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Show HN: download all your [Liked] videos from TikTok for safekeeping (chrome.google.com)

45 points by ZYinMD ↗ HN
This is a chrome extension I made. You visit tiktok.com and sign in, the extension retrieves MP4s and puts them in a folder.

My goal: the TikTok algorithm has helped me find wonderful things. I consider the list of my [Likes] to be a treasure collection, and want to make sure I don't lose them.

If you don't have time to try, here's a video walking through all the features: https://youtu.be/BoHOdRxHgP0

Is it free: Yes. (I did test a payment modal once, but users gave me 1-star ratings for it, so I removed it)

14 comments

[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 47.4 ms ] thread
ZYinMD
By the way (OP here), videos disappear from TikTok everyday for various reasons, and this tool monitors and labels all disappeared videos, as long as you have downloaded them first. My numbers show they typically disappear at a rate of ~3% per month (which is one major reason why I built this tool).
krnlpnc
I’m not sure if these are included in the 3% figure but I’ve also recently been encountering videos which still exist but have had their audio force muted weeks after uploading for undisclosed reasons.
PenguinRevolver
Is the scroll progress supposed to go above 100?
ZYinMD
Yes if you have more than 100. It should scroll all the way to the bottom.
mateo1
Now the hard part is to find something on tiktok worth downloading.
krnlpnc
Such a worn out joke :)

The platform is essentially short form youtube, there’s content covering virtually every interest/topic.

randomhodler84
Virtually every cringe. It’s a trash fire. Why anyone would want to preserve these is beyond my understanding.
MMS21
Data hoarding is a mental illness
nullandvoid
IWhen a friend has shared a video, they try to get you to sign up with this horrible collection of "similar reccomended" content (90% sexually suggestive thumbnails other 10% really dumb clickbait) every time. If for that reason alone I will never join and have my brain rotted by their algorithms.
sodality2
They're pandering to the average person, and obviously it seems to work given its explosive popularity. If you actually use it and follow programming, engineering, STEM, etc type videos, you will of course be recommended similar.
ZYinMD
Everybody's tiktok is different, the algorithm knows you well, and always gives you what you like. If you look at other people's tiktok, it's always very dumb, but when you open your own, it's always good, because you never hate your own taste.
cardiffspaceman
I used to download stuff, back in the day, when it was actually a commitment due to the lack of high speed last-mile and lack of Torrent. Eventually, the experience of obtaining things interactively made it sane to only download things from academic sites, which tend to serve the public "not as well as you'd hope", except ACM.

But the fact is that as far as TikTok goes, saving to the PC would be a (poor) way of overcoming the lack (as far as I can tell) of ways to organize what one encounters in such a way that one could practically find one's way to it in the future.

blunte
Ahh, the best content to archive!
jiaminglimjm
Thank you! If only TikTok were as easy to archive as YouTube