TwiDrop

Send straight from the share menu

Just pick TwiDrop from "Share" in the X (formerly Twitter) app and fetch the video without copying and pasting the link. On iPhone you use the Shortcuts app; on Android you use Chrome's "Install app". Both are free and take 1 to 2 minutes.

iPhone / iPadCreate a "Send to TwiDrop" shortcut

This uses the Shortcuts app that comes with iOS (if you deleted it, you can reinstall it free from the App Store).

  1. 1

    Open the Shortcuts app and tap "+" at the top right

    On the "My Shortcuts" tab, the "+" at the top right creates a new shortcut.
  2. 2

    Turn on "Show in Share Sheet" from the info button (ⓘ)

    Tap ⓘ at the bottom or top right and turn on "Show in Share Sheet". Set the accepted types to just URLs and Text. The X app sometimes passes links as text, so you need both.
  3. 3

    Add an "Open URLs" action and enter the URL

    Search for "Open URLs" to add the action, then type the following into the URL field.

    https://twidrop.net/share?url=

    Put the cursor right after it (to the right of the =) and insert Shortcut Input from the suggestions above the keyboard. When the whole thing reads "https://twidrop.net/share?url=[Shortcut Input]", you're done.

  4. 4

    Name it "Send to TwiDrop" and tap "Done"

    Tap the title at the top to rename it. The icon and color are up to you.
  5. 5

    In the X app, tap "Share" on a post, then "More", then "Send to TwiDrop"

    Tap the share button (the arrow icon) on the post and choose "Send to TwiDrop" under "More" in the share sheet. TwiDrop opens in Safari and fetches the video right away. If it isn't listed, scroll the share sheet to the right and turn it on under "More" then "Edit".

If it doesn't work

  • If the accepted types include anything other than URLs and Text (such as images), it may not appear in the share sheet.
  • If "Shortcut Input" was entered as plain text, it won't work. Insert it as a blue variable token.
  • Posts from private accounts can't be fetched.

AndroidInstall it as an app to get TwiDrop in the share menu

TwiDrop is a web app (PWA) you can install. Install it from Chrome and "TwiDrop" will appear in Android's share menu.

  1. 1

    Open the TwiDrop home page in Chrome

    https://twidrop.net
  2. 2

    Tap the menu (⋮) at the top right, then "Install app" or "Add to Home screen"

    Tap "Install" when asked to confirm. The TwiDrop icon is added to your home screen.
  3. 3

    In the X app, tap "Share" on a post, then "Share via", then "TwiDrop"

    TwiDrop appears in the share menu's app list, so pick it. TwiDrop opens and fetches the video right away.

If it doesn't appear in the share menu

  • If "Add to Home screen" only created a shortcut, it won't be a share target. Try reloading the page until "Install app" shows up in the menu.
  • Browsers other than Chrome (such as Firefox) may not support this feature.

What this does

Both methods simply pass the shared post's URL to TwiDrop in the form https://twidrop.net/share?url=…. Nothing is saved inside the app: the video is fetched and saved on the usual TwiDrop page.

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