There’s nothing worse if you’re down a TikTok rabbit hole, or a “Tok-hole,” as my fiance and I call it, and you lose cell coverage — especially when you’re sitting idle on a plane with nothing to do but watch funny cat videos. Little did we know, there’s actually a built-in feature in the app, so you can carry on your scrolling without WiFi. This nifty tool lets you download a selection of videos for viewing later, even when you’re completely offline onboard a flight.
Photo: Marc Pletcher/Shutterstock
How to Keep Watching TikToks During Your Flight Without Paying for WiFi
The travel tip comes from TikToker meganhomme, whose insight garnered them 1.6 million views and a bunch of comments from other users who had no idea this feature was available.
@meganhomme #traveltiktok #flying #travelhack #learnontiktok ♬ original sound – kardashianshulu
So how does this tool work? Here’s a step-by-step breakdown:
First, you need to do a little homework before takeoff. This part is crucial. Since you won’t have internet access on the plane, you’ll need to download your videos while you still have WiFi.
Open the TikTok app and navigate to your profile. On your profile page, tap the three horizontal lines in the top right corner. This will open a menu with various options. From here, select “Settings and Privacy.”
Within this menu, scroll down until you find the “Cache & Cellular” section. Here, you’ll see an option titled “Offline Videos.”
Tap on “Offline Videos” to reveal your download choices. TikTok offers a range of options, allowing you to download between 50 and 200 videos. Each option translates to a specific watch time, ranging from 30 minutes to two hours. Choose the amount that best suits the length of your flight.
Once you’ve selected your preferred video quantity, tap “Download.” The app will then download the chosen videos to your device.
Now, when you switch to Airplane Mode for your flight, you can open TikTok and access your downloaded videos for offline viewing.
You may have stumbled over the detail about the maximum number of videos you can download (200) — and you’re not alone. Many commenters on Megan’s video picked up on this, too.
“I need more like 20,000,” says fellow TikToker.
Once you’ve reached your download limit, you won’t be able to access more videos until you clear out some space or connect to WiFi again. That said, with the cost of airplane WiFi being so expensive, it’s worth spending a few minutes downloading some content to pass the time. At least 200 TikToks should get you through takeoff, right? 