There's a general feeling of doom and gloom surrounding TikTok's feed these days, and it's no wonder: It looks like the video service may be banned in the United States starting January 19. TikTok creators are sarcastically bidding farewell to their Chinese spies and wondering how quickly they can download the hundreds or even thousands of videos they offer on the service.

TikTok itself apparently doesn't like the idea of ​​allowing its creators to download videos in bulk. you able Download a certain amount of data in TXT or JSON format, which "may include, but is not limited to, your username, video viewing history, comment history, and privacy settings," according to the support page. When I try, it doesn't include my video.

You can also share a single video (just like any file), but that's a daunting task if you have a library of hundreds or more TikTok videos. In this case, it is better to adopt a batch download strategy.

To figure out how to do this, I went onto TikTok and looked through a collection of videos that offered different ways to download content. I tried several methods and found two to be relatively painless: one was easier but not free, and the other was a bit more complicated but completely free. (BTW, both of these need to be done on a computer, not a phone.)

A disclaimer before I begin: I am not a real TikTok creator, I only have two published TikTok videos on my account, this is an experiment I did some time ago. As a result, I didn't spend much time downloading them using either method. If you are a real TikTok creator, expect it to take some time to download and convert.

Several people recommended an app called Re Purpose.io. This isn't a free app - it costs $35 per month and $349 per year. For a while, Re Purpose.io offered free downloads from TikTok to Google Drive and Dropbox, but had to withdraw the service "due to high demand." However, you can still download 10 videos for free within 14 days, so you can give it a try first.

Re Purpose.io lets you distribute content on different platforms: you just tell it where to upload your video (in addition to TikTok, it pulls data from Instagram, YouTube, Zoom and many other services) and where you want it to be sent to their location (in addition to Instagram and other services, you can also save them to Dropbox, SoundCloud, Google Drive, and other apps). You can schedule regular transfers, repurpose only future content or all existing content, and even create clips (for example, if you want to send a YouTube video to TikTok).

When I tried it, Re Purpose.io easily grabbed two of my TikTok videos and transferred them to my Google Drive within minutes. Although one should be needed a lot of If you have hundreds of videos, this interface can keep you updated on which videos have been transferred and which ones are left.

The paid app allows you to transfer an unlimited number of published videos to up to five different accounts. This might make sense if you're a dedicated TikTok video creator and are considering moving your videos to another service.

If you don't mind playing with the code a bit, there's a free way to do this too. A consultant named Joanne Moxam posted a handy step-by-step YouTube video on how to use the Chrome browser console to save all your links at once, move the data to a spreadsheet, and then use an online tool to download your data in bulk. video.

Below, I've summarized the steps suggested by Moxam (which I successfully tried). She strongly recommends that you use the Chrome browser to do this.

• screw you contour page (by clicking on the personal icon in the upper right corner).
• Bring up the browser console via Press F12 key. (If you're using a Mac, you may need to use Fn-F12.) You'll see a window open on the right with the code in it; don't let it bother you if you're not used to this - you don't have to deal with this too much. Just make sure the topmost menu (which will say Elements/Console/Sources) has comfort Underline.
• At the bottom of the console where there is a >, paste the following:

Let goToBottom = setInterval(() => window.scrollBy(0, 400), 1000);

According to Moxam, this will scroll all videos down to the bottom, making them part of a single window so they can be selected.

Note: You may see a warning asking you not to paste code you don't understand into the console; you will be asked to enter "Allow pasting" and click Enter First. Moving forward; I have no problem using either code.

• Now enter the second code which will automatically select and download to your computer a CSV file of links to all the videos in your profile. A bit long: here is a link to Moxam's code.
• The resulting file will be called my_data.csv.
• Import the CSV file into a spreadsheet.

Now you can download videos in batches using links. Moxam recommends a free online service called TOKdownload, which is what I use.

• Copy the link from the spreadsheet and paste it into the specified field. (Note: I didn't have any issues since I only downloaded a few videos; as Moxam suggests, if you're dealing with a large number of videos, you may want to download them in batches of 50 or so to avoid overwhelming the application. )
• click download button.

• The app will download and process the links as videos and covers. This may take a while.
• Once done you will get the button Download all videos and Download all covers. Click on the former and you will get a zip file containing the video MP4 file.

If you're still unsure about yourself, watch Moxam's videos - her instructions are slow and careful. And make sure to also check her related pages for any updates.

There are also many mobile apps that allow you to download and save TikTok videos. You might find them useful if you don't have access to a computer and must use a phone, but I've tried a few and found them awkward to use, usually only play one video at a time, and (unless you want to pay) have more ads many.

No matter what you do — even if TikTok deserves some kind of last-minute reprieve — it’s always a good idea to back up your online videos, especially if they’re important to you personally or represent creative work you’ll be creating . Want to hold on to and look back on in the years to come.