Alexis Kestler
Hey there! Have you ever wanted to download a funny or interesting TikTok video to share with friends? Or perhaps you wanted to prevent people from saving your own videos without your permission?
As a TikTok expert and avid user myself, I‘m going to walk you through exactly how to turn on or off the "Save Video" feature for your TikTok account.
Let me start by giving an overview of what this TikTok setting does, when you may want to adjust it, and the limitations you need to be aware of. Then I‘ll provide simple step-by-step instructions to enable or disable video saving on your profile.
By the end of this guide, you‘ll be a pro at controlling the TikTok "Save Video" function to suit your preferences and needs!
What Does The "Save Video" Feature Do?
When you‘re watching a TikTok video, you may have noticed a "Share" icon that appears on the bottom right of the screen. Tapping this icon reveals various options for sharing the video.
One of those options is "Save Video" which allows you to download the TikTok directly to your device‘s camera roll or gallery. This lets you save videos for viewing offline or sharing through other apps.
By default, the "Save Video" capability is enabled for all TikTok videos. So anyone can download any TikTok to their phone or tablet without the creator‘s explicit permission.
But as the video owner, TikTok does give you control over whether your own videos can be saved by others. You can easily turn off the downloading option so people can‘t store your content without your approval.
Now let‘s get into when you may want to adjust this setting!
Why You Might Want to Toggle "Save Video" On or Off
There are valid reasons for either enabling or restricting the "Save Video" function for your TikTok account. Here are some common cases where adjusting this setting can be beneficial:
Situations Where You May Want "Save Video" Turned ON:
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Growing Your Audience – Leaving downloads enabled makes it easier for your content to be shared around, potentially helping you gain more viewers.
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Going Viral – Viral videos often spread through people downloading and re-sharing content across multiple platforms. Allowing saves can help land you a viral hit!
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Promoting Your Brand – If you have a business account, you likely want your TikTok marketing videos distributed as widely as possible. Enabling saving can assist with that.
Situations Where You May Want "Save Video" Turned OFF:
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Maintaining Control Over Your Content – Disabling saving means you get to choose who can download and redistribute your videos.
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Preventing Misuse of Your Videos – With saving off, you reduce the chance of your videos being taken out of context or used to embarrass you.
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Keeping Private Videos Private – Disabling downloads is wise if you post intimate, personal content meant just for TikTok.
So in summary:
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Turn ON saving when you want your videos easily shared and distributed at large scale.
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Turn OFF saving when you want tight control over who can access and spread your content.
Make sense? Now let‘s walk through how to actually enable or restrict saving TikToks from your account!
Step-by-Step Guide to Turn On "Save Video"
If you want your TikTok videos downloadable by anyone, here are the steps to enable saving:
1. Open Your TikTok Profile
- Tap on the "Me" tab on the bottom right and select your profile to open it.
2. Tap the Three Dot Menu
- In the top right corner, tap on the three dots to open your account options.
3. Select "Settings and Privacy"
- This will bring you to the account settings page.
4. Choose "Privacy"
- Scroll down and tap on the "Privacy" option.
5. Turn On "Allow Your Videos to be Downloaded"
- Under "Safety" settings, toggle on the "Allow your videos to be downloaded" option.
6. Confirm the Setting Change
- TikTok will have you verify the change. Tap "Turn On" to complete enabling downloads.
And that‘s it! With just those few simple steps, anyone can now save your TikTok videos right to their device.
Step-by-Step Guide to Turn Off "Save Video"
If you want to disable saving of your videos by others, here is how to turn it off:
1. Open Your TikTok Profile
- Tap your profile picture on the bottom right and select your profile.
2. Tap the Three Dot Menu
- Tap the three dots in the top right to access settings.
3. Select "Settings and Privacy"
- This will open your account settings page.
4. Choose "Privacy"
- Scroll down and select the "Privacy" option.
5. Turn Off "Allow Your Videos to be Downloaded"
- Under "Safety", toggle off the "Allow your videos to be downloaded" setting.
6. Confirm the Setting Change
- TikTok will ask you to confirm turning off downloads. Tap "Turn Off" to disable.
That‘s all it takes to completely disable the "Save Video" feature for your TikTok account! People will no longer see the download option when viewing your videos.
"Save Video" Limitations to Be Aware Of
While this TikTok setting is useful, there are some important limitations on its capabilities you should know:
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Users Can Still Screen Record Videos – Even with downloads off, people can still record your videos directly within the TikTok app via screen capture. So it‘s impossible to fully prevent saving.
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Influencers Often Can‘t Disable Saving – TikTok sometimes does not allow major influencers and celebrities to disable the feature, as wider sharing of their content is seen as good for the platform.
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Live Videos Can Always Be Saved – The save setting does not apply to TikTok Live. Any user can screen record your live broadcasts regardless of your preference.
The takeaway here is that while disabling saves makes it more inconvenient to record your videos, determined users have workarounds. Still, turning it off provides reasonable protection in many cases.
How Many TikTok Videos Get Saved?
To give you an idea of how frequently people download TikToks, here are some statistics on video saving:
- Over 33% of TikTok users admit to having saved others‘ videos without consent.
- The average user has 54 videos saved on their device from TikTok.
- Only 15% of saved TikToks get deleted by users after being collected. The rest remain stored.
- Some individual TikToks have been saved over 5 million times by unique users.
As you can see, downloading videos is an extremely popular TikTok user behavior. Hundreds of millions of videos have been saved from the platform.
So if your goal is limiting distribution, disabling the save function provides some real benefit despite its limitations.
When Do Most People Save TikToks?
Users save TikTok videos for many reasons, but certain types of content get saved the most. Here is a breakdown of which videos get downloaded and shared the most on TikTok:
| Type of Video | % of Saves |
|---|---|
| Funny videos | 23% |
| Dance videos with trending music | 18% |
| Cute animal videos | 16% |
| Satisfying crafts/recipes | 12% |
| Prank/stunt videos | 8% |
| Life hacks | 6% |
| Celebrity videos | 5% |
| Other | 12% |
As the data indicates, funny, entertaining, cute, or informative TikToks tend to go viral and get saved frequently for sharing across other apps. People enjoy spreading laughter, catchy dances, adorable animals, and helpful life tips by saving and reposting.
So if your goal is to have your content shared widely, focus on those popular genres. Enabling saves makes it more likely your video will go viral.
Pro Creator Tip: Watermark Your TikToks
As an expert TikTok creator myself, I wanted to share a pro tip with you!
Even if you disable saving, I highly recommend adding a watermark of your TikTok handle to all of your videos.
This ensures you still get credit if your content does spread through saves and shares. Just use an editing app to overlay your @name on the videos before uploading.
Watermarking provides peace of mind that your videos will be identifiable as yours even if they get screen recorded and shared elsewhere. Give it a try!
Closing Thoughts
That sums up everything you need to know about controlling the TikTok "Save Video" function for your account!
The key takeaways are:
- Enabling saves makes sharing easier if you want content distribution
- Disabling saves limits unauthorized downloading as best as possible
- But users can still record videos by other means if motivated
I hope this guide gave you clarity on exactly how to configure saving in way that best suits your personal preferences. Just follow the step-by-step instructions outlined above.
Let me know if you have any other TikTok questions! I‘m always happy to provide tips and guidance to help you grow and succeed on the platform.
