How to Download a YouTube Thumbnail on iPhone or Android

You don’t need an app to save a YouTube thumbnail on your phone. Your browser can do it in under a minute.

Step 1: copy the video link in the YouTube app

1. Open the video or Short.
2. Tap Share (the arrow icon).
3. Tap Copy link.

Step 2: get the thumbnail

1. Open our downloader in Safari or Chrome.
2. Tap the box and paste the link (or tap the Paste button).
3. Tap Get thumbnails.

Step 3: save it — iPhone (Safari)

1. Tap Download on the HD size.
2. Safari may ask “Do you want to download…?” — tap Download. The file goes to Files → Downloads.
3. If the image opens in a new tab instead, press and hold the image and choose Save to Photos.

Step 3: save it — Android (Chrome)

1. Tap Download on the size you want.
2. The file appears in the notification bar and in Files → Downloads.
3. If it opens in a new tab instead, long-press the image and choose Download image.

Troubleshooting

• “That doesn’t look like a YouTube link.” Make sure you copied the whole link. Links from the share sheet start with https://youtu.be/ or https://youtube.com/shorts/.
• HD says “Not available”. The video wasn’t uploaded in HD. Here’s why and what to use instead.
• The image has black bars. You saved a 4:3 size (SD or High). Pick HD or Medium for a 16:9 image, or crop the bars off in your gallery’s editor.

iPhone: move the image from Files to Photos

If Safari saved the thumbnail to Files → Downloads, open it there, tap the Share icon and choose Save Image. It now appears in Photos, ready for Instagram, CapCut or any editing app. To skip this step next time, use the long-press → Save to Photos method instead of the Download button.

Android: find your downloads in Chrome

Tap the ⋮ menu in Chrome and choose Downloads: every file you saved is listed there, newest first. Gallery and Google Photos usually show downloads in a Download album; if an image is missing there, open the Files app and look in the Download folder.

Shorts thumbnails on a phone

A Short’s link (youtube.com/shorts/…) works the same way. Keep in mind that YouTube stores most Shorts thumbnails as a landscape image with bars at the sides, so for a full-screen vertical picture use the Shorts thumbnail downloader, which shows what each size looks like.

Many videos at once

Saving thumbnails for a whole playlist or a list of links one by one is slow. Paste all the links into the video ID extractor: it gives every video’s HD thumbnail link, so you only tap and save.

Use the thumbnail fairly

A thumbnail belongs to the creator who made it. Saving it for reference, a review or a reaction is common; uploading it as your own thumbnail is not. Read can I use someone else’s YouTube thumbnail? before you publish it anywhere.