How to Save a TikTok as a Live Photo

Updated 2026-10-06

On an iPhone, TikTok can save a video straight to Photos as a Live Photo: tap Share, then Live Photo. TikTok only shows that button when the creator allows downloads, so on many videos it is missing. Then the way round is to save the video as an MP4 with VoomReel and turn it into a Live Photo with a converter app. Either way, iOS 17 or later can set it as a Lock Screen wallpaper that moves when you wake the phone.

1. 1
   Try TikTok's own button first

   Open the video in the TikTok app, tap Share, and look for Live Photo in the row of options. If it is there, tap it: the Live Photo goes straight into Photos and you can skip to the wallpaper step.

2. 2
   If it is missing, save the MP4

   Tap Share, then Copy link. Open voomreel.com in Safari, paste the link and tap Download. Safari saves the video to Files ▸ Downloads; open it there, tap Share and choose Save Video to put it in Photos.

3. 3
   Turn the video into a Live Photo

   Photos cannot do this itself, so use a video-to-Live-Photo converter app from the App Store. Choose the moment you want; a Live Photo is a short clip, not a whole video.

4. 4
   Set it as your wallpaper

   Open Settings ▸ Wallpaper ▸ Add New Wallpaper ▸ Photos ▸ Live Photo, pick it, make sure the play button is on, then tap Add.

TikTok's own Live Photo button

In the iPhone app, a video's Share menu can offer Live Photo next to Save video. Tapping it saves the video into Photos as a Live Photo, ready to be used as a wallpaper. It is an iPhone feature: Live Photos are Apple's format, and Android phones do not use them.

Why the Live Photo button is missing

Because the creator has not allowed downloads. TikTok's help pages say it plainly: when someone does not allow downloads, people cannot save their videos or convert them to Live Photos or GIFs.

Downloads are also always off for private accounts and for anyone under 16, who cannot turn them on. So the button is missing on a lot of videos, and nothing in your own settings brings it back.

Saving the video with VoomReel

VoomReel saves a public TikTok from its link as an MP4 without TikTok's watermark, with no app and no account. On iPhone the video comes through VoomReel and Safari downloads it like any other file, so it lands in Files ▸ Downloads; from there Share ▸ Save Video adds it to Photos.

The link is the one from TikTok's Share ▸ Copy link, or the address of the video in a browser. A private account's videos cannot be fetched by anything that is not signed in as a follower.

Turning an MP4 into a Live Photo

iOS has no built-in way to make a Live Photo from a video: Photos only goes the other way, turning a Live Photo into a video. A converter app from the App Store does it; search for "video to Live Photo". Some keep only a few seconds, so pick the moment you want before you convert.

A Live Photo made from VoomReel's MP4 carries no TikTok watermark, because the MP4 had none.

Setting it as your wallpaper

This needs iOS 17 or later. In Settings, tap Wallpaper, then Add New Wallpaper, Photos, and Live Photo, and choose your Live Photo. Make sure the play button is on if you want it to play by itself, tap Add, then Set as Wallpaper Pair.

The Lock Screen plays the Live Photo when you wake the phone. The Home Screen shows it as a still picture. You can also touch and hold the Lock Screen to open the wallpaper gallery and add it from there.

Using what you save

A wallpaper on your own phone is personal use. Posting someone else's video somewhere else is a different matter: credit the creator, and ask them first.

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