The built-in option for saving a tweet’s video is a screen recording, and saving an image means a long-press that often hands you a compressed copy. HiRes Twitter skips both. It pulls the original media straight from the post at the quality Twitter actually stored, and drops the result into Photos or Files.

What it actually does

This shortcut reads a tweet you share into it, then grabs every piece of media attached to that post at full resolution. Images come down at up to 8K, where the Twitter app caps you at 4K. Video, GIFs, the audio behind a Space, broadcast clips, and link-card media all work, and a single tweet carrying several files gets handled in one pass rather than one item at a time.

GIFs are a special case. Twitter stores uploaded GIFs as mp4 internally, so the shortcut can hand you either format, reusing the conversion approach from the Better GIF Maker shortcut when you want a true GIF back.

Where it pulls from

Public tweets, plus private, circle, and NSFW posts once you’re logged in
Live broadcasts and Spaces audio
Link cards and their attached media
Multiple media types inside one tweet, downloaded together

How to install

Install the free Scriptable and a-Shell mini apps, which do the behind-the-scenes work.
Tap Add Shortcut on this page to open HiRes Twitter, then scroll to the bottom of the preview and tap Add Shortcut to confirm.
Run it once from the Shortcuts app so it can request permissions and let you pick where files land.

How to use it

Day to day, you’ll work from the Share Sheet. Long-press a tweet’s share button and pick HiRes Twitter from the list that appears. If that doesn’t surface it, tap the share button normally, choose Share via, and select the shortcut there instead. That long-press route can miss on private tweets, so fall back to the standard sheet when a protected post refuses to cooperate.

To reach the download options for community, circle, or promoted media, log in to Twitter from inside the shortcut’s settings. That sign-in is what unlocks the protected stuff.

Where your files end up

You choose the destination. Media can save to any Photo album, to iCloud Drive, or to a folder On My Device, and you set this the first time you run the shortcut directly. To change the album or folder later, open settings and toggle the Save to Files or Save to Photos option off and back on, which re-prompts the picker.

When something goes wrong

HiRes Twitter doesn’t appear in the long-press menu. Use the normal share button, then Share via, and select it from the full list. Private tweets in particular tend to skip the long-press shortcut.

A private or circle post won’t download. Sign in to Twitter inside the shortcut’s settings first; logged-out runs only reach public media.

A long video failed before this. Version 5.7.9 specifically addressed long-video issues, so update if you’re on an older copy.

FAQ

Do I really need both Scriptable and a-Shell mini?

Yes, and they’re both free. HiRes Twitter offloads its heavy lifting to them, so without either one installed the download steps have nothing to run on.

Can my iPhone open an 8K image once it’s saved?

Saving works on any iPhone running iOS 15 or later. Whether it displays at full 8K depends on your screen, but you keep the original pixels either way, which matters if you crop or reprint.