Prepare for the TikTok Ban: How to Download TikTok Videos (Without a Watermark)

TikTok makes it extremely easy to watch, create, and share videos—but the addictive app is also owned by a Chinese company that may have ties to the government there. The US government doesn’t like that and is taking steps to force the company to divest TikTok to avoid the app from being banned in the US. How that would work remains to be seen, but if you’re a creator on the platform or just a mega-fan of one (or a bunch), you should get ready.

Specfically…what if you want to download a video? As a creator you may want to share your perfect video elsewhere (like Reels, Spotlight, or YouTube Shorts). Fans may have favorite videos they want to keep forever. (You know, for personal use, not for profit, so as not to infringe on the intellectual property rights of the original maker because that would be a crappy move.)

The question is: How do you download that video? Here’s how.

Grab TikTok Videos With the Watermark

This is the easiest way to download a TikTok video, because you can instantly do it on your mobile device, right from within the TikTok app.

To make it happen, simply hold down a finger on the video, and in the menu that pops up, tap Save Video at the top. (Note that this only works if the creator marks the video as “Public.” If it’s listed as “Private,” you won’t see the save option.) The video is placed in your phone’s camera roll, and you’ll see options to share the video from there to SMS, Facebook, WhatsApp, or other services.

If you simply want a little snippet of a TikTok video to use as an animated GIF, that’s also an option—click the share button (the arrow pointing right) and look at the gray icons at the bottom. One is Save Video, like above, but scroll a bit and you’ll see the option for Share as GIF.

You can also easily save videos on the desktop via Tiktok.com or the desktop TikTok app. Just right-click on the video to get the option. Or share directly to your WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn, or Pinterest account. That’s the right thing to do if you want others to see it. (You don’t get the Share as GIF option on the desktop, however.)

TikTok downloads on the desktop. (Credit: PCMag)

The upside for the content creator is that the TikTok logo watermark, complete with the creator’s name, equals instant branding.

However, not everyone wants the watermark. Especially if it’s your video in the first place, and you plan to re-post it to other services to maximize reach without duplicating effort. What’s the fix?

“Erase” the TikTok Watermark

To ditch the watermark on videos you’ve already downloaded, video tools like iMyFone MarkGo ($29.99 on Windows or $38.99 on macOS, both lifetime licenses), RemoveLogoNow ($79.99 lifetime license on Windows), or Apowersoft Online Video Watermark Remover (on the web) can do the job. But the results can look sloppy because they essentially blur the watermark by adding extra pixels to the video frames. That’s not great when you pay for your software, though many are cheaper by the month if you only need them for a limited time.

This method might work okay for some videos, especially if the background is still. But it can ruin auto-generated captions or overlay text in the video, close to the center of the frame.

(Credit: VideoProc Vlogger)

A slightly better option is video-editing software like the free VideoProc Vlogger, which covers the watermark with your own logo or some other image, even an animated GIF. It’s like adding a GIF sticker to the video that could have been slapped on when the video was uploaded to TikTok.

Grab TikToks Sans Watermark

The best bet is to download the video without any watermark in the first place, for free. For this to work, you need third-party apps and helper websites, for which you’ll need the URL for the individual TikTok videos.

Musically Down is a helper website with a good look (despite ad traps vying for your clicks) and a concise how-to video. But all of these sites work the same. Enter a link for a TikTok video or a song listed on the service and you’ll get a quick preview, including the video’s title, and options to grab it as an MP4 video or sometimes as an MP3 audio file.

Other helper websites include SaveTik, SmoothDownloader, and SnapTik. Download helper sites tend to work just fine on mobile, and even handle TikTok vids that are marked as private.

If you prefer the mobile app route, there’s SaveTok (on iOS and Android) and RepostTic (iOS), among others.

Both the sites and the apps seem to occasionally run into legal troubles and get shut down or lose features. Bookmark a couple of them if this is a habit.

PC users who want dedicated desktop software for this task should consider 4K Tokkit, a $15 program for Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu Linux. You can pay more for unlimited downloads per day, and even download entire batches based on hashtags. It’s from the makers of our favorite tool for downloading YouTube videos, 4K Video Downloader. In fact, that full-featured 4K Video Downloader will also grab video from TikTok. But it doesn’t strip out the watermark, at least not in the free version.

VideoDuke (Credit: VideoDuke)

Mac-specific users can check out VideoDuke ($29.95), which promises to get rid of the watermark, but only provides two downloads for free. Other downloaders that support TikTok and offer a free trial with limited downloads/features include SnapDownloader, DVDVideoSoft’s Free TikTok Downloader, and Qoob Clips.

Don’t Forget the Soundtrack Issues

One more tip: Beware copyrighted sounds. If you download a TikTok video—even if it’s your own—that includes audio that is someone else’s intellectual property, it doesn’t matter if it is OK on TikTok. TikTok provides a library of sounds you can take advantage of. But services like Facebook may not have legal use of that library. And they can use AI algorithms to monitor uploads for IP audio usage. At best, they’ll let you upload a video sans audio; at worst, they’ll shut you out. Use TikTok’s sister app CapCut or other video editors like Inshot or Splice to strip out the audio instead. They’ll do more serious editing as well. All are available for iOS or Android.

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