondary account. If you haven’t already, follow the TikTok account you’d like to save videos for.

You’ll see the “myfaveTT” extension to the left side of the screen. Click “Download from people I follow” and then “Choose a folder.”

screenshot of extension on TikTok website — The Chrome extension automatically appeared when I opened the TikTok website. Source: Website Builder Expert

Select an empty folder you’d like to save your videos to and click “Edit files” on the pop up that appears.

TikTok downloading status — I could track the progress as my videos were downloaded to my desktop. Source: Website Builder Expert

I could track the progress as my videos were downloaded to my desktop. Source: Website Builder Expert

The TikTok accounts you follow will then appear in the sidebar. Select your profile and hit “Next” to start downloading your TikTok videos.

And that’s it! Your videos will be downloaded into your selected folder as mp4 files.

Why You Should Back Up Your Content

If you don’t download and save your TikTok content before a ban, you may lose your audience and your hours of hard work in one blow. However, if you have your content saved, you can repost it to social media alternatives to TikTok, or use it as inspiration to create new platform-specific content. Doing this will also attract your TikTok audience to your other platforms and help you retain their support.

The potential TikTok ban should reinforce an important message: never rely on a singular platform – especially when it comes to social media. This goes beyond TikTok. Even if a platform isn’t banned, trends come and go, new platforms rise, and audiences follow suit – take the abandonment of X as an example.

Because of this it’s smart to have a backup of your content across all your platforms and to get into the habit of saving new content as you publish it.

If you’d like us to cover how to download videos for other social media platforms, let us know in the comments below!

Written by:

Annie Angus Writer

Annie Angus is a Writer for Website Builder Expert with a passion for shaping jargon-heavy research into digestible content. She has previously researched and written about industries ranging from tech to fashion, and now, after testing our top website builders such as Wix and Squarespace, she is enthusiastic to share her findings with our readers. With first-hand experience in utilizing social media and online marketplaces to grow a small handmade clothing business, Annie understands the priorities and concerns held by SME owners, and knows precisely what they look for in a website builder. She combines this unique perspective with her knowledge of website builders to produce engaging content spanning all areas of the small business journey, from creating a strong website to growing and maintaining an audience.